Inside the Mindset - 4 Things we can Learn from Tiger Woods
If I asked someone to name a golfer, regardless of whether they play or watch the sport, the chances are they’d say Tiger Woods. Woods is widely regarded as one of golf’s greatest competitors and perhaps one of the most famous athletes in modern history.
He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous other golf records such as being the youngest ever player to achieve a career grand slam.
Wins and records aside, part of the reason that Tiger Woods is such a remarkable individual is because of the way that he changed the game of golf. Many aspects of modern golf - the youth and athleticism of the players, the prize funds, the length of the courses – can be attributed to Tiger and the impact that he has had on the sport.
Tiger Woods Post Golf Swing.
Now it must be said, you can either love or loathe Tiger Woods.
As a person he has always been somewhat complicated. Many who have met Tiger have suggested that he is somewhat unapproachable person. He sometimes displays a level of arrogance that can make him seem difficult to embrace. The drama surrounding his personal life - namely the marriage scandal caused many people to lose respect.
But irrespective of that, Woods as a golfer is nothing short of an inspiration. Let’s explore his winner’s mindset and see what lessons we can take away.
1. Flipping the script on pressure and using it to your benefit
Most people, some athletes included, would agree that “pressure” does not help you perform better. But some athletes handle pressure more positively than others. They flip the script and use it to their advantage.
After winning the US Open in 2008 Tiger Woods said that for him, pressure and feeling nervous is a good thing.
How you personally interpret pressure can make a huge difference. Some athletes love the rush that comes with needing to score a goal with one minute left in the game or having someone right on your heels as you near the finish line.
Alternatively, other athletes can freeze, get overly anxious, and worry too much about losing a game when their backs are against the wall.
High Pressure Golf Tee Shot - Photo By Adam Glanzman.
After Tiger Woods’ dramatic win at the US Open, he was asked if he felt pressure to make up a shot needed to tie to his opponent in the last two holes of the tournament:
“Well, it’s pressure, there’s no doubt. I was nervous and that’s a good thing. That means you care. You can try and use that energy as best you can to heighten your focus and then get into the right situation and it worked out great for me this week.” - Tiger Woods
What can we learn from this? Firstly, it shows that the idea of pressure being a bad thing is really all down to perspective. Feeling pressure to succeed means you care about your sport. It gives you the added adrenalin to focus which can be used to perform your best. Rather than wanting to run away from this, we should be searching for that feeling.
We often use many negative terms to describe how pressure feels such as nervous, anxious, tense, and worried about results. But most of us do not interpret pressure the way Tiger does.
He flips the script and thinks of pressure as excitement; a boost of energy that enhances focus to perform to the best of your abilities.
So next time you feel like you’re under pressure, try and reframe your perspective to view the associated feelings in a positive light.
2. Mental Resilience – getting back up over, and over again
Tiger Woods is a prime example of someone who shows strong mental resilience day in, day out. He has faced numerous setbacks- throughout his career, but despite the odds, he managed to overcome them each time.
Wood’s comeback in 2019 is one of the greatest stories in sports today. After a turbulent couple of years many thought his career was finished. At this point he’d had problems with his knees, Achilles tendons and 4 enormous back operations. The result of this was him missing cuts due to injury many times. Yet with all this against him, in 2019 he went on to win the Masters (one of the major golf championships) in a tremendous fashion.
This victory was one of hard work, persistence, and determination. It is proof that when you fall, you can rise back up. Here was a man who was crushed physically and broken mentally due to a public marital scandal. He was considered to win golf competitions at the top professional level ever again. Despite all this, he got up, he showed up, and he put on the green jacket awarded to the Masters winner.
Woods was back on top, but in early 2021 he was in a horrific one-car crash outside of Los Angeles that left his right leg so badly mangled it is said that doctors considered amputation. For many, this would have been the end of the road. To even consider playing professional golf again, Wood’s would have to fight through months of painful, exhausting physiotherapy.
Woods set off on that long road to recovery and nearly nine months after the crash, posted a video on social media of him hitting a golf ball on a driving range for the first time. The three-second clip included the caption: "Making progress."
Then, in march 2022, thirteen months after the car crash, he finished his first 72 hole event. Receiving a standing ovation from fans after carding a final-round 78 at The Masters. This is by no means a winning card - he placed mid table at 47th - but this is not the point. The point here is, to come back to the sport again and again, even after such intense injuries, provides us with such a clear example of the power of true mental resilience.
Tiger Tee Shot in front of Crowd.
3. Relentless Focus - Blocking out the Noise when it matters most
As Tiger Woods was walking up the 18th-fairway at the 2018 PGA Tour Championship, thousands of fans mobbed the fairway behind Woods as he approached his ball, which had landed in a green-side bunker. It was one of the wildest scenes the golf world had ever seen. His assigned security crew could barely hold the crowd back.
Despite everything going on behind him Woods took his shot, landing the ball softly on the green and two-putting for his first win in five years.
After the round, Woods was asked how he kept his focus during all the craziness of the event. He said, "I still had work to do."
These simple yet bold few words show us once again what a champion's mindset looks like. An ability to recognise, but put aside distractions is a hallmark of great athletes, honed over time. But this also extends beyond sport, it's a skill that can be attributed to successful entrepreneurs for instance.
Visualisation of Focus.
Tiger credits his late father Earl Woods, for his ability to block out the noise when in high pressure situations. He served in the U.S. Special Forces (Green Beret) in Vietnam. When it comes to one of the Army’s most elite squads, pure strength and fitness is not the only part of what is needed. These fighters are taught to retain focus, despite the overwhelming terror.
It goes without saying that winning a high-pressure golf tournament isn’t the same as facing down an enemy in a war zone. But Earl has previously talked about how he tried to embed a soldier's focus and mental strength into Tiger via the training methods he used. He would intentionally drop the golf bag, or jingle coins and make noise during Tiger's backswing. He promised his son that nobody would be as mentally tough.
So how can we apply this to day-to-day life? Anxiety arises when we allow our minds to be consumed with, typically with negative, fearful thoughts. Mental focus can be used to combat this. For example, during a presentation some speakers may think to themselves: What if the audience doesn't like my presentation? What if I trip up on my words, what if I fail to win them over with my content? Calm and confident speakers on the other hand will focus on one slide at a time, one message at a time. They let the outcome take care of itself. They're only focused on performing their best in that exact moment.
4. Success Drive - Finding the reason behind succeeding
Do you have a BIG reason for succeeding? Having a strong desire and a well-developed sense of purpose is what drives you towards better results. It’s hard to perform well under pressure if you don’t really understand why you are doing what you are doing. When it doesn’t matter about your results, or you don’t want the results badly enough you may not be as inclined to try your best.
We can all see that Tiger always really wants to win, and this overwhelmingly influences those around him to also believe it as well. His philosophy is - if you’re not going to a tournament to try and win then what is the point in going? This can be applied to everything. If you do not set out to succeed at something, to achieve your goals, then what is the point in having goals?
There’s a saying that goes; “you become what you think about all of the time”. This is known as manifestation. This really is one of the key secrets to developing your ‘success drive.’ Clearly imagine yourself achieving your goals every day, and your mind will begin its search for different ways to get there. As you begin your quest, you will pick up the lessons required with each failure which will act as tools to hone in on the skills and knowledge you need. This collectively will fuel your internal drive and ultimately your results.
Human beings with a strong sense of purpose can accomplish incredible results if their purpose is strong enough. If you want to perform to your absolute best, then you need to develop clear goals which relate to your purpose and go after them with the passion and drive of Tiger Woods.
You’ve probably heard it said countless times before, but you significantly increase your chances of achieving your goals if you believe you can do so. Though it must be mentioned that true self-belief is not something that comes easily by any means. It is through the initial will to achieve, and the ability to endure despite setbacks and failures that self-belief grows stronger and mental grit alongside it.
When it comes to golf, confidence is imperative. If Tiger Woods stood over his golf ball and had any doubt in his mind that he would not hit the perfect shot, then he would undoubtedly reduce his chances of hitting that perfect shot. That is not to say that every shot will go his way, but that level of confidence is needed to reduce the number of times it doesn’t.
Focus on what the Best Outcome WILL be.
Again, the same applies outside of golf. Do not approach your goals with fear and doubt in your mind. Replace that mindset with confidence, and that comes with being open minded about the outcome, and knowing that you don’t ever lose, you learn. Try not to focus on what the worst outcome COULD be - instead focus on what the best outcome WILL be.
Summary
Tiger Woods is up there with the greats and his vast, successful career inspires new people to take up golf every year. His rise to the top and ability to dominate for such a long time is so much more to do with his mental toughness than it is with his natural talent and golf swing.
His approach to high pressure situations, his ability to get up again and again, his dialled in focus and his bullet proof success drive are all things that have been developed over time. Woods was not not born with these mental attributes, no one is.
This is good news! Because it means by putting the right mindset into motion and then applying patience and consistency, we can all develop the same mental toughness as Tiger Woods.
So use the insights discussed in this blog to your advantage by applying them to your day to day life.
