What is mental toughness? Is it being able to grind out a good score when things aren't going so well on the course? Or is it the mental ability to stay strong and committed in spite of distractions and on-course circumstances?

Of course it is both of these things and more. Yet mental toughness isn't something you simply acquire in the spur of the moment or when you "think you need it." No, it's more of an overall mindset. A perspective on the game that allows you to tap another level within your mental game.

Mental toughness is developed and built over time. Once you have a degree of mental toughness, access to it when it matters becomes easier and easier. Like any new skill it habituates over time. An increased inner resolve that generates consistent, confident swings.

Do you have the mental toughness of a 14-year-old-girl? I don't think even Tiger does. Seriously. Is your golfing mindset solid and committed in the many scenarios that unfold in your game? Do you have as strong a mind as young MacKinzie Kline, the 14-year-old golfing phenom? She is incredibly mentally tough.

She was born with only three valves in her heart and her kidney was on the wrong side of her body. Having gone through several operations in her life, she built a toughness. She went on to qualify for the Women's Amateur at the age of 14. She's already had three aces - and one of them was caught on film!

Yet as she continued to play she began to feel extremely short of breath. She was forced to take an oxygen tank with her as she played and use it between holes. Nothing would stop her from competing. Imagine lugging an oxygen tank around the course with you and remaining focused on each shot!

Concerned, the doctors investigated what might be causing her shortness of breath and discovered she had a hole in her heart which they had missed some time before that. So she underwent another operation.

She has a mental toughness that keeps her in her game and completely centered in each moment. Regardless of the circumstances. She has decided to play with a mindset that says, "I determine how I feel and how I'll perform, not the other player or what might be happening around me." MacKinzie Kline's mindset is the epitome of what mental toughness is.

It's almost routine to watch some frustrated whiner on the course toss his club 20 yards down the fairway after a bad shot. Or complain about all the bad breaks they get, why the bunker wasn't raked properly, how the cup wasn't cut right, and on and on. Player after player, when faced with some adversity, fold like a cheap suit and succumb to the inertia of their own inner weakness.

And then there's this 14-year-old girl with only three valves in her heart with more character and heart than any of us could hope to have.

Mental toughness is a state of mind that keeps your attention on each task. Each shot. Each moment. MacKinzie Kline is committed to her mental game. She is committed to herself.

She accepts complete responsibility for her results and places no blame outside of herself for her circumstances. Amazing. Most everyone would agree she has a right to feel self pity. That doesn't happen with her for even a moment. Her diminutive stature disguises a towering mental game giant.

She chooses how she'll experience herself on the golf course. Knowing mental toughness is a decision. A commitment to an inner ideal that is bigger then the outcome of any one shot, or game. She chose to accept ownership of her internal state and how she'll perform.

Tiger is unquestionably the dominant force in the game and is so mainly because of his mental toughness. Yet I would place young MacKenzie Kline along side him any day if forced to choose the mental game giants in golf.

It sure makes our own weakness on the course seem pathetic, doesn't it?

Wade Pearse is a Peak Performance Coach who spent 7 years applying the most advanced mental game strategies in golf with his clients and in his own game with phenomenal results. His website is filled with mental game resources and is 100% focused on developing the inner game.

Wade Pearse
Keeping you on target!
Visit the website now =>
Golf Mental Game Mental Game Blog