Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game

rather than the action taken as a result of overconfidence and optimism. The challenge to golfers on this account is to make themselves more familiar with their own internal mental structures without lowering their confidence, optimism, and drive. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once wrote, “It is our duty as human beings to proceed as though the limits of our capabilities do not exist.” Robert Browning was similarly correct when he declared that “man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”
    This is the basis of fearless golf. Through a fully established sense of self-efficacy, we can see that fearless golf is a faith in a vision. Here, everything that can be perceived is possible, anything is attainable. Playing fearlessly does not mean you feel like you can do anything, but it does mean that you feel like everything you do you can do. There is an important subtlety here: I do not jump off the roof of my house expecting to fly, but I do climb down the ladder without fear because I have learned the skill of climbing up and down the ladder. I do not all of a sudden doubt my ability to climb a ladder; rather my past experience and my attention to the task provide the confidence required for action.
    Just as confidence without skills will always run a fool’s errand, skills without confidence leads to an unwarranted self-doubt that will surely cripple our ability to maximize the skills we possess. Self-efficacy is the belief that quiets the mind, greases the turbine, and ensures that pressure allows a golfer to focus rather than fear.
    These beliefs also serve as the lens through which we view the world and our place in it. For example, we all experience obstacles, but note how people can differently interpret those obstacles. Some see an obstacle as a massive wall that suddenly appears and cannot be penetrated or gone around; others see that same obstacle as a challenge to be overcome, as mere speed bumps to be rolled over.
    In golf, self-efficacy beliefs influence how golfers view and interpret the obstacles that invariably appear. Consequently, the beliefs we hold will influence how we will deal with those obstacles, that is, whether we will be paralyzed by them or persevere against the adversity that they represent. Because we cannot succeed all the time, self-efficacy beliefs also influence how quickly, and with what mindset, we bounce back from errors, missteps, disappointment, and the unavoidable bout with bad luck. And, of course, our confidence to achieve specific goals helps determine the very goals that we set for ourselves.

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    gary player and the 105 percent solution

    Anyone lacking in motivation, short on dreams, and in dire need of a boost in their own sense of self-efficacy should spend a few minutes around Gary Player. Besides a career of great achievement in the game, Player stands resolute as an example of the power of positive thinking. Almost from the beginning and continuing through every step of his career, Player believed deeply in his own personal possibilities. He took complete ownership of his own potential. Player, at five foot seven, never would be mistaken for the most physically gifted golfer. Quite simply, he was too short to be great. He did not come from great golfing stock. His father worked in the mines of South Africa, and Player came to the game through the back door, not the front. And his swing was hardly textbook by today’s or any other era’s standards.

    But Player was a relentless practicer, especially in the short game. He routinely would not leave the practice bunker until he had holed three shots. Also, decades before it became standard practice in the game, Player was a workout fanatic, driven to improve his chances of success by being stronger and fitter than any of his rivals. But standing supreme in his approach to the game was an indefatigably positive mental outlook. He simply would not let himself be denied, regardless of the obstacles he encountered. In fact, he asserts that he welcomed any hurdle. His words are inspiring.

    People who want to resist and avoid adversity are cheating themselves. It is how you handle adversity that defines you as a person, as a golfer, and as a champion. I see guys out here all the time who let the littlest things undo them, undo their confidence, undo their motivation. I say, “Get in there and play the game with some courage, man! It is part of the game to have bad times. It is built into it, I