The Golfers Mind
"The inner game has always been the last frontier in golf. Why? Because the source of all excellence is within, and because that's usually the last place we look for it."
Timothy Gallwey
The Inner Game of Golf
Aim & Alignment Series
The Golfers Mind
Fear Of Failure Could Be Killing Your Golf Game.
Fear of failure is perhaps the biggest, universal reason people underachieve in their lives as a whole and in a more niche way in the various areas of their lives. If a person is afraid of failing and this causes them to make poor decisions and put pressure on themselves in life in general, what do you think they will do around the golf course?
In fact we can just reverse it all and look at the niche areas of a person’s life in order to understand how they run and behave in their life as a whole. For those with open eyes, see the golfer, see the golfer’s life. There is nothing new in this statement, it has long since been said by many a more knowledgeable person than I.
Fear of failure on the golf course is going to raise the tension levels in your body which then greatly inhibits swing movement and if that’s not bad enough (which it is) physical tension is brought on first by mental tension (anxiety) which seriously inhibits rational, creative and clear thinking. Have you ever been upset and reacted only to seriously regret it and wonder what on earth you did that for?
It’s the double whammy. Anxiety causes serious problems with thinking and causes physical changes that are not conducive to good golf swings!
I can remember putts zooming around the edge of the cup, like a wall of death motorcyclist, only to pop out again right when it looked like the ball just had to fall in, by sheer gravity alone! Drives me nuts! In a huff I’ve had a little poke at a 1ft putt – AND MISSED IT!
If You are calm, rational and thinking clearly, this does not happen. You calmly, purposeful and with confidence stroke the ball straight into the middle of the hole, shrug your shoulders at the golfing gods, understanding that even these trying moments are all part of what makes golf so great a test.
I have hit shots with the wrong club and I have hit the wrong type of shot that the situation I was faced with needed. Always the outcome has been poor and I have been left standing there shaking my head at myself wondering what on earth I did that for. Reason – Poor mental state inhibiting clear, rational and creative thought, compounded by tension in the physical swing.
You have to be willing to accept any outcome so you can be relaxed going through the process in order to achieve that outcome. In other words, if you are not worried about the outcome of a particular shot, you will be relaxed and play it with confidence. This automatically gives you the best chance of actually playing it well. Perversely, the more you worry about a shot, or rather the outcome of that shot, the more likely you are to screw it up and get the very result you were dreading.
Try and relax a little. Give yourself permission to be human on the golf course and
know that you will fail every now and then for that is the nature of golf and no-
Wishing you FIR’s, GIR’s & Blue Skies.
Mark Wright
