Confidence entails the conviction that you can effectively execute a desired action. When confidence is present, you possess the assurance that you can navigate any challenges that may arise. In golf, this can be shown in the following actions and situations; smiling as you approach a 6ft putt, calling a tee shot to your friends and executing it, or picking a landing spot for a chip shot and proceeding to hit it.
Confidence comes and goes in golf, a person being confident, and the duration of that confidence is all dependent on their personality and the situations they put themselves into. Many golfers have certain shots they are confident over, such as 6ft right to left putts or a hole that doglegs left to right to suit their fade (right-handed golfer). But then you can flip that, and the same golfer may not be confident over 6ft left to right putts or holes that dogleg right to left. You should ask yourself why this happens and if there's anything you can do to promote stronger self-belief. A self-analytical approach is one of the first and most important steps to playing smarter.
It is all to do with the golfer's belief in their ability to execute a specific task successfully, like a 6ft right to left putt or hitting a drive in the fairway on a dogleg left to right.
The more pressing issue for many golfers is a lack of confidence or losing the confidence they once had, how many times have we heard from our golfing friends: “I hit my driver so well yesterday, why can’t I hit it today?”
Confidence is not an emotion; we can’t feel it. Confidence is a belief; this makes it a thought. And just as you wouldn't leave your physical preparation or nutritional intake to chance, there's no need to take unnecessary risks with your confidence. However, many golfers aren't aware of the concrete steps that can be taken to enhance confidence. Start by going through your pre-round routine (if you haven’t got one, I would strongly recommend you develop one).
All these things can affect positivity and negatively on your confidence on and off the course.
- What do you pack for the golf course in terms of food and drinks?
- Do you have any alignment sticks or training aids you use to prepare for your round of golf?
- Do you play with golfers you feel comfortable around?
- What time do you play golf?
There are many different types of confidence that underpin the strength of your overall belief. Understand and develop these types of confidence and overall confidence will take care of itself. Some golfers fail to fully understand the sources of their confidence. It must come from somewhere. This could be things such as the course you are playing on because you have had positive past experiences or because you left 40 minutes early and were able to go through your practice routine prior to you teeing off.
In many cases, these are physical actions that can have a positive impact on your mindset. Have a think about what elements help build confidence for you...
Some golfers try and build confidence from the top down. Confidence is best built ‘bottom-up’. A common error that some golfers make is that they focus on trying to develop overall confidence. This is a challenging process and is likely to fail. It is best to build confidence like you would a Lego house. Create solid foundations that are built on a wide range of different sources. Ultimately, once your sources of confidence are understood, then you can begin to take more ownership over your overall confidence.
Two areas of confidence that golfers could consider are internal confidence and external confidence:
Internal Confidence: the way you feel about yourself and your golf game. You played well in your last round of golf, and you had a good practice session last night, so you internally believe you are going to play well today.
External Confidence: how people perceive you and see you when you play golf. I have a friend who is the most confident golfer I have ever seen; he is just in control and is always wanting to challenge people and play with consequences. That external confidence then feeds down into your game if you are his playing partner. The amazing thing about this individual is that they can back up the external confidence with internal confidence which is the ultimate combination.
Confidence will come and go over your golfing life, but the important thing to consider and action is the processes you go through prior to and during your round to keep you and your golf game in a positive place, and if that confidence goes altogether, you have the mechanisms to go through to help you regain it.
