By: Scott Noble
In watching the results of the first round of the US Open at Olympic Club, and the results of one threesome of major championship winners in particular – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson, it is rather clear that mindset matters. While one played brilliantly, the other two struggled mightily. Why? It might be that one peaked at the right time while the others didn’t have their “A game”. Or could it be that the others had the wrong mindset – “this course is too tough” or “this course is not set up for me to succeed the way I play the game”? Jack Nicklaus once said that if any competitor showed up and had negative comments about the course he knew he could write them off his list of threats that week. That sounds like mindset matters to me. No doubt we all face situations that aren’t set up well for us, but what is our mindset as we go through them? What impact does that have on our performance?