Replacing nerves with confidence
By Daniel Abrahams PGA
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In the heat of competition, even the best players in the world are affected by nerves |
‘I always seem to play so much better in practice than in competition!’
Do you recognise this statement? Many club golfers play well in practice rounds with friends, but freeze when in the heat of competition. Such an affliction is not reserved for the mere mortals of the game. Indeed, too often many elite amateur and professional golfers under-perform in tournaments that matter to them most.
What is the difference in feeling between playing competition golf and practice round golf? Imagine walking along a plank a foot wide which has been hoisted several feet off the ground. Pretty simple! Now raise that plank some 200 feet off the ground and walk across it. Pretty daunting! This simple analogy describes two disparate feelings. The walk across a low height will give you the same sensations you have when playing a practice round, while the elevated height correlates with the feelings associated with competition golf.
So what feelings are associated with the high walk, or competition golf? The primary psychological reaction is fear. Fear has been a mental process in humans since cavemen roamed the earth. It originally allowed humans to physically and mentally prepare to run or fight in the face of danger. In golf, the fear response is not to physical threats but to our self-esteem and ego.
During tournament golf fear causes anxiety (worry, doubt, improper focus and negative thoughts) and increased arousal (muscular tension, increased heart rate and other physiological changes). This increase in anxiety and arousal can ruin a golfer’s swing and mental decisiveness. Poor golf reduces the golfer’s confidence and lead to a lack of enjoyment and motivation to play competition golf.
"Fear has been a mental process in humans since cavemen roamed the earth. It originally allowed humans to physically and mentally prepare to run or fight in the face of danger. In golf, the fear response is not to physical threats but to our self-esteem and ego". |
All this I dare say sounds pretty daunting, however this way of thinking can be altered before the golfer even sets foot on the golf course. How?
Be TASK oriented rather than OUTCOME oriented.
Success and failure are subjective events according to the golfer’s perception of whether he has reached his goal. Thus, how a golfer sets his goals for competition golf is important. The popular view is that the best players play to win at all costs. However, setting a goal of winning (outcome) is inappropriate because it is a stress inducing way to think. This is because what other players do are out of the golfer’s control. You may shoot your best score ever, but get pipped by someone who just played a little better on the day.
So what goals are stress busting? Whilst the best players want to win, once they tee up in a tournament they recognise that it is the controllables that they have to focus on that will give them the greatest opportunity of winning. And what are these controllables? They are not greens or fairways hit in regulation because you can’t control poor weather or bad bounces. They are in fact psychological. You CAN control what you are thinking, feeling, seeing and how you hold yourself.
Example:
You are playing in the quarter finals of your club scratch knockout. You are playing against a golfer who is a slightly lower handicap than you and you have failed to beat him off scratch previously.
Try to think of an inappropriate outcome goal that you might set yourself. It might be, ‘I’ve never beaten this guy before and I desperately want to win, and at least by the fifteenth to make up for all those times he has beaten me!’ Now think what a goal like that will do if your opponent grabs an early lead. ‘Here we go again’ you might say. You won’t be meeting your goal which will create anxiety and increased arousal and subsequently depreciate performance.
Now think of a task oriented goal. You may be a golfer who struggles a little to keep your temperament in check. In this case you may set yourself a goal of trying to remain calm when you hit a bad shot ‘today, my goal is that no matter where I hit the ball I will react in a calm manner.’
The above task oriented goal is controllable and will reduce anxiety, whilst the outcome goal of beating the opponent is uncontrollable and will create anxiety. After reading this article write down some of the poorer psychological processes in your game and write down some appropriate goals concerning these that you can focus on in competitions. These may relate to thoughts, emotions, or other pertinent psychological processes.
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