Page 75 - Las Vegas Golf & Leisure SPRING 2018

• Do I have to be confident to be suc-
cessful?

• How can I be successful if I don’t have
confidence?

• If I’m not successful and I lose my
confidence, how can I be successful
again?

No other factor impacts performance more
than confidence, but there is much more to
confidence than just past performance. By
understanding where confidence comes from
and how to build it, you can play a better
game. Confidence begins with you, and there
are things you can do to build and sustain
your confidence.

P R EP AR A T ION

Golfers are notorious for their poor prac-
tice habits. Whether it’s hitting the same club
over and over, practicing only on perfect lies,
or trying to look good on the practice tee,
these habits create a false sense of confidence.
Consider the fact that you never hit the same
shot back-to-back on the course (unless you
hit one OB, and who wants to practice that?).
Few places on the golf course actually match
the conditions of the practice tee. The pur-
pose of practice is to improve, not look good.

Instead, practice should closely resemble
the golf course. In fact, practice should be
harder than the real thing. Hit shots off of
slopes. Put your ball in the rough or a divot.
Focus on the clubs and shots that are most
challenging to you. Play the shots you will
face on each hole of the course. If you’re not
making mistakes, you’re not challenging
yourself enough. While it may seem counter-
intuitive, this type of practice actually pro-
duces better performance as well as creating
the self-belief that you can hit any shot the
situation demands. When you face it on the
course, you’ll say, “I’ve got this.”

SELF - T ALK

You talk to yourself more than to any
other person, albeit not always out loud. Your
inner dialogue consists of thousands upon
thousands of thoughts per day, and as many

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