So, Fred Biondi, the golfer. Yeah, I started watching him a bit, especially after he popped off winning that big college tournament, the NCAA thing back in ’23. You see these young guys come up, and sometimes one just catches your eye.
For me, it wasn’t just the win. I saw some clips, watched how he carried himself. He had this sort of… calm intensity? Hard to explain. A lot of young players, they get erratic, you see the frustration boil over. Biondi seemed pretty level-headed, even when things weren’t perfect. Being from Brazil, you know, maybe a different kind of pressure or perspective, I thought. That got me curious.
Trying to Copy That Calm
Okay, so I play golf myself. Not great, just for fun, you know, weekend warrior stuff. But I get seriously mad out there sometimes. A bad shot, a missed putt… ruins my whole mood. Seeing Biondi, I thought, maybe I can try to borrow some of that calm.
So, here’s what I actually did:
- Deep Breaths: Stupid simple, right? But I started consciously taking a deep breath before every single shot. Felt weird at first. Like, am I meditating or golfing?
- Post-Shot Routine: After a bad shot (and trust me, there were plenty), instead of slamming my club or muttering curses like usual, I forced myself to just… walk. Take a few steps, look at the sky, think about the next shot, not the last one. This was the hardest part.
- Focusing on Process: I tried to stop thinking about the score so much. Instead, I focused on my pre-shot routine: pick the target, take practice swings, commit. If I did that, even if the shot was bad, I tried to tell myself, “Okay, process was good, outcome wasn’t.”
Did it work? Well, kinda. It wasn’t magic. I still hit terrible shots. I still got frustrated. But maybe… 5% less? Instead of fuming for three holes after a duffed chip, maybe it was just one hole. I noticed I wasn’t tensing up quite as much over the ball on the next tee if the previous hole ended badly.
It’s a grind, though. Trying to change habits you’ve had for years? It takes constant effort. You slip back into old ways easy. Watching guys like Biondi make it look effortless is deceptive. There’s a lot going on under the surface, I bet.
So yeah, that was my little experiment inspired by watching Fred Biondi. Didn’t turn me into a pro, obviously. But it was a good reminder that golf is mostly played between the ears. Still working on it. Always working on it.
