Coach Jan Dowling is our first of many Q/A’s with college coaches. Coach Dowling is short on the job with Michigan, however she is not short on experience!! Thanks Coach, look forward to seeing you at our CGC – San Diego event!!
Where did you play college golf?
Kent state
What is your greatest achievement?
Being chosen to represent Canada at the World Amateur Championship
What is your proudest moment as a coach?
Any time a player makes progress!
What trait do dislike the most?
People who interrupt
What trait do admire the most?
Passion!
What is your greatest fear?
Snakes
What is your favorite place to eat on the road?
Any local restaurant with local food
Best advice you received as a junior golfer?
The most important shot is the next
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Coach Mueller has worked our CGC – Dallas and CGC – Orlando events!! Great energy!! Look forward to working with Coach Rich……check out what he had to say…..
Where did you play college golf?
NYU
What is your greatest achievement?
Becoming a professional golfer
What is your proudest moment as a coach?
Finding a ball of player from another team on the last hole of the final round in the Ivy Championship. We lost by 1.
What trait do dislike the most?
Ego.
What trait do admire the most?
Bounce back.
What is your greatest fear?
Not getting any better.
What is your favorite place to eat on the road?
Use Yelp and avoid all chains wherever possible. Tons of local places that are way better.
Best advice you received as a junior golfer?
Chip and putt as often as possible. It improves every aspect of your game.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Still learning what BEST motivates every individual player. This allows me to get the best out of you.
What is your greatest regret?
Not getting better grades in high school. Opens up every door…
I never had any aspirations of becoming a great golf instructor as a child. For me, golf has always been a game that is played. However, it became quite apparent later in my life that different levels of golf required different fundamentals. How true this is even today!
My clients span the spectrum from beginner to tour player. Over the years I have seen 17 handicaps become 8 handicaps, 8 handicaps go to 3 handicaps, and tour players finally break through to become champions. As I recall, all were very well pleased and happy to accomplish their goals. That is what is so great about the game of golf. It is an individual sport in which a player only measures themselves against “old man par” and their goals.
Check out this information, so valuable for Junior Golfers
http://12monthsofgolfinvail.blogspot.com/2013/08/chasing-confidence.html
Players who feel a lack of confidence are usually experiencing interference. The interference can be based in negative emotions such as doubt, fear, embarrassment or anger. Interference can also come from positive emotions, such as excitement or aggressiveness. If you don’t feel confident on the golf course, your first step is to figure out what is interfering with your focus and when is it happening? A confident player will have unwanted emotions and errant thoughts going through her mind, but the difference is, she doesn’t allow them to disrupt her focus. She recognizes that these emotions and thoughts have no power over her and her ability to choose her focus keeps her in the present. When a stray thought pops in your mind, you can simply let it go and refocus your mind.
Chasing Confidence
One of my off-season goals was to read as much as I could about confidence. I started conversations with numerous players and bloggers and did online searches. Here is what I decided after reading, listening and thinking through all I digested.
Confidence isn’t something you can chase. It is a state of being that is reliant upon total focus. Total focus allows you the freedom to play. You must be in the moment to be confident, yet if you are in the moment, confidence never enters your mind. If you talk about being confident or you set out to work on confidence, you aren’t likely to find it. If instead, you work to learn complete focus in any situation and to allow yourself the freedom to do what you visualize, you will feel the confidence you want.
Jack Nicklaus at the 1960 Masters.
Tour players often talk of the learning process of winning a major. What they are learning to deal with is heightened interference. Their desire might be too high, leading them out of the moment and into scenes of holding trophies. Their patience might be thin due to the demanding conditions of the course. The pressures of the press and expectations might make them apprehensive. Majors amplify whatever interference you have through tough conditions, rarity, vaulted value and intense competition. Learning to win a major means learning to be completely into the task at hand and set all those other things aside.
Figuring out how to be as simple with the task at hand is one way to avoid interference. See the shot you want to hit, commit to hit wholeheartedly and execute it. The shot you want is one that is comfortable for you, one you can visualize and one that will lead to the result you want. Our adage is, “do what you can with what you have from where you are.” This way of thinking makes any shot seem less pressure-filled and more doable. It is an adage that puts your mind into the situation at hand.
You can see the focus in the eyes of the best in any sport. Jerry Rice stayed in the moment and caught the ball. Receivers who are worried about the hit or the run after catch before they tuck it away won’t be among the best. Are you in the moment on the golf course?
Another quality of confident people is, they are usually clear on what they can and can’t control. When things happen that are out of their control, they shrug it off. However, when a confident player makes a mistake within her control, she uses the mistake to learn and adjust. If you are a confident golfer, mistakes are opportunities to learn and grow. Anger or frustration might pop in, but it doesn’t become the focus of a confident player. It is simply a quick stage they pass through on their way to refocusing. If anger or frustration happen often and continuously, the player will never be confident, because she isn’t accepting what is happening. She is reacting to what was. In order to learn from your mistakes and use them to improve, you have to first accept that you made them.
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
Confident players look confident. They exude it with body language and a sense of purpose. They are assured, but rarely cocky. Cocky people are usually worried about impressing others, while confident people know they can’t control others’ viewpoints. If you want to appear confident, you are once again in the wrong frame of mind. Think of the eyes of the most focused athletes in any sport and you will get the idea of what confidence looks like.
No amount of practice or preparation will lead to confidence if you don’t choose to embrace the moment. Practice will make it easier to “fake it” when you aren’t focused and into the shot, but it isn’t a sure path to confidence. Both practice and preparation are important to your success, but they need to include focus and freedom. If you lack confidence, it will always show up at the most important times. In order to learn to excel at important times, you must let go of thoughts of confidence and simply get into the task at hand. Learn focus by putting yourself in tough situations whenever possible. Role play when you have a shot or putt. Pretend to be at the US Open and picture the grand stands full of fans in front of you. Make your practice meaningful and stressful and learn to focus through it. If you are conscious of how you are thinking and what you are doing under pressure, you will be susceptible to interference and you will soon slip out of the moment and into the past or future. Learn to do it without a process. Nike was onto something when they said, Just Do It!
The main point is, if you want to play golf with confidence, learn to be in control of your focus. If you feel uncomfortable over the ball, you are too into you and not into the shot. If you feel pressure to force shots, you are choosing shots with which you don’t feel comfortable. If you are worried about where the ball could go or how you are swinging, you have lost track of the most important task, which is picking a target and a shot and committing to it. If you are thinking about letting people down or being embarrassed by your score, you are thinking of things you can’t control.
Even the pros talk about finding and losing confidence, but the greats never mention it. They seem to understand deep in their bones that if they play golf with complete focus on what they do with each shot, confidence won’t matter. They’ve earned their confidence by learning to control their focus, be in the moment and play with freedom.
Adam Scott has taken his talents and learned to excel under pressure.
CGC is inviting all high school golf coaches to our events!!
High School Golf Coaches are encouraged to come enjoy the experience and learn from some of the best college golf coaches in America!!
High School Golf Coaches are allowed to sit in on all scheduled events for CGC. Please email us at [email protected] to let us know you are coming.
Here is the List of Coaches for CGC – San Diego and the tentative schedule. Email us with questions.
NCAA Coaches Confirmed to represent their Mens and Womens Golf Programs:
University of Oregon – Casey Martin
Arizona State University – Tim Mickelson
UCLA – Derek Freeman
University of Arizona – Jim Anderson University of Texas-Arlington – Jay Rees Gonzaga University- Brad Rickel University of Colorado – Anne Kelly University of New Mexico – Glen Millican University of San Diego – Cory Scoggin Columbia University – Rich Mueller University of Nevada – Jacob Wilner San Diego State University – Ryan Donovan UNLV – Amy Bush Texas Tech University – Greg Sands Long Beach State University – Joey Cerulle University of Michigan – Jan Dowling Colorado State University – Christian Newton Fresno State University – Chad Spencer Pepperdine University – Michael Beard
Friday, November 8th – La Costa Golf Resort
2:00pm – 3:00pm – Camp Check-in
3:15pm – Welcome and coach introductions
4:00pm – 6:00pm – SeeMore Par 3 Challenge – Coaches assigned to holes
6:30pm – 7:15pm – “Transition from Junior Golf to College Golf” – Jim Anderson, Arizona
7:20pm – 8:00pm – “Efficient Practice” – Dr. Mark Guadagnoli, Triad Consulting, Inc
Saturday, November 9th – Torrey Pines – North
7:00am – All Coaches and Player to driving range – Casey Martin, Oregon– “Play with Freedom”
8:00am – Shotgun Start for all players – Coaches assigned holes
1:00pm – 2:15pm – Lunch
2:15pm – 3:30pm – “A Golfers Mind” – Dr. Mark Guadagnoli, Triad Consulting, Inc
3:35pm – 4:10pm – “Golf is a TEAM sport” – Tim Mickelson, Arizona State
4:20pm – College Practice Routines – 30 minute rotations
– Putting – Brad Rickel- Gonzaga, Jay Rees – UT-Arlington, Christian Newton – CSU
– Chipping – Amy Bush – UNLV, Greg Sands – Texas Tech, Chad Spencer – Fresno St.
– Iron Play – Cory Scoggin – San Diego, Jacob Wilner – Nevada, Anne Kelly – Colorado
6:00pm – 6:30pm – “Body is your Business” – Glen Millican – New Mexico
6:35pm – Optional – “Faith, Life and Golf” – College Golf Fellowship – www.collegegolffellowship.com
Sunday, November 10th – La Costa Golf Resort
7:00am – “Harness your inner Champion” – Derek Freeman, UCLA
8:00am – Shotgun Start for all players – Coaches assigned holes
1:00pm – 2:15pm – Lunch provided for Players, Staff and College Coaches.
2:15pm – 3:00pm – Question and Answers – Open forum with college coaches – Michael Beard – Pepperdine, Joey Cerulle – LBSU, Ryan Donovan – SDSU, Richard Mueller – Columbia
3:10pm – 3:50pm – “Championship Golf” – Jan Dowling, Michigan
4:00pm – 4:50pm – “Life Skills for Student-Athletes” – Jim Anderson, Arizona
