Future Collegians World Tour
FCWT Golf Tour
Dr. Bob Winters / Mental Game Information Series
Learning How to Play One Shot at a Time!
This is the first installment of a series of mental game insights from Sport Psychologist, Dr. Bob Winters. Each week until the final FCWT national Championships, Dr. Winters will provide answers to the most asked questions and the largest mental issues that plague junior golfers. In this first installment, Dr. Bob discusses tournament competition and pressure and how you can learn how to adjust and play your best golf ever!
Question # 1
Dear Dr. Bob: When I play in tournaments, I become affected by pressure and I don’t score as well as I do when I am playing by myself or with my friends. How can I learn to go out and just play my game when I am in a tournament?
Julie C. Bradenton, Florida
Dr. Bob’s Answer: Dear Julie, thank you for a great question! You must ask yourself that when you are playing by yourself and your friends, are you playing golf in the same manner as you do when you are in a tournament? Many junior golfers tell me that they feel less pressure when they are just “playing around with their friends” and that they feel more comfortable in this type of environment than when they are playing in a real tournament. Therefore, when they do tee it up in a tournament, they feel that the tournament situation is much more serious and that every shot counts! This “serious thinking” leads to more deliberate swings and a different type of attitude when you go to the golf course. For many junior golfers, what started out as a game of fun becomes a chore of pressure and work!
The core issue is that many golfers place large expectations on themselves even before they step onto the first tee. Expectations such as wanting to shoot a certain score, playing to beat others, protecting a junior golf ranking or trying to impress a college coach are often the key issues that take many junior golfers out of their comfort zone of simply playing golf. These types of result or outcome expectations often interfere with your main goal of simply playing your own game the way you know you can play.
The cure for this sense of playing better in tournaments is to place more focus into playing shot by shot versus constantly worrying about your results in the tournament. That is, if you are in the moment and taking care of each shot and doing it one by one, the result usually takes care of itself. However, if you are over shots and are thinking about messing up or that you need to make a putt for birdie to win, you will probably put too much pressure on that shot and you will end up failing. Not only will you interfere with that shot, but you will be putting yourself into a mental quagmire by placing too much emphasis on the outcome versus doing what you can do best in the present moment.
You need to get your mind back into playing golf versus trying to win tournaments or shoot a certain score. That is how you play golf with your friends and you need to have the same focus when you play in a tournament. It really is that simple. The problem is that most of us don’t want to believe this and we end up interfering with this simple process because we want to believe in something more difficult.
Therefore, you need to create a task focus. Your physical task is to simply swing with a committed mindset and hit the ball where you aim it and want it to go. So many times we hear of people talking about pressure and how they are affected by it, but the fact remains, the golf ball doesn’t care how nervous or calm you are or how well or poorly you are swinging the golf club. The golf ball is simply a white orb that is waiting for you to strike it with your golf club and putter. So, the first thing you have to become aware of your task focus. Remember, if you have shot that is 150 yards to the pin, no matter how you want to think about it….the shot will still be 150 yards to the pin! That is an objective fact that will not change whether you are confident or worried!
Your mental task is to get into the present moment and go through your routine and make sure that your decision to hit the shot has been well thought out and that you are in a decisive mental state. Pressure is something that comes mainly from within us. That is, we create our own self-doubt and create a worry state that affects us both mentally and physically. In fact, no one can make you feel anything without your own permission. This is why you need to dismiss the fear from your mind. Focus on things that you can control. Let go of others and their score. Focus on what you need to be doing and say nice things to yourself. Don’t beat up on yourself or say negative things when things go badly. Focus on creating a nice rhythm in your breathing, your walking and tell yourself that you are going to be just fine. Finally, when you are ready, and only when you are ready-----swing away. Stay on the task of playing your game and do your routine with consistency and confidence. You will find that your results and your enjoyment during tournaments will be much stronger!
If you would like to learn more about Dr. Bob Winters or work with me individually, please visit my website at www.drbobwinters.com. Or call me directly at 407-340-7785 and set up a personal consulting session and start to win today!
May you always play one shot at a time! Dr. Bob Winters
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