In this most mental of sports, it often seems that the best approach is to simplify the psychology in a bid for some consistency, but John Hahn has seemingly taken the opposite approach.
The affable American speaks with clarity and intensity about the ‘process’, now only two weeks old, that has earned him a top ten finish in last week’s Turkish Airlines Challenge and enabled him to open with two six under par rounds of 66 at the Montecchia Open by Lyoness to find himself just one shot off the lead.
The 27 year old has taken the ‘one shot at a time’ ethos to extremes, insisting that tomorrow’s result does not matter to him as long as his process is in place.
To me the result is irrelevant - if I win, I couldn't care less, I just want to enjoy the process
“There won’t be any pressure on me tomorrow,” he said. “There will be pressure on other guys. To me the result is irrelevant – whether I win or whether I finish 20th, I couldn’t care less, I just want to go out and try to enjoy the process.
“I feel like I’m sort of back to the mindset I had when I first came on tour. I was a fresh face and was a kid as far as the mindset goes and I didn’t have too many worries with my golf game and I don’t really have too many worries right now.
“You don’t really worry about the score, you worry about the process, and if you pick out your targets and hit them like you’re trying to and, whether they go there or not, that’s just golf.
“It’s why I shot 63 then 73 last week – I did the same thing for the first two days but some days it just goes and others it doesn’t.
It's the best job in the world when it's going well
“The process that we’ve put into play, it started after the Challenge de Madrid. I wasn’t playing very well before that and I was focusing a lot on my golf swing and my technique and I’ve never been a technical guy, I’ve always been a feel guy.
“My golf swing is sound, technically it’s just fine, so we just started picking out targets and not thinking about the golf swing and it’s translated into really good stuff.
“Réné my caddie made a comment on the 16thtoday, he said ‘it’s the best job in the world when it’s going well,’ and it’s so true.
“When you’re playing poorly you hate it, but when you’re playing well you’re getting to travel the world, enjoy yourself, and as a 27 year old kid you couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”
After missing his first two cuts of the Challenge Tour season, Hahn admits that it took something of an intervention from friend and fellow player Estanislao Goya for this wake up call to hit home.
“Being over here by myself I got into some bad habits,” he said. “I would go through spells where I played bad and to cure that I would go out and have beers at the bar and feel like it would be ok if I just didn’t think about it.
“I was rooming with Tano in Madrid and he said to me, ‘I have to tell you, as your friend, I don’t think what you’re doing is right, I think you’re making a mistake.’
I would go and have beers at the bar - Tano said ' I think you're making a mistake'
“I obviously didn’t like to hear it at that point but I looked at him and how successful he’s been, physically he’s in great shape, he takes care of himself, and I looked at that in the same way.
“I’ve been in the gym more or less every day since then, working my butt off, not drinking, but it’s just my mindset really – I can tell my mindset is clear and I think that’s why I have days like today where I didn’t play that great but I made a great score, and that’s what matters.
“It certainly feels good and I’m going to continue to do the same thing, I’m not going to put any pressure on myself tomorrow, whatever I make of the day I make of the day – the score’s irrelevant to me, all that matters is the process and I feel like I have a pretty good one right now.”
