Sport Psychology

[Sean Rea]

I started a thread on the last message board and am wondering if there is an interest in continuing it. Please reply.
:

[Gary Hill]

I am very interested.

I have always thought that the mental side of the game was very much overlooked by people trying to improve.

Please explain why a 4 foot putt is so easy when you are lying 9 and so hard when you are lying 2.

[Sean Rea]

Please explain why a 4-foot putt is so easy when you are lying 9 and so hard when you are lying 2.

As with most psychological items, the answer is individual. However, there are usually two causes: pressure and focus. Obviously, when a person is lying 9 there is no pressure to sink the putt. Most people in this situation would probably approach the hole and sink the putt <>.

On the other side if you are lying 2, a lot is hanging on this putt and most people will <> the situation, or tense up. Thinking “this is an easy putt”, “I need to make this one for…” create problems and add to the tension of the situation. This is an example of the wrong type of focus. Another is forward thinking, worrying about what will happen if. Most of us have caught ourselves in many different situations focusing on the outcome if we sink this putt. “Wow, I will be X under par if I sink this” is an example of not staying in the moment. These are all thought processes that are detrimental to the game. People performing “in the zone” report the lack of thought when they play; this is the key to peak performance. It is this “thoughtless, automatic action” that we want to recreate every time we play.

To solve this problem, examine your thought processes as you approach the ball and right through your stroke. When you sink this putt effortlessly, what were you focused on and thinking about? When you have difficulties making the putt effortlessly, what were you focused on and thinking about? The key to consistent performance is figuring out the differences between the two and creating a mental plan for this and all other situations, and create a key word or phrase that reminds you of the effortless putt. Before making the putt visualise successfully putting the ball in the cup. Create a successful image, if in the image you are tense or don’t complete the putt, stop and rerun the image. Once the image is successful, take a deep breath to relax your muscles make your putt.

[Kilroy]

Hi Sean,
Thanks for contributing your advice to our board. We certainly appreciate it.

On a more sensitive matter
I have a tendency to loose my confidence when I have a bad hole, turning it into 3 bad holes. It can quickly deflate me, and it can be really hard to suck it up and recover.
How does one best regain confidence and rally after a rout?

[Sean Rea]

"I have a tendency to loose my confidence when I have a bad hole, turning it into 3 bad holes. It can quickly deflate me, and it can be really hard to suck it up and recover.
How does one best regain confidence and rally after a rout?"

To quote Bob Rotella, “Golf is not a game of perfect” (a great book on golf psychology if you like to read). This being said, confidence is a huge part of the game. Because golf is not a game of perfect there are many opportunities for your confidence to get shaken. According to Orlick (2000) confidence is one of the three cornerstones to excellence, in other words if your confidence gets shaky it affects your whole game.

How to regain lost confidence is one of the toughest areas to counsel athletes on because everyone is completely different in this area. First, practice, practice, practice, imagine yourself in a situation where your confidence has crumbled and then see yourself successfully rallying. Recreate in your minds-eye times when your confidence was shaken and you were successful in dealing with the situation and rallying.

Remember times outside of golf that this happened to you and the strategies you used to successfully deal with the situation. Try to transfer the skills from outside sport into your game. This practice will set up your ability to handle times that your confidence is shaken. By practising mentally for these time you will find that you handle the situation easier or that it is harder to shake your confidence.

Also practice what I refer to as living in the moment. This means not allowing stray thoughts to enter into you mind. Lack of confidence is usually caused allowing thoughts of poor performance or doubts to enter into your pre-shot preparation and actual shot. When you commit to doing something do it with 100% focus. This takes practice but can be achieved by realising what your triggers are that cause you loose focus and creating strategies to deal with it. Teach yourself to replace negative thoughts with positive self-affirming thoughts.

Remember each shot is brand new, do not view each hole as a series of shots linked together, take one at a time. By linking the shots together you are future thinking and not staying in the moment. Pick your target (something small and precise) and hit the target. This is not to say don’t plan how you are going to play the hole, plan and then execute each step as a separate unit. This allows you to make small gains that will boost your confidence, and also allows your confidence to take less of a hit if one shot is bad.

For short-term fixes on the course try:
- Think in positive ways about your abilities.
- Act as if you can do it…the physical/mental connection works both ways, usually by acting confidant you will regain your confidence.
- Remember all of your successes from practice and prior games.
- Always draw out lessons after each game in order to continually improve your game.
- Imagine each shot as being on the practice range/green, there really is no difference. In this case play like you practice.