I occasionally get questions about golf psychology from players who are suffering with;
- on course anxiety
- inability to perform under pressure
- anger/frustration that ruins their game
While I’m not a golf psychologist as my main role, I think that instructors should delve into and at least get a good understanding of the basics of psychology. I spent many hours reading books on goal setting, self-help, philosophy, neuroscience etc. in my 20’s, and was constantly linking it to golf and my coaching.
And while I hate reductionism, I could boil a lot of psychology down to a golden rule (which I will share at the end). So, here are my 2 cents on the mental game.
Before We Dive In
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Tactics Vs Philosophy
There are lots of tactics to control emotion/nerves etc. Having these are important for sure – things like
- a good quality routine
- controlling body language
- breathing exercises
are all great for getting your mind into the zone and dealing with mental issues.
However, these tactics are just dealing with the symptoms, not the underlying issue.
While it is much harder and takes longer to “achieve” (it’s essentially a never ending process), working on your deeper philosophy about the game, and even your life, can render the “tactics” redundant.
As a self confessed club-snapper in my youth, my mental game was all over the place. Now, in my adulthood, I feel my mental game is one of my stronger assets (even if I have to check myself every now and again). Why?
Why I’m More Stable Now
✅ My understanding of what creates a bad shot has dramatically improved as an instructor. Golf is no longer voodoo – when I hit a bad shot I know exactly what happened at impact, and have a “toolbox” for how to fix it. The game is now simply to implement the right amount of a fix (which is where practice comes in). But I am never “lost” – and this has taken out 99% of frustration in the game.
✅ Adding to the above, every shot is now simply a learning experience. For example, if I miss a drive left, my internal voice doesn’t say “you idiot, what the hell are you doing”, it says “ok, you presented the face 1 degree more closed than you wanted. Let’s monitor it, see if it becomes a pattern and then implement something to open the face”
✅ My understanding of stats improved – did you know pros only hit 60% fairways? An 8 ft putt on perfect greens is a coin flip. Understanding these things should help you put things into perspective when you miss one – taking a lot of the frustration away from a bad shot.
✅ The difference between a fairway shot and an OB ball can be as little as 1.5 degrees of clubface presentation, or even a few mm of face strike with the driver. That ball you just fatted into the water short? Perhaps you dropped 1/4 of an inch in height from one of the 20+ degrees of freedom your body has (yes, it can be this small of a difference). Again, understanding this puts things into perspective and takes some of the frustration away.
✅ When I was a club-snapper, golf was everything to me. It was life. Now I’ve grown, I have a business, a wife and more important things on my mind. Golf is simply a game now – something impossibly difficult, but there to be enjoyed. We often forget that when we are striving for improvement so much.
✅ I see “success” for what it is. We are all chasing to better ourselves, and this is fine. But ultimately, any achievements we make provide a short term feeling of fulfillment. Trust me – getting to your handicap goal is just a “horse chasing the carrot” scenario. For me, golf is NOW less about getting out there and playing my best, and more about going out, seeing what happens while enjoying the company and scenery.
✅ What does a bad shot mean to you? Players who suffer with mental issues in golf tend to place too much importance upon how they play. Every shot, in their mind, is a character judgement. If you hit a bad shot, just remember, you are not a bad person. It’s not a reflection of how hard you worked or who you are. Your response to the bad shot is, however, more of a reflection.
✅ Shit happens – read about the neuroscience of free will. You’ll quickly see we don’t have any. We can’t ultimately control what outcome we get because we don’t have full control over our body (even though we feel like we do). Ask anyone with Parkinsons to “just control your shakes”. All we can do is train the best we can and this will improve control over the long term. However, ultimately, our motor system will decide what outcome we get.
✅ You’re not a pro. You don’t practice 8 hours a day, and you’re not the genetic elite. A bad round for you??? You still get to put bread on the table that week. Your round is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Sure, if you’re putting to win a major and write history, that might be different. But even then (depending upon how nihilist you are) even that is meaningless.
✅ Your playing partners really don’t care about you or your shots. We feel like they do, but they don’t. So stop stressing over what they think of your game.
✅ You think getting better will reduce the need for improved psychology – if you hit fewer bad shots, you’ll get less angry or nervous, right? Not true. As you get better, your expectations will simply raise proportionately (or sometimes disproportionately). Anger and frustration tend to be a result of expectations not matching reality. Ever see Tiger miss it 30ft right from 200 yards and think “why the hell did he just slam his club”?
A Golden Rule?
All of this could be summarized as
stop caring so much about the outcome”
This sounds overly stoic, and I have certainly been influenced by those philosophies. But for me, that mindset helped me get rid of the need for “tactics” and has helped me massively in my life. Ironically, I enjoy my golf more than I ever have, even though my motivation to be the best golfing version of myself is not as high (double edged sword).
It is interesting that, while my skills are not as good as when I was obsessed with achievement, my improved mental game overcomes that.
If you want the outcome and results to mean more to you, because you enjoy that, that is equally fine – it’s your life and you can live it with your own philosophy. However, it’s much more likely that you will suffer from the mental issues associated with the result meaning so much to you.
I’m not trying to push my philosophy onto everyone, but I thought I would share what helped me. I’m sure you can learn at least one-thing from my experiences.
Improve Your Game
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Dennis Zukiwsky
Great article took me 50 years to figure it out, playing as good as ever and enjoying the game more than ever. Positive mind set and no expectations are your best clubs in the bag.
Royce
Best article yet.
Did you also write about looking at spot ahead of ball, or “fuzzy ball” gaze, to liberate this swing feel and thinking?
David Knoppert
Great article, down to earth and so very true. Thanks, Adam.
Leslie Majoewsky
Terrific post, Adam!! In addition to Dennis’ suggestion that one should keep a positive mindset and no expectations in the bag, I have found a sense of humor helps as well. Golf is a game, not a sign of one’s value as a person…thankfully!! I find if I laugh off the duds (which is easy since they can be pretty comical), I stay loose and don’t get into a downward spiral. It is the best way to enjoy oneself out on the course and that is why we are out there.
chad-io
Love it!
The closest star in the night sky is 24 trillion miles away (really), and I get self-conscious when they see me hit a ball in beautiful water with a funny-looking beating stick that has a foot.
admin
The pale blue dot. And our ball is in the blue part of it 🙂
dick
playing with other
people can be a real eye opener
You can see there true character
and watch them handle adversity
Most make excuses for bad shots
golf teaches 3 things
It’s a game
it’s you against the course,
It’s you against your-self
If you understand that much
that’s all that matters
Joe Scales
I agree that those are the fundamentals for me. As I came down from a 20+ to a 12.1, the shots I did not desire upset me less and less I think partially because I had become used to them and grew slowly to learn from them. Being less and less upset was the start of a great algorithm that led to better scoring which increased confidence, which increased acceptance …
Enjoying it more and and loving the journey. Thanks Adam. You are awesome.
chad-io
Carl Sagan 🙂
Exploring the Blogosphere – Tate's English Blog
[…] blog to help all skill levels of golfers. He writes about a lot of different topics like: “Golf Psychology“, “Skill vs. Technique“, and even new equipment reviews. I have learned some good […]
Dave Rudge
61 years old had several lessons from highly regarded coaches hrs upon hours trying to groove the set “improvements “ on the range reduced me to a blubbering mess frozen over the ball. After a few years of this and not 1 stroke off my handicap I looked into golf psychology after several books I think Adam sums it up perfectly “stop caring so much about the outcome”
IT REALLY WORKS
JoernT
Been there and tried to follow the above principles. Nevertheless i reached a point where i think of dropping the game out of total frustration. Seems i’ve developed a swing yips that unconventionally doesn’t hurt my putting but chips and full swings.
This ruins my whole game. Last round i had to give up on hole 12 after not even reaching the hole on at least 7 of them. Started off picking up the ball for the first 3 holes. I love the game and am concious of not taking it too serious, but it simply is no fun anymore if hardly one shot works out without unintented ‘rushing’ within the motion.
I’d really appreciate any hints – i’ve still not fully given up but decided to put the clubs away as this really challenges my self image.
Robert Macdonald
The article is just me, as a past club thrower of 28yrs of doing it it destroyed my game.
I’m back playing and my attitude now is to accept and analyse the bad shots then move on, I previously played off 6 now off 13 and 69 yrs old andI’m a better golfer now, I hit my drives 40yds further my irons better and I’m mentally stronger, because of my acceptance of the reality that golf is not a game of perfect, my target now is consistency, my pleasure lies with hitting good shots and the pleasure that comes from that the final becomes an afterthought
Alex parker
Loved your golden rule. I mean, yes, the more we worry about the outcome, the more pressurized we begin to feel. And all of that pressure and anxiety lead to poor performance. So yeah, I liked your psychology of the golf game and I agree with it completely.
Frank The Tank
Thank you for this great article. I was like you a few years ago. Luckily, I got better and started doing the things you wrote here. Thanks to books, experiences and realizations. I have become
More matured. I am enjoying the game more than ever now. Indeed this is a beautiful mental game.
Spudhead
Interesting points in the article to keep in mind…
Although maybe not during the swing.
Golfers tend to have more of a fear about the outcome of the shot than needed. Remember when PLAY was fun. When your mind and body were in sync and you just played.
Steve
Played in a final last year in a team event, team of 5 parings home and away, what I suffered the night before was beyond anxiety and nerves I somehow managed to drag myself to the first tee.. mentally I was gone ! Game over on the 13th .. team eventually lost 6/4 over 2 legs.