John Crampton must have felt like Osama bin Laden in front of the United States congress. Addressing a group of reluctant, somewhat hostile, NSW State Amateur squad members on the semi-mystical, unexplored subject of sports psychology (a notion still in its infancy in 1987) probably didn’t amount to his idea of a great day.

A good proportion of those that weren’t hostile were disinterested. Others just sat there a bit confused by the whole deal, contemplating the curve ball that had been thrown out of left field by the NSW State team manager. Psychologists dealt with nutters, and either the NSW Golf Association knew something that we didn’t or this guy was in the wrong room.

Crampton introduced ideas during his presentation like effective practice and seeing yourself hitting the ball through imaginary windows in the sky, in the process honing ones mental skills. Words like “visualisation” were used. Big words – words that were anathema to the overall simplicity of golfing vocabularies that had previously been content with par, birdie and bogey.

Of course, Crampton, one of Australia’s leading sport psychologists then and now, made the point a number of times that most of us were already incorporating such techniques in our game. We just didn’t view it in such an analytical way. Understanding your mental tendencies and harnessing the power of the mind would enable you to become a better, and more efficient player, he said, and that was where a sport psychologist could help to enhance your performance.

In the end, there were a few converted souls in the room, myself included. Others were more dubious – “Let me see him hit a 2-iron over a long water carry and then I’ll start listening”, was one response. Nonetheless, there was little doubt that some of his thought processes rang a bell. In particular, techniques used for dealing with distractions and goal setting have stayed with me ever since. The day also inspired me to seek out others on the matter in future years.

We've Come A Long Way

Sport psychology has come a long way since being viewed as being one step up from witchcraft. There is hardly a major sport anywhere in the world that doesn’t employ the services of such a practitioner to help with the performance of their team and/or athletes.

Regardless of such examples of recalcitrance, golf in particular has largely embraced the art and science of sports psychology. The pressure and unforgiving nature of the PGA Tour’s of the world has meant that numerous players are seeking an advantage by attempting to develop their mental skills. Consequently, the vocation has become more accepted, with many players integrating a mind coach into their programs on an equal footing with swing instructors and physical trainers.

Names like Bob Rotella (of “Golf is not a Game of Perfect” fame) have carved out mini-empires for themselves based on the premise of teaching mastery of the mind. Subsequently, there are now a couple of Aussies in the same field set to create their own identities in this field.

Neale Smith initially trained to be a school teacher, but a year of supply work in Sydney’s Northern suburbs put paid to any ambition he may have harboured in that respect. The following year he packed his bags and headed off to California State University in Fullerton to complete a Masters in Sport Psychology qualification.

In the last year of his degree, he took up a job as a teaching professional at a driving range in Chicago over the summer break, in the process losing his amateur status. A handy three marker in Australia, he knew enough about the game to get him by, and desperately needed some cash to pay his rent and tuition for the final semester.

As a professional, he competed in a few mini-tour events in California, largely without success, but at the end of 1992 a sponsor offered to pay his entrance fee for US Tour School. He thought, ‘What the heck, I’ll give it a go’.

In one of the great Cinderella stories, Smith made it through the first two stages by the skin of his teeth, and then won the final stage to be the No.1 qualifier for the US PGA Tour for the 1993 season.

After enduring a tough year where he lost his card, he went on to play for the best part of a decade on the Australian and Canadian Tours before hanging up his clubs to concentrate on creating a consultation business as a sports psychologist specialising in golf.

He now works with numerous players on the US PGA Tour, including Paul Gow, Nick Flanagan, Nathan Green and Hunter Mahan. In an environment prone to attracting fame seekers and hangers-on, Smith’s bona fides as a player and an in depth knowledge of the game at the highest level has won him kudos on the pro tour. Such experience also affords him a unique practical perspective that no other golf psychology consultant is able to bring to the table.

Another newcomer carving out a healthy niche for herself in the field is Andrea Furst. The Queenslander has been consulting for nearly eight years, and has recently moved to base herself in Singapore to help cater to a growing client list based in South East Asia.

95% of her business is based in and around golf, including working with more than half a dozen Asian Tour regulars (Adam Blyth, Scott Barr, Angelo Que and others) and the Singapore National Amateur squad.

New Frontiers

Where does Furst see the new frontiers for sport psychology in golf?

“I’d like to see it taught earlier, as a fabric of the game. At the moment everything starts with technique and playing and then the mental side is added as an afterthought- the Tiger Woods model should be enough to show people how important good mental skills are. Remember, Woods was working on that side of things long before he became a world beater.”

“Being involved in the game for a while now I also see just how important the self esteem aspects are – the importance of helping athletes to find balance and to deal with distractions and hard times outside of golf. It is at least as important as teaching someone how to handle pressure, probably more so.”

Both Smith and Furst have arrived at the coalface of professional golf at the right time. The environment is now more accepting of the right of sports psychology to exist, the ambivalence and scepticism of the past retreating in the face of evidence (in the form of results from those that have embraced mental training) that it works.

And John Crampton? Obviously undaunted by his brush with the non-believing dark-side, Crampton has gone on to play a significant role at the NSW Institute of Sport, during that time also working with Olympic athletes during the 2000 Sydney Olympic games.

As far as I know, he never did hit that 2-iron over the long water carry but the guy who made the call has also disappeared off the face of the golfing world as well.

Perhaps there was a use for those big words after all.

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