Not all training sessions involve getting sweaty in a gym or on the track. Ernie Els took 42 years to discover an eye workout that won him last month’s British Open, and its methods can deliver results for any athlete. Read the full article by following this link

He’s got houses on three continents, a plane to fly around the world, a golf swing the envy of all his peers.

There’s the wine label, and the golf course design company, and of course, that bust in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

It had been a decade since Ernie Els held a major championship trophy aloft. Many thought the Big Easy’s major-winning days were behind him when he didn’t even qualify for the 2012 Masters. Clearly, they were mistaken.

Ernie Els has been a professional golfer for close to 25 years, and at age 42, life is obviously good. He raises money for autism research, gets paid millions to endorse equipment, and his legacy was certainly secure with three major championship trophies and more than 60 other worldwide wins, well before he captured the Open Championship last month.

So why was the Big Easy anything but earlier this year? Why was the guy who looks like the life of the party acting moody, frustrated while being filled with angst about his putting?

And why did it move him to seek out a unique form of professional help?

“It tells you something about his character, the fact that he was prepared to take on a whole new science and apply it,” said Dr. Sherylle Calder.

A visualization coach who works for the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Calder began working with Els in January to “train and improve visualization.” She met with him for the first time at the Volvo Golf Champions in January — a tournament he would lose to Branden Grace in a playoff.

“I said, ‘Give me six months,’” she said.

Nearly six months to the day, Els was hoisting the Claret Jug, the champion golfer of the year, winner of the Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He had some help from Adam Scott, but then again there had been all those times when Els came so close in major championships, a 10-year gap in major wins that most figured would never be closed.

Els knew Calder for nearly a decade because of her work in South African sport, especially with the South African national rugby team known as the Springboks that Els supports. As far back as 2003, Calder began lobbying Els to let her help him with his visualization, his routine, his putting.

“We did briefly talk about it,” Els said. “Not actually briefly, she really wanted to start working with me because she really felt she could help me. But back then, I was No. 2 or No. 3 in the world and pretty bulletproof. I didn’t really think I needed anybody’s help.

Phil Mickelson rallied to beat him at the Masters, and a poor final round — Els played in the last group with eventual champion Retief Goosen — doomed him at the U.S. Open. He lost in a playoff to unheralded Todd Hamilton at the Open Championship. And at the PGA, Els 3-putted the last hole and ended up missing a playoff by a stroke.

A 2005 knee injury was a setback, and while Els contended often in majors — he has a total of 22 top-5s, including his four victories — he was unable to add to his early total of three wins. And the victories in regular events were fleeting as well. Although Els won twice on the PGA Tour in 2010, he was becoming increasingly frustrated on the greens.

Last year it caused him to experiment with a belly putter — a club he believes should be illegal. And yet it showed his level of desperation that he would try it.

“For years, I’ve been watching him,” said Calder, who lives in Cape Town, South Africa, but has been traveling with Els recently from the Scottish Open to the Open Championship to the Canadian Open to the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and again this week at the PGA Championship.

“I knew if he putted better, he’d play better,” she said. “It affects your whole demeanor. I’m sure you saw at the British, he was walking upright. He was loving it. That’s what we try and achieve by giving him the tools to be able to do it well. You can’t just say, ‘Get your head up right.’ You have to give him the tools.

“My job is really to work on his putting, but it influences a lot of other stuff. That’s my mission.”

Calder is part putting coach, part visualization coach, part sports psychologist.

When she is out on tour with Els, she follows him for all 18 holes of every round and then consults with him afterward. They also spend time together prior to every round, and if work is needed, on the putting green later.

“I’ve got a program that I’m on, that I work on physically with my eyes, then on the golf course and on the putting greens and where I practice,” Els said. “I’ve got a much better routine. I didn’t have much of a routine. Like in your long game, there’s a certain routine that you go through, and we’re just going back to basics.”

Calder said the process continues, and that Els still has room for improvement.

“I just said you need to get a routine going, get your focus right, look in the right places and coordinate what you see with what you do with your hands,” she said. “It was just structuring. He was here and there, mixed up.

“He’s a great player, but I just saw what he did. We did a little bit of short game and that’s where I saw he is a guy with enormous talent. But he wouldn’t have gotten here without a lot of hard work. He’s put in hours and hours.”

And that is really the remarkable thing about Els. Does he need to do so at this point? Obviously he wants to, and with a five-year exemption in the other majors — remember, he didn’t qualify for the Masters this year — there remains an opportunity to pursue more greatness.

“He’ll never lose that swing,” said fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 Open at St. Andrews. “He’s got too good of rhythm, too good a swing. I don’t think people see how much work he puts in. Back home in West Palm whenever I visit, he’s always on the range, putting, doing something. He puts so much work into his game. It’s great at his age that he still has so much passion for the game. I’m glad for him.”

Els is in the midst of a hectic schedule in which he is playing five straight weeks, starting with the Scottish Open and concluding this week at the PGA. Following a week off, he’ll embark on the FedEx Cup playoffs at the Barclays and is then likely to play four tournaments in five weeks.

He is a frequent participant in the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland in early October and has committed to the Frys.com Open on the PGA Tour that month as well.

At some point, he says, he wants to go back to the regular putter.

“I’m thinking by the end of the year or so, we’ll see,” said Els, who joked that if anchoring is banned (the USGA and R&A are studying it), he’ll still have a few years to play with the belly putter.

Just the fact that he’s talking about it is a good sign. Els doesn’t sound like a guy ready to simply enjoy everything he’s accomplished, and he is bullish on pushing himself further with Calder’s help.

“I don’t think I ever doubted her and thank goodness she didn’t doubt me,” Els said. “We were right on track from the first time we actually spent time together. And with all the wobbles that I had through the year and not winning, it obviously hurt, but I really felt this was something I could stick to.

“I felt if I stuck with it, things would only get better, and that’s the way it turned out. And we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

View the original article

Helping golfer Ernie Els win the 2012 British Open was one of the proudest moments of Dr Sherylle Calder’s illustrious career.

Dr Calder is a sport scientist specialising in visual-motor performance. She is the creator of the EyeGym training programme, designed to enhance sporting productivity and academic performance by taking the user through a series of visual training exercises.

Besides assisting golfing hero Els, she has contributed to victory in back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles, first with England in 2003 and then with South Africa in 2007.

And her latest triumph is especially appropriate, with August particularly Women’s Day on 9 August being dedicated to celebrating women in South Africa. Dr Calder is one of SA’s leading women, and in 2008 won the sport category in the Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year competition.

Calder believes that if women were to feature in all aspects of society, the ideal of empowering South African women would be fulfilled.

“My advice to all women who find themselves in a male-dominated profession is to be good at what you do and show respect within a professional environment. Then working in such a profession shouldn’t be a problem.”

Calder said focusing on women in the way it’s done during the month of August is very important. “Most importantly, it creates awareness of what women are achieving, as this monthandday give specialised coverage.”

Being passionate about your life and work is also a vital ingredient in being successful, Calder said.

“I really love all the work I get to do. Besides my programmes, my specialised on-field coaching adds an edge as demonstrated with Els.

“I feel so blessed to have an ability to make a positive impact on people’s performances.

“It really motivates me to keep going and trying.”

View the original article

JUST a few months ago, Ernie Els felt he was being joked about and written off as a major championship contender, but the South African was today enjoying the last laugh after his dramatic Open triumph.

Els endured a poor season in 2011, dropping out of the world’s top 50 for the first time since 1993 and admitting he was “digging deep” simply to stay in the game that had brought him three major victories.

In desperation, the 42-year-old turned to “visualisation coach” Sherylle Calder, a South African doctor who worked on “retraining” Els’ eyes to improve his much-criticised putting.

So it was no wonder that Calder was one of the people Els thanked in his victory speech at Royal Lytham after holing four birdie putts on the back nine in his final round of 68, including the one from 15 feet on the 18th which eventually saw him finish one shot ahead of Adam Scott, who bogeyed the last four holes.

“When you’ve been where I was, you have no confidence in putting, you don’t want to have that one coming back,” said Els, who lifted the Claret Jug for the second time in his career, 10 years after coming through a four-man play-off at Muirfield.

“I was coasting everything up to the hole and wasn’t giving the hole a scare. That’s why I started working with Sherylle, just changed the whole thing, mindset, training, everything. I was really going from a totally different angle, which I liked, because I tried everything else.

“In March I looked like an absolute fool. People were laughing at me and making jokes about me and really hitting me low, saying I’m done and I should hang it up. So to come through and make a putt like that (on the 18th) and make pressure putts on the back nine, that was the whole goal.”

Els had finished second and third when the Open was staged at Lytham in 1996 and 2001, and looked destined for another close call when he went to the turn in 38 and Scott had steadied his nerves following a shaky start.

Even after birdies on the 10th, 12th and 14th from Els, a birdie from Scott on the 14th left the Australian four shots clear with four holes to play, but there was still time for more drama.

Scott bogeyed the 15th and 16th and was in the process of doing the same on the 17th when he heard the roar from the 18th which accompanied another birdie from Els. That meant Scott needed to par the last to force a play-off, but, despite an excellent third shot after splashing out sideways from a fairway bunker, the 32-year-old’s eight-foot putt slid by the edge of the hole.

“I’m still numb,” added Els, who was on the putting green just hoping for a play-off as the drama unfolded. “It still hasn’t set in. It will probably take quite a few days because I haven’t been in this position for 10 years, so it’s just crazy, crazy, crazy getting here.

“But I really feel for my buddy, Scottie, I really do. I’ve been there before. I’ve blown majors before and golf tournaments before, and I just hope he doesn’t take it as hard as I did.

“Thankfully he’s young enough. He’s 32 years old. He’s got the next 10 years that he can win more than I’ve won. I’ve won four now — I think he can win more than that.”

RANKINGS

Tiger Woods continued his climb up the world rankings after finishing joint third but what he is really interested in is adding to his tally of 14 majors.

The American moved up to second just behind England’s Luke Donald, with Rory McIlroy slipping to third after shooting a 73 yesterday to finish on eight over.

Woods briefly threatened to make a challenge on the final day but the closest he got to overnight leader Adam Scott — before his dramatic late collapse — was four shots after five holes.

From there it began to unravel with a triple-bogey seven at the sixth when he found trouble in a greenside bunker, and when he had to chase he got caught out.

Woods has not won a major since 2008 but insists it is not a worry.

“It’s part of golf. We all go through these phases — some people it lasts entire careers, others are a little bit shorter,” he said. “Even the greatest players to ever play have all gone through little stretches like this.

“When your playing careers last 40 and 50 years you’re going to have stretches like this.

“I was right there, the game plan was to shoot under par going out so I was in position to then turn home and shoot maybe one or two under on the back nine. I would have posted an eight or nine under par and I thought that was going to be the number to win the golf tournament.

“Unfortunately I just didn’t do it.”

Woods had some sympathy for Scott after his late collapse.

“It’s happened to all of us at one point or another,” he added.

View the original article

ERNIE ELS is walking, talking proof that class truly is permanent.

Sure, Adam Scott chucked away the Claret Jug with his shocking four-bogey finish at Lytham, but Els still won the British Open in style.

This astonishing victory brought to an end two years of torment for the South African.

Els may be known universally as ‘The Big Easy’ but even his shoulders weren’t broad enough to handle the mockery and belittlement he endured in recent times.

Even as he basked in the glory of his fourth and greatest Major success, Els recalled some especially dark days this spring when “people were laughing at me, making jokes about me and really hitting me low, saying I’m done and really should hang it up.”

For more than two years, Els seemed to be caught in a dismal vortex. Time after time he’d play his way to the cusp of victory and then seize solid, usually on or close to the final green.

Even after swallowing his pride last summer and adopting the reviled belly putter, Els still was pursued by demons of self-doubt.

Over a number of years, those gremlins nibbled away at his self-confidence and all golf wondered if, at age 42, he might ever be fully restored.

There was despair in the angry words Els aimed at David Feherty after the sharp-witted Ulsterman, in his role as first tee announcer at the Tavistock Cup, threw a few abrasive but uproarious barbs at the South African suggesting he’d be “putting with a live rattlesnake.”

Every tour player at this annual bunfight in Lake Nona takes a tongue-lashing from Feherty and, at the time, Els pretended to laugh along with the banter. Yet he’d later call America’s most popular golf pundit “a shock jock” in the July issue of ‘Golf Magazine’, adding that Feherty’s jokes about his putting stroke were “a bit low”. Clearly, Ernie’s sense of humour had vanished.

Cut to last Sunday at Lytham, when, after three days of almost meaningless skirmishing on a rain-doused and relatively vulnerable links, a wicked wind whistled in from the west to herald the real beginning of the 2012 Open Championship.

As Els went through the turn in two-over following his second bogey of the day at nine, leaving him six behind leader Scott, it looked as if his 10-year wait for a second Claret Jug would stretch on.

Yet this time, instead of seizing up, Els seized the day … he got angry and, playing with the ferocity of a wounded lion on the back nine, picked up four birdies, in the process stoking vast Open galleries into ecstasy.

After confidently tucking away the 15-foot putt at 18 for a stunning 68 which turned up the heat on Scott, victory still took Els by surprise.

“I haven’t been in this position for 10 years,” he said afterwards. “So it’s just crazy, crazy, crazy getting here.

“I really feel for my buddy Scottie. I’ve been there before. I’ve blown Majors and other golf tournaments and just hope he doesn’t take it as hard as I did.”

His smile was back. Yet this win also is great for golf.

Els showed precisely why the list of Open champions crowned at Lytham includes so many legends, including Bobby Jones and Seve Ballesteros, not forgetting his fellow South Africans Gary Player and Bobby Locke.

There are several powerful messages to be taken from the 2012 Open, especially for Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

Veterans can conquer their putting demons

The sight of one 42-year-old, Els, succeeding another, Darren Clarke, as Open champion should prove inspiring to Harrington, and not because his 40th birthday is looming next month.

Instead, the Dubliner cannot fail to be impressed by the South African’s success in his long and sometimes despairing battle to restore his faith on the greens, a problem that has dogged Harrington for the past 12 months and more.

Ireland’s three-time Major champion will never wield a belly putter in anger but even if he’s happy with his stroke, Harrington loses faith in his ability to read greens.

This problem afflicted Els until he sought help from specialist Dr Sherylle Calder, who helped England (2003) and South Africa (2007) win rugby’s World Cup.

Harrington already has several medical professionals on his back-up team and whether or not he consults Dr Calder is his business. Yet by winning last Sunday, Els has helped knock a hole in conventional wisdom that even great putters inevitably fall prey to debilitating and incurable self-doubt in their 40s.

This should serve as subtle encouragement to Harrington, 39th at Lytham, who continues his bid for a first Major title in four years and a place at September’s Ryder Cup in next month’s PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

The power of positive thinking — don’t get down on yourself

Els has been known as ‘The Big Easy’ for decades because of his languid swing.

However, he’s not altogether comfortable with his nickname, as it may convey the erroneous impression that he didn’t have to work hard for his success.

McIlroy is another player blessed with immense natural talent, who can make golf look outrageously easy. The 23-year-old shares another trait with Els and fellow perfectionists — a tendency to get down on themselves and become frustrated a tad too easily.

It must be unsettling for McIlroy, such an instinctive player, to have to grapple with swing faults which have led to his recent form slump — including a share of 60th place at Lytham, a ‘soft’ course which over the first 54 holes should have been ripe for the picking for a player who won the US Open so impressively last summer.

Some in the past suspected Els to be ‘soft’ and not as ‘hungry’ as fearsome golfing predators like ‘The Hawk’ Hogan, ‘The Bear’ Nicklaus, ‘Tex-Mex’ Trevino, the ‘Black Knight’ Player or Tiger.

Yet as McIlroy and his coach Michael Bannon go digging in the dirt for his golf game, McIlroy should mark the words of Els when he said: “It’s an amazing game, golf. You give yourself positive vibes, you have a positive feel and sometimes positive things happen.

“I think I’ve been in such a negative mode for a while and now I’m starting to feel more positive. So things happen, like on that back nine on Sunday.”

It’s all in McIlroy’s own hands.

Reacting to adversity makes all the difference on Major Sunday

Sunday afternoon at Royal Lytham was frustrating for established Major winners like Tiger Woods and McDowell.

The Portrush man was particularly annoyed with the tee shot which flew over the back of the green at nine and led to a bogey moments after he’d got within three of his playing companion Scott with a great, morale-boosting birdie at eight.

Though he admitted losing his second shot in bushes left of 11 made him think “there goes my Open”, McDowell said: “Bogeying nine and 10 pretty much was the key.

“I’d made a great birdie on eight and stormed to that tee, then executed the wrong golf shot.”

Whereas an angry Els surged into top gear and after his setback on nine and made light of difficult conditions, McDowell and Woods misfired when they tried to press the accelerator on the back nine on Sunday.

Yet as Els was crowned the 16th successive different champion at the Majors, 2010 US Open winner McDowell’s appreciation of the South African’s mastery was clear.

“It’s the return of one of golf’s great champions,” said the Ulsterman, plainly taking pleasure in seeing the bar being set so high.

“Ernie’s a classy, classy golfer. It’s great to see guys like that at the top of world golf.

“He’s a good role model for young kids and all golfers.”

View the original article

Ernie Els had a ‘visualisation coach’ to thank for helping him turn his game around and become a major championship winner again.

Els had dropped out of the world’s top-50 for the first time since 1993 last year, as putting woes undermined the rest of his game.

“People were laughing at me and making jokes about me and really hitting me low, saying I’m done and I should hang it up. ”
Ernie Els
Quotes of the week
In desperation the 42-year-old turned to Sherylle Calder, a South African doctor who worked on “retraining” Els’ eyes to improve his much-criticised stroke.

“I was coasting everything up to the hole and wasn’t giving the hole a scare,” said Els, who was winning his fourth major at Royal Lytham.

“That’s why I started working with Sherylle, just changed the whole thing, mindset, training, everything. I was really going from a totally different angle, which I liked, because I tried everything else.

“In March I looked like an absolute fool. People were laughing at me and making jokes about me and really hitting me low, saying I’m done and I should hang it up.

“So to come through and make a putt like that (on the 18th) and make pressure putts on the back nine, that was the whole goal.”

Birdies

So it was no wonder that Calder was one of the people Els thanked in his victory speech at Royal Lytham after holing four birdie putts on the back nine in his final round of 68, including the one from 15 feet on the 18th which eventually saw him finish one shot ahead of Adam Scott, who bogeyed the last four holes.

“I’m still numb,” added Els, who was on the practice putting green just hoping for a play-off as the drama unfolded. “It still hasn’t set in. It will probably take quite a few days because I haven’t been in this position for 10 years, so it’s just crazy, crazy, crazy getting here.

“But I really feel for my buddy, Scottie, I really do. I’ve been there before. I’ve blown majors before and golf tournaments before, and I just hope he doesn’t take it as hard as I did.

“Thankfully he’s young enough. He’s 32 years old. He’s got the next 10 years that he can win more than I’ve won. I’ve won four now – I think he can win more than that.”

View the original article

OPEN champion Ernie Els used to boast his private jet was carrying more booze than fuel — but not any more.
South African Els, once a hard drinker, was on the wagon for more than two months before his dramatic triumph at Royal Lytham on Sunday.

That finish, which saw Els finish his final round before rival Adam Scott crumbled out on the course, would have been enough to have anybody reaching for bottle.

But caddie Ricci Roberts, explained: “We were having dinner one night a couple of months ago when Ernie suddenly announced: ‘I’m not going to bother having a glass of wine tonight.’

“He said: ‘In fact I may not have a drink for a while — even if I never have another party night for the rest of my life, I still think I’ll be well ahead of the game.’

“And I haven’t seen him touch a drop since.

“Even when he was handed a glass of champagne after he won the Open, I didn’t see him take a single sip.

“I know he said he wants to meet Nelson Mandela again to share a drink from the claret jug, but there’s a good chance it might be filled with Diet Coke!

“I’m not saying the big man has gone soft — just that he’s become a little more sensible than the rest of us.”

Besides giving up the booze, Els has also claimed he will continue to travel on easyJet, after travelling to the Scottish Open on the budget airline.

Mind you, that can be taken with a pinch of salt because he is between personal jets at the moment, while debating which one to buy next.

But despite his love of the luxury lifestyle, there is no doubt he has re-dedicated himself to the game according to his coach, Claude Harmon.

He said: “No one seems to appreciate how hard Ernie has been working.

“When you consider he has a private jet — or will have again soon — all the money he could need, a son with autism and a family he adores, it would be easy to for him to walk away into the sunset.

“But the drive and the desire are as great as ever.

“He took a lot of encouragement from playing himself into contention at last month’s US Open, and that put him in great heart for Lytham. This won’t be Ernie’s last Major win, I’m sure of that.”

Els, 42, has also benefited from linking up with eye specialist Dr Sherylle Calder, who has worked with top sportsmen to improve their visual skills.

He said: “I’m working on some good stuff with Sherylle. She’s got me reading putts better, and getting her on the payroll was a great move.

“She wrote a computer programme called Eye Gym where you have to do certain reaction stuff.

“There will be rugby balls, cricket balls and soccer balls coming up on screen. There’s a little up and down arrow, so as this happens you have to react.

“Then there’s a number that appears for a split second which you have to remember and type in.

“I’m seeing things differently. You get your body in good shape and now I’m getting my eyes in good shape.”

The good doctor will certainly be pleased to hear Els is no longer bleary-eyed.

View the original article

OPEN champion Ernie Els says it took an eye ‘shrink’ to guide him out of a golfing black hole.

The 42-year-old landed his second Open title at Royal Lytham as he cashed in on leader Adam Scott’s dramatic collapse.

And Els reckons if it hadn’t been for visual skills coach Sherylle Calder, he might still have been in the dark.

The big South African, rated the hottest putter around a decade ago, admitted he had to swallow his pride and seek help after slumping out of the game’s top 50.

Els said: “Ten years ago, s***, I was the best putter in the world. I didn’t want to listen to any advice.

“But, to use a cliche, she has opened my eyes about putting and helped bring back memories of what I was when I was one of the best around. I knew if my putting came around, I could start winning the big tournaments again.”

Els took the £900,000 winner’s cheque as he shocked the world with his fourth Major. The dark days seemed light years away as he celebrated with friends and family back at Wentworth before flying out to Canada almost immediately.

Els admits he questioned whether he would ever be able to dig deep enough to get back among the winners again.

He added: “I just worked at it. I missed the Open cut last year and I was in a slump. I was in a bad place in my game and without confidence. I just didn’t play well.

“I’m 43 this year and don’t have a lot to prove. I’m just looking forward to playing good golf and screw the people who have criticised me.”

The man known as The Big Easy says Dr Calder has given him his focus back. He added: “Sherylle has worked with the Springboks, training the guys’ reflexes.

“She’s got eye exercises that I do, getting me a bit more focused on specifics. So it’s coming. I’ve got her on the payroll now.

“I’m starting to read putts better. I’m seeing things differently.”

Dr Calder said: “I saw something special in him and said to him: ‘We’ll win a Major this year’. He just laughed.

“He was absolutely terrible, the way his hands moved and the way he hit the ball.” Els enjoyed proving the critics wrong especially former pro David Feherty, who introduced him in a live interview as the man who “putted with a rattlesnake.”

Els said: “That wasn’t a classy move. If you’re going to take the p**s out of me, fine, but don’t do it in front of the world.”

View the original article