Are You Feeling Pressured in Your Sport?
Not playing what you think is your “A” game can suck the fun right out of golf…
Many of my golf students want to play well too badly. They then tighten up and actually play much worse!
I see this pattern all the time….
You work your tail off, expect a lot from yourself on the course, and then want to win really bad. Sounds good so far, right?
But here’s the problem. All this wanting to play well and high expectations can cause your mental game to unravel even before you hit your first tee shot in competition!
Wanting badly to play well causes you to play with fear – fear of failure. You tighten up, get anxious about results, and lose any trust you had in practice.
It gets even worse for many of my students… After a blow up hole, missing an easy putt or up and down, you might get frustrated or worse – try harder to not make more mistakes.
All of this leads you to want the round to be over fast because you’re not having fun.
How can you have more fun on the golf course?
Yani Tseng, number 2 in the world in women’s golf and defending champion this week at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship, thinks fun is the name of the game when it comes to playing well:
“The harder you try the worse you get sometimes. My mental game was not there at the end (of 2008). My brain just (kept) going down. My expectations were too high. I just wanted to try so hard and win so hard and it wasn’t working. So now I just go out and have fun,” said Tseng.
I think fun and pressure are polar opposites in golf. The more you pressure yourself to play well and the harder you try, the tougher it is to shoot low scores and have fun.
Having more fun is easier said than done of course…
But the first place to start is to remove the pressure and expectation to always be perfect or play your best.
And “fun” doesn’t have to always come from playing great. Tap into what excites you on the golf course besides winning.
Your Confidence Coach,
Dr. Patrick Cohn
p.s. Want to have more fun on the golf course, ditch those high expectations, and improve your overall mental game? Run over to Peaksports.com and check out my new golf confidence CD program:
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Related Sports Psychology Articles
- How to Perform Under Pressure with Confidence
- How to Compete Well in Pressure Moments
- How to Perform Big in Pressure Moments
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