Olympian Q & A
By Joe Thiel, 2008
Dear Joe,. I practice nearly every single day, play several times a week, and compete year round in junior events. It seems there is always something blocking me from being as successful in competition as I am in practice. Why does this seem to happen so often?
Olympia junior golfer
Joe:There are many mental barriers that keep competitive players from consistently realizing their potential. Let’s start with likely the worst of the culprits and that is “fear of failure.” This fear in many cases is caused by perfectionism. Athletes who are perfectionists and highly motivated, more often then not, do not come close to performing up to potential because of the fear of failure. Since they are indeed motivated more then most players they often set lofty goals for themselves and that in itself is not a bad thing but if not used wisely with short and long term goals complete with performance indicators, it can cause problems. The telltale sign for golf perfectionists seems to be players that spend a lot of time practicing and training to become successful only to often “under perform” in competition. Interesting that many times the players who want to win the most and work at it more then most are often the ones that are stuck in the worry of failure. Worry about what others think, want to please others, don’t want to embarrass themselves and so on.
My recipe for changing this is first allow yourself to make mistakes. You are human and golf is a wonderfully difficult game where EVERYONE makes mistakes or does not hit each shot perfectly. Heck Hogan said that if he hit seven great shots in a round that would be a solid day. Next learn how to practice with a “real” competitive round plan that translates to the golf course.
Joe