Cory Renfrew started his Canadian Tour (PGA Tour Canada) career in 2012 with an exciting home town second place finish at the Times Colonist Open in Victoria, BC and followed it two weeks later with a victory at the Syncrude Boreal Open in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
This year has been a story line of young Canadians breaking through with victories on the Canadian Tour and Cory is another talented Canuck that has converted a championship performance through a great mindset.
I recently spoke with Cory in my continuing coverage of the 2012 Canadian Tour (PGA Tour Canada)documenting the mental strategies of each champion.
In my interview with Cory, the first thing that comes to mind for him when talking about his success is staying level-headed and positive.
He believes better results are possible for him when he choses to keep his emotions at bay.
Winning does not come very easy in golf and Cory faced defeat in the first event of the year after having the lead going into the final round and finishing second. Rather than dwelling on the performance as a failure, Cory saw the outcome as validation that he is able to complete at a championship level on the Canadian Tour, proof that he has the ability to win, and that performance fuelled his fire to win two weeks later.
Cory chose the positive perspective from that Victoria performance and used it as both a learning experience and motivation to reach a new milestone of winning on the PGA Tour Canada.
During his time on the UBC golf team Cory had the opportunity to learn more about golf psychology from Jim Murphy.
Jim’s regular meetings with the team added some new perspective and ideas around golf psychology that Cory credits as both valuable and important contributors to his success. Cory still stays in touch with Jim for discussions on thinking well.
Cory credits visualization and self talk as two important elements to his success.
A positive frame of mind seems to flow through Cory’s self talk during his round and through his visualization. Simple encouragement and talking himself into a higher level of confidence seem to be part of his routine.
He talks about using visualization in his pre-shot routine and also in preparation for the next round the evening before.
Envisioning the best shots and outcomes reinforces what he wants and helps produce better results. Visualizing the night before also helps him with course management planning.
Cory focuses the majority of his time during a tournament week on target awareness. A self-described feel player, he spends more time on shaping shots, distance control, and putting drills that simulate a mindset of achievement.
He likes the putting drills that require him to make a certain number in a row and compares the feeling of pressure on the last few putts to the feeling on the course when he has an important putt. These drills mimic the frame of mind Cory has on the course and relates mentally to on course conditions.
Cory also talks in our interview about the importance of balance both on and off the course.
He reflects on his final round 63 in the Syncrude Boreal Open and how it came from a relaxed mindset. He was focused and stayed in the present all day. He got off to a great start and just kept going.
In his final word, he gave a nod to Jim Murphy who has been instrumental to Cory’s knowledge on sports psychology and he also recommends Jim’s book, “Inner excellence”.
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Golf psychology
mental strategy
visualizaiton
game plan
goals
course strategy
course management
self talk
pre-shot routine
golf confidence
