How Important Is Confidence in Playing Golf?

[Double Mocha Man]

Confidence breeds confidence breeds better swings.  Until it doesn't.  Then it's like, "What the hell do I do now?"

[iacas]

I've told my daughter "fake it 'til you make it" and that it applies to playing solid golf, too.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

I've told my daughter "fake it 'til you make it" and that it applies to playing solid golf, too.

That’s my work motto.

[Vinsk]

Confidence and Conning tend to get intertwined with golf.

[phan52]

I chose 8.

A short story. There is a hole on our golf course that I used to dread, in that my best swing is a fade and this hole is a dogleg left and the best way to approach the green is from the left side. I can't get my ball there and, even if I hit my best drive, I have to take on a bunker on the right of a very small green. I was defeated before I even put the tee in the ground. I decided a couple of years ago that it is what it is and just make my best swing and deal with it. Now I have to say that I almost always hit my best drive of the day on that hole. I birdied it just yesterday. I feel very confident on that tee.

Now if I can just translate that confidence to the following tee with a water hazard all down the right side. 😎 Working on it.

Edited December 17, 2021 by phan52

[The Recreational Golfer]

I learned during my time in the Navy that confidence means you know what the outcome will be before you begin and that's exactly what ends up happening. On the golf course, confidence is what allows the skills you have practiced to emerge.

[Flushed]

Reckon it's 8/10 as well

[Double Mocha Man]

Confidence today, gone tomorrow.  It's a fleeting thing.  Which comes first?  The confidence or the good golf game?  I continue to work on playing golf without confidence butting in.  Unless it wants to stay there all the time.  A lot like an old girlfriend of mine... "Come and go Wendi".

[Old1964]

I voted 8.

Instruction and training can make you competent. Yet, I believe that confidence is important in order to eliminate tension and help focus the mind on the task at hand - making a good swing.  

The mind/body connection is broadly appreciated in every discipline I am aware of.

On the flip side, trying to "not to hit a bad shot", in my experience, usually means the next shot is going to be generously sprinkled with anxiety.

[djfajt71]

I voted 8.  I have developed a duck hook that happens about 50% of my drives.  The other 50% are dead straight or a baby draw.  Every time I reach for the Driver, I take a deep breath and wonder which shot will show up.  My driver used to be my most reliable club.  Not so much anymore.

[Bucki1968]

I voted 8 also but could also go 9 with no problem.  I would also like to know, how does one build confidence. I'm not sure the "fake it till you make it" would really build real confidence (and I'm talking about the golf course, not life). To me, confidence on the golf course has always been kinda the chicken and the egg thing. What comes first?

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, djfajt71 said:

I voted 8.  I have developed a duck hook that happens about 50% of my drives.  The other 50% are dead straight or a baby draw.  Every time I reach for the Driver, I take a deep breath and wonder which shot will show up.  My driver used to be my most reliable club.  Not so much anymore.

Ah, so that begs the question. 

"Did you lose confidence in your driver because you are hitting duck hooks... Or do you duck hook because you lost confidence in your driver?"  hmmm....

[Double Mocha Man]

In a simplistic way confidence in golf is like blowing up a big balloon. With every good shot you add some air to the balloon of confidence. There is a needle lurking nearby. When you hit that shank (with all due respect to Vinsk) the needle pops the balloon.  But nearby there's always a new balloon to inflate. The resiliency balloon.

[GolfLug]

On 12/7/2021 at 12:52 PM, GolfLug said:

I guess I might be the anamoly here. Easy to gain confidence from good play, but the reverse is not at all true in my experience. I've played just as shitty as anytime while being in a great frame of mind coming off a hot streak.

Confidence is fleeting anyway. Couple of hooks in middle of a good round and I feel like a five year old trying address the nation on the state of the union.. heh.

I went with #1..

So if y'all follow the winter 'lympics (I am a huge Shiffrin fan) y'all know she skittled out in three out of four events she participated in. It is beyond shocking. She is arguably the best there is/ever was in slalom/ giant slalom (sans downhill). She came in with massive confidence as the favorite and is now battling what I would call a case of yips after the first time she skittled out in GS last week. Golf is similar when it comes to confidence.  

So yeah, I will reaffirm my stance - confidence doesn't beget good play. It is the other way around.

I have no confidence in confidence.   

Edited February 17, 2022 by GolfLug

[phan52]

1 hour ago, GolfLug said:

 So if y'all follow the winter 'lympics (I am a huge Shiffrin fan) y'all know she skittled out in three out of four events she participated in. It is beyond shocking. She is arguably the best there is/ever was in slalom/ giant slalom (sans downhill). She came in with massive confidence as the favorite and is now battling what I would call a case of yips after the first time she skittled out in GS last week. Golf is similar when it comes to confidence.  

So yeah, I will reaffirm my stance - confidence doesn't beget good play. It is the other way around.

I have no confidence in confidence.   

Of course good play will build confidence. Just like putting in the requisite work will create good play. But you have to have confidence to take it to the golf course. You have to trust what you are doing. If it working, you aren't even aware that it is confidence. Confidence is trust. In golf it is difficult to carry over because sometimes your best swing is not rewarded. Rub of the green, right?

I think Shiffrin lost her confidence before she even got to Beijing. She had banked her skills beforehand and was the face of these Olympics in America. That is incalculable pressure and I think that scared the shit out of her and she didn't trust that all of her good work would pay off. Her skiing out in the slalom was pathetic, she is way too good for that to happen. There will be books written about what happened to her.

[Carl3]

I voted "5 - Confidence can't hurt, but it's more likely that hitting good shots makes you confident, not the other way around."

The commentators do talk about the pros "committing" to the shot. If they are debating on what club to use, how to flight it, etc. they can perhaps lose "confidence" in their approach to a certain shot. But not sure of that is the type of confidence you are discussing or is it. 

Sometimes I decelerate on pitch/chip/sand shots, which can belie a lack of confidence for a specific shot.

Of course if I $h<nk my partial sand wedge on an easy approach shot, my confidence will tank for the next one.

[Double Mocha Man]

Every once in awhile you'll bump into a guy who is totally "cocky", "confident" and wearing bright purple, while smoking a cigar.  Then he hits his shot....................................

Actually, to supplement my earlier balloon analogy, I'd like to think "confidence" can look like a graph.  Your game/shots can have extreme ups and downs, but when graphed, over time, with general improvement, I think the graph becomes upward (unlike the stock market right now).  So I believe you can garner confidence from knowing you can trust a bit more in shot X than you could two years ago... and execute it accordingly.

[StuM]

I voted "9".  I almost voted "10" but that sounded almost as if confidence would always result in a good golf shot which is not true.  I can be confident and still make a bad stroke.  The difference it that not having confidence seems to lead to more bad shots.  When I am in doubt about how to play a shot and my internal voice says something like "I hope I have enough club to clear that water" it usually leads to a bad stroke because I try to compensate and I'll try to swing harder hoping to clear the hazard when a nice smooth swing was all that is needed.

I do not believe confidence will make you a better golfer but lack of confident will make you a worse golfer.