The importance of mental resilience

WE'VE just had that week of the year that touring professionals dread: Qualifying School. A time when the future for the following 12 months for those who finished outside the magic top 115 is decided.

For others it represents the incredible opportunity of going to Q School for the first time and the possible riches that may or may not subsequently lie ahead. One person who didn't end up at Q School is Rory Mcllroy – mainly because of his stunning performance at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship over the magnificent trio of the Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. This tremendous effort secured his playing rights for the next 12 months.

I had the chance to see Rory at first hand at St Andrews when he played a practice round with Graeme McDowell, with whom I was working during the week of the Dunhill. What a talent! But, perhaps more importantly, what a great attitude to the game. He plays with the freedom of someone at peace with himself and his game.

I suppose that's the advantage of youthful enthusiasm and what a lack of bad memories does for you. Back to Q School though.
The whole concept of keeping your card is an interesting one and a notion that fills many players with emotions ranging from mild unease to blind panic. The only similarity in everyday life would be to have the prospect of redundancy hanging over your head in the workplace and the uncertainty that inevitably goes along with corporate upheaval.

Many of you reading this article will at some point in their life have faced up to such an issue. What happened? I am fairly sure that in most cases you were probably pretty devastated by the news and then… you got on with it. You dealt with the situation. You showed resilience.

At that point your career may have moved forwards or it may have moved back but whatever happened you will have showed resilience. Could it be that the skill of resilience could be the key mental skill to develop - the ability to know that whatever happens on the course, you have the tools at your disposal to deal with any outcome?

An interesting question to ponder is this: Were the players who gained a tour card for next year the ones who hit the most good shots that week or were they the players that dealt with their bad shots better than the others? It may well be a bit of both but what is for sure is that they will have mental resilience.

Believe it or not, building resilience is not about positive thinking. In fact I would go as far as to say that positive thinking could actually be very detrimental to you as a golfer. I have heard lots of people being very positive about how they are going to win on tour and achieve great success, only to end up with a series of dismal failures.

Being blindly optimistic and positive has become accepted as the way to be in our culture and anybody with a negative attitude is frowned upon. Consider though some of the contestants on X Factor. They are incredibly positive and hugely optimistic about the fact that they have it takes to win the show. One slight drawback for a lot of them though is the fact that they can't sing!

Research by David McClelland at Harvard University over many many years and thousands of case studies showed that successful people who had actually achieved results in all walks of life were not universal optimists and paragons of positivity. They showed a balance of both positive and negative thinking, as and when it is appropriate.

Fascinatingly, he summed up his life's work on success by four key determining factors that were displayed by successful people.
1) They daydream about how they would feel if they reached a certain goal
2) They pick moderately challenging goals
3) They engage in both optimistic and negative thinking about how easy and difficult it will be to reach the goal. Plans include carefully monitoring their progress so they can make corrections if needed
4) They seek advice from experienced people before making a commitment to achieve the goal they have set themselves

Just begin to consider how implementing these four keys could have a huge impact on your golf game and your life in the months ahead. Not wild New Age mumbo jumbo about 'manifesting success' but a truly effective plan to be successful that is based not on opinion but on the way your brain actually functions.