By Lisa Ann Hörst, LPGA Class A Professional
As much as any other attribute, your level of confidence upon initiating a swing may predetermine your likelihood of producing the ideal outcome. As an example, consider your favorite hole on your home course-a hole you've played many times and admittedly have wired. As you prepare to play the hole, you probably feel no fear and possibly expect the results to be birdie or, at worst, par. You then proceed to play the hole in a relaxed, yet focused state that leads to the results you expected. Such an experience depicts the dramatic effect confidence has on performance. But what exactly is confidence and how is it developed?
Confidence is positive energy, enthusiasm, and high expectancy of success. You play free, loose, fluid, and with good pace and rhythm—and even in the face of pressure, you remain mentally calm and focused. Such bulletproof confidence, however, does not just appear on the spot by thinking positive thoughts or hoping for the best. Confidence is developed beforehand via extensive preparation and experience. It is something for which you train.
As shown in the example above, nothing elicits confidence like having been there before. Accordingly, one of your golf training goals should be to mimic the atmospheres, situations, and terrains of the courses you play most often, or of the tournament course you will soon play. For instance, if you know you'll soon play a bunker-laden course, increase your practice of sand shots to fortify your confidence in this aspect of the game. Likewise, if uneven lies zap your confidence on the course, go out of your way to play the most hilly course in your area several times. If playing under the pressure of competition is a problem, enter as many tournaments as you can for a full season. It will be time well spent, because the experience you gain in any of these situations accumulates and rewards you in the seasons to come.
You can also use your mind's eye to bolster confidence in making a particular shot. Vividly visualize a similar past experience where you made a good shot. Reliving this past experience by actually seeing and feeling it again will transfer these resources for use in the present moment. This mental programming technique will increase your sense of certainty in the shot and crank up your confidence way up!
