• Having trouble improving your confidence and self-belief?
  • Are you mentally tough enough to be a champion?
  • Do your practice scores not match your tournament scores?

The mission of the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy Mental Training Program is to create student-athletes with a mindset of continuous improvement through preparation, competition, and self-evaluation… resulting in a community of excellence!

Key Themes Include:

  • Understanding how to give a total effort in training and competition
  • No Quit Attitude!
  • Learning to play one shot at a time to maximize results
  • Personal Motivation
  • Accountability
  • Self-belief
  • Attention/Focus
  • Communication
  • Attitude
  • Self-control

The Mental Training Staff works with Hank Haney IJGA students on a daily basis to monitor and build effective habits for our student-athletes. Training includes pre-tournament preparation, post-tournament evaluation, on-course situations, and group discussions. Personalized, one-on-one mental training is also available to meet the varied needs and schedules of our student-athletes.

Meet our Mental Training Staff

Matt Cuccaro
Matt Cuccaro, Ed.M. Matt has over a half decade of experience coaching athletes in the Northeast and greater-Hilton Head area on the mental aspects of high performance. Since the summer of 2006, he has served as Director of Mental Training at Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy and Ivan Lendl International Junior Tennis Academy in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. While at the academies, Matt has assisted the development of numerous Junior All-Americans as well as amateur and professional athletes from around the world. Matt has also shared psychology of leadership concepts with youth hockey coaches in the USA Hockey developmental program, designed a doctoral level course in performance enhancement for the University of the Rockies, and has been a contributing writer for coaching and athletic publications throughout the country. He is an active member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and has presented his work at numerous local, regional, and national conferences. Matt received his Master of Education in Counseling/Sport Psychology from Boston University. Prior to his graduate training in sport psychology, Matt worked for the American Junior Golf Association where he served as the East Canon Cup Captain and United States Representative for the Junior British Open Championship. Please feel free to contact him at mcuccaro@ijga.com. (contact info)
Scott Swainston
Scott Swainston received his Master's degree in Sport Psychology from Georgia Southern University. While at Georgia Southern, Scott worked with the women's tennis team and individual athletes from a variety of sports including golf, softball, football, and track and field/cross country. Scott also spent the summer of 2010 working as a mental training intern creating and executing group workshops, as well as conducting one-on-one personalized mental training sessions with the student-athletes of Hank Haney IJGA. Prior to his graduate training and experiences, Scott graduated from University of Missouri - Kansas City with an undergraduate degree in Psychology. After his part-time work with IJGA last year, Scott was offered and accepted a full-time position on the coaching staff at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. (contact info)

"Rule 1 - Never Give Up. Rule 2 - Don't Forget Rule 1!"
Hank Haney
Director of Instruction