The JT/Spieth story culminating in JT's win at the PGA is a great starting point. You can tell Spieth is much more of a shark than he lets on, and JT is more fragile than his public image. Some of that is probably editing but it's still there. The money games and pranking are exactly what you want to see.
EP2 is a case study in good and bad mental game. Scheffler being the former and Koepka being the latter.
It was actually painful to watch BK grinding through every second of that episode. I had to stop the video and remind myself "that's not me, I'm not going through that" the same way you might hide your eyes during the scary parts of a movie, just to avoid being sucked into it. It's like when someone in your group is just throwing up all over themselves and you empathize too much with them and it tanks your own game. Gotta tune it out.
The Captain Obvious takeaway is there's probably nobody in pro sports more in need of a psychologist right now. He clearly has no idea that his own self-imposed pressures are ruining his game, and this would be blatantly obvious to anyone with even a basic understanding of the mental side of the game beyond meathead Ricky Bobby bumper sticker slogans.
Yips on the green are often where that first shows up, and he's had that in spades. His self-talk is also unbelievably toxic. Even his home is a pressure cooker, with that huge wall-sized trophy case with "well, why haven't you filled me up?" empty slots looming over him from behind when he's watching TV. Yikes.
As a totally unscientific armchair analysis, imo his ego and desire to "prove everyone wrong" regarding how good he is propelled him for a long time and helped produce his successes. But once he got to a point where he'd satisfied the "why" behind his initial drive he lost the force that made him great. He needs a new "why" that isn't going to expire when the nice house, boat, dog, fancy car, chipper blonde trophy wife parading around in a bikini, etc "you've made it" achievements are unlocked, and the allure has faded.
At the root of it I think BK is overcompensating for his own lack of self worth, which probably comes from the separation of his parents when he was young. I got this impression early in the episode and then noticed subtle clues such as his parents not being together in any of the clips, then their different last names, and it started to add up. This is a classic, textbook side-effect for children of divorce: the need to prove your worth as a person since you view your existence as a mistake.
This creates a stifling perfectionism that often backfires, and that's what he's going through now. I'm guessing he probably reads his own negative press and it eats away at him, increasing the pressure to win again, particularly a major, thus validating his "I'll show you I'm worthy" raison de vivre. For a while.
The way out of this loop is probably regular therapy of some kind, not just swing coaching or sports psychology. Jumping to LIV probably removed some of his fears about his financial future but it's not going to satisfy his other needs or solve his other problems.
At the start of the episode I was thinking "wow this guy is even more of a douche than he appeared to be", but by the end he just seemed like an emotionally damaged kid I wanted to help. Hope he plays well this week.
Scheffler, otoh, comes off as a much more personable guy than his dry white toast on-course image suggested. He's enjoying life and compartmentalizing the moments where he must swing a club, all while keeping his expectations out of the equation. He doesn't have a magic move, or a textbook swing, but he's got a perfect mental game. I'm sure his faith has something to do with it as that removes a lot of self-imposed pressure. If Spieth is the new Arnold Palmer then Scheffler is the new Byron Nelson.
Which is all totally the opposite of BK, who's looking for happiness through revenge swings and then obsessing on failures.
That said I'm hoping JT or Ricky Fowler finally get it done at Augusta.
Until next time,
Dr. g00n
