Overcoming Beliefs in Golf & Playing with Confidence

Did you see it on Social Media this week? It blew up. Let me paint the picture for you on what was posted and why it blew up.

Is this you? You’ve made a couple of great putts on the front 9. One was about a 12 footer for birdie on hole number 1, right off the bat, what an explosive start. And the other was on number 4 – an eight footer – a right to left hard break. You stroked it perfectly, the ball left the putter surfact on the line you’ve intended and the speed was precise, it turned exactly how you’ve visualized it and it landed in the center of the cup. From beginning to the end of the putt, you’ve executed with focus and meticulousness and it paid off. You are pumping your fist, you are getting the glimpse of understanding what it means to be in the state of the flow – in the zone – completely locked it. In fact, on hole number 8, you actually chipped a shot in. It’s the best 9 you’ve ever played. You know this.

Now the back 9 starts, and you are evaluating the front 9 round in your head, just going over the enormous amount of luck and good fortune you’ve experienced. And now you are thinking to yourself, what are the odds of me doing that again? Surely, my luck has now ran out. I mean, I could do it again, but the odds are against me.

Doubt sets in, it’s not that you are anticipating something bad to happen, but you are somewhat accepting the fact that there is a possibility that a double bogey is lurking around the corner. In fact, you are thinking there is a huge percentage of possibility.

Have you ever played with someone that’s having a streak of pars and birdies. He or she is playing out of his/her mind, and you are jotting down the score on the scorecard, and what do you whisper to yourself? Wow, he or she’s having an amazing round, There’s no way I am going to say anything out loud.

Why?

Some of us will say, because we’ll jinx it. Meaning, we will cause the player to experience bad luck. But, you know what we are really saying? We don’t want to proclaim the positivity that’s going on right now, because we will now flood their mind with doubt.

Because, we are all mathematicians at the core of our being. We are calculating the odds. And according to our calculations, the odds of us screwing up this incredible round is very very high since we just already beat the odds of playing the front 9 flawlessly. In order for me to flawlessly play both 9’s, that’s going to take a miracle.

And now, our mind has shifted. It went from “I am in the zone” to “I wonder when this zone will end?” Because, it will end. And the sad part is that you start playing differently, you start playing defensively, you want to protect your front 9 as much as possible and you eventually crumble. Self fulfilling prophecy. Hello?

Why does this happen? This is cause from your own limited belief, and they all stem from the same place: your brains’ desire to protect you from your future pain. Listen to me., THIS impacts your ability to play your game to the fullest level. Listen again,This, this limited belief can impact your ability to live your life to the fullest.

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