Shaky nerves when playing golf can really hamper your game, and once your nerves start acting up, it’s incredibly difficult to get them back under control again. What good is reading up on all those reviews for golf irons and purchasing the highest-rated one in 2022 only to be unable to use it to yours and its greatest potential?
Once performance anxiety gets you in its tight grip, it’s hard to break loose, even if you’re giving it your all not to succumb to it. It’s all too easy to see your hands shaking and your brow sweating before every single shot you make, and then seeing those shots fly off in a completely unintended direction.
This is something you need to either prevent or put a stop to ASAP, and it’s also something impossible to do without implementing tried-and-tested techniques that serve to calm your nerves and allow you to continue with your round of golf as if nothing ever happened. But how do you do it?
Why is there performance anxiety when I play?
When it all boils down to it, there’s really only one real reason why your nerves start acting up as soon as you pick up your club and start thinking about your swing, and that’s fear. It’s not just a single strand of fear, no, but rather a perfect storm of three equally contributing factors, including fear of failure, opinion of others, and missed opportunities.
Fear
When it comes to fear that induces stress, instills performance anxiety and overall makes a proper mess of your nerves, it’s a three-pronged problem and you need to tackle each of them in order to make the first step toward eliminating all stress when golfing. Trust us, this is vastly more important for your game than looking at golf irons reviews for 2022 and purchasing the highest-rated clubs.
- Fear of failing: This is the one component of fear that’s most prominent in all golfers, even if you’re playing for fun. You’ve spent the time practicing, put in the hours at the range, and now you’re there, behind the tee, preparing to crank up your drive when a thought slips into your mind “What if I botch it?” and everything starts falling apart.
- Fear of the opinion of others: This is another frequent source of fear, especially if you’re playing with friends. Can you handle the friendly banter that comes after poor shots? Also, it’s frequent to fear what others will say if they’re waiting for you to finish the hole and constantly failing to make the shots count.
- Fear of missed opportunity: You know how you approach THE shot, the one you need to make for the best score of your life. It’s yours for the taking, and then the nerves kick in and you start worrying about missing the shot and the opportunity to take your game to the next level.
How do I calm my nerves when golfing?
First things first, it’s important to note that every single golfer who’s ever played this beautiful game has experienced a form of performance anxiety and nervousness before stepping in front of the tee. However, know that there’s a way to offset your nerves and keep up with the good shots if you follow several helpful pieces of advice:
Be self-aware
First things first, you need to understand that your nerves and your fear are preventing you from not only enjoying your game to the fullest, but also advancing your skill and score. Identify what fears are plaguing you, be honest with yourself about what you find difficult to deal with, be it fear of others or fear of missing failing miserably with your next shot. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to actually start calming down.
Breathe consciously
You know how “breathe” is about the worst thing somebody can say to you when you’re nervous and you just want them to stop talking and get away? We’re sorry, but that’s exactly the first thing you need to do. We know, it’s commonplace and we know it sounds silly, but before you can do anything else, you need to take a couple of deep breaths, clear your mind, and continue through the paces.
Practice is key
In order for you to be able to move on through your paces, you need to know what those paces are and to have them instilled so deep inside your mind that you can repeat them at any time, at any place. And that comes only and exclusively through practice.
You need to put in the effort, the time, and the patience into perfecting your pre-shot routine, your swing, your alignment, and all the other aspects of your game to have them rock-solid and ready to fall back to when your nerves start causing problems.
Visualize your success
The power of positive thinking does tend to yield, well, positive results, and it’s the same with golf. When you start getting nervous and you begin to think about failing, do the exact opposite and start visualizing your success. Take that high-rated golf iron in your hand, think of all the reviews you had to read before making your choice, say to yourself I got this, and start thinking about how you’re going to succeed, not fail.
Be in the moment
In this moment, not the next or the previous one. It’s easy to fall into the trap of pondering your past botched shots and worrying whether or not you’re going to do the same with your next one. Eliminate everything except the present moment, visualize your success, think positive, and grip well.
Stick to your routine
This is perhaps the most important aspect of calming your nerves when you notice you’re getting anxious and start experiencing performance anxiety. Just start going through your well-rehearsed motions, sticking to your trained routine, and you’ll start calming down knowing you’re doing the same thing you’ve done hundreds of times before.
Who provides the highest-rated golf irons according to reviews in 2022?
Believe it or not, if you let your nerves get the better of you when golfing, they’ll cause a wide range of issues that will send your game flying toward a very high score (and not in a good way). First, you’ll start experiencing problems with your grip that you’ll need to resolve and you’ll begin shanking your irons more and more with each shot.
From there, you’ll see that your pre-shot routine is beginning to suffer from various issues that require your attention and that your backswing is simply not as good as it was just a couple of weeks back. Finally, the dreaded slice will seep its way into your game and that’s about the point when it all starts to completely fall apart.Calming down is the way to prevent all this.
However, make sure to combine steady nerves with premium golfing equipment you can find by purchasing exclusively at BombTech Golf. We’re an online-only store with affordable prices for high-quality equipment suitable for players of all levels. Plus, our generous 60-day return policy ensures your peace of mind in any eventuality.
