Similarities in What it Takes to be Mentally Tough
0I love sports! I like all different kinds of sports. I like fast sports, slow sports, action sports and extreme sports. From the mental games of golf and baseball to the fast paced action of hockey and lacrosse, I love it! One of my sports that I get to play every now and then, is golf. I follow golf on the PGA Tour. I got the app, I know a lot of the players, and can even recognize players by their swing style and tempo. I have learned a lot about the mental side of golf and the fine tuning of the golf swing as I have watched the best play, and played myself. Golf and team roping have a lot in common. Although different in a few big ways, they still have plenty of similar characteristics. Here are a few.
Us taking pictures with our prizes at the BFI.
I’ll start with a few basic similar characteristics. The swing! Both swings have to be fine tuned according to the situation. I think that golf has a lot more variety than roping does, but both swings are tuned so much that even the slightest angle of a club swing changes the spin and direction of the ball and the slightest angle of a rope swing determines wether you click it on the horns or your heel loop hits the dirt. Everyone has their own style of hitting a golf ball and everyone has their own style of catching steers, but the angles and delivery hasve a few fundamentals that everyone must be able to handle. The angles change according to what you want to do. In golf, if you want to hit a draw (an inside curve), you swing your club as if you are hitting to right fielder, if your a right hander, which causes the ball to spin to the left so the ball curves to the left. This type of swing is started in your back swing, most of the time. The exception here is Jim Furyk, an outstanding golfer with a very unique swing, yet he still controls the ball precisely, because when he makes contact, his angles are correct for what he is trying to do. Here is a youtube link to a video of his swing so you can see what I am talking about. http://youtu.be/cTuTrpWCZhU
Depending on how hard you hit the ball and wether or not you are trying a full swing or a punch shot determines the type of loft and the amount of spin you get. In roping, the same concept comes to reaching or riding close. When you reach, your tip must be above the horns, or, if it’s not, you have to correct it when you deliver. Trevor Brazille is my example of an exception here. There are times when he reaches and his tip is not covering above the horns, but when you watch his delivery, he stands up and throws a little more like a calf roper in order for his tip to come over the horns. I might add he does it very well. 😉 Check his video here! http://youtu.be/o6Ax8l8Quyc
The BIG arena set up at The Daddy of ’em All in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
In golf, there are thousands of different variants. In roping, there are lots of different variants, but I don’t believe as much as golf. They play all sorts of different types of golf courses that each have their own characteristics, grass length, amount of water on the course, grass thickness, speed of the greens, type of grass, weather conditions, forgiveness of the greens, and the list goes on. Also, with all of those different equations to factor in, each course has it own set of 18 different holes that an individual player has to conquer.
This is the course map of Augusta National. The Master’s is played here every year.
In roping, we have a few different qualities from rodeo to rodeo or jackpot to jackpot, but for the most part, roping does not have as many variants as golf. We go to different types of arenas, like the long barriers and big arenas at Salinas and Cheyenne, to the short barriers and little set ups like the NFR and Nampa, but not as many variants as golf players take on. We do have weather conditions and ground conditions, but we are not as nearly affected as golfers are when the rain and mud hits. One factor we do have that golf does not have is our cattle that we rope. When we show up at a rodeo, we do not usually know the type of cattle we are roping. We don’t know if we are roping big hogs that weigh 650 pounds or little freshies that weigh 350 and have never been roped. In golf, you have the choice of what you are going to hit. You get to choose a softer ball with more spin or a harder ball that is a safer choice for the player like me, the “not so good player that has fun just playing” type! Ha! As team ropers, that is a factor that we must be able to be ready for.
The little arena in Nampa, Idaho. The home of The Snake River Stampede.
We need to be able to handle little steers and rope big horns wherever we go. Also, a golf ball doesn’t move. A steer is constantly on the move. We have to adjust our swings and deliveries in the middle of action. If the steer steps left, you have to ride wider and come across the horns better with your delivery. If the steer steps right, you need to open your delivery up and cover the far side of the right horn. There is less predictability in team roping than golf. Another difference I see between the two sports is the pace of play. In golf, you get to walk up to your ball, asses the lie, look to see your surroundings, determine where you want the ball to go, pick a club, and then decide the type of swing you want to make, all BEFORE you have addressed the ball and attempted to hit it. In roping, we can make a few decisions about what we want to do before we back in the box, like if we want to reach or not, if we want to try and hold our horse up in the corner more or not, but for the most part, when we decide to “hit the ball” (call for our steer), everything is reaction.
Me in the grand entry at the BFI. This is when the nerves start to hit. FUN TIMES!
You determine how your going to react by practicing, but from when you nod your head to the end of the run, it is reaction to what your game plan is. Roping is a little bit faster style of sport.
The most cool thing I like about golf and roping is the mental game. In golf, you have to have a tougher mental game. It’s true… you only want roping to last for as long as it has to, but golf you are forced to play 18 holes, 4 times, on 4 different days. GRUELING, but so entertaining for the sport! Our jackpots are similar, in theory, but we don’t have one jackpot that is set up like a single golf tournament is. Our jackpots last for only a few hours, the longest two being the BFI and the George Strait, and we only compete for a total of no more than a minute, hopefully. In golf, a typical 18 hole round lasts 4 hours, and they have to play all the 4 hours of 18 holes, and they do it for 4 days in a row! Tough stuff. Here are some more of both sport’s mental game requirements. The length of the season and the “Tour Style” season both sports have. Both sports go to A LOT of events. In roping, we do go to more. We got to about 3 or 4 a week, where as in golf, they go to 1 a week. The biggest similarity is this, you must have a short memory. You need to not dwell on your failures in either sport, or the very next day, you chances of success drop significantly. Also, you have to totally block out everything around you, Ie: phone calls, people talking, music, weather conditions, and all sorts of things that either sport may face. You have to learn how to control your emotions and overcome whatever it is you face. True mental toughness is being able to control every reaction you have whether you fail or succeed. Your actions dictate what is going on in your mind. How you react shows your mental toughness level. The length of both seasons show the truly mental tough competitors.
The big indoor arena at the BFI in Reno, Nevada.
I love the mental side of sports! I think it shows the best competitors from the rest. Everyone can handle a rope and a golf club, and occasionally win every now and then, but it’s the ones that win consistently who are the toughest mentally. Hope ya’ll enjoyed this blog! Let me know if you liked it! DH
