Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game

“went into shock.” He proceeded to shoot 43 on the back nine and finish well out of the lead. Duval did not let the setback deter him. Instead, he used it as a springboard to winning thirteen PGA Tour events, including the 2001 British Open.
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    But how much confidence is too much confidence, when can overconfidence be characterized as excessive, and what are the likely effects of such inaccuracy? Psychological research suggests that the stronger the self-efficacy, the more likely are persons to select challenging tasks, persist at them, and perform them successfully. As a consequence, they do not believe that it is typically a good idea to tinker with overconfidence unless it is clear that such overconfidence is creating a situation where an athlete is so certain of success that he is minimizing practice and skill development.

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    dirty harry and productive thinking

    Dirty Harry, the renegade cop played by Clint Eastwood that became one of American film’s epic heroes, had famous catchphrases that punctuated each of his movies. One of the more infamous came in
Magnum Force
, where Harry repeatedly grittily grumbled, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Well, I’m a big fan of Dirty Harry movies, but I believe this line to be sadly mistaken. At least it is for players trying and training and ingraining the habits of the fearless golfer. Instead, the fearless golfer strives to stretch his horizons—even when he is not rewarded. Focusing on your limitations most likely prevents you from maximizing your potential.

    I remember playing with an average recreational golfer once who told me he never had gone for a par 5 in two. I was surprised. “I know I don’t have that shot,” he said. Now, on one hand, that’s an admirable approach to the game because there are certainly too many average golfers who stand in the middle of the fairway 250 yards away from the hole and wait for the green to clear. But on the other hand, there’s a little bit of fear there that needs to be overcome, too. In the end, I wanted to know how he knew he didn’t have that shot. Of course, you don’t know the possibilities until you try.

    If you think you can drive 300 yards, what harm will it do to try and drive 300 yards as often as you can? Slowly but surely your own results will teach you how far you can drive at a particular time and with a particular club. You’ll also be pleasantly surprised to discover that the harder you work at developing your driving skills, the further you will be able to drive. And, of course, it goes without saying that the more confident you are that you can drive 300 yards, the harder you’ll work to accomplish that feat. Great coaches never tell athletes that they cannot achieve this or that. Rather, a great coach simply provides her athletes with instruction, effective practice, corrective feedback, and appropriate encouragement, and she helps them to maximize their potential, always raising the bar as high as is reasonable given the athlete’s capability at the time, temperament, and level of commitment.

    Rather than underestimating your potential, stretch its possibility. That doesn’t mean overestimating your ability. But it does mean investigating that potential through practice and preparation. Then, when you get to that moment of truth, instead of thinking of Dirty Harry’s famous line about limitations, think instead of what it feels like to carry his famous .44-caliber Magnum, “the most powerful handgun in the world.” That’s the kind of fearlessness that can turn aside any obstacle.
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    When we tinker with confidence, we never really know what other self-belief or psychological process we are tinkering with. I suspect that confidence is the spouse of spirit. When both are high, the marriage is happy. Deflate one, and the other will surely follow. We should keep carefully in mind that the issue of balance between belief and reality cannot easily be divorced from issues of well-being, resilience, and optimal functioning. Lower confidence can result in decreased optimism, discouragement, and a negative outlook. Like the cute little bunny in the commercials, humans need to be energized in order to keep on keeping on.
    Research findings support the notion that, as people evaluate their lives, they are more likely to regret the challenge not confronted, the contest not entered, the risk avoided, and the road not taken as a result of low self-esteem and self-doubt,