Golf has been a test of physical and mental strength. Though the physical ability of a golfer can be seen in his long drives and precision shots. But for temperament, many golfers have a dreadful story that defines them as an angry player. Something similar was the case with Jon Rahm; he got his nickname, “Raging Bull,” because of his emotional outbursts. The golfer has been seen throwing, kicking, or smashing his clubs on the course when suffering a poor performance.
Starting with the 2017 US Open, the golfer threw and kicked his club. Even recently, at the 2025 Open Championship, when a spectator whistled, he slammed the audience, saying, “Whistling? Great timing… right in my backswing. Really clever, whoever that was.” Now that the golfer has dealt with all the ups and downs in his career, he is planning to address his anger outbursts and control them with the help of a mental coach.
Recently, Rolex’s video on YouTube with the title, “Rolex presents: Jon Rahm- Mind Over Matter,” was shared, where he expressed his journey. In the video, he shared about his anger. The Spaniard said, “I’m not happy when I make a mistake, so I get angry. Whether it’s embarrassment from missing a shot or whatever it may be.” The anger has resulted in affecting the game. The biggest example is his 2017 US Open participation, where he missed the cut.
But now that he knows, he spoke about the same. Rahm said, “Controlling your emotions, knowing what to focus on, knowing how to deal with the adrenaline and the heart rate and the tension, the mind is probably the factor that can make the biggest difference.” However, with the root cause of his performance known, Rahm has partnered with his mental health coach.
Sharing his journey, Rahm shared in the video, “My mental coach got me to start writing what’s going on, what I feel, what I need to do better, or what I wish I was doing.” The exercise suggested by Joseba del Carmen of writing is channelizing his anger. He even mentioned that he writes about what makes him angry and frustrated.
Well, this is just one of the exercises that he pointed out, but there is a lot more.
Jon Rahm’s partnership with a mental coach
Rahm partnered with Del Carmen in 2014. Carmen is a former bomb disposal expert and college basketball player. With his experience, he brings expertise in sports and high-pressure situations. Even the experience has helped the golfer with a variety of exercises to work on his temper.
The duo before the rounds has a routine grounding where conversation away from golf is focused on resetting mentally. Apart from this, for anger management, the coach has added a few techniques to the routine. One of them is acceptance and refocusing, where he, instead of focusing on what went wrong, uses the frustration as fuel to improve. Further, breathing, mindfulness and self-compassion, and passion are the few practices the golfer has adopted for managing anger at the course.
In fact, since Rahm stepped into the shoes of a father, he learned how not to stay angry and let go. The role has helped him with a wider perspective to look at things and helped him in quickly letting go of things that could affect his performance. Interestingly, since 2022, there have been fewer blow-ups from the golfer. Have you noticed the change in golfers’ mentality? What are your thoughts on the change? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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