Finding focus key to success on the PGA TOUR and LPGA

Whether on or off the golf course, the best golfers in the world are constantly searching for ways to find an advantage over their competition. Perhaps a strategic decision needs to be made quickly. Maybe there’s a debate about whether it’s time to take a calculated risk late on Sunday while in contention at one of the game’s biggest championships. It could be a decision regarding the importance of nutrition or exercise. No matter the circumstance a player is in, each relies heavily on a team of advisors to help maximize performance.

Many high-achieving athletes will acknowledge that the key element to making clear decisions and finding the ability to reach their full potential starts with one key trait: focus. Being able to focus when it matters most is at the root of their success. We live in a distracted age, which makes focus even more of a competitive advantage. Without paying proper attention to the task at hand, it’s impossible to make better decisions with clarity and confidence, something that is the utmost importance to the game’s top players.

We’ve seen it so many times over the years. A golfer stumbles when just one hole away from a life-changing victory. Sure, there are nerves involved. That’s a big factor. But, as much as anything, a loss of focus is the culprit. There’s so much going on in that moment, so much chaos, that the negative thoughts are suffocating. It becomes difficult to take the club back and properly execute the required shot.

“Finding my inner focus translates into better decision making because it allows me to get into my element,” said Tony Finau, whose two PGA TOUR wins include last year’s THE NORTHERN TRUST, the opening event of the FedExCup Playoffs. “Then it’s about me. It’s not about somebody else or what is he doing or who’s scoring this or who’s scoring that. Once I get into my bubble, it helps me with my decision making because I know not everything is on this one shot. It’s a series of good decisions that makes a good tournament, that makes a good day, that makes a good hole.”

Finau had to extend that focus to an extra day when he won at Liberty National last year, as a hurricane pushed the tournament to Monday. A birdie-eagle-birdie stretch on the back nine helped him charge up the leaderboard and he forced a playoff with Cameron Smith by saving par from a bunker, closing with a 6-foot par putt. Their playoff started on the course’s scenic, but challenging, 18th hole, where Smith’s tee shot sailed over a retaining wall and out of bounds. The miscue all but assured victory for Finau, but he had to maintain focus to make sure he didn’t repeat the same mistake.

“It took just about everything I had,” Finau said about his win that came after five years of waiting, five days of competition and an extra hole of play. Maintaining his focus through the ups and downs of a professional golf career had paid off with a win in one of the PGA TOUR’s biggest events.

LPGA star Carlota Ciganda has shown a penchant for focus in another of golf’s most stressful events, the Solheim Cup. She’s a five-time participant in the event, including three appearances on victorious teams.

“I think having a great team around you is really important so you can just focus on the golf,” said Ciganda, who also showed clear decision making with her win in the 2019 Aon Risk Reward Challenge. “That’s what I try to do – choose my people wisely so I can just play on the golf course and be free.”

Here is more insight from some of the game’s top players on how they find focus, manage volatility, and deliver results when it matters most.

How are you able to find your focus on the golf course and really lock in and execute in high-pressure situations?

MINJEE LEE, U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN CHAMPION: “I find my focus mostly on being present in the moment that I’m at. I try not to get ahead of myself. I try to calculate all of the things that I have right in front of me and do everything that is in my control. It really doesn’t matter what anybody else is doing as long as I put in 100% of my effort and 100% into my process.”

XANDER SCHAUFFELE, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: “I’m not much of a reader but I’ve tried to read books on flow state and that’s all about finding your focus. It’s such a key thing for us golfers. We spend 5 ½ hours walking around this field, or park, or on grass, and out of 5 ½ hour we’re trying to focus for 30 or 45 minutes to actually execute a shot. That sounds easy to focus for 45 (minutes) and walk around for 5 ½ hours, the problem is getting in and out of focus is so difficult.

“So trying to focus for 5 ½ hours can really wear yourself out and I think finding your focus, and everyone does it in a different way, but if you’re able to find your focus and if you’re able to have that switch to turn on and off: 1) you’ll be more relaxed and 2) you’ll just be more confidence in your process when you’re playing a tournament.”

TONY FINAU, NO. 15 PLAYER IN THE WORLD: “The best way I find my focus, especially in a day and age where there’s so much noise, with social media and everything going on, there’s so much noise involved in sports, is having a routine. Not only a daily routine before I play but having a post routine, having a routine when I get into my shot, it gets me into an element where it’s almost like a bubble. I’m in a bubble and everybody else is kind of living outside the bubble. I have to get into my zone.”

CARLOTA CIGANDA, 2019 AON RISK REWARD CHALLENGE WINNER: “It’s really important to be in the present in everything I do in my life. When you wake up and you’re on a week off and you have your routine/things to do for the day, it’s important to be present. If it’s time to have breakfast just focus on having breakfast. If it’s time to go work out, just focus on the workout. I think being present in everything you do helps you on the course.”

There is so much going on during a tournament week, how are you able to block out noise and distractions?

MINJEE LEE: “I think I’m really good at just focusing on one thing. Narrowing my focus to one thing that never been too difficult for me. So, I’m really good with tuning out everything, all the distractions and just focusing on what I’m doing at the present time. If I do find it difficult. I talk to my coach about the things that I should be doing and if I have everything right.”

TONY FINAU: “Once I get to the golf course, it’s pretty much all business. I use the experiences that I’ve had in the past to create good habits and consistency, which is huge. Once I get to the first tee it’s something that I’ve done for a very long time. I’ve trained myself to step up in these moments. That’s probably the best way I can focus, to have a routine and be consistent with that so that things aren’t so different as you approach each tournament and each day.”

CARLOTA CIGANDA: “If you’re thinking something else and you’re not in that place, it’s really hard to perform and do your best. I’ve been a pro for 10 years and I used to get really angry and now I don’t have the energy to get angry anymore. I just try my best all the time on every shot and wherever that puts me I’m happy with that. If I know that I’ve given my 100% , I’m happy with that.”

LIZETTE SALAS, LPGA TOUR WINNER: “Every week is a different challenge, every week you’re feeling in a different state of mind, but also different environments can affect your confidence level. You may play well in harder conditions which can elevate your level of confidence. But I think you have to rely on that routine and your own process to get to that confident state to where you know you can perform at this level every week.”

How does focus and confidence translate into performance and good results?

TONY FINAU: “Focus and consistency translate into confidence immediately. You start to get results, which is huge for confidence. It’s even on the days that you don’t get the results, but you start to feel better about yourself and your game. Confidence translates right into consistency and results, which is ultimately what we’re after. You can’t force results you have to start from a process.”

How are you able to perform your best under pressure?

LIZETTE SALAS: “Now 11 seasons on tour, I’ve gone through a lot of trial and error to figure out what works for me. Now I’m able to get into that focus state and be comfortable. I think it was a lot of analyzing – analyzing the environment, analyzing myself, analyzing my thoughts. Really communicating with my team on how to capitalize on different emotions because every week we’re feeling something different.