Keegan Bradley wins the Bridgestone Invitational (and the long Rotella/ Bradley relationship)

Keegan Bradley won the Bridgestone Invitational of the World Golf Series, played at the Firestone Country Club, in spectacular fashion on the seventy second hole.


Keegan Bradley

Bradley shot a brilliant 64 in his final round, and  a superb 31 in his final nine holes.

His putter worked like a dream (26 putts, today) and was the key reason for his win.

This reminded me of a couple of stories about the Bradley family that can be read in Bob Rotella´s most recent and excellent book, The Unstoppable Golfer. In this book, Rotella, the famed Mental Golf coach, underlines the key value of the short game and putting.

It so happens that one of Rotella´s first clients, some thirty years ago, was the great Pat Bradley, Keegan´s aunt, a winner of 31 regular LPGA events and 6 Majors.

Rotella tells the story of a very intense Pat Bradley that took too much time when reading putts. Rotella suggested she cut down her putting routine and simplify the process by just trusting her first impression, her "unconscious" read. Together with this he suggested that Pat use the visualization technique and to "see" the ball rolling toward and into the hole before initiating the stroke.

In the years that followed, Pat Bradley won it all with her new putting routine, and became an LPGA legend.

Her new expertise on the putting surface was key as she was never a long hitter of the golf ball, but she was smart enough to understand that golf tournaments were won on the green.

A few years ago, Pat Bradley suggested to nephew Keegan that he work with Rotella.

Soon after, Rotella told Keegan the story about how Pat had vastly improved her putting through the visualization technique, and "seeing" the ball´s trajectory and "seeing" it drop into the hole.

And the young Bradley thought it made all the sense in the world.

Since then, Keegan Bradley uses the same visualization Method on the green, a technique that is based on the power of the unconscious mind, with such success that in just a few months he transitioned from the Nationwide Tour (now the WEB.COM Tour), to his win at the 2011 PGA Championship and this huge win at the Bridgestone Invitational yesterday.
In his victorious press conference yesterday, Keegan Bradley stressed, over and over again, how much fun he is having, and how much he enjoys being in position to win a golf tournament.

Well, it so happens that this positive attitude is no coincidence. In his The Unstoppable Golfer, Rotella tells the story of when he asked Keegan to have dinner with him and an up and coming young college golfer. Rotella then asked Bradley to tell the young player what he had learnt from working with him.

Keegan Bradley said:  "I´ll tell you what I have learnt from Doc: to have more fun at golf, to let go of doubt, to let go of fear, and be into your target".

As a Mental Golf coach all I can say is that Keegan Bradley´s success is no surprise to me. There is no question that Rotella´s wise lessons have been learnt well by this great young American golfer.

To be happy and have fun on the golf course, to let go of doubt and fear, to be "into the target" and to visualize putts going into the hole are techniques that help the golfer to better cope with competitive pressure with the help of the powerful unconscious mind.