What does it really feel like to stand over a shot with a major tournament hanging in the balance?
Mark Immelman sits down with longtime friend and Players Championship winner Tim Clark for a candid conversation about pressure, trust, resilience, swing thoughts, rhythm, injuries, and learning how to play golf your own way.
Tim shares what was going through his mind on the famous 17th and 18th holes at TPC Sawgrass when he won The Players Championship—and why his breakthrough came when he stopped thinking ahead and simply trusted the game he had built over a lifetime.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
- What Tim Clark felt standing on the 17th tee at TPC Sawgrass.
- Why pressure can make even elite golfers question everything.
- How Tim learned to trust his swing instead of controlling it.
- Why commitment matters more than eliminating nervous thoughts.
- How past disappointments helped prepare him to win.
- Why golfers should stop chasing “perfect” swing positions.
- How Tim developed his swing around his own physical limitations.
- Why rhythm and footwork mattered more to him than mechanics.
- How too much technical information can actually hurt performance.
- The real reason Tim’s PGA TOUR career ended, and
- Why resilience and finding a way are central to great golf.
Key Takeaways:
Trust What You’ve Trained > Standing on the 17th tee with the tournament on the line, Tim describes feeling pressure unlike anything he had experienced before. His response was simple: “You’ve hit millions of balls. You’ve just got to trust what you do.”
Instead of adding a swing thought, he allowed the motion to happen naturally. Tim believes that trying to consciously control the swing in that moment would have made it almost impossible to make a committed swing.
Don’t Play Scared > After surviving 17, Tim reached the 18th tee with a completely different feeling. Rather than protecting his position, he chose driver and committed to trying to win the tournament. “I’m not gonna lose this tournament by playing scared.”
The result was what Tim describes as one of the best tee shots of his life.
Accept the Thoughts—Then Commit > Tim explains that trying to ignore pressure, fear, or thoughts about winning often makes them worse.
Instead: 1. Acknowledge the thought. 2. Accept that it is there. 3. Gather the information you need. 4. Commit completely to the next shot.
Trying to pretend the pressure does not exist is very different from accepting it and moving forward anyway.
Play Your Own Golf Swing > Tim was born with limited rotation in his forearms, which meant his golf swing could never look exactly like many conventional models.
So he learned to play his own way.
He grew up watching good players, hitting thousands of golf balls, and discovering the simplest way for him to hit the ball far and straight. He never had a full-time swing coach and did not try to rebuild a motion that already worked.
Stop Being So Technical > Tim says one of the reasons he was such a strong ball striker was because he did not think about much during the swing.
He looked at the target and swung the club.
When his short game became overly technical, however, he became rigid and constantly searched for solutions. Looking back, he believes the bigger answer was allowing more feel and natural ability into the motion.
It’s Called a Swing for a Reason > Tim also shares a warning about information overload. After being shown TrackMan numbers that were described as “perfect,” he began thinking about those numbers during his swing—and quickly started hitting the ball worse.
His philosophy remained simple: “It’s called a swing. It’s not called a series of movements or positions.”
Golfers need enough information to improve, but not so much that they lose the freedom to actually swing the club.
Rhythm Over Positions > Tim believes rhythm, timing, and sequencing are far more important than obsessing over specific club positions.
For him, rhythm started with the feet and lower body.
When pressure caused the mind to race, the swing tended to get quick. When he stayed present and maintained his rhythm, small imperfections in the swing could still correct themselves.
The Truth About Why Tim Stopped Playing > Tim also addresses a misconception about the end of his competitive career.
It was not the anchoring/putter rule that forced him away from the game.
Years of physical limitations contributed to wrist, elbow, and eventually serious back problems. Bone growth and loss of movement in his thoracic spine ultimately prevented him from competing at the level he wanted. Tim says that if his body allowed it, he would still be playing today.
Memorable Quotes:
“You’ve hit millions of balls. You’ve just got to trust what you do.”
“I’m not gonna lose this tournament by playing scared.”
“You have to be 100% committed.”
“If the ball’s going where you want it to, why would you change anything?”
“It’s called a swing. It’s not called a series of movements or positions.”
“Rhythm is way more important than any club position.”
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