Getting a Good Mindset....Lost Confidence

On Tuesday I played with 3 of my buddies who are decent golfers. I played the first 4 holes by myself cause they started before me cause I got there late and I caught them in no time. First four holes I was 3 over (should have been 2 over but missed a easy putt) and was playing great golf. Hit 3 of 3 fairways, every shot seemed to do exactly what I wanted. But when I finally joined up with them on hole 5, I went down hill quick, real quick. Instead of being very confident on every shot, I felt unconfident and completely lost my swing. The rest of the round, I missed every fairway and even pulled a snowman on a 350yd par 4 . I find that this has been happening lately and that my scores are going up as well and I don't know why.

Has this ever happened to anyone? What did you do?

Hey Yanks Fan,

Don't feel bad about this as many of us have experienced the same, and it's definitely something you can work through.

It sounds like you have a minor case of social anxiety where you fear playing poorly, looking stupid, and feeling embarrassed in front of your friends or others. It's especially frustrating when you know that you're a better golfer than what you've displayed. I'd suggest to try out some of the following as they may help out a little:

1) There will be many occasions where you'll have time in between your shots to think about your game, your swing mechanics, and even you previous bad shots. During these times, try instead to relax and socialize with your friends, and keep your mind off the game until it's your turn. Try not to allow any negative thoughts to enter your mind.

2) If you haven't already done so, create a routine when addressing your ball and stick to it every time. Don't think about more than one swing thought. After a while, your address will feel natural and become so automatic that it'll become a positive experience instead of the opposite where you may fear hitting a bad shot into the woods, for example.

3) Play one shot at a time, and don't look back at any of the previous shots;they're water under the bridge. Keep in mind that if you make a mistake with your one shot in front of your friends, it's won't spell doom, and they won't think any less of you.

4) While you're addressing the ball, pick out a particular object as your target and place a lot of focus on it. This will help suppress any negatives and set up your subconscious into helping your body achieve a productive swing in order to achieve the goal.

5) If you hit a poor shot, don't get upset, but simply think that you're closer to the hole. feeling anger, frustration, embarrassment, and any anxiety will tense up your muscles and may cause you to try and swing harder. You want to swing within your capacity, maybe within 80% or less, in order to strike with balance.

6) If nothing above seems to help, do what Marcia Brady did, and that is imagine your friends in their underwear.

Beat of luck

Pace of play does affect my play. My PB was shot when I played a round in about 3-3.5 hours with a buddy of mine. I'm sure that had something to do with my poor playing as well.

It's a mystery, they are your buddies, of course they are going to laugh. You are detering your mind from focusing on your shot, and thinking about if your friends are watching or not.