Cink: Best way to succeed is through self-regulation

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CROMWELL, Conn. -- When it comes to mental fitness, I think one of the most important things that a lot of players out here on TOUR do without even realizing it, is the act of self regulation.

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Stewart Cink

In order to perform, you have to control your body and the way your mind is going. You've heard players say they get so fast under pressure and the swing speeds up. Everything speeds the swing up. The idea is to keep yourself slowed down, and you can do that with your breathing, you can do it with your walking, you can do it with your talking, you can just slow yourself down overall.

Mentally it helps you process information the right way, because really what happens is when you get out of regulation and get thrown off a little bit -- sometimes pressure does it, the first result is bad decision making. In golf, there's a very fine line, almost imperceptible to the players sometimes, the difference between when you're feeling calm and you're thinking properly to suddenly you're a little anxious and maybe you don't consider every single possibility. So you have to stay self-regulated. Using those techniques, you just make better decisions and end up playing better.

Preparation is a big part of self-regulation, whether you're playing golf or speaking to a thousand people or whether you're trying to run a kids' hockey practice. Separation and repetition and muscle memory are things I use all the time, no matter what I'm doing.

As far as how good I am at practicing what I preach, I'm getting there but it doesn't come naturally for me. As far as the way I take my own advice, I'd probably give myself about a C, because I wobble, and there's times when I definitely wish I could do it over. It's a process. Like I said, it doesn't come naturally, and I have to make an effort proactively to try to achieve it.

I think a guy like Tiger has a really good handle on his self-regulation. You see him fist-pumping, just going crazy on one of the greens, but that would really throw me off. However, he's used to it, and he says that helps him focus and keeps him in-tune. So he uses that as a way to self-regulate.