The Ryder Cup - Team Player or Lone Wolf?

The question here is - do you play well with others? Being a ‘team player’ requires a very different mentality than when it is you against the rest of the field? I do not intend for one minute to suggest that Monty has more of the following skill sets than Tiger – that is for those who are close to both players who have their counsel to decide. I am merely here to demonstrate what is required in the attitude, behaviour and personality of a ‘good team player’.

Let’s look at a few skills that make a person a good team player:

- Your social skills need to be open
- You need to have productive relationships with others

Being a team player is all about managing your emotions during play (something most golfers know a lot about) and then being able to use this skill to effectively communicate to your fellow team members (not an environment they are used to).

So, does being a good team player mean being able to read the emotions of your fellow team members - the good, the bad and especially the in between? If you are someone who has spent your whole life honing skills which encourage being completely self-focused in order to be the very best, how easy can it be to switch into a skill set that requires the complete opposite? In this environment do the very qualities that make a golfer great come into conflict with what is being asked of him during the Ryder Cup?

You now need to engage with those around you - your team mates - people who for most of your professional sporting career have been your competitors! To suddenly be able to adapt and have an intuitive sense of others in order to become a good team player; especially if you do not agree with what is being said. You will be required to have the ability to take into account everyone’s viewpoints in order to make the team, the good of the collective, stronger. Golf is often described as a ‘game of self’ so this is one area that is in total conflict with the golfer’s usual required behavior.

As well as suddenly finding this ‘open’ and engaging attitude, in order for it to work successfully in a team environment, the golfer’s body language needs to become congruent with his behavior. Body language is so important in order to create rapport with those around you. It is these skills that will demonstrate that you are listening and that you are fully engaged with your team. Caring about those around you and how they are doing is a skill that goes totally against the whole ‘game of self’ mentality required to be a championship golfer.

In summary, the skill set of the Captain is pivotal to the success of any team, and the Ryder Cup is no exception. So to bring together a collection of maverick minded golfers and to create a team mentality is truly a challenging task - put simply GOLF IS NOT A TEAM SPORT. So far the Europeans seem to have that ‘whole working as a team’ mentality sown up - yet the US player’s solo track records boast a larger percentage of the world’s finest golfers.

The fact of the matter is that the Americans know a great deal about how to create a winning mentality because these are skills that are learned, encouraged and applauded from a very young age. I cannot imagine visiting an American School and them canceling sports day so as not to upset those children who never manage first place! I am sorry if I have offended anyone with that statement - but please.

It is a little known fact that Tiger Woods had a Sport’s Psychologist work with him from the age of 12, his name was Jay Brunza, so Tiger’s sense of self was worked on when it was the most important - during his formative years. He has often been quoted as saying that he does not need to work on his mental game, but then adds, that is because all the skills he needed were put in place at an early age.

You may conclude from reading this that it is my belief that we British do not place such high importance on teaching our young ‘a winning mentality’ and that being second best is something that is generally accepted as making for a more caring mentality? A viewpoint I do not entirely agree with, but it is because I totally empathize with the frustration of those around me when our nation’s finest sports competitors lose yet again in the world sports arena. Maybe that is why we all love the Ryder Cup so much - because one thing is for sure as we all sit down to enjoy this great golfing event here is one sport’s event that we do truly excel in!

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Gail Smirthwaite
GOLF CONFIDENCE COACH
www.confidencecaddie.com