Is the Tiger Woods era of mental game dominance over?

He's got a lot on his mind. Now that's pretty much of an understatement. Tiger's mental game has been on the slip and slide for the better part of a year now. Simply put, he's in a world class psychological slump.

Tiger has this immense stress and he may not be appreciative that it's leaking into his game, according to Dr. Gregg Steinberg, a sports psychologist and consultant to college and professional athletes whose clients include PGA tour members.

Well... Duh!

Steinberg goes on to say that the longer Tiger doesn't win, the harder it will be for him to win. He's got one hell of an mental uphill battle in front of him.

But if anyone can pull it off, Tiger can. Here's a man who has been to the mountain top. It wasn't that long ago that the so-called golf experts placed Tiger Woods well above the rest of the PGA tour. He was the on the "Tiger Tour."

Sport psychology consultant Dr. Jack Llewellyn, who has counseled professional athletes whose performances suffered because of turbulence in their personal lives, says he believes Woods can return to the "Tiger Tour," if and when he admits there are flaws in his mental game armor.

Llewellyn believes if Tiger takes care of himself mentally and physically, he'll rediscover the quality energy he needs to play his very large game.

So, Let's hear your opinion. Is the "Tiger Tour" gone forever, or can he rediscover the lost mind game assets from his pre-disaster days?

Comments

[Dean]

There is no doubt that Tiger will return to golf dominance. Once he re-establishes some stability in his personal life, he will come back with great golf again.

[noisemaker]

I agree. Tiger has all the tools he needs. He just needs to get his head straight.

[socalgolfergal]

Having had a taste of this problem myself, it is obvious that emotional trauma of this nature takes its toll on all aspects of one's personality. However, this man is quite disciplined and I believe that he will return to form in the not too distant future. Will he ever dominate like he did? That's another question. There's a lot of talent out there to give him a run for his money.

[Mental Golf Blog]

Personally I don't think Tiger will return to dominance, I'm sure he'll win again but the other players now know he is fallible and they can beat him.
One of the things I never really understood about the Woods myth that we all bought into is that we were told that Earl Woods would rattle coins etc, cough and put him off constantly all in order to prepare him mentally for the tour. How come then that he (and his caddie) complain so much about photographers etc?
Maybe it was a case of "Emperor's Clothes" and now we can see through them :-)

[Rick]

I don't think he will ever be the same - he just seems to be so out of touch. Having said that, he will always be better than just about everyone.

Crazy drive + absurd talent = he is probably going to win.

I have been wrong before, but I believe that he will go back to winning so long as he can get his mind straight enough to get his drive back.

[dahandstl]

Well written post, my friend, on the mental game... My "mental" issue is the gap between "believing I can," and the rationale of the practice it takes in my mind to close that gap... therein lies the "lie" of "I can"...

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