breakthrough golf

  • Minimize Unforced Errors

  • Get Your Golf Game Unstuck

  • Take your Playing to a Much Higher Level

from Dr. Don Greene
Sports Psychologist

Hi, I’m Dr. Don Greene

I’ve developed this program to help professional golfers overcome the hidden forces that negatively affect their performance in high intensity tournaments.

Below you can find my personal journey that is intended to show the missing pieces of peak performance puzzle I might have that you’re looking for.

Programs and Assessments will be coming soon. In the meantime I have opened up my calendar for consultations and one-on-one coaching.

You can reach out to me using one of the ‘Contact’ buttons on this page.

Looking forward to working with you.

- Don Greene Ph.D.

My Journey with Golf

Years 19xx-1990

I began working with pro golfers in South Florida after I was introduced to Peter Kostis, the head pro at St. Andrews in Boca Raton. He was a master teacher who worked with several PGA and LPGA players and wrote The Inside Path to Better Golf. Peter offered me private golf lessons at his club in exchange for my teaching him Sports Psychology.

Peter was very curious about the psychological assessments that I used with divers and Grand Prix drivers. I had him complete The Competitive Styles Assessment (CSA) that I’d developed. The CSA was based on the AMI and TAIS. Peter was fascinated by the graphic profile wanted to know what each of the 24 categories and scores meant.

A few months later, several of his PGA players were with Peter at St. Andrews. They were preparing for the Doral Tournament in Miami. Peter had them take the CSA. They included Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Davis Love III, Tom Kite, Tom Purtzer and Gary Koch. All of them had won multiple victories on the PGA Tour.

In the next few days, I was able to meet with each of the players to explain their profile scores. Most of them found the information very interesting. In spite of their experience and success on tour, none of them had never heard anything like what I was able to share with them about the mental aspects of their games.

All the players gave me permission to share their profile information with Peter. He found it illuminating, especially since he’d worked with many of them for years. After that, Peter also wanted me to meet with three of his LPGA players, Laurie Rinker, Lori Garbacz and Deborah McHaffie and have them take the CSA.

After meeting with each of them and validating their CSA profiles, we began working on their games. Two months later, Laurie won the LPGA Corning Classic. She shot a final round of 66, coming from behind to win by three strokes over Pat Bradley. Then, Lori won the LPGA Tucson Open, finishing four strokes ahead of Nancy Lopez. that same year, Deborah qualified for the 1st time for the U.S. Open and made it to the finals.

The following year, I began teaching Sports Psychology at the Golf Digest’s Instruction Schools (GDIS), alongside with some of the finest teachers in golf. Besides Peter, they included master teachers Bob Toski, Davis Love, Jr., John Elliott, and Paul Runyan.

In 1989, I wrote about one of the ten toughest shots in golf: driving from the 1st tee. There was a drawing of me about to hit a driver in front of a group of golf students. That was tough for me, since I’d only started my own golf lessons two years before. Now, I was expected to not only play well, but offer practical advice on how to do it.

In 1990, I was featured in a Golf Digest article, Becoming Mentally Tough, including a photo of me teaching at a golf school. I also began writing The Ultimate Mind Game, a six-part series, including shortened versions of the Competitive Styles Assessment, which I’d updated and reworded specifically for golfers.

Thanks to my experience with Parker, I was interested in working with pro golfers again on the mainland. Peter Kostis had moved to Arizona. He now had his own golf training facility at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. Peter invited me to be on his training staff and start working with his top amateurs and tour players. At the time, the pros included Chez Reavie, Grace Park and Mark Hensby.

Peter also wanted me to meet with Paul Casey, who grew up in England. After high school, he accepted a golf scholarship at Arizona State. He competed for ASU, was also a member of the Ryder Cup Team that played against the Americans in in 2004. The Europeans scored a 18 to 9 win over the Americans. It was the largest margin of victory over the US Team since the first Ryder Cup in 1997.

In an interview prior to the World Cup in 2005, speaking about the victory over the US Team, Paul said, “Oh, we probably hate them. We wanted to beat them as badly as possible." He was quoted as saying "Americans are stupid”. After that, whenever he played in the US, the normal courteous golf fans heckled and booed him relentlessly. Paul soon went from #42 in the World Golf Rankings to #186.

I first met Paul later in 2005. He was extremely depressed and his golf game was virtually gone. The Golf Today News described him as being in a "horrific slump”. He had gone four months without making a single cut." In Golf World, it was reported that he had "panic attacks on practice ranges”. His family and friends believed he was on the verge of having have an emotional breakdown.

Peter and I worked together intensely with Paul. I went to all of his lessons with Peter at the range and on the course. Besides St. Andrews, Paul and I met often and I spent a lot of quality time together. We developed a close relationship

In 2005, Paul came in 3rd in the Omega Masters in Switzerland. He shot 12 under par, two strokes out of the lead. Then Paul won the TCL Classic Open in China by sinking a 30 foot putt for birdie in a playoff. In 2006, he won the HSBC World Matchplay and the johnny Walker Championships and was named the European Golfer of the Year.

In 2007, Paul won in Abu Dhabi and moved up to #13 in the WGR. Then, in 2009, after recovering from a serious rib injury, he won the BMW Golf Championship in England and the Shell Houston PGA Open in Texas. The tournament in Houston was Paul’s first win ever on the PGA Tour after 77 career starts. Nevertheless, it moved Paul up to #3 in the WGR. After that, he had a series of wins in both Europe and the US.

Since Paul was obviously well on his way, I moved to LA and I began working with musicians in the major recording studios, ballet dancers at the Colburn Academy and performers who were singing in major competitions. I also had time to reflect on my observations and insights since my last books on more than 20 years ago.

During that time, I was fortunate to work with some of the best performers and athletes in the world. But I was still plagued by a puzzle that I’d tried for years in vain to solve: why do highly talented and well trained pros make unforced errors in consequential situations, without understanding the true cause of their costly mental mistakes.

Nine years ago, I figured out the puzzle. I cracked the code on what caused even the best to self-sabotage, preventing them from achieving peak functioning. After my Ph.D and 30 years experience, I finally understood how performers and athlete could create flawless execution. I soon started teaching the new information to my clients.

I was so grateful to be in Hawaii. I was finally living in the land of the dreams I had, ever since I began skateboarding, roller blading and scuba diving. I lived my dream life for quite a while and loved it every precious minute. But I finally reached the point where I felt ready to deal with life and people again. The only person I knew in Hawaii was a classmate of mine from West Point. We were both on the swimming team. We met to play a round of golf at the Waialae Country Club. Afterwards, he wanted me to meet the head pro, Greg Nichols.

Greg was interested in me helping him with his own game, but he also wanted me to meet with one of his best amateur players, Parker McLachlin. Greg had taught Parker since he was 14 and thought that “the kid” was special. Parker had played on full scholarship for the UCLA golf team for four years. He had some second place finishes, but was never able to win a college tournament.

I met with Parker several days later at the Waialae. I went over his profile and then we came up with a game plan for how he would play his best golf. Over the next two months, we spent lots of time together on and off the course. Before long, Parker began to play in amateur tournaments again and shoot the lowest scores of his life.

Four months later, Parker went to the Monterey Peninsula in Northern Cal to play in a Monday qualifying round for a Nationwide mini-tour event. He qualified, made the 36 hole cut, and got his first paycheck. That’s when he turned pro. In the next two years, Parker won four other “mini tour” events, went through Q-School, earned fully exempt playing status on the PGA Tour, and qualified to play in the U.S. Open Championship.

Parker’s biggest win on the PGA tour was the 2008 Legends-Reno Tahoe Open. He started with a round of 68, followed by a course record 62, and then he shot a 66 on Saturday. He got off to a great start on Sunday for the final round. As he was walking down the 18th fairway, with a commanding lead, he turned to the TV camera and said, “Hey Don, we did it!” Then he made a 15 foot putt on the last hole to win by 7 strokes.

Along with the heavy winner’s silver trophy, he received a check for $540,000, and a two-year, full exemption on the PGA Tour. By the end of the golf season, Parker had earned a total of $1.28 million in prize money. He was still only 29, but well on his way to making more than $2.5 million in winnings on the PGA Tour. After retiring, Parker became a very successful short game teacher for top amateurs and tour players.

About six months ago, one of my former doctoral students introduced me to Dr. Rick Sessinghaus. Rick is a former PGA Tour player, highly successful PGA teacher, and mental coach especially for golfers. He has a Masters Degree and Doctorate in Applied Sports Psychology. He wrote Golf: The Ultimate Mind Game. He has mentored many fortunate golfers at every level. Rick is the co-founder of the FlowCode Golf Academy.

The FlowCode Academy is the world’s leading golf performance system, which was created to share the latest information and mental secrets to achieve the state of flow in an effective way. It is designed to teach golfers how to play fearlessly, achieve flow in their games, and master their performance. I believe in Rick’s program, because I’ve come to know Rick really well. I have great respect for him and his pioneering work.

So what causes otherwise talented, trained, and experienced golfers, to sabotage their own best efforts and make unforced errors preventing them from peak functioning? Rick is the only professional I know who understands the real answer of how to create flawless execution in flow. Rick and I are both interested in helping golfers learn how to achieve peak functioning, especially when they’re competing in important tournaments.