Cycle of Performance Golf,Lawn Bowls and Petanque

   Under development April 11, 2026

Tiger Wood, golf's greatest athlete in his video "My Game, Episode 1, My Prctice  by Golf Digest,  says " "feeling and reality are not the same" and Tiger's coach says of Tiger's Preparation "He is very detail oriented in the preparation, a lot of "uma minuta" in his practice

at home" (Uma Minuta -Portuguese for draft document or business contract prepared before being signed) Used in English, it often may refers to detail preparation before the final event happens. 

If you were going for a job interview you would have three parts to your preparation. Pre-interview preparation, The interview, and the Post-Interview Waiting and Results.

Sports performance has the same preparation, and this blog will look at an athlete's preparation and his performance as to these three steps. Because there is a different in Lawn Bowls and Petanque as to the distance of play their performance is committed. Lawn bowls rolls the bowl as much as 31 meters while Petanque play is usually between 6 meters and 10 meters. Feelings are different for the athletes of these three sports. (Golf, Lawn Bowls, and Petanque) because of the length of time until the action is finished. Also, Sport Psyshology, which  attempts to help athletes with problems due to these feelings or emotions, must treat team sports like Soccer, Basketball differently than "Closed" sports like Bowls and Petanque and how performance  is affected by the time of their performance.

Today, April 11, 2026,  The final stage of the most important golf tournament, The PGA Masters, was being played at Augusta National Golf Course (Augusta Georgia). Over the last 2 days 91 of the world's best players have played, as today,  Shane Lowry (Ireland) made his second Master's Hole in One,. The only player to have make two in the more than 90 years of tournaments. Shane made his first Master's Hole in one  in 2016.

In Golf there are a lot of rules about distraction of the players. How does an athlete continue to play great at  their sport after such an exciting moment as a Hole in One. Or as in the Canadian Press victory photo of Shane Lowry's 6th tee excitement. The photo also show a sort of distraction, as a lady spectator in the background seems to have got too excited. (she probably was jumped in the air or  her boyfriend's hug  ended up showing too much of her). The photo (right) shows two emotions. Excitement of the athlete and  a Shocking distraction created by  a spectator. This blog will attempt to show how sport psychology applies mental exercises to helping athlete in dealing with feelings or emotions which could destroy their performance. An mental training which should help athletes to not let their reality to be destroyed as they continue game play. 

This Tiger Wood's video discuss Tiger's Previsualization of his shot in his Pre-performance preparation, and his actual performance by using a 9 square grid of shot placement. (photo below).

Golf visualization of shot

The photo above, show excitement and distraction as two feelings which destroys an athlete's performance.

Until the golf ball completed it three bounces and dropped into the 6th hole cup there was probably a couple of minutes of waiting after his great golf swing and  performance, Shane in realizing that he had made a "Hole in One", shows his excitement (photo) and now has a long walk to the green. This walk and the long wait as his fellow players finish their gam, will allow Shane time to recompose his emotions. Like most athletes after success, he will perform a Post-Performance Mental Recovery after which  his self-confidence and calm will return as it is needed for the remainder of his game. 

 In lawn bowls there is about 14 to 18 seconds (the speed of the green) after each delivery,before the athlete knows the result of his performance. Also a two minute delay as another player performs in sequence and before he return to do another delivery. After the remaining bowls have been played the athlete may have to wait for the opponent team to finish. Probably about 10 to 15 minutes.

 However,  in the game of Petanque, there is probably not a second between the finish performance of a thrown takeout shot and the athlete knowing his performance's success or failure. If successful the opponent will have two minutes to perform his Post-Performance and begin to play again. Ofcourse, the excitement or disappointment will  hits the Petanque athlete the same as the golf photo above. 

 But unlike Shane Lowey who now has a long walk up the fairway  to recompose his feelings and return to a mental state of maximun performance;the petanque athlete will be expected to play again within one minute if unsuccessful. And disappointment after doing a takeout shot is more difficult to conquat. Also, because the athlete know his ressult is immediate, very often we find that his toughts of knowing the result will interrupting his "Muscle Memory" performance  The conscious mind take control back with a thought of "was it successful? ", (This blog assumes you know and have developed a "Muscle Memory")

Google AI defines "Muscle Memory" as "Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory where the brain and nervous system consolidate motor tasks through repetition, allowing actions to become automatic, such as riding a bike or playing an instrument."  In simple term it is memory of practice of muscle movement which when started will be performed instinctive. Breathing, Braking your car, throwing a ball are done instinctive because it has become "Muscle Memory"

In several of my blogs on Muscle Memory I speak of the subconscious mind taking control and performing a memory of a routine. This routine starts with a Trigger or action and finishes with a feeling as the conscious mind regains control. Simply put Tiger Wood in the Youtube video "Tiger Woods Mental Focus" said about when he is in the "Peak Performance Zone" (muscle memory working instinctive) "I tend to have blackouts, I know I was there but I don't remember performing the golf shot" (2.2m/6.3 video) and " I remember preparing for the shot" but "I don't remember (anything) until I see the ball leave" (3.30m/6.3 m video) . Muscle memory is doing the swing and return his conscious thought when seeing the ball in flight out in front of him.

In the three part of performance, Preparation, Action, and Result, I will start with the Action Routine because after the Routine Trigger the total performance is instinctive and the other two part are preparation and evaluation. In discussion with an well developed athlete this week about his "Reset Routine" he said that "Performance has a lot of "Mental Discipline" which is true but must be always the same mental activities otherwise the performance will be interrupted and broken.

In Golf, the picking of the golf club, the analysis of the intended shot, the ball placement on the tee and even the placement of the tee and it height are all preparation routines. The performance is the swing and Strike force and after ward all thoughts are the Evaluation and Recovery routine.

In Lawn Bowls, the placement of the bowl in hand with bias and other effects of delivery (feet placement, balance, etc) are the preparation while the action is the delivery of the Lawn Bowl to the green. After release of the bowl as it rolls up the green everything following is Feedback and Correction.

In Petanque, the performance may have more mental actions incorporated with the action because the individual's learning has usually been self taught and the mental actions are more discipline of thoughts and feelings. However once the athlete is in the "shooting circle" and the trigger action initiated the action is total instinctive.  

Trigger action is something which is done by the athlete to begin the Muscle Memory action and can be the practice swings of the feet placement. In petanque, I have seen the foot smoothing the surface in the circle while in Bowls it is to me my foot placement pointing up the green.

Once the Trigger action is performed the Performance should be all the same movements. If practice swings are done they should always be the same number of swings before final action is performed. If a lawn Bowls athlete does one swing or three the mind will expect to do it delivery after the last swing. The raison for this consistance is if mental skills have been developed they will fit into the routine in the same place during the action.

As an example, the need to judge the distance for the performance may be a hand in front before the swing starts (Bowls and Petanque) or a visual place on the fairway (golf). In the same way if self-confidence is a feeling or thought it is also in it proper place and can be memory of a great performance or memory of a correction of delivery which builds confidence. In the Preparation Routine the decisions are made from information collected and reviewed in the Post performance.

In all three sports, when the athlete is in the stance position and the trigger action performed the mind stops thinking or instructing the muscles and the instinctive action is allowed to be performed. In Petanque, the athlete "Shoot" or "Point" thought. In Lawn Bowls the stepping action into delivery and in golf the full back swing  action. All the Muscle Action is in control start actions. 

As the country singer Chad Brownlee's song "Forever got to start somewhere" so also in sports Muscle Memory must always start at the same "Trigger Action"  If it is when you step into your shooting circle (petanque) or onto the Bowls Mat; it must always start there. If something interrupts you action then you leave the mat and return. In petanque the announcement of teams to playing surface area may be an interruption of your action. If you have not developed a "Rapid Reset" mental action and that game announcement is an interruption you stop your performance. After such interruptions the athlete returns to his start position and trigger action to initialize a new performance.

In Sport psychology several correction actions are suggested to athlete for mental problems of Stress, anxiety, fear or lost confidence and these emotional controls are processed in the Pre-Performance and evaluated in the Post-Performance. Although not a part of the Performance they can seem as part of it if the time span of the three sections of performance is extremely short like the few seconds of Petanque performance and seeing the result of the take-out shot.  

In Lawn Bowls the 14 or more seconds until the bowl stops it roll actually allow the learning athlete to develop actions and evaluate routines during that waiting time. Ex: where weather conditions like wind and rain can effect the bowls performance, the lawn bowl athlete may be evaluating how much wind or rain is involved as they wait for the bowl to stop rolling and show the result of the performance. I assume the golfer is likewise watch the conditions of weather as he ball is in flight.