Improve Your Confidence, to Create a Better Golf Game (Video) - by Pete Styles
Improve Your Confidence, to Create a Better Golf Game (Video) - by Pete Styles

So coming into the back nine of a tournament when they’re doing quite well, leading the golf tournament by a couple of shots. And then having that crumble, that collapse, you know McElroy and the Masters two years ago, when his game just fell to pieces after his playing so well.

Now, we’ve got a question. Well, what went wrong there? Did he forget how to play? Did he forget where his club should be in the back swing? Well, of course not. What happened was he got the fear, his confidence deteriorated. He was worried about what people would think about him, what the crowds would think, what the TV cameras were saying, and his game just really went on a nose dive.

And if you feel like that’s also happening to yourself, well, we’re going to trying and fight and we're going to battle against that. We’ve got to work hard and improving your confidence, reducing your fear levels down, and making sure you can play good solid competitive golf, taking the game that you’re able to build on the practice tee and taking that out on to the golf course.

Now, one of the issues is this external fear of what would other people think of what I’m doing, particularly when there's an extra crowd of people maybe around the clubhouse or the first tee or if a group would let you through and you’re playing through and there's 4 extra pairs of eyes on you. Sometimes it’ll be that there's a water hazard or an out of bounds hazard near and you suddenly start focusing too much on that.

So what we’ve got to really look at here is, look for the positives, look for what you do want the golf ball to do. Don’t think about the negative of what am I trying to avoid? Think about the positive of what am I trying to achieve? Where’s my target? What's my club selection? Can I hit this shot? If it’s a shot that has a very low percentage chance of being taken and pulled off. Don’t play it, you simply don’t play that difficult shot. Particularly, don’t play the difficult shot in the difficult situation with the extra people watching you. Play the easier shots, play the hybrid club off the tee instead of the driver off the tee, lay up on the Par 5 rather than trying to knock it over the water hazard. Just understand and manage your course management a little bit better. When you’re feeling under pressure and you’re feeling the fear, take the easier shots. Then actually, when you’re going through the process of hitting the ball, just go with some real committed force. Setup to the golf ball nicely, good quality practice swing, have a little bit of a waggle if you need it. Avoid over thinking in this time. Don’t be too technical about your particular positions. Nicely to the ball, nice, good, smooth, committed swing, walk up to the golf ball. Don’t freeze over it, a little bit of a waggle if you need just to stay nice and loose, nice and committed.

Hold your balance, watch the ball finish nicely often to the area that you’re aiming for on the green, and then turn around to the galleries, a little doff of the cap and off you go, and hopefully that will reduce your fear, increase your confidence, and help you play better golf when the crowds are watching.

 2012-06-11

So coming into the back nine of a tournament when they’re doing quite well, leading the golf tournament by a couple of shots. And then having that crumble, that collapse, you know McElroy and the Masters two years ago, when his game just fell to pieces after his playing so well.

Now, we’ve got a question. Well, what went wrong there? Did he forget how to play? Did he forget where his club should be in the back swing? Well, of course not. What happened was he got the fear, his confidence deteriorated. He was worried about what people would think about him, what the crowds would think, what the TV cameras were saying, and his game just really went on a nose dive.

And if you feel like that’s also happening to yourself, well, we’re going to trying and fight and we're going to battle against that. We’ve got to work hard and improving your confidence, reducing your fear levels down, and making sure you can play good solid competitive golf, taking the game that you’re able to build on the practice tee and taking that out on to the golf course.

Now, one of the issues is this external fear of what would other people think of what I’m doing, particularly when there's an extra crowd of people maybe around the clubhouse or the first tee or if a group would let you through and you’re playing through and there's 4 extra pairs of eyes on you. Sometimes it’ll be that there's a water hazard or an out of bounds hazard near and you suddenly start focusing too much on that.

So what we’ve got to really look at here is, look for the positives, look for what you do want the golf ball to do. Don’t think about the negative of what am I trying to avoid? Think about the positive of what am I trying to achieve? Where’s my target? What's my club selection? Can I hit this shot? If it’s a shot that has a very low percentage chance of being taken and pulled off. Don’t play it, you simply don’t play that difficult shot. Particularly, don’t play the difficult shot in the difficult situation with the extra people watching you. Play the easier shots, play the hybrid club off the tee instead of the driver off the tee, lay up on the Par 5 rather than trying to knock it over the water hazard. Just understand and manage your course management a little bit better. When you’re feeling under pressure and you’re feeling the fear, take the easier shots. Then actually, when you’re going through the process of hitting the ball, just go with some real committed force. Setup to the golf ball nicely, good quality practice swing, have a little bit of a waggle if you need it. Avoid over thinking in this time. Don’t be too technical about your particular positions. Nicely to the ball, nice, good, smooth, committed swing, walk up to the golf ball. Don’t freeze over it, a little bit of a waggle if you need just to stay nice and loose, nice and committed.

Hold your balance, watch the ball finish nicely often to the area that you’re aiming for on the green, and then turn around to the galleries, a little doff of the cap and off you go, and hopefully that will reduce your fear, increase your confidence, and help you play better golf when the crowds are watching.