Fearless Golf: Conquering the Mental Game

card, or shoot a personal best on your home course, is not just about the right amount of physical and mental preparation prior to your round. It isn’t just how you approach the round, and it isn’t just about the way you control your mind and focus during the round. Although often overlooked, how you reflect on a performance (the attributions you make about your play) determines how you can improve.
    As a psychologist, one of my favorite professional and personal activities is listening to the reasons individuals give for their successes and failures. All day, every day, at work and at play, whether watching others or watching themselves, people inevitably give reasons for “why” things happen. Before beginning this chapter, I went into the files I keep on the golfers I’ve spoken with and made a list of some of the causes to which golfers attribute their success and failure. I call it my “Because” file and here are some of the more memorable self-assessments. No doubt you may recognize some of these as having been your own on occasion.

    BECAUSE . . .

    It’s a Fazio course. I always play well on Fazio courses.

    I have no confidence in my game.

    My alignment is off.

    My hands are not setting properly at the top.

    I’m working with a new instructor.

    I’m too small.

    I’m too heavy.

    My weight is too much on the outside of my knees instead of the inside.

    My eyes are behind the line.

    I’m very flexible.

    My eyes are over the line.

    My grip is too weak.

    My grip is too strong.

    I lose my focus and concentration.

    I started late in golf.

    I get too caught up in what other players in my group are doing.

    Yellow balls don’t travel as far as white balls.

    This shirt is unlucky.

    My temper gets the best of me.

    I could smell the cigarette smoke of someone on another hole.

    I hit the ball too low to score here.

    I don’t hit the ball long enough to score here.

    I’m too old (the game has passed me).

    I’m too young (no experience).

    It’s cold.

    It’s windy.

    The greens are bad.

    It was a difficult course.

    My preparation from last week carried over.

    My father never gave me approval.

    I haven’t played in a long time.

    I play too much.

    I don’t play enough.

    I didn’t get to warm up.

    I warmed up too long, got tired on the range.

    The 14th hole got me.

    I have poor self-esteem.

    I couldn’t get into the flow.

    I don’t know.

    I was thinking where I don’t want to hit it rather than where I do want to hit it.

    This course doesn’t set up well for me.

    I don’t like who I was paired with.

    I felt tight all day.

    My brother got all the attention growing up.

    I play too much (fatigue).

    I play too little (rusty).

    I argued with my wife and that was on my mind.

    I’m too stressed.

    There’s a flinch in my swing.

    The courses I play are fairly wet.

    My swing is off plane.

    My preshot routine stinks.

    I found a new waggle.

    I stand too close.

    I am sliding my hips.

    I bought a new driver.

    I am past parallel.

    I am getting started inside.

    I never move my right knee.

    I was focused on what I wanted to do with the ball.

    I misread the greens.

    My hands are too high.

    I am using a new putter.

    I have great hands.

    Attributions are psychologically interesting because they are based on perceived—rather than actual—causes. They are immensely important because inaccurate attributions are often the critical element that instigate and sustain the ruts that golfers fall into. In addition, they often constitute that monumentally thin line that separates bad golfers from good golfers, and good golfers from great golfers. If you are a good golfer stuck at a plateau, or a golfer whose progress in the game has been more sideways than forward, then you will want to read closely. A better understanding of psychological attributions may well be the key to unlocking your golfing potential.

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    heath slocum and the power of framing

    Heath Slocum serves as a model of effective thinking. In 2000 he shot 81 in the final day of Qualifying School to miss having an exemption on the PGA Tour by a single stroke. The failure meant that he would be forced to compete on a less prestigious, less competitive tour for another year. His dream of playing on the PGA Tour would have to wait, and there was no guarantee that he would have this type of opportunity again. After being a first team All-American in college, Heath saw himself and his position in golf