John Updike Quotes

When I got to match point in the final I was afraid I'd be a little nervous, but I just said, You have to stay focused, just think about what you have to do.

When I go out on the ice, I just think about my skating. I forget it is a competition.

People always say golfers don't smile. But there is so much psychology in golf so we have to be a bit robotic.

If I'm on my way to play a round of golf there is an anxiety in me, a feeling of 'I can't lose today.'

How you think, and how much you think, is so important in golf. There are countless things we can work on and think about in the swing, but when it's time to play in competition, you don't want to think too many thoughts.

A lot of amateurs are terrified of going up against a player who is clearly better than they are. They never play their best, because they aren't comfortable. There's one surefire way to get over that, and it's to ask yourself, 'What if I beat him?' Imagine the possibility.

I'm confident in my own ability. If that wasn't the case you might as well pack it in now. If you think too much, you start doubting yourself, doubting your quality, so you have to train yourself in a certain way.

To play well you must feel tranquil and at peace. I have never been troubled by nerves in golf because I felt I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

So much of performing is a mind game.

So it must be my mental, because sometimes when I start on the tee, I still worry about whether my ball is going to hit right or left.

A good 80 percent of the vault is still physical and another percentage of it, 20, 25 percent is mental. Mental is always the mental strength, the confidence building up to that contest or repetition, practice, practice, and practice.

I mean I don't want to feel inferior to any other golfer in the world. You know if you do that, then you know you're giving them an advantage, you know, right off the - you know, right from the start.

I don't think about the press or the crowds or the other leaders of the race. The focus is only on myself. As soon as I see the targets, I tune them out.

Sometimes the biggest problem is in your head. You've got to believe you can play a shot instead of wondering where your next bad shot is coming from.

Because winning a gold medal had been a dream of mine since a young age, I needed to empty my mind during the preparation for the Olympics by telling myself that it would be OK not to win a gold medal.

If you are going to talk negative about a place, you're almost throwing yourself out to begin with because golf is a mental game.

I've always felt how players handle the pressure was the most interesting part of golf.

When I go to competitions, I don't have so much confidence that I don't worry or get nervous about the other skaters doing well.

As long as you put the effort in with your practice, the muscles in your arm stay relaxed and mental preparation is all it takes.

Anyway, when I get sorta tense and start thinking about every shot, that's when my game falls apart.

It's interesting: I never got stressed before wrestling matches. I always felt completely confident that I had done everything I could do, all my mental preparations when I sat down and envisioned the match, so I never felt stressed.

The psychology of sport is so important. When you are standing at the crease, in front of a stadium full of people, it's a pretty intense experience. So you need to have the psychological tools to control your mind and deliver your best performance.

Growing up, I did quite a bit of reading on the mental side. My dad, who coached me, had us doing a lot of different types of mental work, like visualization. I read a couple of tennis books that talked about calming your nerves, belief, visualization, relaxing, breathing.

Cricket is 90-95 per cent mental. To score runs, you've got to feel good about yourself.

When I'm off the golf course, I feel the pressure, but I try to concentrate on the golf course.