The single most common reason players become interested in golf psychology is CONFIDENCE - specifically how to get more of it! I’d like to share with you the 5 things you need to know about it.

1. What is confidence?

Confidence is simply your strength of belief that you can play the shot you want. Have enough of it, mix it with passion and skill, and your belief turns into KNOWING – or what I call congruence. There are two types of belief that determine your confidence level:

a) Global beliefs about yourself as a person or “self belief” – eg “I am …” statements, such as “I am naturally talented/athletic/a great learner/…”

b) Specific beliefs about your ability to play certain shots – eg “I can…” or “I’m good at…” statements, such as “I can drive/putt/chip/play bunker shots really well”

Both types of belief create or destroy your confidence, depending on how they make you feel. For example believing “I’m never good enough” would stop you from using all of your skills during shots and would cause endless dissatisfaction after them too – not too good for confidence!!!

2. Where does it come from?

We form these beliefs and associated feelings through past emotional experiences – good and bad. Specific beliefs about your ability for types of shots come from key shots you have played that stick in your memory, past successes, effective practice, competitive golf and repetition. Global beliefs are formed through key moments in your life so far, often early on in life.

3. What knocks it?

The easiest way to destroy confidence is to ride the “Confidence Rollercoaster” by placing all of your emotions into the outcome of shots. You play a good shot and suddenly you think golf is easy and you’ve mastered the game! But then you play a poor shot and suddenly golf is impossible, as your belief in your swing or stroke goes out of the window!

When you throw in some really high expectations too, suddenly you start thinking that every shot SHOULD be perfect! You start worrying about outcomes, forget about putting your best swing on the ball, and instead crumble under pressure. If it’s a good shot then you’re allowed to stay high, BUT, if not, well the Confidence Rollercoaster is heading south quickly! You stop being your own best coach and start being your own worst critic.

4. What builds it?

Outcomes of shots are outside your control. To build confidence, you need to judge your success on what’s INSIDE your control. Start measuring how well you did by how well you did, not how well the ball did! If you did everything you planned to do but the shot didn’t work out (due to the wrong shot or club selection, miscalculation of conditions, an unlucky bounce or roll etc), then you need to acknowledge that you did really well. Give yourself process goals to develop this. For example add up the percentage of shots you loved playing / used the Playing State / stuck to your routine / used the Think Box and Play Box / or whatever it is you’re working on!

When you measure success this way, you will stay present to each shot and be able to give yourself useful feedback.

5. How to have confidence for every shot

You already have confidence in abundance inside you. If you rarely feel this great feeling, you may have a limiting belief to resolve (click here). If you feel it some of the time but not others, make sure you:

a) pick the percentage shots (ie the one’s that you know you can play)

b) follow a routine that includes a Think Box and Play Box to be 100% ready for every shot

c) spend enough time before the shot seeing it and imagining what it would feel like to play it

d) use the Playing State to stay connected to the target and love every shot

e) judge success on your process – what you did well and what you could do even better next time

f) at the end of each round review your top 3 shots so that you leave EVERY game focusing on success (see http://www.3goodshots.com)

If you’d like to learn more about confidence and golf psychology, I’m giving away audio mental golf tips through a series of six free tipcasts to help you through the toughest parts of the game. Sign up for my newsletter now if you would like to receive these.

Love every shot!

Adam Sprackling

Mental Golf Coach