The Secrets to Winning with Dr. Bhrett McCabe

PGA Tour caddie Geno Bonnalie has become a bit of a social media star on his own. Whether it be one of his A+ motel reviews or him describing his on-the-road meal plans, the man knows how to provide quality content without the help of his tour-pro boss, Joel Dahmen. But Geno is savvy on the bag, as well. I have always said that PGA Tour caddies are just as much psychologists as they are strategists or advisors. In this episode, we talk about Geno's routine, his relationship with his boss, how he prepares himself for a tournament, and so much more. It was truly a great conversation with a bunch of laughs!

Chris Herren is a former NBA player, a voice on the topic of substance use prevention, and a wellness advocate. Since 2009, Chris has spoken to over one million students, athletes, and community members, sparking honest discussions on the topics of substance use disorder and wellness. A person in long-term recovery, Chris continues to share his story nationally with a renewed focus on prevention education and challenging audiences to rethink how we look at the disease of addiction – changing the focus from the last day to the first. Through engaging talks, Chris inspires people to identify the "Why" in their story, to start the conversation on wellness and come TOGETHER to address the issue of substance use disorder, advocate for effective treatment and embrace the power of recovery. Prevention is ALL of our responsibility.

On October 23, 2011, Tim Hightower was the starting running back for the Washington Commanders (then known as the Redskins) of the National Football League, when he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during a game. Over the next four years, he faced a lengthy recovery in body and soul. The future for which he had worked was changed beyond imagination, but he was determined to return to the game. Hightower's story of his recovery from injury, as told in A DREAM WORTH FIGHTING FOR: Never Let Obstacles Stop You From Being Your Best Self with co-author William Sachs, will resonate with everybody who has been injured, suffered, or had their lifelong dream derailed. He is the only NFL running back to return to play four years after an injury. His is a story of strength, resilience, faith, courage, and determination – surviving five surgeries, financial challenges, and periods of homelessness.

Every athlete is unique. It's important for each player and their coaches to understand what is unique about each player so that they can get the most production out of him/her. Our guest on this installment of the IG Live Rewind is renowned sports performance coach Eric Cressey. Like me, Eric is a big believer that there should not be a "cookie-cutter" approach to player development - both from the mental side and from the physical side. How you train, prepare, perform, and have success is unique to you.

In this installment of the IG Live Rewind, I am going to talk about my recent trip to The Open Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland. The Open, and more specifically links-style golf, always gives us a great test of our mental games because it is so unique and so different than what we are used to in the U.S. I'm going to focus on five insights I gained from the last major of the year and share with you some tools on how you can implement those things in your game and in how you compete.

On this episode of the IG Live Rewind, I talked with my good friend Jeff Smith. Jeff is commonly known in the golf social media circles as @RadarGolfPro and one of the brightest instructors on the PGA Tour. He's led players to PGA Tour wins, Rookie of the Year awards, mini-tour winners, and he's got a booming business in the college ranks. Throughout this conversation, we talk about Jeff's philosophy on player development, how he approaches/coaches each golfer differently, and what it is like on the PGA Tour coaching the best players in the world.

On this episode of The Secrets to Winning: IG Live Rewind, I speak with Scott Fawcett. Scott's golf course-management system DECADE has been sweeping through the competitive golf world over the last few years. In its simplest form, DECADE gives you optimal targets based on your distances, trouble surrounding the hole, and a few other factors. Scott is also very active on social media, specifically on Twitter, and can be a controversial figure in the golf community. He challenges the "status quo" and utilizes statistics to back a lot of his arguments. The facts are the facts. I have even referred to him as a "disruptor". But there is a side of Scott that many people aren't aware of. He has dealt with several personal tragedies throughout the years, all pertaining to mental health. All equal parts tragic.

A common question I get from people is, "What does it take to bounce back?" One of the biggest myths in performance is when you experience something negative, you should snap your fingers and it should automatically go away. We train our athletes by saying, "Just let it go. It doesn't matter. Focus on the next play." As if it is that easy. If you took the time, mental and physical energy, and purpose to give everything you have and put it into that moment, how can you simply "let go?" In this episode, I talk about why developing mental flexibility is so important for competitors and some tools and strategies you can utilize to develop mental flexibility in your athletes and yourself.

This podcast is a little window into my Catalyst School platform. It is about shining the light on the successful coaches, athletes, and teams that I work with to give you an inside look at what they do on a regular basis to perform at the highest levels. The best of the best have processes and systems to help them succeed, but when we look at them from the outside, we don't always know exactly what they do to execute those processes. In this episode, we are going to break down a question that one of my Catalyst School coaches had pertaining to negative external influences infiltrating their program. We are going to take a deep dive into, as coaches, how we can keep our athletes and team away from the negative people around them that reduce and restrict their ability to be who they are.

In my profession, I am fortunate to get to be around some great athletes, but I also spend a lot of time around coaches. I have a unique perspective as I have played for the best college baseball coach of all time, Skip Bertman at LSU, and I also currently work for the best college football coach of all time, Nick Saban at Alabama, as well as the entire Alabama athletic department. I don't know many people in my field or in the entire athletic circle who have actually had the experiences that I have had in being around the caliber of coach that I get to work with on a regular basis. There are some common themes and trends among all of these great coaches that make them who they are. In this episode, I want to dive in to those themes and processes that these coaches have in place at each of these programs that allow them to not only achieve success, but to sustain it over long periods of time.