interview 31

WE both duffed our tee shots offthe first hole, hardly the beststart. For me this was normal,the first tee shot is always tricky,nerves usually getting the better

of me.It didn’t matter though because it was abeautiful Monday morning and playing golfconstituted work.The work was interviewing John Richardson.A few years ago John was your typicalweekend golfer who enjoyed the game butwho could never break below 100 shots perround – for those unfamiliar with the sport itmeant he was rubbish.But unlike the usual hacker John resolved toup his game and drop his score by a massive30 shots to an under par score within a year.Unperturbed by the fact that he was marriedwith a seven-year-old daughter and had a full-time job running a garden centre, Johndecided to take up the challenge of becominga scratch golfer.Everyone he came across told him that itwasn’t possible.Ryder Cup winning captain Sam Torranceadvised John to ‘dream on’ and DarrenClarke, one of Ireland’s best golfers, told himthat three years would be a more realistictime frame.However, almost 12 months to the week aftertaking up his self-imposed challenge Johnachieved an under par round and in a newbook Dream On, the 40-year-old tells thestory of how he achieved the impossible.Part-diary, part-sports book, part-motivational guidebook, John lays bare thepsychological and physical torture that heput himself – and those around him –through in order to achieve his goal.

As we walk towards the second hole I quizRichardson about the psychological side ofthe challenge.How did he not just give up halfway through?He immediately becomes enthused andexplains that he employed various well-known psychological techniques to help theprogression of his game and deal with thepressure and loneliness of such a challenge.Whilst talking about the dozens of books andtechniques he used during his challenge hecracks a big tee shot up into the air withimpressive force but while it is long it is wayleft and probably lost in the trees.He is visibly annoyed with himself andexplains that he has been neglecting some ofthe most important lessons that he learntduring his year trying to reach par.So he illustrates the point.Placing another ball he steadies himself andtalks me through his routine.He seems slightly cocky and crazy all at once.A shuffle here, a shimmy there, a twist of theclub and then he steps toward the ball all thewhile repeating “incredible” to himself – loudenough for me to hear.Sounding like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man,“incredible” is repeated maybe a dozen ormore times. Then he focuses and looks up atwhere he wants his shot to be going, he takesa practice swing and, with another“incredible”, he suddenly hits his shot.It is a peach of a hit and less violent than theprevious effort, straight as a die and about275 yards towards the pin.“That is a known as anchoring,” John says.“When I say ‘incredible’ I am remindingmyself of a time when I hit one of my best teeshots. I have stored that thought and when Isay ‘incredible’ again and again I am getting

myself into that thought.“It is the same idea aswhen you hear a piece ofmusic from when youwere 15 or something,or your first girlfriend’sperfume. You aretransported back to that

time and thoseemotions comeback to you.“I found thatthis techniquereally helpedme and justlook at thatlast shot,when Iconcentratedand wentthrough theroutine.”The technicalterm for theprocess isneuro linguisticprogramming(NLP).

It is a techniqueoften used byhypnotherapists to helppeople dealing withtrauma.

John had a host of people with varioustechniques helping him during his challenge,mostly these were real people but some wereimaginary.Of all those people Seve Ballesteros wasperhaps the most constant. The multi-majorwinning golfer is one of the most talentedthat the sport has ever produced and as achild John idolised the Spaniard.However, during his challenge, whether itwas on a cold December day at the drivingrange or practising his short game in theearly hours of the morning before work, Johnwould ask Seve along for another techniqueknown as modelling.“I would use Seve Ballesteros a lot puttingmyself into his frame of mind. I would watcha lot of his videos and then try to believe thatI was him and I would talk to him when I washitting shots, he would be standing behindme watching.”A chance encounter – this time a real one –with another pro, Holywood golfer RoryMcIlroy provided another ‘model’.“I was hitting balls on the driving range atBlackwood golf course and I was having anawful time, I really wasn’t hitting the ball thatwell, it was during one of the really lowpoints of the challenge.“A couple of booths up from me I saw RoryMcIlroy hitting balls.His perfectly fluidswing along withhis power andprecision wasreallysomething tosee.“So I watchedand watchedfor about tenminutes andthen I tried toimagine myselfdoing that. I wentback to my boothand started hittingthe ball reallywell.”John, who playsat BlackwoodGolf CentrebetweenHolywood andBangor, wasalso helped alongthe way by clubprofessional DebbieHanna as well as hisgolfing buddy Stuart.During the year bothcoached and coaxed Johnthrough the highs and the

lows of trying to break par.For many achieving par on the golf coursewill mean nothing and they will think Johnmad or self-indulgent for devoting so muchtime trying to improve at something which isessentially a past-time.For golfers though his achievement is alreadybeing marvelled at and studiously pickedover for any nugget of information that willhelp them improve.But whether you are a golfer or not, nomatter, John’s story is a lesson for life.It may be the cliche of all cliches but if youbelieve in something and you work hard for itthen you can achieve it.Dream On is an in-depth dissection of howyou can make your dreams happen no matterhow preposterous they are, although, as Johnwould admit himself, it helps to be slightlymad.“I do sound mad at times but I swear bythese techniques because they worked.”

■ Dream On by John Richardson ispublished by Blackstaff Press and is inshops now priced £9.99

John Richardson was an ordinary golfer who decidedto take on an extraordinary challenge: become a pargolfer within a year. In his new book Dream On, Johnwrites about achieving his goal. AP Maginness hitthe course with him to find out how he went fromscratch to scratch

SATURDAY JUNE 6 2009WEEKEND

He seems slightly cocky andcrazy all at once.A shuffle here, a shimmythere, a twist of the cluband then he stepstoward the ball all thewhile repeating“incredible” to himself– loud enough for meto hear.

“ Sounding like Dustin Hoffmanin Rain Man, ‘Incredible’ isrepeated maybe a dozen or

more times. Then hefocuses and looks

up at where hewants his shotto be going, he

takes a practiceswing and‘incredible’ isagain repeated,he suddenly hitshis shot

– John Richardson

“

Dream On■■ MAN ON AMISSION: JohnRichardsonexecuting theperfect bunkershot at BlackwoodGolf Centre in CoDown, the coursewhere he scoredhis under parround and (inset)John giving APMaginness somemuch neededadvice