The Tiger effect was real. When Tiger Woods was leading a tournament, it didn’t matter if he was playing well or playing poorly. He intimidated the other players to such a degree that it was easier for him to win than it would have been for the average player. That’s not a knock on his record. He… Read more »
Posts By: Matthew Rudy
Troon Gave Us the Historic Rarity of Two Elite Players in the Zone
As I watched the final round of the British Open get played out between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson, it became clear that something special was happening. Phil birdied the first hole while Henrik bogeyed, but then Henrik made three birdies in a row. And then Phil made an eagle to pull within one again. For the… Read more »
The Curious Case of Joel Stave
For an interesting look inside the mind of a top-level college athlete, read Albert Chen’s piece on Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave in the Aug. 31 issue of Sports Illustrated, linked here. In it, he describes the painful process Stave went through to recover from a form of the “yips” in his throwing motion — a… Read more »
Jordan Spieth and the Ingredients of Mental Toughness
Watching Jordan Spieth dominate the Masters and hit clutch shot after clutch shot at the U.S. Open — and be by all accounts one of the most gracious and polite people on the PGA Tour — it’s very easy to forget that he’s only 21 years old. Unlike Tiger Woods, who when he was dominating… Read more »
The Breakdown of Tiger Woods
Go back and recount the incredible things Tiger Woods has done in his career—and there are a lot of them—and one of the most common threads in those stories is his competitiveness. He had swagger, like virtually all the greatest players do. It is a mixture of confidence, self-belief and even arrogance that makes the… Read more »
The Reinvention of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods has always played golf like it is a combat sport. He is ferociously (and famously) competitive, and he has spent almost two decades physically and mentally dominating the other competitors on the PGA Tour. And just like that, he’s back. Great day at the #TWCharityPlayoffs with @tigerwoods! https://t.co/Vah4LHpPhr — Hero World Challenge (@TWFoundation)… Read more »
Sport Psychology, Hypnosis and Golf: A Commentary
In the last fifteen years, helping players on the PGA Tour as a sports psychiatrist, I have rarely heard the term hypnosis used. However, hypnosis is often defined by a state of attentive and receptive concentration, with a relative suspension of peripheral awareness that is common when players are playing their best. This timely article… Read more »
Solving the American Ryder Cup Puzzle
Whether you look at the results on the course or the friction surrounding Tom Watson’s captaincy, it’s clear the American Ryder Cup system is in disarray. The 16.5 to 11.5 result at Gleneagles was Europe’s eighth win in the last 10 Ryder Cups—including the last three. Even if Watson had somehow managed to conjure the… Read more »
Golf Digest: How the Mental Scorecard Worked for Phil (and How it Can Help You)
BOOK EXCERPT Adapted from Mastering Golf’s Mental Game: Your Ultimate Guide to Better On-Course Performance and Lower Scores, copyright © 2014 by Dr. Michael T. Lardon. To be published by Crown Archetype, an imprint of Random House LLC, on Sept. 16, $25. Over the past 10 years, I’ve been helping golfers like Phil Mickelson find high-value… Read more »
GolfDigest.com: Dr. Michael Lardon Changes How You Think About Your Game
When Phil Mickelson was looking for a way to get over his crushing loss at the 2013 U.S. Open, he went to mental performance coach Dr. Michael Lardon for help. A month later, Mickelson went to Muirfield and won the Claret Jug for the first time. Lardon has been helping PGA Tour stars, NFL players,… Read more »