# 124 - Striving For Excellence with European Golf Tour Veteran Simon Dyson

In today’s episode, I feel very fortunate to have interviewed Simon Dyson. Simon, who is from England, was a 17-year veteran of the European Golf Tour having won 6 times in Europe and 3 times in Asia. Simon played in 20 majors over the years, having made the cut in 9 of them. Anyone who knows and understands the game of golf, knows just how hard it is to qualify for a major, let alone make the cut. Simon played in 2 Masters, 4 US Opens, 9 Open Championships, and 5 PGA Championships. His best showing in a major was in the 2009 Open Championship at Royal St. George’s Golf Club where he finished 9th place. His best world ranking was in 2012 when he was ranked the 26th best golfer in the world. One can only imagine the hard work that a professional athlete has to put into their game in order to develop the physical and mental skills necessary to compete at such an elite level. In this episode, Simon digs deeply into his own journey and the mental framework that he developed and applied that not only helped him achieve great success but also helped him to get through the lower points in his career.Simon’s journey with golf began by his father taking him to a nearby school along with his brother to hit some golf balls at the age of 10. Simon was captivated by the game right away and would go on to become a scratch player by the age of 15 and represent England in the Walker Cup in 1999. Simon began his professional career in Asia and through a very hard work ethic and the support of his coach Pete Cowan, he was able to have a breakthrough year as a rookie, winning three times in his first season. This led him back to Europe and a spot on the European Golf Tour. He would go on to play 17 seasons on the tour. Unfortunately a serious wrist injury sidelined him in the 2015 season and upon returning to the game, Simon had difficulty getting back on track. However, in knowing his career as a tour player was coming to a close, Simon wanted to redefine his purpose and to find new meaning in his life. This led Simon to change career paths and become a coach. Simon now wants to give back to the game by mentoring others and working with them to unlock their potential with the game of golf. He not only works on the physical skills necessary to play the game but also the mental skills required to to bring on peak performance. In this conversation, Simon shares his authentic self, his ups and his downs, and how he has always been able to stay focused in order to fulfill his purpose and the vision he has for the future. Simon also discusses the work he is now doing with his Elite Golf Performance School which is also known as the Simon Dyson Academy.I really enjoyed this discussion and hope you find takeaway value that you can apply in your own life. With that, let’s jump right into this discussion with Simon Dyson. About SimonSimon’s golfing career began to flourish in 1999. He was runner-up in the English Amateur Championship, won the Finnish Amateur title and was a member of the Great Britain and Ireland side which won the Walker Cup at Nairn. He turned professional in September of that year.The Englishman won the Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit, Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in 2000, clinching three titles along the way. His breakthrough on the European Tour came in 2006, with victories at the Enjoy Jakarta HSBC Indonesia Open and the KLM Open.Tour wins ENJOY JAKARTA HSBC INDONESIA OPEN 2006 KLM OPEN 2011 IRISH OPEN PRESENTED BY DISCOVER IRELAND 2011 ALFRED DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP 2009 KLM OPEN 2009 THE KLM OPEN 2006Simon sustained a serious wrist injury which sidelined him for the 2015 golf season. On returning to the game in 2016, Simon was unable to find his form which led him to start to plan for a new career path which was going to be in coaching. Simon set up his Elite Golf Performance Center in 2019 and hopes