106 replies to this topic

[HackerVance]

Very impressed with Charlie's performance.  Unless you've experienced, or seen others experience, these kind of psychological issues you really don't know how dificult they are.

[Willie Malay]

More than psychological. psycho-physiological.

[cardia10]

I kicked football for a while for a living. Never had military service, but I do know panic and stress! Once you leave your zone of trust, you freak. Can't breathe, can't think, just shake! This guy just got out of his comfort zone (slightly obvious). I am amazed that he held it together! Daly does this often, but shoots 88 the next day. To finish that strong was very mentally tough! They say kickers are head cases, but you internalize so much stress, you have to do little things to take your mind off the job. I'm not superstitious at all, but I always did certain things to keep a routine to keep doubt from creeping in. Never been in the back of an ambulance because of it, but I have had the shakes a few times.

Edited by cardia10, 12 November 2012 - 01:27 PM.

[farmer]

This has to be the win of the year.  Good for him.

[MtlJeff]

cardia10, on 12 November 2012 - 01:26 PM, said:

I kicked football for a while for a living. Never had military service, but I do know panic and stress! Once you leave your zone of trust, you freak. Can't breathe, can't think, just shake! This guy just got out of his comfort zone (slightly obvious). I am amazed that he held it together! Daly does this often, but shoots 88 the next day. To finish that strong was very mentally tough! They say kickers are head cases, but you internalize so much stress, you have to do little things to take your mind off the job. I'm not superstitious at all, but I always did certain things to keep a routine to keep doubt from creeping in. Never been in the back of an ambulance because of it, but I have had the shakes a few times.

i was a placekicker aswell, among the most stressful positions in sports along with the closer in baseball. Mostly because you sit there all game waiting your turn with really nothing to do but think. And sometimes its easy to think about how you can screw up all the hard work everyone else has put in. And if you miss you have no way of knowing when you will get a chance to redeem yourself. Some guys who've missed big kicks were never the same afterwards. A good recent example was Mike Vanderjagt who went from being one of the best kickers ever to out of work in a very short time. I don't really miss it to be honest

[cardia10]

I'm the same way, my last game was 5 years ago and I love looking back at pictures and enjoyed being with the team, but I was never in a more stressful job in my life. I would imagine military in a combat zone would be much much different as lives are on the line, but kicking gave me ulcers! Beljan could be a kicker, even if he is built like a tight end or small linebacker.

Edited by cardia10, 12 November 2012 - 02:20 PM.

[roll - gybe]

I had a panic attack once.  I'm not sure these are psychological events.  I think they highly physical.

I had been up working on 3-4 hours of sleep for months, and one night all of a sudden I could not think.  Specifically, I could not add a negative number to a positive number.  I knew something was wrong, so I walked out to get some fresh air.  A co-worker saw me and offered me a cigarette, which sent my heart racing.

At that point I couldn't imagine playing golf.  Maybe running the 110 hurdles; but golf - no way.  Hopefully someone told him he wasn't dying.

Good on him for winning.  If he had a panic attack, he probably just had a weird confluence of life events and physical events.  Hopefully he figures his limits out.  Wow, still impressed he could play golf like that.

[station2station]

roll - gybe, on 12 November 2012 - 02:42 PM, said:

I had a panic attack once.  I'm not sure these are psychological events.  I think they highly physical.

I had been up working on 3-4 hours of sleep for months, and one night all of a sudden I could not think.  Specifically, I could not add a negative number to a positive number.  I knew something was wrong, so I walked out to get some fresh air.  A co-worker saw me and offered me a cigarette, which sent my heart racing.

At that point I couldn't imagine playing golf.  Maybe running the 110 hurdles; but golf - no way.  Hopefully someone told him he wasn't dying.

Good on him for winning.  If he had a panic attack, he probably just had a weird confluence of life events and physical events.  Hopefully he figures his limits out.  Wow, still impressed he could play golf like that.

good post.  I had a bad month about 8 years ago.  Like you said, a confluence of events.  I was working late - sleeping none - and had a couple other issues I was dealing with.  Boom out of nowhere I was anxious, nauseous, insomnia, palpitations, etc.  It starts to feed on itself and grows-  didn't know WTF was wrong with me.  I was very closing to going to the ER on a couple occasions.  Looking back I see it very clearly but when you are in it, you have no idea. You can't "just relax" like people seem to think.  You have this feeling of impending doom and that you might die - the issues become very physical - that mind/body connection.

It was a blessing of sort. I learned from that month how to take better care of myself. And when I feel the load coming I understand the why and how to deal.

Regarding those guys who were place kickers in football - that's probably the most stress in sports - short of a relief pitcher in a big game. I can't imagine.

Edited by station2station, 12 November 2012 - 03:14 PM.

[profsmitty]

Great job of bring this thread back on target. You can do a great job without mods most of the time. As you just proved, you don't have to let trolls mess up up your forums and threads. Just don't give up be relentless. Put them in their place and move forward.

Great job all.

[flip flappy]

I was very happy to see Charlie win this weekend. It certainly took a lot of gumption to close it out. I hope we see him in the winners circle more frequently since he has gotten the monkey off his back.

As far as panic attacks, I have had several myself. Every time I was taking the medicine Prednisone. It makes me really anxious and can really get into your thinking. I was at church one time, in a crowd, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. All but ready to freak out.
I have asthma and take it to clear up my breathing when it gets really bad. Not saying Charlie was taking Prednisone, but if he was I can certainly understand what was going on with him.

[golfpros1]

I'm not trying to offend anyone and their experiences, none of them sound great, but I can assure you that someone that truly has a psychological issue like panic and anxiety experiences something significantly worse.  It's NOTHING like being nervous about missing a kick as a place kicker, or being stressed out from not sleeping enough and working too much.  It's much much worse than that, and people can feel this way every day, all day, for years.  It requires professional counseling and medication.  People with these disorders can reach the point that they can't even leave their homes.  Hats off to the guy for pushing through the fear, which is in fact one of the best ways to overcome the condition, so this victory may do as much or more for his health as it will his career.

Edited by golfpros1, 12 November 2012 - 10:10 PM.

[profsmitty]

To all the people who had their posts deleted from this thread - I will not allow you to take a serious subject completely off topic. I'm you want to have a discussion of the sort you seem to want to make this thread become, please start you own their in the 19th hole.

There is nothing at all funny about panic attacks.

[Dire Wolf]

Panic attacks are partly about the body/mind mistakenly believing it's in immediate danger to the point the nervous system goes berserk.  You literally think you are dying.  It's not "butterflies" or choking.  And once you have one, others are more likely.

As for distracting the other golfers in the group, a ruling from the very FIRST rule in the book:

1-4/1

Player Distracted by Ball Dropped by Another Player Mis-Hits Ball

Q.As A was making his backswing, B accidentally dropped a ball, which rolled within six inches of A's ball. The appearance of the dropped ball startled A, causing him to top his shot. In equity, should A be permitted to replay his stroke?

A.No. Distractions are a common occurrence which players must accept.

[Jim Clark]

Anxiety/panic attack symptoms can mimic heart attack symptoms. Google it and you can get lots of information. Another condition that can seem like a heart attack is an esophageal spasm. I had one of those recently and thought I WAS having a heart attack. Chest pressure/pain (pretty bad), nausea, profuse sweating, shortness of breath, etc (all heart attack symptoms). Wife took me to the emergency room. First thing they did was an ECG which showed normal rhythm. Then they did the normal tests, all negative for a heart attack. They didn't mention the possibility of esophageal spasm. My doctor, after seeing the test results, suggested that as a distinct possibility. Follow-up was a nuclear stress test (precaution) and I passed with flying colors.

[johnnypro]

station2station, on 10 November 2012 - 10:45 AM, said:

Looks like he is playing today and tee'ing off around 11 EST.  Pulling for him.

I've known someone that has these issues.  The odd thing is that when you are in the middle of the anxiety you don't know why you feel terrible -  and convincing yourself it's a non-life-threatening anxiety/panic attack is hard because it feels so scary.  And you seek medical advice - and all the tests come up negative for the traditional problems..  a vicious circle of "what is going on and why?" When you later calm down and feel better you can look back and say "it probably WAS a panic attack."  But when it returns you question it again...Sounds exactly like Charlie's story.

As someone who suffers from anxiety I can tell you this exactly what happened to Charlie Beljan. You are 100% correct. A feeling of absolute dread comes over you. You feel as if something terrible, possibly even death, is imminent. Your palms get sweaty, you begin having palpitations. You try to rationalize that it is, indeed, an anxiety attack and nothing is seriouly wrong but, while it's happening, you have a very, very tough time convincing yourself of this. It's really an awful feeling but it passes. There are many pharmatceuticals that help in dealing with this. Zoloft works for me, maybe something else will work for Beljan. The doctors tell me I will be on it for the rest of my life and that's OK by me if it does the trick....and it has for ten years. The important thing is to use whatever drug works for you, stick to it, and not feel stigmatized by telling people you're "on something." It is no big deal. More people than you may realize suffer from depression and / or anxiety to some degree. Just one caution: if you are subject to bouts of anxiety, do NOT smoke marijuana!!!! You risk the onset of another attack.

[poppyhillsguy]

Great interview with Charlie Beljan on Backspin the Golf Show last night.  He's really exited about next year and being able to set his own schedule.  There was a sense of excitement and disbelief that he'll be in Kapalua in a matter of weeks. Looking forward to watching him play in 2013!

[4thand11]

I like this guy. Definitely not a typical PGA robot. Seems to have a good sense of humor and wears his emotions on his sleeve.

He also absolutely bombs the driver. Might be the best driver swing on tour. If he can get his short game working, and get the panic issue under control, he might be ready for a big year in 2013.