By Dr. Gregg Steinberg, Sports Psychologist
How can Simone Biles, the great Olympic gymnast, help you to be more successful on the golf course?
My entire career has been focused on how the principles of elite performance can help you to achieve greatness on the golf course. In essence, I have tried to decipher the secret sauce to great performance and then show how to apply those performance secrets to your golf game.
Take Simone Biles as the perfect example. We can all learn to be more successful in golf from the message tattooed on her collarbone.
Simone Biles is considered the greatest woman gymnast of all-time, and she has earned that title with blood, sweat and many tears, as her journey has been filled with many wonderful highs as well as many lows.
In the 2020 Olympic games, Simone dropped out of the team competition because of the twisties. The twisties is a condition in which you get disoriented and lose the perception of where you body is in space. As such, Simone believed she could get seriously injured if she competed so she dropped out of the team competition finals.
As a result of the twisties and related mental health concerns, Simone dropped out of competition for the next two years. However, she dropped back in and began in earnest to practice her great talents, and as such, has shown everyone at the 2024 Olympics the reason why she is considered the greatest of all time.
“And still I rise” is the message tattooed on her collarbone. Taken from a poem by Maya Angelou, this message inspires her to get better every day regardless of what has happened in the past. As Simone has stated, “After all the traumas and downfalls, I still have risen to the occasion.”
Her tattoo is her life mantra–She will rise to any possibility regardless of circumstance.
What Simone Biles teaches us is the importance of a mantra. Your mantra is something you hold dear to your heart that will bring you inspiration to become a better golfer.
As an example, a golf mantra you might want to use is:
“Always getting better”
“I am bringing my A game today”
“Bring the fight everyday”
Now you don’t need to tattoo your golf mantra on your collarbone or any other part of your body. But what you do need to do is first find a golf mantra that works for you—one that inspires you to play your best golf every day. Then post your mantra all over the house, and on your golf bag, and then believe it with all your heart.
If it works for Simone Biles, it will work for you!
About the author:
Dr. Steinberg is a professor of sport psychology at Austin Peay State University. Dr. Gregg has been ranked by Golf Digest as one of the world’s greatest golf psychologists. He is executive director of the International Golf Psychology Association (IGPA). Please visit the online golf psychology course he created for the IGPA at www.masteringgolfpsychology.com for your free mental game e-book and free videos.
