Golf Flow

and keep them alive in memory. In the end, the measure of control that golfers have over their confidence is directly related to two mental strategies that bear nurturing. The first is how committed they are to keeping their success memories alive and at the forefront of their mental life. The second is how effectively they are able to put away the perceived failures and disappointments so that they do not exercise their memorable functions. And as I will explain, these two strategies are directly related to how effectively golfers can generate a flow state.
    The traumatized amateur golfer who came to see me is an exemplar of one with a problematic frame of mind. As I questioned him, I learned that he was ego oriented to the game, more concerned with how others viewed his play than with the play itself. He didn’t compose himself on the golf course and did not default to his routine; he beat himself up for days afterward and relived failure memories over and over in his mind. He essentially took a negative experience and fertilized it so that it grew wild and destructive. It wasn’t long before weeds took over his mental garden. As a result, he became incapable of cultivating that garden. Most golfers rebound from their experiences, but the lesson is clear: Negative experiences take their toll on self-efficacy if you allow them to.

Train Your Brain
    What should this golfer have done? Because self-efficacy is rooted in perceived success and perceived success is rooted in the memories that we make of our successes, the first lesson is to learn how to manage frustrating and disappointing experiences in golf through selective memory. Tiger Woods had the misfortune to three-putt two of the last three holes of the 2007 Deutsche Bank tournament. When asked by a reporter if he could recall the last time he had done that, Tiger replied, “No, and I don’t care to either.” Tiger well understands that after he has learned from his errors and missteps, there is no profit to keeping failures in memory.
    To minimize the damage from our failures, we must also get the most benefit we can from our successes. The way to use your mind in golf is to work hard to remember all your good shots. Because the brain is wired to stamp in the negative, you must proactively try to imprint good shots and positive experiences. When it comes time to hit a shot and the brain is looking around in its mental diary, all champion golfers are good at using their memory in such a way that an entry pops up telling of the time that they made a great shot under similar circumstances.
    When asked to explain what he thinks about before hitting a 5-iron in competition, Fred Couples insisted that he tries to remember the best 5-iron he’s ever hit. Similarly, legendary putter Brad Faxon said that he approaches every single putt in competition as if he’d just made the same putt 1,000 times in a row. In this sense, visualization is a tremendous asset. No matter what caliber of golfer you are, the time spent after a round of golf replaying great shots and positive memories will pay off with better shots in the future. In the event that they made no great shots that day, athletes can still visualize good shots that they’ve made in the past or envision what future great rounds of golf would look and feel like.
    Let me emphasize that golfers can replay their successes even after a poor round of golf in which it seems that they hit every shot badly. In fact, replaying successes is especially helpful after playing poor rounds. At those times it’s critical to work hard to find and focus on the bright spot: the good putt, the soft chip, the committed drive, or the perfectly released 7-iron. Good shots happen even in the worst rounds, and we have much to learn, and to recall, from them. Look hard enough, even at your bad rounds, and you’ll realize that there are some bright spots in there! And in the rare case that you can’t find a bright spot, look to your future and create—yes, create—your destiny by using your imagination to paint a picture of excellence.
    Jackson and her colleagues found that high self-efficacy (e.g., high confidence) is a critical factor for facilitating flow states. Of all the psychological variables they tested, self-efficacy had the strongest relationship with flow. Athletes who believe in their capabilities are more likely to experience a balance between challenge and skills, even when the challenges of their sports are high.