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The renowned golfer reflects on his path and his purpose outside of the game, sharing his life lessons on the greens and his support of Rising Star Outreach.
Shiv Kapur lends his experience and mission to the Marriott Bonvoy Golf Tournament.
At the JW Marriott Bengaluru Prestige Golfshire Resort & Spa, Shiv Kapur, the 2002 Asian Games gold medallist, will host the Marriott Bonvoy Golf Tournament in 2024. His journey into professional golf, his thoughts on mental resilience, and the importance of this year’s partnership with Rising Star Outreach are all covered in this exclusive conversation. Kapur also discusses golf’s enduring appeal and its ability to develop character in ways that range from promoting integrity to promoting lifelong fitness.
Excerpts from the interview:
Your golf career has been remarkable, starting with your gold medal at the Asian Games in 2002 and continuing with your international recognition. What motivated you to play golf, and how has your perception of the sport changed over time?
So like most kids growing up in India, my first love was always cricket. Golf kind of happened by accident. I still till date remain a big cricket fan. Golf is what I do for a living. But I was about 12 or 13 years old and I got picked to play for the Indian national team at that point. And it was a very cool feeling where you get to represent your country. And I got my blazer with all these badges on it. And I thought this was the coolest thing any kid could do. And that’s kind of how my golf journey started. I think I was like a big fish in a small pond because there weren’t too many kids my age playing at the time.
So I got a sort of a head start and played into the Indian national team and then into the senior national team. And then, there was no turning back. I wasn’t one of those kids that, from a very young age, I thought was going to play golf for a career. I thought I’d just play golf as a hobby. Got good at it and just really fell in love with the sport. And I would say when I won the gold medal at the Asian games back in 2002, that was sort of a turning point for me where I said, I won a medal for the country. I’m maybe it’s time to think about playing professional golf and I think that’s where I really turned the page.
Are there any specific tips or advice you’d like to share with participants of all skill levels as the celebrity presenter of the Marriott Bonvoy Golf Tournament?
I think it’s a very great opportunity, being at the Marriott event, you get to meet new people, you get to introduce people to the sport of golf. I think I just finished doing a clinic with some media personalities and it’s very cool for me to be able to travel around the world and be able to share my experiences of golf, to be able to teach them a sport. And the first message I always tell everyone, the great thing about golf is you can start it as late in life. In a lot of other sports, you need to pick it up as a kid, but golf is one of those sports where you can play well into your life. You can, I play still with my father, play with my grandfather, all of those things. So it’s great to be able to bring new people into the sport.
I always feel the more you grow the fan base of the sport, the better it is for the growth of the game. And I think the one tip I always give everyone is golf is a easy game played by complicated people. So I think we complicate the sport more than it is, but it’s actually, it’s great to be able to be here to share that insight and that knowledge and get new people started on the game.
For golf, mental toughness is often required in addition to physical talent. Would you mind sharing any personal tips or cognitive strategies that help you stay focused and composed throughout the course?
Yeah, I think you’ve absolutely hit the nail on the head. I think golf is more a mental sport than a physical sport. I think at the highest level, we always say it’s 70% mental and 30% physical. And to be able to sustain your concentration over five hours, over four rounds of competition through a season, I think mental toughness is what separates the good from the great. And I think at the end of the day, it all boils down to self-belief. I think if you believe in yourself, you back yourself, have the ability to go out there and perform, I think if I look at skill level across the board, there’s probably 10,000 golfers as good, if not better than me in this world.
But if I’ve been managed to win, it’s because of my belief that you have to almost fool yourself into thinking you’re the best. And I think that’s what a lot of, I’m not saying myself necessarily, but I think all the top athletes in the world managed to find a way to harness that, you have, it’s positive self-talk. You can’t get down on yourself too much. You know, bad breaks are always going to happen, whether that’s golf, whether it’s in life, whether it’s in business. And I think it’s the people that are the most resilient that can take the knocks and come out stronger from it. I’ve always felt that I learned more from my losses than from my wins. And I think that’s something I’ve always kind of taken on board, which is mental toughness, if I was to break it down is purely belief in yourself.
And pressure, where people talk about pressure in all aspects of their life. I think pressure is a fear of failure. And when you can sort of come over that and say that, you know what, I’m not afraid to fail. Then you don’t feel the pressure anymore. So I think in life, you just have to go out there and not be afraid to fail and back yourself to succeed.
Are there any significant incidents or challenges that taught you something valuable about the game or yourself when you look back on your career?
I’ve had a career that’s spanned over two decades now, and there’s been a lot of good and a lot of bad at the same time. And like I said earlier, I think I’ve learned a lot more from my losses or my failures than my wins. One that comes to mind was leading the tournament on the last hole in India in an Asian tour event, which I was going to, win back to back time, first time anyone had ever done it in India. And I lost the tournament on the last hole because of a mental lapse of concentration. And I think that kind of taught me a lot. You know, it took me a few days to get over it. But I think I came back from that a lot stronger and a lot more, mentally tough saying when I put myself in a position like that, again, I know what not to do.
And I think that’s very important. You know, if you when you win, things go your way, things have all gone to a plan. But when you lose, I think that was my biggest take things for granted. I think in that position, I’d already started thinking ahead. I let my mind race ahead and didn’t stay in the moment. So I think the one big lesson is, everyone talks about whether it’s meditation, whether it’s yoga, it’s about living in the moment. It’s about being in the moment. And I think that’s the one time that I got away from being in the moment and I let my mind race ahead into the future. And that’s something that I don’t wanna repeat.
I was lucky enough to play around a golf with Sadguru a few months ago. And one of the great things that he said to me at the time was, when you can remember in life that you can’t control outcomes and you don’t have control over outcomes, you just have to be, which means you focus on the process. As they even say in the Bhagavad Gita, be a Karmayogi, right? You have to focus on your process and what you’re trying to do and don’t try and get attached to results.
Well, again, that applies not just to golf, but I think that applies to life, that applies to friendships, relationships. You can’t control the other person. You can’t control outcomes. You can only control the effort and the process that you put forward. And I think that was a very, very beautiful thing that he said and has always resonated with me.
So this year, apart from celebrating golf, you’re also raising funds for the Rising Star Outreach, which is again an initiative by Marriott India Business Council. What do you think about this collab?
I think it’s fantastic. I’ve always felt that I’ve been lucky enough to play golf around the world and what I’ve been able to do for a living. And you always want to give back. And I think this is a wonderful way of giving back. You’re bringing people together for a cause. A cause that I think is a wonderful cause. You know, Mother Teresa was big on leprosy and shedding light on the fact that you don’t want to treat, you want to treat these people with the same respect and dignity as ordinary people. And I think Marriott Business Council’s initiative and the charity and the home and everything that they do around that is absolutely fantastic. And if golf can help in any small way in being able to raise funds or raise awareness for the charity. I think it’s a great thing. It gives me a lot of purpose of why I’m here, rather than just coming and playing around a golf. We’re actually making a difference in children’s lives and people’s lives. And I think that’s kind of where the message is at today. And if I’m able to contribute to that, even 1%, I feel like I’ve done a great job. G
Lastly, what do you believe to be the most widespread myth regarding golf, and how would you encourage someone who has never played the game to start?
So I would say if I go back to my childhood, all my friends used to always say you’re playing an old man’s sport. Why don’t you play a real sport? Right. And as all of them got older and they got into their twenties and thirties.
Each one of them begging me now to teach them how to play golf. So I would say sometimes early in life, golf is not a sport that has enough action. As a kid, you want to run around, you want to kick a ball, you want to hit a ball. In golf, it’s more of a static and more of a mental sport in a way. But I think if I look back at my life, golf has taught me so many important life lessons. If I play around a golf with somebody, I can tell you everything about that character.
I think there’s a reason why business deals are done on the golf course. You spend four hours with the person, you get a real insight into them. And in golf, you’re your own referee. And I think that is a great learning thing in life, which you learn very early in life that honesty, integrity, etiquette, there’s so many beautiful life lessons that they learn. And I think it makes you, if you start playing golf as a kid, I’d like to think it made me
I don’t think many of my friends would agree, but I just think you learn a lot of great life lessons. I think you learn, like I said, integrity, being your own referee in life, etiquette, and above all, it’s a sport you can play well into your life and it’s a great way to be outdoors. You know, you’re walking 10,000 steps a day. What could be better than, you know, what kind of what other sport can you play well into your 70s and 80s?
