This week I played my first pain free event in nearly two years. Here is what surprised me upon my return
- Jan 17
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 19
STANGER THINGS BLOG
"I shot 69-70, five under par in total, and missed the cut by two. That's when the real battle started." Professional sports are a lot more complicated than show up and win. Behind each professional golfer is years of refinement and a supercomputer of a brain specifically trained to squeeze every ounce of success out of each shot. In professional sports, if you are not improving, you are falling behind. Now, I must compete with others who used the past two years to refine those feels, not rehab a bad elbow.
This year, I want to share with you, in longer form, the journey I am on through these occasional “journal entries.” Think of these short to medium blogs as windows into the mind of a professional golfer. People often think I look stoic during a tournament week. I promise you there is a lot going on under the hood. Strap in and enjoy.
A Brief Injury introduction
2024 Started off great. As a rookie on the PGA Tour, I finished top 15 at the American Express Championship. I finished 3rd in the Puerto Rico Open, and I even made the cut at the PLAYERS. Soon after that, I began to feel sharp elbow pain in my right elbow that would not go away. From April of 2024, I battled elbow pain. After months of rehab, I tried to return and played a few minor league golf tournaments early in 2025 but the pain only got worse. Finally, in June 2025, I had a successful elbow endoscopy to clean up two bone spurs.
“Tournaments are just a different animal.”
Just because I spent a year and a half on injured reserve does not mean I sat around twiddling my thumbs. I did everything I could think of to improve. I read books on skill development, educated myself on supplements, nutrition, and creative recovery tools, created a plan with my coaches to address weaknesses in my body and game coinciding with my recovery timeline, and I putted. I putted a lot. People would ask me how I could spend full days on the golf course without hitting a golf ball. (My wife would ask the same question). As a competitor bent on improving, it’s not hard.
3 months after surgery, I progressed to hitting chip and pitch shots. After 4 months, short irons at 70%. After 5 months, full swings with a ball count. Over the past two months, I have been playing golf rounds, slowly building stamina in my elbow tendon while pushing my golf game back to PGA Tour levels.
At home, I can only simulate so much. I can take comfort that I have given my preparation 100% effort and thoughtfulness. One thing I knew beforehand: nothing you can do at home can simulate the pressure of a tournament week on the road against the best in the world. Tournaments are just a different animal. "Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable"
I missed golf, and it felt GOOD to be back. One of the things I missed most about tournament golf is how alive you feel the entire tournament week. This comes mostly from nerves but also from this thing I call “the Zone.” When I am in “the Zone,” I am in complete control of my mind and body. Competing against other professionals at home is fun, and brings pressure, but it does not force me to lock into the zone.
The zone is a purposeful, undistracted calm. It is knowing what I will think before I even think it. Some call it a flow state. I am completely in the moment, almost detached from my body, completely trusting that my body will translate thought to feel to action in milliseconds. This state is knowing I can hit a driver 300 yards in a 30 mph cross wind and get it to land within a yard of my intended target. My driver clubhead speed increases from about 115 to 120 without swinging any harder. But getting to this state is hard. It requires trust in your preparation and mental stamina. It only comes after being nervous, like, really nervous. And it requires getting comfortable being uncomfortable. I knew I would feel uncomfortable. I was excited for it. However, knowing something is going to happen and actually going through it is very different.
I feel all the nerves during a tournament week. Instinctively, at times, I just want to run away. I want to go do something “safe” for a living. Get a guaranteed salary with guaranteed hours. That way my hard work can't end in failure and this hive of butterflies in my stomach will just go away. Those are just the nerves talking. That is not what God has called me to do. I would hate a safe job. What makes me different is that I don’t allow these emotions to govern me. Butterflies are necessary to get to my goal: being a top professional golfer in the world. If I was NOT feeling nerves, THAT would be an issue. I wouldn't trade these nerves for anything.
By the time I teed it up in Round 1, I had gone through multiple iterations of these nerves. Each time I allowed the emotions to pass, reminded myself of truth, and found peace on the other side.
The rounds themselves are a blur. My hands shook for the first three holes but then I settled in nicely. It’s hard to describe how fun it is to flush an iron to a tucked pin, or cut a drive off the water into the fairway. I played well tee to green, but showed some rust on the easy shots. I got close to flow state but couldn’t hold it longer than a shot or two.
I shot 69 – 70 the first two rounds. -5 and missed the cut by 2. Tough sport. That is when the real battle began. That is what surprised me most.
I hate losing, probably more than I love winning. I like to think I have matured, but deep down I am still the same 8 year old boy who would cry after losing at tag during school recess. “I WILL find a way to win” my insides scream.
This competitiveness is the reason I have had so much success in pro-golf, but it’s also my kryptonite. Involuntarily in my head I hear, “What’s the point of all this tedious work?” “90 guys are better than you AND you played GOOD!” “How do you expect tomorrow/next week to be any different than today?” I anticipated the pre-round nerves. These post round emotions took me by surprise! I felt so vulnerable, why do I now still feel so vulnerable!? This was not the PGA tour, rather the Korn Ferry Tour. I still really wanted to win. I believed I WOULD win. At home I can play a bad round of golf and immediately forget about it. Why did this feel so different? Pre-round nerves I can handle. Where did this post-round anxiety come from? Final Thoughts: Competition reveals and refines our thoughts, fears and emotions.
So, I will end with this thought: Golf teaches me personally so much about life. In God’s kindness, He often uses professional golf to reveal what I care about most. The song, Messiah, by Beautiful Euology, has a line, “I suppose what exposes the worship in most of us is a close look at our thoughts, fears, and emotions.” That is spot on.
Anxiety reveals a misguided thought and worship process that has embedded itself deep into our subconscious. Put more simply, my anxiety is the symptom of thinking something will satisfy me that was never meant to satisfy me.
I can love my job. I can pursue greatness at golf. Maybe I will reach it, maybe I will not. Golf cannot become my primary object of worship. It will never satisfy. It can be an amazing gift, a thrill of a ride. It will never be a source of continual satisfaction. Only Jesus Christ can give that.
In Philippians 3:8, the Apostle Paul declares, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” My hope and prayer is that I can honestly say this about myself.
I may feel my feelings in success or in failure, but I must keep immersing myself in truth. Golf tournaments simply bring out my vulnerabilities and reveal my real hearts desires. I can give into those or I can bring truth to them.
So as you can see by now, I may look calm on the outside, but there is a lot going on inside. Thank you for reaching my first attempt to give you a sneak peak into my mind and what I write in my journal on a weekly basis. This was helpful for me to write out.
Next week I compete in my first event back on the PGA tour at the American Express Championship in Palm Springs CA. I get to experience this range of emotions all over again, probably with more volatility because it’s a PGA tour event truly against the best in the world. This time I know more what to expect in this never ending chess match against the golf course and myself.
Sincerely,
Jimmy Stanger
