Thursday, March 20, 2014

Rory McIlroy´s great Mental lesson

Rory McIlroy´s 2013 season was almost one to forget.

After his great 2011 when he won the US Open and his glorious 2012 with a PGA Championship, money titles on both Major Tours and achieving the World N°1 position, McIlroy could only recover form towards the end of 2013 by winning in Australia and managing a couple of other top tens.

It was obvious to the golfing world that Rory McIlroy, now 24, desperately wanted to have a great start to his 2014 season.

He almost won in Dubai last month and he had the win in his grasp at the Honda Classic three weeks ago at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He led comfortably the whole tournamant only to "fold" over the last 12 holes with three bogeys and a double.

And even then he almost pulled it off thanks to a wonderfull second shot into the par 5, 72´nd hole. Had he holed his 10 foot Eagle putt he would have avoided the four man playoff won by Russel Henley.

And what happened to McIlroy over those fatefull last 12 holes when he was leading comfortably?

Something very common in pressure packed golf.

He was probably just trying too hard.

In psychological terms he fell prey to the Law of Reversed Effect, or Reversed Effort, explained clearly by the Method of Conscious Autosuggestion.

The Law of Reversed Effort first stated by the French Pharmacist, Emile Coué, simply states the following:

The more conscious effort we put into trying to achieve something, the lower the probability that it will happen.

A simple example of Reversed Effort is when we forget someones name. The harder we try to remember, the less it comes to us. Another example is when we get a laughing fit. The harder we try to stop laughing, the more we laugh.

As I have explained before, in other articles, the golfer wants to win so badly that his Unconscious Mind interprets this excess conscious effort as a signal that the objective (to win the tournament) is something very difficult and hard to achieve.

And what then happens is what psychologists and psychiatrists call a "mental-motor breakdown" that does not allow the golfer to keep up the necessary mind-body synchronization that he had been displaying upto then. In fact the player starts to play almost like a beginer.

In my opinión, the dreaded Reversed Effect or Reversed Effort explains at least 80 % of the "collapses" we observe in the golfing world at all levels.

It´s what happened, at least twice, to Greg Norman and his obsession with winning the Masters, and most probably explains why Tiger Woods has played so badly on the weekends of Majors in the last couple of years.

These "disasters" are obviously difficult to accept and to forget, but it is key that a golfer do just that so that the disappointment wont hurt his future performance.

And none better at this than Rory McIlroy. He seems to be a true expert at damage control.

He proved it to the world when he shrugged off his second nine collapse in the final round of the 2011 Masters (to win the US Open just two months later) and he did it again in Palm Beach Gardens after his Honda Classic final round disappointment.

Here´s how he went about it:

First, in his post playoff interview he told reporters he hadn´t played well in his final holes and didn´t deserve to win.

Well spoken because he was accepting that losing is something normal when we dont play well.

Second. On speaking about his double bogey on the 16th hole (he hit the wáter after a poor second shot from the bunker) he told reporters he had made a mistake in club selection.

Good, as it´s always better to blame the error on planning rather than on a mental error.

Third. He said that over and above his natural disappointment over not winning, he was extremely happy with the way he had played in this tournament and that he was taking many positives away from Palm Beach. He also mentioned that after a good night´s sleep his loss would be forgotten.

Well done McIlroy, always looking for ways to keep the positives and get rid of the negatives.

But the best was yet to come. Later that evening he posted the following Tweet on his Twiter account:


McIlroy´s inocent little dog
"This little guy didn't care what happened today! He was just happy he got some of my dinner! Onwards and upwards! "

What was McIlroy letting the golfing world know with his, again, positive communication ?

First, in my opinión, McIlroy was telling us all (and telling his own Unconscious Mind) that what happened to him on the golf course was not really that important at all ("This Little guy didn´t care what happened today").

And, secondly, is that disasters in golf are inevitable and happen to everybody, and that the relevant thing is to accept, learn, forget and to move forward with top enthiusasm ("Onwards and upwards").

Good on Rory McIlroy.

I put my money on that he will win soon and that he will contend at this years Majors just like he did after his 2011 "disaster" at the Masters.