The Journey episode 3 with Peter O'Keefe: Mindset, Movement, and Mastering the Game

Stepping onto the green, every golfer knows the swing is just the beginning. This episode, we're joined by Peter O'Keefe, who shares the revelations from his golf and wellness retreat in Portugal, where the fusion of movement workshops and expert coaching is more than just a game-changer—it's a lifestyle revolution. As I reflect on my own aspirations to conquer more amateur titles and inspire the next generation at my home club, we peel back the layers of fitness and mindset, crucial elements that often decide whether we triumph or falter when the stakes are high.

Navigating personal and professional life as a competitive athlete is no easy feat, a reality Peter O'Keefe knows all too well. In our heartfelt conversation, he unveils the reasons behind stepping away from team golf, prioritizing family over fervor. Meanwhile, I'm candid about the upcoming tournaments that still set my heart racing, sharing the strategic thought process behind each entry. There's a particular exhilaration linked to Q-School that I can't seem to shake and, quite frankly, I'm not sure I want to.

Where the rubber meets the road—or should I say, where the club meets the ball—is in the details of our strategy and mental preparation. In this episode, I lay out the reasons practice rounds may be overrated for some, emphasizing the power of visualization and a robust pre-shot routine. We also dig into the quirkiness of club selection; my tenuous relationship with the three-wood might just lead to a shake-up in my bag. And let's not overlook the magic of a well-loved putter—it's not just a club; it's a trusted companion on the journey to golfing greatness.

Peter’s instagram https://www.instagram.com/golf__strong?igsh=M3I3M3k4M2VwOGc3

Peter’s golf strong website 
https://www.golfstrong.ie/

Follow amateur info
https://instagram.com/irish_amateur_golf_info?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA==

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Okay, I'll welcome back to the Alirisham podcast and we continue with her journey series. In this episode, I'm joined by Peter O'Keefe. Peter, welcome back to the Padme. Hi, gary, thanks for being our thanks, oh good. Oh good. We've just chatting there. So you're just back from Portugal, so you're branching out into Galstrong Favillano as well. Yeah, why not?

Speaker 2: 0:22

Sure, look, we'll keep trying new things. Yeah, so it's the second year. We did it now. So we did it last year. I did it on my own with clients from the wider online community. Let's call it Kinted. Lago is an ideal situation, so I suppose what I'm trying to do is more golf wellness, where the day involves some movement workshops. This time round we had Billy O'Regan, who's joined me, an amazing S&C coach, brilliant social media guy, and he's a golfer himself, so he brought another element of professionalism to the trip. Rob Hogan, where everyone knows be a golfer. Rob is there giving everyone lessons and Darren Prince is a physio. So, with the four of us managing 32 people from this time round all over the world, I was blown away by the interest and we could have had probably 15 more people on the trip in the last week within queries. I just couldn't do it.

Speaker 2: 1:18

I couldn't do it because they take a lot of organizing with the golf, tea times and the hotel, and you want everything to be smooth, but Noah's brilliant feedback has been amazing. Everyone wants to go again. So, yeah, it's something I'll certainly be looking to do to grow and there's a big interest there and we're actually looking to do an Irish one as well at the moment. So we're keeping an eye on for that.

Speaker 1: 1:39

Keeping yourself fairly busy. So I love to work loads, so talk to you about golf. So the next 12 months, peter, what would you like to achieve on the golf course in the next 12 months? You?

Speaker 2: 1:47

know I was trying to get better, and where better brings me, I keep an open mind on that really. So what do I want to achieve? I'd love to win more titles. That's really all I want to achieve in amateur golf. I don't have any interest in team golf anymore and that's fine. That's just my decision. The only team golf I would really have a major interest.

Speaker 2: 2:12

Obviously Walker Cup would be a nice thing to do, but not the end of the world. But I'd love to see our home club do something as I think we deserve not almost deserve, but I think it would be lovely for us as a group of people to achieve something like win a senior cup or bar in Sheel. So I really have a lot of interest in the juniors in Douglas and a lot of other clubs, clearly, but especially in my own club because I see them every week. We train together in the gym, set up the golf strong academy class. They're all involved in that and that brings people together.

Speaker 2: 2:46

You know, from a team golf standpoint, I'm not going to play for Munster, I'm not going to play for Ireland, and that's. That's not a negative. That's just where I am going with my golf. But yeah, like I'd love to see us do something from, from a team standpoint, the club, and I just want to see the golf ball do things that I wanted to do in tournaments and just do it my own way, and I've always done well on a golf course when I do it my own way and that's what I want. I want to get back to that a little bit. So that's, that's the. I suppose that's the the overall plan. So we'll see what happens.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Looking at the overall plan and looking at the back end of last year. So when you sat down with no, I suppose, and even just yourself with the reflection what was the main takeaways that you looked at from last year that you want to improve on for this year?

Speaker 2: 3:29

Which was one takeaway and that was the hinge. That was it, and you know, that was that happened, still on my mind. And what have I done since? I've just tried to get his physically fit and strong as I possibly could in that space of time Cause that's something I could control and also, I suppose smartly enough, worked on my technique, not by pounding balls, but doing loads of movements in the gym and just transferring that into a golf pattern or movement and sending that to Noel all the time. So we went to Portugal ourselves a couple of weeks ago and just did a weekend camp, just nice and quietly went down, and the signs are very good. So I don't know what's going to happen. I could play horrendous. I don't think I'll play around this golf, that'd be fair but I don't know what's what's going to happen. I have a good sense, I have a good feeling, like I would normally have a good indication of something happening. So I'm sure enough something will happen this year. But yeah, I suppose that's.

Speaker 2: 4:27

It's how people react to something negative happening, and let's call it a hint of negative, because it was. So. You know, when you literally give away a tournament, which is clearly what happens, you have to learn from that, you have to accept it and I suppose you have to make a quick decision on how you're going to react to it. My day is surrounded by health and fitness, either with God's strong business or F45 business, or whatever I'm doing in gyms. I'm in that environment all the time and that brings lots of positivity from people you're naturally surrounded by, which is great. It's a great place, a great environment. You know the business side of it has its challenges, but the people side of it is excellent. So I feed. I've fed off that for a long time, since July, let's say so I'm hoping all that breeds an attitude of you know, a calm confidence in myself, which, which, which I will have, and in my technique, and all of that rolling into one. So you know I'm keeping an open mind but I'm kind of quite excited to see the head yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:24

So, like you mentioned, you're kind of the start of the plan. I suppose team golf outside of Douglas isn't going to be a feature of your your schedule this year. So, like you made the decision late last year to walk away from Irish teams and stuff, so what was that? What was the purpose behind that? I was just clearly had enough in done, was it? It's?

Speaker 2: 5:38

just time.

Speaker 2: 5:40

It's just time with me. Like I, I it's just making a decision for myself, really. And what do I want to do with golf? Like I would love to see Jack Murphy get on the Irish team better than myself at this stage, and that's what I believe initially. Like my space should be given to Jack Murphy, no matter what our instance, and not just saying that because he's a teammate of mine in Douglas. But you know, and I look, I made you know I made that point. But I think really it's like anything.

Speaker 2: 6:04

It's like if you say to someone, the day you're dreading going into work is the day you need to change your job, like it wasn't the case. It's not like that in in golf, but I suppose are in Irish team stuff. It's just time for me, like I would get you know congratulations, you've been selected, and that's amazing. But right, how am I going to make everything work while I'm away? How do I get everything covered? Who's going to be where, where, where? It's just easier for me and my brain, you know, and my kids now are getting like they're three and five and Billy, my three year old, wants to go to the driving range every day and he's you know, it's just life moving on. So for me to maintain my love of being a competitor, I needed to make those decisions.

Speaker 2: 6:41

So, and they're the right decisions, you know I'm not going to miss it. I mean that would all the greatest respect to the Irish team set up. It's unlike it is. You know, you never say never, but right now I can't come in. It wasn't fair to the selectors anyway, you know, because they would say, look, are you available for this? And I'm like Jesus Christ, that's your. You know you shouldn't be asking me that really, because it should be you're. You're going to this and you're going to this and they're only being fair to me, which is great and I appreciate that. So, yeah, so that's it.

Speaker 2: 7:10

I suppose it's just something I am happy enough to move on from at the moment, and that's just the way I'm going to do it.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Yeah, and I suppose with all that I can, I suppose that kind of makes a lot of sense with juggling as many bars as you're juggling, but with all of that going on in life then. So how much time would you reckon you get to play golf in the week, or kind of like I know you're practicing in the gym but like actually rain and run course at the moment?

Speaker 2: 7:30

Sure, I played Q school in October. I didn't really play again until I played probably once over Christmas and I hate saying this because I'm such a golfer and then I went to Portugal with Noel and I ripped it in Portugal like absolutely flushed it Lovely, like really good. I played one day on our trip there, played lovely shot, a really nice score. But that tends to be the way I like to do it. But then again, like I probably you know myself and Rob Hogan had this chat like you know about are you proud I speak to Noel about this and all that Like, are you practicing when you're thinking about it?

Speaker 2: 8:05

And I am thinking about God's morning, noon and night, about positions watching swings, fields in the gym, putting off a ruler on all winter? You know you're still working on it. I mean, the winter here in Ireland has been complete right off, like so, unless you're going somewhere else to really get some proper work done, you know indoor golf, you can get certain stuff done in a swingroom. Yeah, like I gripped a club all the time during the day when I'm with clients and I was gripping the club and I was playing with my grip and I was feeling the club in my hands. So yeah, that's what I've been doing, having been playing God's morning. Much to answer the question, but moving, thinking about it, working on it, I suppose that's a constant.

Speaker 1: 8:45

With it ramping up in the next couple of weeks and kind of the season kicking off here. So what's the first three events you plan on playing at the moment?

Speaker 2: 8:52

I'm playing the Betty's Sound scratch cup on Sunday. I haven't played Betty's Sound since I was. I played a lenseor youth there a million years ago. So I'm just going to go up, walk the golf course and go to the beach and practice there west of Ireland next week. I wasn't going to play if it was the old format because I just thought that was a bit harsh.

Speaker 2: 9:09

I did make the cut the first year, missed the cut last year, it's just. You know, I thought I get it, but it's it's. I thought it was a fiddly format, to be honest. But they're back to the old format this year. So, and I think that tournament deserves that, because you just don't know what the weather, you know what I mean, you don't know. So top 64er gives everyone a fair crack at it, to be honest. And then I'm going to play in a Munster Stroke playing car because it's handy and I've won twice there and I like the golf course. It would normally classroom rhythm, but I played in the master. I did because it was a walk, a cup here, basically. So I'm going to play. My plan is just to play all the home events and the British hand, which is in Ireland anyway.

Speaker 2: 9:45

So it'll be largely a domestic you know, just just again, like just to see where my swings are, where my game is at, and I plan on going to Q-School again because I just enjoyed that, that tournament and the challenge. And you know, if you play well, they give them a few weeks, who knows what will happen. Sure, that's what life's all about. So I don't, I don't, you know, I think, are you spinning the roulette wheel? You probably are like, but sure, why not? You know?

Speaker 1: 10:06

Yeah, so it's very much as well Setting a schedule up that fits Peter O'Keefe rather than Peter O'Keefe 50 into a schedule.

Speaker 2: 10:11

Yeah, again, like I mean, I know myself, especially as a golfer, I need, I need to do it my own way too, and if I'm doing it another way it just doesn't work for me. And you know I struggle playing. Some lads love a casual game of golf. I struggle there. So that does not suit me. So I need to just keep putting myself in things that that suit me.

Speaker 2: 10:32

But when I know schedule ahead is easy, I suppose easy in regards of I can choose my own, I can. You know my family will come to certain events and you know we won't go like I'll go to Slybo on my own, we'll all go to the hinge together. That just works. You know that's just something we do and I can balance my work life around all of that. So I suppose it's nothing too exciting in one breath, but it's just the way I have to do it. But I'm looking forward to it and as competitive as ever, like that's not going to, that's not going to fall away, like you know what I mean. So I just need to, if I can probably suit the season to match what I need out of it. You know, I think I think good things should happen.

Speaker 1: 11:08

So at the end of the three events then Peter saw like by the time you walk off the, the editing clock, what would do classes success? I suppose first off in results and second like just in what you want to see in your own game.

Speaker 2: 11:19

Let's take arc, for example. It's not a difficult golf course. So like I don't know what I shot when I won, was I maybe 12 of under one year, 14 or something like that? And I won quite well when I won at those numbers. So that's what I would be trying to get out of it, like shoot a minimum of 10 under for the tournament Because, as I say, it's not a difficult course.

Speaker 2: 11:39

If you drive the ball straight, the greens are normally absolutely magic there. So there's loads of chances. Now that's obviously given. You know, nice weather, nice greens, blah, blah, blah. All the power fives, part of fifths, are pretty simple if you play them well enough. So there's lots of chances there. Some short power fours, some good power trees Now that's based on.

Speaker 2: 11:55

They could set it up then to probably counter what I've just said. But that's fine, but that's the way I'll be approaching that one and if my games in good shape, that's totally achievable. So I suppose if I take that mindset and pull it off, it's up to everyone else to beat that. That's the way I would look at that and that's not being, you know, a cocky golf or anything. That's just knowing what I've done there before and just to try and repeat that. That's a personal one for me. Rass is playing, so I felt that Rass is playing is right up my street, but I've never done really well there and I'd love to write that round, to be honest. So we'll see. You know, what am I? I'd love to win there. I'd love to win. I suppose I love an early win. Yeah, that's kind of. Yeah, I'm going there to win, so that's my plan, you know.

Speaker 1: 12:39

And in terms of swinging just overall game, then like what will you be kind of looking at, coming away from them kind of saying that this is the right direction for you?

Speaker 2: 12:46

Sure, that's where you come in. That's where you come in because you know I keep saying it the value of what you do. You know and again, foxy said this to me and he's spot on like, the value that you bring is we get a chance to see ourselves in a competitive arena or environment swinging the way we do, and I know every player if they don't, they're mad. Every player is looking at their swings in competition Like a touring professional would get to see that very easily. Just turn on the TV if they're, you know, top players, whatever, but we as amateurs we will never see that unless you're wrong. Really, and that's what you've brought to this like, and that's not giving you a high five, but it kind of is like.

Speaker 2: 13:23

So, yeah, I suppose it's the feel versus real thing. It's stuff like we do an awful lot with players. Right, where's your swing? You're working with your PGA pro or your coach or whoever Great, what does that look like? Brilliant. Now can we put something physical or something tangible with that? That's, you know what you're doing and I suppose when I, anytime I've done well, my swing looks like what it feels like. If you get me, yeah, and that gives me personal confidence. There's nothing worse than kind of thinking and kind of thinking you're swinging well, and then seeing Jesus like that's not what it feels like. So yeah, I love little things like that how everything I suppose feels versus how it looks and where it is technically, and if all that matches up, good things could happen. You know, so it was.

Speaker 1: 14:06

I suppose then, walking golf courses, you don't tend to play a lot of practice rooms. I know you've played a lot of the courses many times but like you almost tend to walk a course. What are you looking for, I suppose, throughout that walk?

Speaker 2: 14:16

The time I love. The time First gives me like I have a very busy brain because I have a lot going on in my life and that's fine, that's the way I want it. So then a golf tournament for me is a switch off or a potential switch off, so I don't need to play a practice round and the slowness and the blah blah blah of a practice round. I don't need that in my life or my brain. So I love the walk because it's done in an hour. I know where the golf course is. I don't know about his sound, I just don't have it in my mind at the moment. But if I just bring a wedge and a putter with me, I can spend a lovely hour there and then do something I love, which is going to the beach with my camera and filming my swing. That to me is an amazing preparation. Now, whether it comes off on Sunday or not, it doesn't bother me, but what I can control is how I prepare and I look at. Another nice thing is I know majority of guys won't prepare like that and that's fine. That's up to them, but it's the way I like to prepare.

Speaker 2: 15:05

And again back to know ball to target game. Does it really matter? Should it matter? It probably shouldn't. You know, it would be an interesting, like I said this before, like it would be an interesting experiment just to see how one would play, with no practice rounds, who knows? But for me it doesn't suit me. I don't like getting irritated by things that I feel I shouldn't be doing anyway. So practice round avoidance unless it suits me, unless it's a game I actually want to play, not that I have to play or need to play. You know what I mean. Yeah, that does me fine. So I'm looking forward to just going up there tomorrow. I'll walk the course, get a feel for it and, yeah, head to the beach, happy days.

Speaker 1: 15:39

And like will you bring a laser out? Like I'm trying to get lines off Teas, are we just kind of bio-cut that just to get a feel with a wedge and a putter up there?

Speaker 2: 15:45

Oh yeah, no like yeah. I will have a laser for sure, like, and I'll stand at certain points on the fairways and just laser back and I'll take a few notes and you know see where the greens are sloping. Yeah, definitely, I'm not just rushing it, I'm absolutely taking it all in.

Speaker 2: 15:59

Like I did the year I won the Eicham in the European club. I had played the European before and wasn't too sure on it, and when I walked the course it all came back to me kind of thing, and I was like this place is amazing and it is, and and there are certain t-shirts there that are literally shit, or boss t-shirts, he was afraid. So you know, you might spend a bit more time visualizing those. But again, go back to that seven tall as I classes the hardest, word, hardest hole in the world, like if you play a practice round there and you blow four balls out of bounds and then you hit another one out of you know that embeds itself like. So whether people realize that are not?

Speaker 2: 16:38

There's a negativity about that t-shirt that you have to sleep on, and so then I took that out of the equation. I was like no, I just walked the whole and I look back from the middle of that fairway which looks like a whole a field. That was the visual I got that week and I think I played the whole one under for the three rounds, which is probably gaining some serious strokes on the field. But look, who knows, maybe people are listening to this going. Your man's office game, grant, that's you perfect, but it just works for me.

Speaker 2: 17:03

I don't like anything seeping in that might negatively influence how I'm gonna approach or see a certain t-shirt or whatever. So that's just the experiences I've had over the years and but I do remember that. I do remember that practice very vividly and I do remember walking down that hall Standing where you see the reeds come in there from the t-box, but turning around and looking back at the t-box and seeing an absolute runway and that was the visual I had. Then I was like, sure, why can't I just hit it out here anyway? Yeah, I got a sense of freedom from that, rather than playing it off the back T and seeing a bowling alley.

Speaker 1: 17:37

You know, I mean.

Speaker 2: 17:37

So that was just one because I was so interested in that whole, because I remember playing the Irish coast there years ago when Rory won and I must have made a 10 on that one. I must have because I shot 90 in the rounds. Okay, so it's a lot of shots gifted on that one, but again. So that was in my brain from like maybe 10 years previously or even more. So I suppose that's where. That's where I kind of lean on that one little bit.

Speaker 1: 17:58

You mentioned notes and you're you're always writing something in your little notepad as you walk the fairway. So what are you tracking and notepad to, kind of, I suppose, keep you and keep you in line going forward.

Speaker 2: 18:08

It's like it's like a little mobile, a mobile caddy. So whatever I do, I do rate myself for commitment out of ten on each shot, every single shot, and the only real stat I'm interested in there are the trend is is how committed I am for a period of time and if that equates to score. So that's what I'm really writing, but I'm also writing it down fields all the time and Tots and Reactions, and it just gets, you know, pretty much forward into this book. I've loads of them. I have loads of them and thanks to time, you know they'll all. They'll all stack up into memories and I can go back to tournaments I've won and tournaments I haven't won.

Speaker 2: 18:46

Just opening this randomly, no, it was the second round, the monster stroke being caught because we were just chatting about it. But it get as well as it gives me. It gives me right. What did I do when I won this Bang bang, bang? I can go back and see the, the notes, like the tarts, not just the scores. They're largely irrelevant. It's one brain.

Speaker 2: 19:04

What mindset was I in? What was I writing down? Very funny, I've said this to you before, I think the second round in Tullamore. I wonder as close I made a seven on the second, a part three, and I end up shooting level powering around. But I remember writing it physically on the thing time to go home. That was the top time to go home. I'd like 40, but members are lashing rain and I was trying to rush it and you'd have a bad end up making seven, drop four, shot part three, three, put it, or disaster. Time to go home, wasting my time and this is stuff that Harrington would have mentioned before about and Self talk.

Speaker 2: 19:37

Talking to yourself like you're your own best friend, which is golden advice, but like anything like we talk about in fitness, you can put yourself under duress or strain, but it's how quickly you can recover gives you an idea of where you're at. And I did recover, to be fair, I did recover and I won this ornament. But like would I? I suppose that gives me a system to just let my thoughts out. Fight a caddy there I'd be. I'd have a very open relationship with anyone who carries me, but that's all organized before you hit the course. You're like right, gary, we're gonna carry for each other. You're gonna catch me. Today I'm, in one way, cutting for you because I'm the player. I need to let you know what I'm thinking and that creates open dialogue and ensuring any situation. Open dialogue is the best. You cannot fail in my mind if there's full communication all of the time, so especially on a golf course. So that's my way of just unloading.

Speaker 2: 20:23

There's a couple of agendas there, I suppose, but it's nice to have them kind of accumulate over time that I can go back and say, right, like last year and to be fair, not to be fair, what I supposed to be fair to me in my synapses of all this. You know I didn't stick with this enough last year. I did in certain events and I didn't, whereas I was regimented in this for years. And I'm going to be regimented against. When you're fresh book on Sunday in my art pocket and this is going to start again from the top, like so, and I look back at it. If I shoot to 85s on Sunday again, I don't care, I will look back at the note and the commitment levels are. If I to shoot to 65s, it'll be the same thing Water notes, water the commitment levels, water the fields. How do the prep feel? And there's a. You know there's a synapse at the end it's closed off and I move on to the next one. So that's what that one is.

Speaker 1: 21:10

And what are the tools that are trade in. So what's the clubs in the bag, basically what's going to take you forward this year? I?

Speaker 2: 21:15

joined. I was in Portugal last year. I'd say I almost had about 17 clubs in the bag. I have a two iron. That's really good. I don't think I need a three-word or rescue with this. I'm not sure it's me on this, and so I think I'll have two and three iron and a load, a full set of irons. I'm a funny player. I rip the three-word for two months and I hit him shy for two months, but I think I have a three-word that's more suited now and I just go to a chip driver. Anyway, it's a shot I like, it's a shot I can play. So I don't think there's a need of a three-word in my life, to be quite honest. So yeah, I think I'm actually making my mind up now as I'm talking to you. So just be driver and then two iron, and then three iron, and then all of it up.

Speaker 1: 21:55

Okay, what putters in the bag, the one that you had back in the last year? Yeah, I'm William Wilson which is lovely.

Speaker 2: 22:00

And again, he's a client one, but he's a buddy. He was on the trip to Deir mit Skadlin, so Deir mit great man, to tinker around with clubs and stuff. So he came into the gym Monday with this Wilson L that he had extended and I hit a few pots with another Crisis thing is amazing. So I went away and I built my own one. So it's good. Yeah, it's good. It's set up lovely. It's lovely. Gripping it, nice weight on it, and that's it. That's the putter sticking with that.

Speaker 1: 22:27

So what we'll do is we'll catch up after months of stroke. Let's see how the three tournaments went and I suppose if there's any change in the plan going forward for the rest of the year, yeah, perfect. Thanks, Gary.