Doug Hastie has replaced John Randle as head coach of the Camosun Chargers golf program. Hastie, who was the assistant coach of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds in the past, feels that the psychological ups and downs of the sport are a metaphor for life.
“Golf duplicates life as much as any sport,” he says. “You’re going to have your ups and downs; you got to work through them. The downs just make the ups feel that much better. You get frustrated when you play bad, but that just means when you play well, it really feels good and you don’t take it for granted.”
Hastie knows that with golf, there are only certain things you can control.
“You try to stay away from what we call outcome goals—score and placing and all that kind of stuff. You try to focus on process goals, which is, what can you control? You can control how you think, you can control your pre-shot routine, you can control making decisions on the golf course,” he says.
As far as the uncontrollable—bad bounces and course conditions—Hastie knows it’s better to focus on what’s possible to change.
“I want to focus on short game and playing tactics, and hopefully get the team to push each other, and concentrate for that short season that we’ve got,” he says.
Practicing being under pressure is important while playing at a competitive level for the six-week season. Tiger Woods’ father jingled coins in his pocket as his son was putting to get him used to distractions; while Hastie hasn’t gone that far, the players have consequences if they start to lose focus on the aspects of the game that are within their control.
“You don’t do anything out of term,” says Hastie. “You just play golf. That’s the toughest thing to do sometimes.”
When they’re on the driving range, if the golfers hit two balls in a row without going through their usual pre-shot routine and aren’t focusing on a specific target, they hit the ground.
“Whether it’s to do some push-ups or sit-ups, whatever it is,” says Hastie. “The goal on the range—especially right before a tournament—is simulating the golf course as much as you can, and trying to mentally put yourself in that situation on the first hole or 18th hole, whatever it is, and then hit the shot.”
The players aren’t just casually hitting balls when they’re on the range; that doesn’t do any good at all, says Hastie.
“You change clubs between every ball, you change targets between every ball; you really try to put yourself in a pressure situation,” he says. “You play some kind of pressure game against your buddies to try to push each other.”
Camosun recreation and athletics coordinator Graham Matthews says Hastie’s experience with UBC and with the golf industry in general made him a really good fit for the position.
“We’re really excited and happy to have him on board,” says Matthews. “He understands what a student athlete is all about: academics, plus the training, plus the competition and bringing all those qualities together. He just has a really good fit, I think, with coaching. We’re looking forward to seeing how things open up for next year.”
Team tryouts are Labour Day weekend; anyone interested in trying out can email Hastie at dhastiepga@gmail.com.