the red dot

The Independent has an excellent article on a mental technique used by Louis Oosthuizen to win The Open. Even more than most sports, golf is a mental battle, and much of it is about staying focused on every shot rather than letting the mind wander or nerves take over. But it's incredibly tough - almost impossible - to maintain concentration during a whole round, and in the past Oosthuizen had suffered from trying too hard to do so, and he would crumble when the pressure got high. So he hired a sports psychologist who came up with a clever idea, based on a simple insight: it's fine to relax between shots, and think about anything you want to think about. The point is to concentrate when  you're taking the shot. The red dot on Oosthuizen's glove was a visible signal to switch into focus mode. It gave the player an artificial boundary between two different states of mind, so he was able to relax more between shots and concentrate harder during the shot.

The article goes on to discuss sports psychology more generally, including the crucial role of mental imagery:

Athletes often describe how the day or night before a crucial game they mentally rehearse what they intend to do – even to the point of walking up to the winner's podium. (According to Rees this is why so many first-time winners often look relatively relaxed and at home on a podium because they have rehearsed the moment so many times in their heads). David Beckham, for instance, is said to have stored and replayed mental "video clips" of how the ball will bend when he takes a free kick at goal. Skiers at the top of a run often close their eyes briefly and sway from side to side just before they take off down a slope, as if they are rehearsing the difficult movements they are about to make.

Also worth reading: Jonah Lehrer on how athletes combat "choking".

Comments

[peter]

Ian -- IMO, the best book of advice on visualization and mental control in sports (and for life generally) is: "Thinking Body, Dancing Mind" by ChungLiang Al Huang and Jerry Lynch (Bantam Books, 1992). Lynch worked with leading NFL players and Olympic athletes.

I'd also recommend the books of journalist and aikido-ka George Leonard (recently deceased) and Michael Murphy's "Golf in the Kingdom".