You're Correct!

Confidence simply means being positive. The more positive you are out on the course, the better that you play and the lower your score will be.

Confidence, or positivity, is not something that you are born with, it is something that is learned and if you feel you are someone with low confidence when out playing golf on the golf course, you can work on improving your confidence and becoming more positive.

The first thing that you want to improve is your preparation before you play. Think about your last few rounds, hole by hole, shot by shot. What did you do well during those rounds? Was it that you holed all or the majority of your short putts? Did you chip successfully when required to do this? Did you drive the ball well? Work out where your strengths lie. Then work out what you need to improve, what you werent so good at. Did you land in the bunker every time you needed a high shot over it? Did you finish short off the tee on the par 3s because you played the wrong club? Do you know how far you hit each of your golf clubs? Make a list of what you generally do well and what you feel you need to improve.

Now you have done this, work on a strategy that plays to your strengths. If you always hit the ball into a particular bunker on a particular hole and then you end up struggling to get out of the bunker because your bunker play needs improving, change how you are playing that hole, take the bunker out of play. Taking an extra shot to play around the bunker will produce a lower score than hitting the ball into the bunker and then taking three or four shots to get out of it. Think through how you are going to approach playing each hole so that you are able to play the shots that you play more successfully.

Another thing to work on achieving when out on the course to help you become more confident is to improve your self talk. Self talk is just that. It is the voice in your head that you take everywhere with you. If you are being negative with your self talk before you play a shot, then you are more than likely going to produce a negative swing and as a result a poor shot. You are what you think or believe, you become what you think or believe. So talk positively to yourself rather than giving yourself a hard time or being negative. How many times have you walked up to a shot that needs to clear a pond and in your head you are thinking "you are going to hit this in the pond". Then low and behold you hit the ball into the pond. If you are telling yourself you are going to fail, then that is what you do, your thoughts and self talk become a self fulfilling prophecy. So work on having more positive thoughts and self talk "I will hit a great golf shot". It is not a guarantee but it will give you the opportunity of being more successful.

When you are next out on the golf course, fill your right hand pocket with tee pegs. Every time you notice you have a negative comment in your head put a tee peg into your left hand pocket. Once you finish playing, count how many tee pegs you transferred and notice how negative you are being. Your goal is to work on and achieve coming off the golf course with no tee pegs transferred. Do this and you will be much more positive and as a result your confidence will improve.

If you focus on the score when you are out playing on the golf course, you will put a great deal of worry and pressure on yourself. This will cause negativity and doubt in your abilities and as such lower your confidence levels. Instead work on focusing on each shot, one shot at a time and playing the best shot that you are capable of.

Every golfer has strengths and weaknesses. You need to be aware of them and gear your game up around your strengths. If you approach your game worrying about what you dont do so well then you will become more negative and as a result, produce more negative and unsuccessful results. Focus on your strengths and what you do well.

Recalling bad shots and poor results will simply lead to lower confidence and increased negativity. You should evaluate your previous rounds to learn what you do well and what you need to work on improving. But solely thinking about what you did badly and worrying about this will not change the score that you shot. Recalling what you did badly during the next round and remembering it will result in you producing similar shots again. Learn from your last round and focus on what you did well, build on this and your scores will come down as your confidence improves.