Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game

of his scores being posted in the paper the next day, or the rank beginner who’s afraid others will think less of him if he doesn’t hit a good shot. In either case, the focus of their attention is misplaced.
    The golfer who thinks this way exhibits what psychologists call an ego orientation.
    In contrast to those who play because they want the attention and admiration of others, some golfers have as their primary incentive a desire to learn, improve, and excel. A focus on learning and personal development is inconsistent with worries about how our results will be viewed by others. Professional golfers who play to excel are better able to disregard outside contingencies like rankings, scores, other peoples’ opinions, and even prize money. A recreational golfer whose reason for playing is to learn and grow, and even relax, cares very little about how others in his foursome will view his drive. In both of these cases, a golfer’s attention is on things related to hitting better golf shots: swing mechanics, strategy, course conditions, thickness of the rough, tempo, and location of hazards. Because their minds are undivided as they prepare to hit a golf shot (rather than being disrupted by the potential reactions to the golf shot), these golfers are better able to stay focused and remain composed during their round. And rest assured that they’re enjoying themselves a good deal more and worrying a lot less than their self-obsessed and self-conscious counterparts.

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    mastery drill no. 1: focus on the golf course

    Recall that among Jack Nicklaus’s great traits as the premier mastery golfer was his relentless focus on the golf course as his primary opponent. Nicklaus was so intent on studying the course that he became relatively oblivious to everything else around him.

    You can’t teach that tremendous concentration, but even the average golfer can set himself up for developing that kind of focus. It’s what I like to think of as a distraction with a purpose. For your next round of golf, instead of showing up, grabbing a scorecard, and heading to the first tee, make a concerted effort to study the course hole-by-hole. If you have time, attempt to plan out the round shot by shot, deciding which par 4s absolutely require a driver, where the safe misses are on par 3s and whether there’s a par 5 you can attack. Don’t purchase a yardage book as a souvenir, use it like you would a good caddie, consulting it on every tee box.

    The key with such a distraction is that it forces you to focus on the golf course. Often when I chat with a player before a tournament, I like to make sure he has spent some time studying the course and its architect and other information about the design. I often am armed with tidbits of knowledge so I can pass that along ahead of time. That way the player will be reminded of the golf course during the round rather than thinking of his score, his standing on the money list, or the status of other players. Whatever your ability level and whatever the circumstances of your round, your attention should be just as singly devoted as a tour player’s. And the first step toward developing that focus is to immerse yourself in knowledge about the course and its individual holes and in developing a strategy to play it.
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    If you recognize yourself in these different reasons for playing golf, don’t be surprised. Such orientations are common in many professional endeavors. Public speaking often fills people with the same type of fear as golf. Even in this most dreaded of activities, people whose reason for speaking is to present information and enjoy themselves typically fare better than people whose reason for speaking is to have the audience perceive them as smart or to avoid looking like a babbling idiot. Musicians who strive to perfect a piece of music perform with greater passion and fluidity than do musicians who crave audience approval and fear being booed off the stage.
    The key distinction I am drawing can be thought of as the difference between striving to perfect one’s task versus striving to look good in front of others or fearing their disapproval. This is a distinction that many golfers know very well.

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    words of a champion: davis love iii,
2003 at&t pebble beach pro-am

    Davis went into Sunday with the lead, but was overtaken by Tom Lehman who shot a front nine 30. In the last group standing on the eighteenth tee, Davis needed par to tie, birdie to win. With water