Northland golfer Luke Brown will be using his strengthened mental game as he goes into the start of his professional career. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland golfer Luke Brown will be using his strengthened mental game as he goes into the start of his professional career. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Golf has long been considered as much a mental game as it is physical.
Hours spent on a golf course when the ball won't fly straight or just won't drop can be as destructive as any physical injury.
But if you ask recently-turned professional golfer Luke Brown, he'll tell youthat having a good mental game comes down to being thankful for what you have and not sweating the small stuff.
Brown, 24, finished his 10-year amateur career at the New Zealand Men's Amateur in Remuera a month ago and signed on the dotted line just two weeks ago to become a fully-fledged professional golfer.
Luke Brown, 24, will be carrying the hopes of up and coming Northland golfers, seen here playing at the Waipū Golf Club. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Now playing in his first professional tournament in Australia, Brown has his sights set on a valuable playing card for the full Japan Golf Tour after making the fourth tour qualifying round at the Central Golf Club next week.
Having survived a dramatic three rounds and an initial player pool of more than 1300 golfers, Brown will have to battle 199 other competitors, all vying for 96 spots on next year's tour.
No one would blame Brown, a member at Whangārei's Pines Golf Club, for being nervous, being this close to a professional career he has dreamed of for most of his life. But for Brown, this moment has been a carefully calculated one.
With the support of family and friends through a tough 2018, Luke Brown has come out smiling after a great 2019 season. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Brown, who lived at One Tree Point with partner Jan, had planned to go pro this time last year but after a string of poor results and injury struggles, he made the decision to stay patient.
"I went through some tough times and I was lucky that Jan was there with me and she's an ex Black Stick, so we talked about a lot of things like mind space," he said.
"I just woke up one morning after a sleepless night because I had to enter that day and I said, 'Nah, I'm not going to do it'."
Just two weeks later, Brown was making history with Northland's men's golf team as they won the national interprovincial golf championship for the first time in 68 years.
Luke Brown (centre) was part of the victorious team which won the national interprovincial competition last year for the first time in 68 years for Northland. Photo / Martin Hunter
The win, in addition to a change of coach, was the little push Brown needed to know he had made the right decision. However, Brown's next mission was to refine the mental part of his game and he did so by turning to meditation.
While his first attempt ended in slumber rather than any form of enlightenment, Brown said using meditative techniques had enhance his golf game tenfold.
"Instead of having that mental toughness which every athlete wants, I went down the mindfulness side and look at how you can appreciate what you're doing," he said.
"I think a lot of people can get caught up wanting to look tough, they'll put on this exterior look like nothing phases them but deep down, sometimes that's a weakness."
"So you're better off showing that you enjoy it, enjoy the thought of pressure."
With a baby on the way early next year, Luke Brown will have a busy 2020 on his hands. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Now, Brown is more confident as ever in both his mental and physical game and with a baby on the way early next year, feels only excitement for what is to come.
"It was just a matter of time when the putts would drop, and now I've got a opportunity to get a full playing card on one of the main tours in the world, which not many get right out of the gate.
"At the end of the day, you can have a bad round of golf and you come home and you've got a partner and a baby and a house, life is not that bad."
