Tiger Woods' Mental Game is What's Broken, Not His Swing

The latest Tiger Woods' news is that he's working with Canadian swing coach Sean Foley to redo his swing. I agree that working with a pro to build or improve mechanics is often a great idea.

BUT, Tiger Woods already has a great golf swing and he's certainly proved it, time and time again. So what's going on that he's in such a slump? My take on it is that Tiger Woods' mental game is broken, not his swing.


One thing that can break the mental game are challenges on the personal level. When emotions such as anger, fear, pain or guilt are really strong, as I imagine they might be in Tiger Woods' case, then they reduce focus. Reduced focus means less efficient play. After some public failures, confidence is eroded, leading to motivation slipping, reducing focus even more, setting in place a downward spiral of ever-decreasing confidence, motivation and focus.

That's the real problem. What's the solution? When I've worked with players to resolve similar situations, I've discovered that it's like a row of dominos. Once you get rid of the cause of the problem, it's like toppling the first domino in a line. The rest just follow suit and the problem is solved.

Tiger Woods' mental game is what's broken, not his swing. When he gets his mental game fixed, I believe he'll be back on top. To me that's winning the mental game, which is the secret of peak performance and the competitive edge.

David Kenward - The Mental Coach
http://thementalcoach.com