Fear of Failure in Golf Exists Because You Are Creating a Negative Future - Do You Know Why?

Fear of a shot going wrong and costing you aPeak performance comes from playing in the
price you don't want to pay is fear of failure. Ifzone so it's well worth developing the skill to
you are afraid of the outcome of a shot thenfocus on the present and remain there while your
you are inventing a negative future, one thatmind swings your body.
actually has not happened yet but is more likelyFear of the result of a shot cannot exist in the
to occur because you are thinking it.present, it's just not possible, so you will swing
Think about this for a while. What on earth is thefree and confident. To fear a shot you need to
point of creating a negative future? Well, in humanleave the present time and go forward and
psychology terms it's because your mind is tryingimagine a poor outcome and the consequences of
to protect you from repeating a negative eventit. (Lose hole or match etc.)
by giving you a warning but from a golfingWhy do we have fear of failure? Because we
perspective it's a disaster.have a history of bad shots and outcomes which
What this fear is also telling you, in a far lesswe are recalling from a negative past. Again this is
obvious way, is that you are playing in the wrongplaying from the wrong time zone. If you
time zone. There is only one place to be if youremember a past poor shot you are in the
are going to play your best golf. (most amateursnegative past time zone and not in the present.
actually underestimate the quality of golf they areSo we could say that the only reason you worry
capable of) You have to be in the present. Nowabout the future is because you are living from a
before you go getting uppity and saying that younegative past and concerned about getting
are in the present know that golfers rarely are inanother poor result. Would you worry about the
the true present and any time you have aoutcome of a shot if you had never hit a bad
thought about a shot or an outcome, you areone? No.
NOT in the present.Determine to forget your bad shots and make a
To be in the present moment is to have nohabit of recalling only your good shots. This will
thought of past performance and no thought ofstart to help you build a much more positive
the consequences of outcomes of the shot youoriented golf history.
are playing. You are so fully absorbed in theStare at an object like a pen top and see how
moment that past or future thoughts have nolong you can remain focussed and thinking only of
room to emerge. This is a wonderful place wherethe pen. When any other thought pops into your
you play on instinct, calm and confident with nomind you have lost present focus. Practice this
concerns.daily and the length of time you can remain
When ever I am asked what it is like to befocussed in the present will improve.
completely focussed in the present I use this littleDetermine to not care about results and just to
analogy. If I were to take a hammer and smashwork on "being the ball." If you are starting to
your thumb I guarantee that not a lot else will beworry about a result ask yourself if the rest of
on your mind in that moment. You will be verythe world really cares? Ask yourself if there are
focussed and your attention will be fully in yourmore important things in life? Dull down your
thumb. This is proof that you can move yourinvestment in the outcome and then keep
attention and fixate it on something, while beingfocussed on the present.
fully absorbed in the present.You will get better and better at this as time
If you can fully fixate your attention on the ball,goes by so be patient and results will improve for
with no concern for outcomes (Be the ball) andyou. Ironically it's when you stop worrying about
just let your swing happen instinctively, you areperformance that best performance is achieved.
getting into the ZONE and playing in the present.Wishing you FIR's, GIR's & Blue Skies.