Many athletes, including golfers, dream of playing on the big stage for many years and maintaining their form. Golf differs in many ways from other sports in terms of longevity. However, even older golfers have trouble being at their peak. Padraig Harrington is not one of those. The Irishman has been showing for years that he is a golfer who deserves respect. In an interview with the media, Harrington talked about the recipe for staying at the top for as long as possible.
“I’m sure there are outliers to this but in general I believe this [drop in form] happens for two reasons,”-Harrington said, as quoted by golfmonthly.com!
“Everyone has deep-down goals or expectations like winning/making a Ryder Cup team/ winning a major. If that’s the end goal, unfortunately, it’s very hard to start a new goal once achieved.
For instance, I learnt from Phil Mickelson to always speak about majors in the plural not singular, thus I kept going after one. I wish I had believed or convinced myself of 10. Remember it’s a deep-down belief, not a casual I “like” goal, it’s a “want”.
Secondly, after great performances like winning a major, players completely overestimate how well they played. Most think their play was close to perfection, which is never true when you watch back. That slightly fat shot ran up close rather than plugging in the face of the bunker.”
Padraig Harrington on top golfers mentality
Harrington also referred to top golfers who have been making great results for years. Harrington’s words are the best example of how important the mental aspect is in the game. Namely, many of the top golfers make mistakes that the fans don’t see. Despite everything, they quickly recover and return to the game. That’s what makes them champions and winners, Padraig believes.
“This is true about all our heroes in sport, we tend to only see their brilliance and never see their mistakes. The reason they are great is because they don’t lose confidence when they make a mistake.
For the player coming off a peak in golf, he spends the majority of the rest of his golfing career in misery trying to live up to his unrealistic expectation of himself. He “may” only find happiness when he retires from golf, in his great achievements.”