Fear has to do with an inner state of your mind. A fear reflects how you view yourself and your ability to handle a situation in your life or on the golf course. When you are afraid you move away from what you are creating in your golf game.
Generalized fears such as embarrassment, failure, success, inadequacy, making mistakes, rejection, or losing your self-esteem will pop up on the golf course if you have them in other areas of your life.
Simplify your life and your golf game; you either love to play golf, or you are afraid to play. Love is the highest frequency and fear is one of the lowest frequencies in your state of mind. Choose which state will enhance your golf game. Choose to become positive about your golf game no matter what the results are.
To release the fear of hitting a certain club, hitting over a water hole, or of missing a shot, develop the trust in yourself to handle any situation. And then accept the results to learn from if it wasn’t your best. If you love to play the game, and enjoy every shot as an opportunity to create a good inner feeling, you will have discovered trust in yourself.
Develop trust by taking action.
- Believe in every club. Practice trusting your least favorite club by imagining it is your favorite club until you believe in it.
- Feel the fear and do it anyway. Develop confidence by hitting a bag of balls over the water hazard until you no longer fear it.
- Practice for confidence. Practice the sand shot you keep sculling over the green until you can access the timing and feel of the swing.
We trust what is comfortable for us. Most people aren’t willing to move more than 10% outside of their comfort levels, and thus repeat the same behavior over and over.
Fear is at the root of most golfer perceived threats that trigger a mind-body defense mechanism. Fear defense systems vary individually. Some people are naturally more calm and relaxed under pressure and don’t let problems or frustration get to them.
Others are more sensitive to stress and may become upset much more easily. Fear can come from anxiety about losing self-esteem by what others think about you. Fear of embarrassment may also be imbedded after topping the ball. Fear or Fear itself is also natural.
*Excerpts are from Chapter 8, FEARLESS GOLF; “The Heart of Golf, Access Your Supreme Intelligence for Peak Performances.”
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Internal voices of fear deter golfers from success. Listening to the PMI “Fearless Golf” CD will consistently transform the voice of past fears and failures on the golf course into positive, empowering self-talk. Available now at www.pmi4.com/cart
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