By Lisa Ann Hörst, LPGA Class A Professional
Fear kills performance. Period. In golf, the common killers are fear of failure and fear of embarrassment--and, at the elite level, fear of success. There are also subconscious, preprogrammed fears that are the root of many of the dumb things that seem to "just happen." Have you ever missed an easy winning putt in a tournament or botched an approach shot from your best distance? It may be that such mistakes are the result of unchallenged inner fears, since lack of ability can be ruled out.
Deal with your fears head-on, beginning today. Start by writing down recurrent fears that clearly hurt your performance. If you can't think of any on the spot, go play a round and pay special attention to your pre-swing thoughts and between-shot concerns. As the fears reveal themselves, use logic, reason, and statistics to specifically counter each. For instance, as you set up for an over-water shot, quell fears of hitting into the water with the knowledge that you have plenty of club to clear the hazard. No worries! Or, if a 3-putt on the last hole has raised fears as you step up to putt out the next, consider that in light of your average of 1.8 putts per hole (or whatever), the odds of either a 2- or 1-putt are now stacked in your favor.
Dealing with fear is an ongoing process, because our fears are ever-changing. When faced with a hazard while at play, acknowledge that the course designer placed it there to create fear, then laugh at it and use your experience to navigate successfully by it. To possess the fear, is to fall into the designer’s trap--figuratively and literally.
Upon completing a poor round of golf, always analyze what went wrong and try to identify what fear(s) may have contributed to your difficulties. Constantly remind yourself that in sports there are no failures, only results. If you slice a drive or miss a putt, it is the result of poor concentration, poor mechanics, or a poor read, not because you are a worthless individual. The results might not be ideal, but they do contain hints for improvement. This is one of the classic ways in which golf provides a blueprint for effective living!
