People often ask me what my biggest strength was when I was playing. My answer has always been: my mind. Sure, I was a great ball striker and most of the time, very good with my putter, but my head put me in a category that elevated me way higher than my golf talent.

What made my head so great? Hahaha, now that is a loaded question. I would attribute my strong head to having two older brothers that I did everything with when I was younger. I played every sport that they played, with the exception of football. However, that never stopped me from playing in the neighborhood games that took place in my front yard. I was the smallest one on the field, with ribbons hanging off of my pigtails underneath my helmet, but I was playing my heart out and I was happy. My job was to grab ankles and hang on for dear life until one of my brothers or teammates could help finish the tackle. I am grinning from ear to ear just thinking about it.

My parents gave me something that I know had a profound impact on my life: they never treated me any differently than my brothers. There were two rules that the three of us had to live by: If I hit my brothers, they could hit me back full throttle and I couldn’t cry or make a peep about it (I made that mistake once and never made it again) and there was no stuffing me on the basketball court.

My point is this: the thought never occurred to me that I couldn’t be great. I was raised in an environment where I was treated as an equal, regardless of the fact that I was the youngest and the only girl. I was expected to pull my weight and do the hard work. The results more or less took care of themselves. I was constantly playing against my brothers who were bigger, faster, and stronger than I was. So, I had to make damn sure I had a mental edge to be able to compete with them. They helped give me that.

Another aspect of mental success is very simple…you have to have the will to NEVER give up, regardless of the circumstances. That is at times a daunting task, but if you commit to this principal, it will serve you more than well on the links. It was always a lot easier for me to play a great round and shoot 69, than it was to struggle and shoot 73. Those are the days where everything was a grind and I found myself mentally exhausted at the end of the day. The great thing about golf is that each day is different with new successes and challenges. The challenges are there to make you better and help you realize what you need to improve on.

You are never as good or bad as your last shot or score. I genuinely mean that. It’s what you do with it that matters…it is all in your head. Make it something great!

Fairways and Greens,

Kelli