Building Mental Toughness Through Golf

Golf is the sport that really tests your mental toughness. People have dubbed golf, the game of life. As you start trying to get better, there are many obstacles you will have to overcome. My biggest obstacle in golf is confidence. One would expect a person who has played golf for nearly 5 years now would know how to control their confidence, but it is a lot tougher than you would think. Throughout the book Zen Golf by Dr. Joseph Parent, he directs my thoughts to be less pessimistic and makes the game more enjoyable for me. During the chapter, you are not your thoughts, he says, "While playing well in a tournament, we might think to ourselves, 'Well, you've gotten away with it so far, but you'll screw up before too long.' Believing in this thought gives it power. It creates feeling of doubt and anxiety, which interfere with our swing and produce errant shots. That makes us believe the thought even more, amplifying it in our mind. Eventually, the fear of failure becomes so powerful that our game is badly disrupted and the prophecy of the thought has been fulfilled."(18). I am one to bring myself down when I am playing well, or even sub par. Parent has taught me to not be not too rough on myself when having a bad day or good day, and I'm now able to enjoy the game a lot more. His words of wisdom will improve my golf score and will allow me to take control of my confidence without any worries or doubts.

I can relate my experience through golf and seeing different perspectives in my daily life. For example, during a test, I would have to take time and not rush into any answers. I was taught from Dr. Joseph Parent that we can choose to respond rather than automatically react to a certain situation. But through life experiences, we know that we tend to assume or guess without actually knowing, which usually leads to a fault or mistake. (19) this taught me to take time in between shots and not just automatically react to what I think would be a perfect shot. Then to take a step back and give myself time to figure out what I could do to better my shot. Thus makes me more relaxed and more confident when I approach my ball, which will end up being more consistent and where I would want the ball to end up.

Does anybody have techniques that had helped their
confidence? (Sports in general)

Parent, Joseph, Dr. Zen Golf. New York: Double Day, 2002. Print.