How to Turn Difficult into a Challenge
What increases your anxiety level during a round of golf?
Does it happen when you perceive a course to be difficult?
Golfers attribute many factors to increased anxiety: bad weather, slow greens, deep bunkers, tree-lined fairways and daunting water hazards to name a few.
That anxiety leads to apprehension and fear prior to every shot.
Anxious golfers will second-guess each shot and often opt for being overly cautious on each hole.
Instead of swinging freely, anxious golfers tend to be tight and tense. Their swings become much more mechanical as they try to direct the ball on each shot which leads to poor results the majority of the time.
The anxiety and poor play are preceded by the mind perceiving the course to be “excessively difficult” or “nearly impossible”.
When it comes to perception, there are always multiple options with each option producing different results.
Instead of perceiving the course as nearly impossible, imagine if you perceived the course as a challenge.
Perceiving something as a challenge helps you feel excitement and anticipation. The excitement of a challenge fosters a go-for-it mentality.
For example, if your friend challenges you to sink a ten-foot putt on slick greens and windy conditions, you would most likely not back down. You would step up to that putt with an “I’ll show you” mentality and just “go for it”.
To some degree, the same happens when you view a difficult round of golf with that same positive perspective. The excitement of a challenge keeps your focus on the shot at hand and not on the difficulty of the shot.
A challenge is exactly how Charley Hull perceived the conditions during the 2019 LPGA Mediheal Championship at the Lake Merced Golf Club in California.
The conditions during the tournament included challenging hole locations, bumpy greens, wind and cold temperatures.
When asked about the conditions at the tournament, Hull seemed to be excited by the challenges the tournament presented.
HULL: “I love this golf course, because it’s long and it’s tight. I prefer the harder golf courses. I wish we played more of them. I like them when the rough is long, when the courses are long and they’re tricky.”
Hull stayed in contention during the tournament, finishing tied for fourth only 2 strokes behind Sei Young Kim who won the tournament.
Complaining about a course or approaching a round with dread is a waste of time and places you in the wrong frame of mind…
When you perceive each shot as a challenge, you have positive feelings and improved performance.
Embracing Difficult Courses or Conditions:
Instead of having an “oh-no” approach to a round of golf, tell yourself, “enjoy the challenge.”
Ignore the fact that you are playing against a field of golfers and, instead, play a game within the game. Challenge yourself during each shot and see if you can rise up to that challenge.
This approach will keep your focus on you and not on the tournament conditions.
Remember that half the field will hate the conditions and the other half will embrace the conditions. Which half do you want to be on?
Learn Proven Strategies to Perform with Confidence!
Do you suffer from fragile self-confidence after missed hits, playing with strict or high expectations that undermine confidence or the inability to play freely and relaxed on the course?
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The Golfer’s Mental Edge program includes the top 8 mental training sessions I do with my personal students to help them boost their mental game and improve consistency on the course.
The Golfer’s Mental Edge program includes 8 confidence-boosting CDs, MP3 audio recordings and an 8-session golfer’s mental edge workbook.
The Golfer’s Mental Edge: An 8-Week Plan for Ultimate Confidence
Boost Your Self-Confidence And Focus With Expert Mental Game Coaching!
Master mental game coach Dr. Patrick Cohn can help you overcome your mental game issues with personal coaching.
You can work with Dr. Patrick Cohn himself in Orlando, Florida or via Skype, FaceTime, or telephone. Call us toll free at 888-742-7225 or contact us for more information about the different coaching programs we offer!
What are our mental coaching students saying?
“To play well, you have to believe you can play well. Confidence goes a long way in golf. Patrick has developed a great system for helping me improve confidence and my overall mental approach to golf.”*
~Brian Watts, 11-time Winner on the PGA Japan Tour
“The mental side is everything in golf—the ability to see your shot or line and trust that you can hit that shot or putt. Dr. Cohn has helped me trust my game and putting stroke.”*
~Frank Lickliter, PGA Tour, Nike Tour Winner
Disclaimer
*Testimonials found on this site are examples of what we have done for other clients, and what some of our clients have said about us. However, we cannot guarantee the results in any case. Your results may vary and every situation is different. No compensation was provided for these testimonials.