Luke is an avid weekend-warrior golfer from the East Coast who plays golf more than he cares to admit.
Here is a complete guide on how to calm your nerves before golf starting with golfer psychology.
The psychology of golf and stressors:
We can quickly forget that we’re out golfing to have a good time and enjoy the views as bad shot after bad shot starts to take place. You quickly get into a bad head space and it’s hard to calm your nerves before the next golf shot, right? Wrong!
The process of learning how to calm your nerves before golf starts by understanding the psychology of being a golfer.
It’s also good to understand that you’re not alone! A lot of other golfers have these issues as well. In fact, learn more about the top three reasons why golfers choke .
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get into some tips on how to calm your nerves before golf!
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #1: Get enough sleep.
This one is important. There are quite a few studies that have shown that lack of sleep can lead to lower cognitive function and even stress hormones being released into the bloodstream. All of this combined makes for a bad day on the golf course.
But how much sleep do you need exactly?
Not as much as some people think! An important guideline is to try and get between seven and eight hours of sleep each night. When we don’t get that we start off on a bad foot and it’s not difficult to see how we can quickly get into a bad head space.
There are some quick tips on how to fall asleep fast here . Check it out if you’re having trouble with getting a good night’s rest!
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #2: Have a routine.
This is another important psychological aspect that has been proven to be true. We all know that we feel more comfortable and at ease when we do things in a certain order or fashion.
This is why having a routine in place is a good idea for how to calm your nerves before golf .
Pick a warm up that you like doing and try to do it in the same way each time. Don’t worry if you miss a day or two.
The most important thing is that the routine is set in place so when it’s time to do your pre-shot ritual before each shot, you are in your comfort zone.
This article on golf routines is a good one to read more about the possibilities of getting the right routine for yourself!
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #3: Visualize the shot.
This one is a little bit more advanced and comes from sports psychology . It’s worth mentioning though because it can really help with calming your nerves before golf.
We’re going to get into some golfer psychology here so that you understand why this works. You’ve probably heard the term that golf is 90% mental and the other half physical.
This leads us to golfer psychology
We know that visualization has been proven to improve performance in many sports.
This is because it helps with concentration, relaxation, motivation, confidence, focus, arousal control, etc.
Golfer psychology tells us that for this to work, we need to be able to get into a state of mind where we can visualize the shot and do it with as much detail as possible.
The more detailed you can get with your visualization, the better chance you have of performing the action successfully in real life!
This is because when we practice something enough in our minds, the brain starts to believe that it has already happened.
The article on this subject talks about some of the research that has been done with visualization and how to use it effectively.
This is what you need for calming your nerves before golf !
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #4: Acknowledge pre-shot tension.
This one is important for when you’re practicing and not when you’re playing competitive golf.
The reason why we tense up before a shot is because of our anxiety and fear of the outcome.
Your brain thinks that if you miss the shot, it’s going to be embarrassing so it tells your body to tighten up.
This is why it’s important to acknowledge pre-shot tension .
When you tense up before a shot, your accuracy goes down because your muscles are working against you. The best way to fix this is to remain calm and then do your routine.
That doesn’t mean that you don’t care about the result of the shot, it simply means that you acknowledge the tension and then do your best to let it go.
In other words, don’t lie to yourself about what’s going on. This will only make things worse!
Don’t accept tension as a part of your pre-shot ritual but instead push through it by relaxing your muscles at the right time during your ritual.
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #5: Practice!
This one may seem obvious but you wouldn’t believe how many people don’t practice enough for calming their nerves before golf.
The more you practice, the more success you will have with your pre-shot routine.
Not only that, but the more you practice, the less pressure you will feel when it’s time to hit the shot.
It’s like telling a joke over and over again (practice) until you get to the point where it comes naturally (less pressure).
If you get nervous when you get up to the tee, practice hitting some drivers off the deck.
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #6: Visualize Success
This one is a little bit similar to visualization but there’s a small difference.
Visualization in this case also includes a positive mental image of the shot you’re going to hit and success when it comes down to it.
In other words, when you practice your routine, make sure it focuses on hitting the ball well and imagining yourself doing well on the course.
This may sound like it’s the same thing but they are actually very different! And you need both for calming your nerves before golf.
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #7: Do not focus on results
One of the biggest mistakes that players make when practicing their pre-shot routine is focusing on results.
What do we mean by this? Well, this happens when you get fixated on one particular shot and how it’s going to happen based on what you think is going to go wrong or right.
This leads us back to the pre-shot tension which we talked about before!
You can’t get nervous about a shot if you don’t care about what’s going to happen in general. You just have to go out there, do your best and let it flow!
You can’t get rid of the pressure completely but you should minimize it by focusing on the things you can control instead of things you can’t control!
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #8: Stay.In.The.Moment
Staying in the moment is tough – we bet your mind might be already drifting away from this article! So let’s get you back on track.
Staying in the moment is about not thinking about the past or future. Instead, it’s about focusing on what you can control right now which is hitting the next shot well.
When you start playing competitive golf again, staying in the moment will be much harder because of your mind going towards worrying about your score, how you’re playing overall or even thinking about that person in the group behind.
But it’s not impossible!
All you have to do is acknowledge these things rather than accept them as a part of your routine.
How to calm your nerves before golf tip #9: take bad shots for what they are
One of the main reasons for tension on the golf course is because you don’t want to hit a bad shot.
You may think that you’re only thinking about it but your subconscious mind might be worried about missing the fairway or not being able to get up and down from 100 yards out.
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