No one has been harder on Na Yeon Choi during her career than Na Yeon Choi.
The fourth-year pro has, at times, admittedly been her own worst enemy, heaping loads of pressure on herself to perform at the highest level and obsessing about results. That self-imposed stress may have been masked by the fact she was producing great results, but it was eating away at her and limiting her as a person.
The results, clearly, have always been there.
Choi finished second to Yani Tseng in the 2008 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year race after 10 top-10 finishes, $1,095,759 in earnings and no missed cuts in 28 events. She won twice, notched 11 top-10s, pocketed another $1,341,078 and made all 26 cuts the following year.
Her 2010 campaign was even better, as Choi picked up another two wins, made 23 of 24 cuts and earned $1,871,166 with a 69.91 stroke average.
But to her, it wasn’t good enough, and the intense youngster focused on the negative more than she should have.
“Last year, I missed my first LPGA cut at Wegmans, and I expected a lot and practiced a lot for that tournament since it was a major,” Choi said. “It was my first LPGA missed cut, and I got really disappointed with myself and was crying. I talked to my swing coach, mental coach and parents, and they said it was normal and not to be so disappointed in myself.
Obsessing about results, she said, was making performing tougher and tougher, until she realized she can’t control everything on or off the golf course.
“It’s all about results, and everybody expected better results than 2010 or my current results,” she said. “I wanted better results than 2010, but I realized that I can’t control all of the results. Every year, I learn something at the tournaments. I just keep trying and don’t worry so much about the results. If I get a bad result or good result, I just keep doing the same thing every day and try my best.”
She has performed well again in 2011, making 15 of 16 cuts, earning $753,690 and recording eight top-10 finishes.
Choi has learned to ease up on herself and let the results come to her naturally. It hasn’t been a seamless or particularly easy process, but the talented Korean walks around today as a genuinely happier person.
Meeting Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott of VISION54 – a motivational company that works with golfers to embrace their abilities to unlock their unlimited and unique potential – was a turning point for Choi in taking pressure off herself.
“I met them two years ago, and the first time I met them, I won my first tournament,” Choi said. “When I met them, they told me, ‘You can’t control everything about winning.’ That stuck in my heart, and I realized that that’s not my job.
Choi has realized that the mental aspect of the game is often more important than the physical.
“I think the mental part of golf is about 70 percent of the game,” she said. “(Nilsson and Marriott) told me to walk with my head up and chest out, when I talk to speak loudly and with confidence. The results will follow.”
She hired an English tutor at the beginning of the year and has gained confidence by improving her English this season.
“I don’t know how much English I’ve learned this year, but people say my English is getting better,” she said. “I have more confidence, and I want to speak better than right now.”
She still has high standards for herself as a golfer, but doesn’t hold herself back with negative thoughts.
“I had a great year last year, and I wanted to do better than last year, but I think I was pushing myself with too much pressure,” she said. “I think I’m doing all right. I went to Korea (recently) and won a KLPGA tournament, and I felt confident. Before I won the tournament, I was feeling stressed so much. I felt a lot better after winning the KLPGA tournament and am really comfortable playing tournaments right now.”
That could be bad news for her fellow competitors.
