Is nervousness and overall anxiety messing with your golf game? You may be suffering from golfing nerves, or ‘golf anxiety’ and believe it or not, golf anxiety can sometimes be a good sign! In this video I take a look at what is causing your golf anxiety, how to use the same techniques that golf pros use to overcome golf nerves & anxiety to improve your game, and a golf anxiety remedy that will help you elevate your performance on the course or at the driving range.
Full Video Transcript
Narrator (00:00):
Do you regularly suffer from sweaty palms racing heartbeat and anxiety symptoms on the golf course, or do you experience the peculiar phenomenon of suffering from jitters during a competitive round of golf, but not so much on the driving range or playing a leisurely game? Well, you're probably suffering from golf anxiety, a type of performance anxiety that specifically affects golfers.
(00:20):
Some professional golfers claim that they thrive after experiencing anxiety when it comes to competition, but they typically have developed numerous strategies to harness their anxiety and use it to help improve or fuel their performance. For most of us, however, anxiety left unchecked usually throws us off our game, whether on the putting green or when you're teeing up.
(00:40):
So let's take a look at why we even experience golf anxiety in the first place, and then figure out some fast acting tactics to overcome golf anxiety.
(00:49):
Just like the pros, if your game has been suffering recently due to jitters and anxiety issues, you don't want to miss this.
(00:56):
Why do we suffer from golf anxiety?
(00:57):
Performance anxiety, like most forms of anxiety, is complex. There's physical, mental, and emotional components to it. If you watch sports, you've probably seen high level athletes completely losing form after they make one critical mistake that costs them or their team an important game. It's the same dynamic that might be throwing you off your golf game. Anxiety on the golf course typically comes down to one thing, negative stress and more specifically how you respond to that stress.
(01:27):
Negative stress might be why you're on top of your game at the driving range or when you're casually playing, but when you're competing or when the stakes are high, the pressure to perform gets to be a bit much and your shots end up in the lake or the sand dune stress response.
(01:41):
In golf, whenever you perceive the stakes of a situation to be high, the natural response is to become fearful of making mistakes. This means added stress and your body responds by releasing stress hormones that can affect you physiologically. Spikes and stress hormones can put additional pressure on your heart and can be the cause of physical symptoms of anxiety, like excessive sweating, rapid heart rate, or trembling hands. The usual response to this is to try and force yourself to calm down, which then backfires and makes you even more nervous. You may have done this in the past and afterwards you go on to take the shot anyways. Sending the ball way off course and basically anywhere except where you want it to go.
(02:19):
Keys to overcoming golf anxiety
(02:22):
Armed with this information, which starts to become clear that the better path to overcoming golf anxiety isn't to try and reduce the jitters or command ourself to calm down like an army officer, but to take the more gentle and ironically, more effective approach that is commonly called promoting relaxation.
(02:40):
Just like the pros, we must train ourselves to remain in a state of calm when golfing, and it must be consistent, meaning it doesn't matter if we're in a high stakes competition or not. I'm going to share four strategies you can use to help your body and mind to respond to these high stress scenarios on the matter circumstances.
(02:58):
Strategy number 1: get that confidence up.
(03:01):
I'll start with the most simple strategy. When you develop more confidence around your golf game, you naturally feel less stressed about your performance and confidence in almost any field is built through practice. More specifically, practice that is structured, planned, and measured. I recommend making plans to visit the driving range or course a certain number of times each week or month. Set goals to improve each week or month and measure your progress the whole time. If you're not improving much with just that, consider hiring a trainer to really help improve your game.
(03:34):
The best golfers know how to control their anxiety because they don't have to overthink their swing. It's like second nature to them, and you can only get to that level through relentless practice and persistence.
(03:44):
Strategy number two: tactical breathing
(03:48):
Once you've got your confidence level up and have a persistent practice routine locked in, it's likely that you'll still feel some jitters whenever it's game time and the pressure is high. It's at this point that I recommend you take a page out of the Navy Seal Playbook and try a technique known as tactical breathing to calm your nerves. Tactical breathing is a trick used by the Navy Seals to stay calm under pressure. Done right, it can switch your nervous system back to a relaxed mode and you'll feel your heart rate slow down and jitteriness disappear. Try tactical breathing at the driving range as well as when you're about to break 80.
(04:24):
Here are the steps:
(04:25):
Step one, take a deep breath into your stomach to count a four.
(04:29):
Step two, hold your breath and count to four.
(04:33):
Step three, exhale slowly to account of four.
(04:37):
Step four, repeat the process until you feel calmer and in control.
(04:42):
It's that simple, but part of the effectiveness comes from this simplicity. Stopping to focus on a quick breathing exercise does a lot to slow everything down, even if just for a brief moment, give it a try.
(04:54):
Strategy number three: visualize the perfect shot
(04:57):
Imagine taking the perfect shot before you actually take it next time you play golf. Stop for five seconds and really imagine the whole shot and getting the exact result you want. For one, it might result in a better shot. Elite athletes like Michael Phelps, Lindsey Vaughn, and others routinely use visualization to improve their performances. The other benefit of visualization is that it can switch your focus from the negative and destructive thought patterns that might be contributing to your golf anxiety instead of worrying about how everyone will laugh at you if you sink the ball in the lake one more time, you're switching your focus to what you really want to accomplish, and the more you practice visualization, the more you'll find that your brain and body find the right swing with more ease and with just the right amount of power to accomplish what you want.
(05:44):
This visualization technique in combination with an increased practice and focus on the breath can really come together to improve both your golf swing and anxiety levels.
(05:54):
Strategy number four: PerformZen
(05:56):
For an added cognitive boost. You can try PerformZen to promote relaxation under pressure. PerformZen is our all-natural supplement that works to induce a state of calmness, as well as giving you a slight mental edge and sharpness that can really come in handy when performing in sports like golf.
(06:14):
Out on the golf course PerformZen will help you stay relaxed and prevent golf anxiety so that you can stay focused on your shot.
(06:20):
I can't guarantee it will make you a better player, but it'll make you a calmer and more focused one. To find out all about PerformZen, check out our website at www.performzen.com, or you can click the link in the description.
(06:33):
And if you want to learn more strategies and solutions for overcoming performance anxiety, check out these other videos on our channel. I'll see you in the next video, and until then, break a leg.