Focus

Winnie and I were renting a small house… I basically never heard a word she said to me all week. She could have asked for a divorce, and I would have only grunted and nodded, so strong was my concentration as I practiced my putting on the house’s short green carpet.

Arnold Palmer on preparing for his victory in the 1960 Masters

With concentration comes victory, and with its loss comes defeat, and Arnold Palmer stood as living proof of these chain reactions. e seven-time major winner blamed a lack of focus for some of his most frustrating, crushing defeats, not least among them the 1961 Masters. Leading Gary Player by a stroke and sitting pretty in the 18th fairway, the nal hole, Palmer was nearing his third green jacket in four years when he paused to accept premature congratulations from a friend in the gallery. His second shot went into a bunker, a double bogey followed and Player was handed his rst Masters win. “What really tore me up inside was the knowledge that I’d lost because I’d failed to do what Pap had always told me to do—stay focused until the job is nished,” Palmer wrote in A Golfer’s Life, re ecting on his dad’s advice. e answer, Palmer believed, involved a bit of soul searching. As he once said, “the secret of concentration is the secret of self-discovery. You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources and what it takes to match them to the challenge.” And where does one nd the strength to focus? “Concentration comes out of a combination of con dence and hunger,” Palmer said. So when trying to achieve, rst believe—and stay hungry. And if anyone wants to pat you on the back before you’ve achieved your goal, ignore them.

examples of exemplary focus:

Michael Jordan, NBA Finals, 1998

Down one point with 5.2 seconds left in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, Jordan has the ball—and all the pressure. He creates space, sets himself, and carries the Bulls to an 87–86 victory over Utah, draining what ultimately was his last shot as a Chicago Bull.

Tom Brady, Super Bowl, 2017

Down 25 points in the second half, Tom Brady and the Patriots suddenly dial it in. A ridiculous catch by Julian Edelman and laser-like throws from Brady lead to a New England win at 34–28, marking the largest comeback in Super Bowl history and currently the only one decided in overtime.

Golfers near Volcanic Eruption, 2018

As Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted in the summer of 2018, throwing ash into the air and causing the evacuation of more than 2,000 people from their homes, some golfers at the aptly named Volcano Golf Course stayed focused on their game, enjoying an afternoon round as Getty photographer Mario Tama looked on.