Introspection: Lessons From Pro Athletes | Mental Toughness

Tommy Fleetwood meditated on meditation.

Playing this week at the DP World Tour’s event in India, he’d been asked whether he still does yoga, and the popular pro said he’d unfortunately stopped. But mental deep-dives, an activity he did as a yogi, were still very much a priority.

Meditation, he said, had helped him during some lean times. And it’s been a factor this year, one of the best of his career.

“I remember I was really struggling with my game and I was in a bad place,” Fleetwood said. “Having the worst period of golf that I had had, I feel like part of — as hard as I worked and all the decisions that I made to try and get my game back at the time, I feel like meditation was a huge part of that. Because I had to sort of really re-wire my confidence and things like that.

“I still do that to this day. I might be a bit sporadic with it, but I really feel like it’s a powerful tool and I feel like it’s very, very important. I think there’s a lot of goals that I set or visualizations that come in in a week or a tournament, or you know, wherever it may be, and I feel like meditation is a big part of that and it helps me a lot.”

Deeper stuff. Which was a theme.

Fleetwood? He also talked about losing. Rory McIlroy? He talked about opinions. Ben Griffin? He talked about stopping. Kudos to the reporters in India for mining out the moments of introspection.

The exchanges are below, with the questions in italics. And some additional thoughts follow the Q&A’s.

Tommy Fleetwood on losing

How do you get up again? I remember watching the St. Jude Classic when Rosey wonand all the top five finishes, but then going on to win the FedExCup, how do you do that?

“I think the obvious first thing is that whatever happens, I mean, what’s the point in letting it have a negative effect on whatever happens next?” Fleetwood said. “I mean, it’s just pointless.

“It’s obvious, but then it’s obviously harder to do. I think always with me, any time I had to do an interview after something like that happened, I felt like it was really important. I feel the same feelings as everybody else. I could have moped or sulked or been angry. But I really wanted to try and rewire as quickly as possible and see the positives because there’s plenty of things that you can kick yourself for. There’s plenty of things that you can get wrong.

“But you’re going to have to play next week or the week after that or the week after that, and there’s absolutely no point in letting anything have negative impact on what happens next. All those times where I came really close, I had a bad week, and then so many people that week — there’s times when I’ve played tournaments and I’ve been really happy finishing 20th because I had a good Sunday. So there’s so much good there, that that’s the stuff you should focus on.

“Of course there’s things that I would want to improve on and things that I know I might have got wrong, and I’ll work on those things. I’m not going to lie to myself and say everything was great. I know I’ve got things wrong.

“But the important thing for me is to give yourself the best chance every time you go out and play, having a positive attitude and a good mindset is very important for that.”

Is it harder now that you’ve won the FedExCup?

“Not really,” Fleetwood said. “I think there’s different challenges for everything. When things are going well, one of the hardest things that any sports person has to deal with is your own expectations. You have to manage your own expectations. Like I say, different things have different challenges.

“You know, I’ve missed out on winning that many times that I always knew that I wasn’t going to let one win change anything. My game is still what it was where, you know, the week before Atlanta. And even on the Sunday, my game is still the same, even when I walked off the 18th green and I know I have to improve to be the best player I feel like I can be, and I just want to keep working on that.”

What to make of the quote: At the FedEx St. Jude Championship earlier this year, Fleetwood led by one shot entering the final round — and he finished one shot back of a playoff won by Justin Rose, leaving Fleetwood again without a win on the PGA Tour. Two events later, though, he broke through.

Now we know at least one reason why.

Rory McIlroy on opinions

Many congratulations on everything you’ve achieved in your career so far. You’re one of the greatest athletes of our generation, and like you said, being treated as a professional — when you talk about the landscape of sport, very different from what it is right now, do you think gone are the days when people watched sport for the pure joy of it, just for the love of it, as opposed to now watching sport to have an opinion about the player, about the coach, about everything that happens? I specifically ask this because obviously after what happened in Ryder Cup and how out of hand the situation got. Do you think the landscape watching sport, enjoying watching sport, has changed to now having an opinion?

“Yeah, so I would say — it’s a great question,” McIlroy said. “I would say that deep down at its core, the essence of watching sport, it’s the realist reality show that we have. We don’t know the outcome. We don’t know what’s going to happen, and that’s amazing. There’s very little content on TV nowadays that can actually do that.

“So my sport will always be what it is, and I think the majority of sports fans watch it because of that. But yes, there are — you know, you start to see — look, it’s a big business, and big business and money comes from having opinions on things, and the more eyeballs things are ultimately a good thing, if it can be harnessed the right way.

“But yeah, it’s definitely changed. When it’s people watching sport for the gambling aspect and they put money on games, that is something that especially in America, that’s a changing landscape. But I think at its core, watching sport, whatever that is, is still very pure and it’s still pure competition, and I think that’s an amazing thing.

“But yeah, as an athlete and knowing that you’re going to get criticized for your performances, good or bad or whatever it is, I think at this point in time and in this modern world, that’s — I wouldn’t say it’s a price to pay, but yeah, you just — it is what it is.

“I think athletes nowadays have to do a better job of blocking out the noise. So not going on social media, trying not to read anything about yourself — easier said than done. But I think the more athletes in this day and age, if they can do that, I think it’s better. I think it’s better for their performance. I think it’s better for their mental health, and I think it’s better for their longevity in a given sport, as well.”

What to make of the quote: Yes, this is an opinion on an opinion about opinions. With this thought, I still go back to what McIlroy said at the Ryder Cup, in the aftermath of abusive fan behavior, when he noted that while he had heard a lot of negative comments toward him, he didn’t hear much support for the Americans. I think that says a lot.

Ben Griffin on stopping

Your journey in golf, I imagine a fair few Indian golfers are on the cusp of giving up. What lesson can you share?

“It’s important to always chase your dreams,” Griffin said, “but it’s also really healthy to take a break sometimes during those dreams and just take a step back and look at it holistically in a way and be able to learn from what your journey has been.

“For me, I did quit the game fully. I was working a job for a few months there and it was a great time for me to honestly get my mind completely off of golf. I had no intentions of coming back to golf. And it’s crazy that it’s worked out the way it has. It’s been quite the journey, and you know, I’m just trying to soak it all in, and also at the same time just continue to work hard and let things happen as they come.

“It’s a very difficult challenge making it to the top in this sport. There’s a lot of different pathways and a lot of it is playing golf in tournaments and places all across the world starting out and not making very much money, and then just kind of trusting the process.

“I’m lucky that I had so much support from not only my family and friends but sponsors to give back to golf, and it gave me an opportunity to play not only for myself but felt like I needed to play for them and work hard and make sure I was doing the right things off the golf course to make sure I was doing my best. It was a lot of sacrifices and change in lifestyle, but it’s ultimately, definitely paid off, and it’s been, yeah, quite the journey.”

What to make of the quote: Griffin’s story has been well documented over the past few years — and one of the best stories came from GOLF’s Josh Berhow, which you can read here. But what jumps out to me is that he always answers the questions about his ‘journey’ eloquently. That should tell you something.

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