The 2nd Cut Newsletter: Edition #26

Mental Strength, Novak Djokovic, 22 Holes of Golf, Incremental Improvement, Tiger Was Soooo Good, The 3 Releases

Dec 14, 2023

“I might appear locked in, but trust me, there’s a storm inside, and the biggest battle is within.” - Novak Djokovic

📰 Edition #26 📰

Welcome back to The 2nd Cut Newsletter!

📫 In today’s Newsletter: Mental Strength, Novak Djokovic, 22 Holes of Golf, Incremental Improvement, Tiger Was So Good, The 3 Releases

If you’re new here, this newsletter is designed to provide valuable insights, tips, and ideas from around the internet to improve your golf game.

What you get:

1 - Newsletter every Wednesday
1 - Deep dive every Friday

Mental Strength 🎾

Novak Djokovic, 24-time Grand Slam winner and #1 Tennis player in the World, was interviewed this Sunday by 60 Minutes. It’s a great interview and a peek into the mind of an elite athlete.

The interviewer tried to articulate Djokovic’s “gift” of mental strength, and before he could finish, Djokovic quickly cut him off.

Here’s what Djokovic said about his “gift”:

“I have to correct you. It’s not a gift. It’s something that comes with work.”

Djokovic then says he trains the mental side of his game just as he would his forehand or serve. Djokovic then describes some methods he uses to stay focused and mentally strong during a match, including conscious breathing.

“I might appear locked in, but trust me, there’s a storm inside, and the biggest battle is within.”

As a golfer, this REALLY resonated with me. No, we are not professionals, but we all know the feeling Djokovic is describing. The stakes aren’t as high, but we damn sure have been in the storm, experiencing the battle within as we stand over a Par 3 tee shot over water or a knee-buckling downhill putt for Par.

Djokovic then goes on to describe his outlook on dealing with the battle within:

“You have your doubts and fears. I feel it every single match. I don’t like this kind of mindset I see alot in sports, like, just think positive thoughts, be optimistic, there’s no room for failure, there’s no room for doubts. It’s impossible. You are a human being.”

Djokovic says the key is to limit how long these emotions affect you, not what many people instinctually try to do, which is avoid the emotions or shield any doubts. He says he acknowledges the feeling, reacts, maybe even yells, and then bounces back quickly.

So, as golfers, what can we learn from this elite athlete? One thing is to stop trying to avoid negative thoughts or emotions. We are human and they will happen during a round. The key is to let these emotions in, acknowledge them, react, and then let them go and move on.

Of course, this is easier said than done. But we can get better at the mental game by having the right expectations, accepting that we will have bad shots and breaks, and even possibly using conscious breathing, as Djokovic mentioned.

If we work on it, our mental game can improve over time, leading to lower scores.

I’ve used the 4-7-8 breathing technique pre-round and in-round, which has helped me reduce stress and improve my mental game.

Here’s a quick how-to:

Close your mouth and quietly inhale through your nose. Count to four.
Hold your breath for seven seconds.
Exhale through your mouth, slowly, for a count of eight.
Repeat the process a total of four times.

🐦 Tweets of the Week 🐦

This tweet from Tour Pro (@officialtourpro) features a short video of Viktor Hovland describing the concept of Incremental Continuous Improvement. It ties into the Djokovic section, but it bears reminding that incremental small improvements add up to large sums over time.

Check out Newsletter #12, where we discussed this subject in more depth. Link

I’ll be honest: I never knew why we decided on 18 holes. I just assumed that was what they could fit, and it stuck. But as you can see below, the original Old Course was 22 holes! In 1764…. they combined holes, resulting in the 18 holes we know and love today.

The more you know.

h/t to @thegolfdivotee, who is an excellent follow for Golf History content

📺 💻 T2C Media 📺 💻

Yes, more Dan Grieves! I can’t get enough of Dan’s videos and his “3 releases” technique.

Dan uses three different chipping methods or releases that achieve various heights, spins, and run-outs for different goals around the green.

What Dan does better than almost anyone I’ve watched is explain the technique simply and clearly while still giving you the why and how of his methods. Dan’s attention to detail is top-notch. Give it a watch below. (11:39 min)

🔢 Stat(s) of the Week 🔢

I know I’ve been heavy on the Tiger stats, but this stat from Lou Stagner (@loustagner) is absurd.

If you took the best player in each statistical shots gained category from 2023 and combined them into one super golfer, they still would not have approached Tiger Woods's Shots Gained per round from 2000.

It’s a mind-blowing stat showing how much Tiger was a once-in-a-lifetime type golfer.