Australian golfer Brett Rumford is the first to admit he’s got a knack of producing some catastrophic shanks out on the course.
In the past, Rumford would beat himself up whenever he produced such a shot, and the rest of his round would suffer as a consequence.
Now, he tries to show himself a bit more love when things aren’t going well, and the new approach is starting to bear fruit.
Rumford has already won twice on the European Tour this year, and he’ll be aiming to land some major paydays over the coming weeks during the Race to Dubai playoff series, where$30.5 million in prize money will be up for grabs.
The world No.82 has made peace with the fact he’ll never be as good or consistent as world No.1 Tiger Woods.
At 36 years of age, Rumford knows his best won’t get any better.
But his upside lies in limiting the amount of times he produces his worst.
“My ceiling of good – I can’t get any better than that,” said Rumford, who was just one shot off the lead heading in Sunday’s fourth and final round of the $2 million Perth International.
“But it’s a matter of working on the flaws in my game to bring that up.
“You’re only as good as your misses in this game. Unfortunately, my misses at times can be catastrophic.
“That’s why my career has been up and down and all over the place.
“But I’m working hard on trying to minimise those bad golf shots.”
Rumford has always been renowned for his tireless work ethic.
Physically pushing his body has yielded good results.
But it’s only in recent years that he’s discovered the benefits of laying off himself mentally when things aren’t going well.
“I feel as though my maturity in the game and out on the golf course has really stepped up in the past two or three years,” Rumford said.
“I’m just beating myself up less.
“I’m not saying everything is roses out there. You still get pretty annoyed.
“But you can just feel it when it starts to bubble inside you, and you just realise that it’s doing you more harm than good.
“I just seem to be just taking the punches better now and being very patient out there.
“It’s the hardest game in the world to play, no doubt about it.
“When it’s hard, you can make it harder or you can just accept it and just try and do the best you can.”
