Duval is Reborn - Doubting our Doubt

Karl Morris is Europe’s leading mind coach, delivering cutting edge methods of peak performance and goal achievement to a range of clients across sports and business. 

I was fortunate to be over at the US Open working but I have to say that the end of the tournament provided a potential glorious moment for anyone interested in how the Mind affects your golf. It looked with a couple of holes to go and after a run of three birdies on the back nine that the seemingly impossible might happen and David Duval would be crowned US Open champion. For a few moments it seemed that he would finally put all of the demons that have haunted him of late and take his place back at the pinnacle of the game. A short putt shaved the hole on the 17th hole and it was not to be. However a second place finish in the toughest of all major tests must restore a lot of his fragile confidence. Or will it?

How is it that a former World No One, British Open champion, 59 shooter and multiple tournament victor could have over the past few years been reduced to an absolute wreck and a pale imitation of his former self. I personally have seen Duval at a couple of events and at his worst it was definitely not a pretty sight. He had totally lost his game and his shattered confidence was revealed in a message from his body that looked so deflated and disillusioned about the game.

The fact that he has fought back to such a degree to nearly win another major is a huge testimony to the man. I have nothing but utmost respect for someone who has been through such a bad run of form who keeps going and comes out the other side. Very few do.

Seeing Duval got me thinking about DOUBT.

Why is it that we doubt ourselves SO MUCH?

We may have performed well in a task before or an event or a sport but it seems to me a constant human condition that we are never far from the little voice of doubt knocking at the door of our mind. Some have it worse than others but I am sure that if you think that doubt will ever go away totally you are mistaken. Some players like Ian Poulter do an amazing job of dismissing the doubt with a huge counter reaction of positivity. But this approach is not for everyone. Positive thinking is not a band aid cure for all and for some it can actually lead to a huge crash and a countering surge of negativity. Doubt I believe is pretty much wired into the human mind as a survival mechanism over millions of years of evolution. When we all roamed around in caves and each day was about basic survival you had to have an element of doubt with most of the things that you did just to stay alive. Just because this path out of the cave was safe yesterday did not mean that there would be no sabre tooth tiger along it today. Having doubt kept our cave friends around and that message was passed down through genetic evolution. The trouble is that it is now pretty much out of date. We need some doubt,  but we do not need the amount of doubt that we all tend to carry around with us.

One of my biggest influences in my work Fred Shoemaker has a great take on this. He simply calls doubt ‘The Voice’. According to Fred it is pretty futile to stop the voice as it can come into our mind at any time but we don’t have to BELIEVE the voice. We can become aware of the voice of doubt but we do not need to buy into what it is saying. Just by becoming aware of your voice and letting it be without changing it can be very effective. Tim Gallwey, who wrote the Inner Game of Golf many years ago said we should just simply ‘Doubt the Doubt’.
The bottom line is that we all have it, we all need to find ways of dealing with it because unchecked it can literally ruin not just your golf game but your life to. It may be that you seek the help of a Mind Coach, read some good psychology books or simply take on the quest yourself. Either way to come out the other side and overcome the voice of doubt is a great feeling. Rest easy in the knowledge that you are not alone in your doubt and take inspiration from the likes of David Duval to know that you CAN achieve what you want to do by finding your own process to deal with doubt when it comes knocking at your particular door.

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