“Without her, none of this would be possible for Wyndham Clark.”
That’s how Colt Knost introduced this week’s Subpar guest, mental-game guru Julie Elion, who has worked with a number of the game’s top players, including newly-minted CJ Cup Byron Nelson champion Wyndham Clark.
On the episode, Elion, whose new book, “Mastering Your Mental Game,” will be available next week, discussed her work with Clark, and the progress he’s made over the years.
Reflecting on his recent win, Elion cited the pride she felt watching the final round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The situation: Clark, in the hunt, encountered a mud ball on the par-5 9th hole. He sought casual-water relief from two rules officials and was denied. But he still made par on the hole en route to a final-round 60, winning the tournament by three shots.
“I was riveted,” Elion told hosts Knost and Drew Stoltz. “Because I was so hoping he could look at it the right way, and he’s worked really hard to do that. He looked so good. It wasn’t that I was doubting him. But it was those moments that we have focused on, like how to use everything to get better and for your advancement and to learn from instead of, why did this happen to me?
“I had heard many times, ‘I always roll into the divot’ or ‘I get the bad lie,’” she continued. “So I was teetering, and he was amazing. He was so amazing. I’m really proud of him because he really does the work.”
What does that work entail? Part of Elion’s process with players like Clark involves having them set goals and mission statements for themselves for each round.
“We switch it from daily goals to mission statements, because we just need to shake it up,” Elion said. “But what started to happen is those morph back into daily goals. So, I would say, ‘Well, how’d you do today? And what are you trying to accomplish mentally today?’
“So, the mission statement was kind of a little more global. But every one of my clients — not everyone, but pretty much everyone — sticks to a protocol of, ‘What am I trying to feel today?’ It might be confidence, it might be free, it might be no leaderboards, it might be, ‘I don’t like who I’m playing with, and I’m not gonna let it bother me.’ It could be anything. But like I said earlier, I just try to stay on them to make sure they’re paying attention, not to just technical.”
Those goals, Elion says, are intended to remind the players of what they’re good at, and keep them in the present — something Clark exemplified to an impressive degree on Sunday at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
For more from Elion, including some advice for recreational players, check out the entire Subpar episode below.
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