How - Dov Seidman [56]
When I got home, there was a lot of media attention, but after it was over, I felt fine. It’s kind of like confessing your sins, you know. You just feel better after it’s all said and done.
Is there something about the clarity you feel that you think impacts your game? Or perhaps the better way to ask the question is the opposite: Is there something about that conflicted feeling that you think would impact your game?
DAVID: It’s very hard to perform without a clear head or a clear conscience. You have to be mentally and physically ready and prepared to play.
Why?
DAVID: I think it’s the power of the mind. You just can’t narrow-focus when you have a lot of other stuff cluttering your mind. I know that carries over to a lot of other things, but it’s certainly very important in our sport. It’s all about being able to focus, having a clear mind no matter what the situation is. I think the bounce-back statistic—being able to make a birdie after you make a bogey and being able to bounce back—is one of the most important ones. It shows really the heart and mind of the player.
Somebody once told me that golf is the most difficult sport mentally, because in every other sport you react to the ball—you swing at the pitch, catch the pass, and so on—but that golf ball will sit on the grass until Hell freezes over or until you hit it.
DAVID: (Laughing) Yep.
And it seems to me that the brilliance of golf, and why it’s so revealing of character, is that how you bring yourself to the ball is almost more important than what you do when you get there.
DAVID: Yeah, sure, it is. It’s what goes through your head on that journey. Bob Rotella, the sports psychiatrist, reminds me of this every time I’ve ever talked to him. He says, “We know you can talk yourself into a bad shot, so why can’t you talk yourself into a good shot?”
I don’t know what the secret is, but I know that the really successful people, whether it’s on or off the golf course, wherever it might be, have something special there, an inner peace. You can learn skills and be trained and everything; but there’s something else inside that separates the good, the really good, and the great from the just mediocre. If we could bottle that, we’d make a lot of money (laughing).
How does integrity figure into that equation?
DAVID: It goes back to knowing you are doing the right thing and feeling good inside about your works. I’ve always gotten a lot of pleasure out of helping other people and trying to give them the same type of chance that I had. It’s important for me to feel like I am giving back to society, whether it’s through my integrity and the example that I set, or through giving, or whatever. I can’t speak for everybody, but for me, knowing that you are leaving a mark adds a little spring to your step.
So to hark back to St. Andrews, did you walk away with a spring in your step?
DAVID: I walked away feeling that I did the right thing, and to be able to say “I did the right thing” means a lot the next time that I tee up the ball. It means my head will be clear of that distraction. It also means a lot to me to set the right example. If there is a young boy playing at his club, and he has always had the problem of keeping his score correctly but didn’t think much of it, I want him saying, “Look what Toms did. Maybe I need to stop trying to get away with something.”
I think you are a rare individual, David. Golf is an individual sport; it’s you against the world. Yet you express yourself as being constantly connected with everybody else on the tour, your community, your fans, and the people who might look up to you. Do you carry that responsibility within you in everything you do?
DAVID: People are watching. How you act,