How to cope with overthinking in Golf

 Do you overthink as a golfer?

How to cope with overthinking in Golf - by Daniel Ferguson

"I'm just off today, I can't get it right!" "What shot do I do, there's so many options?" Do you find yourself having these thoughts as a golfer or thinking too much about the perfect shot? It can be very common in golf. Read this blog to understand why you have these thoughts and how to cope with overthinking in golf.


Signs of overthinking in golf

  • Rushing Routine: due to overthinking and things not going right, a golfer can become frustrated and begin to rush their pre-shot routine, losing patience to take the next shot as they're desperate for a good one
  • Loads of thoughts about how to take the shot: such as the swing, predicting shot outcomes, not letting go of past shots and how to change the shot to make a good one
  • Frustration and anger: due to high expectations as a golfer, if things aren't going your way, you may start to overthink and begin to get angry and frustrated when things still don't go to plan
Overthinking also can lead to increased tension, elevated emotion and lowered confidence.

Examples of pro golfers overthinking

This is a common psychological problem in golf that even the best of the best can experience. American golfer Adam Long spoke about his winning shot and overthinking after he won the 2019 American Express Tour: "I knew the more I thought about it, the harder the shot would be." In sport psychology what's known as a quiet mind is spoken about: as a golfer you will want to aim towards this, it basically means playing on autopilot, where you barely even have to think about what you're doing, it just clicks.

How to cope with overthinking

  • Deep breathing: focus on how you breath can help you ground yourself as a golfer and focus on what's important, find breathing techniques with calm
  • Trust your game plan: it can be easy to fall into a trap of losing sight of your game plan, trust what you have been working on, this can help combat the thoughts you get about changing up your shot, find how to build a 'trust mindset' with David Charlton here
  • Pre-shot routine: linking to the previous pointer, have a pre-shot routine that you stick to, familiarise yourself with it, this familiarity will help you when the doubts start to creep in
  • Have a golf mantra: you can use self-talk when leading up to a shot, stick to a 'mantra': a word or phrase you constantly repeat to yourself throughout competition, for example: "I trust my routine, I believe in my next shot," make it real to you
I hope you have found this blog useful on how to cope with overthinking in Golf. Find my socials below, feel free to reach out.


Find Daniel Ferguson on:
LinkedIn: Daniel Ferguson
Instagram: @danferguson_sp
Twitter: @DanFergusonSP

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Running the Shakespeare Marathon 2025

Image
Shakespeare Marathon 2025 Stratford-Upon-Avon became the location of my second marathon. Situated near Birmingham, it was a bright and sunny day for the run where you could smell all, "the perfumes of Arabia" (imagine in a Brummy accent). At 9:00am, the gun went 'Bang!' We were off. We set off too quick and I knew we did. Jacob set his PR in the first 10km of the race. But my friend Riley said we should give that pace a go. It was very enjoyable running as a group but eventually it turned into just me and Riley. I'll be honest I was starting to feel the faster pace about half way through. Riley was looking strong and asked if I'm alright and I replied, "yeah, I'm feeling good."  Half way with Riley As it grew closer to midday, the sun started to create some blistering heat. Riley and I felt like the water stations were a marathon away themselves. Around 16 miles in I was running solo as the water grew too far for Riley (he did soldier on by the w...
Read more

Starting Something New?

Image
 Starting Something New? by Daniel Ferguson “Start before you’re ready. Good things happen when we start before we’re ready.” -  Steven Pressfield START One day a bird noticed a particularly hungry cat who was snooping around his nest. His home was quite low down in the tree, so he needed to build one higher up to keep away from the cat.  The bird started to ponder about what materials he would need, how high up the nest would need to be and how big he should make it.  “I can’t start until I know all these facts,” said the bird. A couple days went by and the bird still hadn’t made his mind up on how to build the nest.  Time was ticking and the cat was even hungrier now. The bird was sat still on a branch, still thinking about how to build the nest. In a flash, the cat jumped up and caught the bird. Cat catching the bird What do you think this story tells us? We’ve all been there. There’s something we want to get done. A new adventure or journey we want to start ...
Read more

How To Not Over-Do It

Image
 How To Not Over-Do It By Daniel Ferguson You can't put too many eggs into too many baskets. As an athlete over-training and overdoing can be a common problem. In the modern world, with social media, it's very easy to stumble across videos expressing sleep is for the weak, you must constantly be working and you can never rest. But, the value of rest is highly important. In terms of over-training, you may train twice a day everyday, have no days off or you may have no recovery between training sessions. It's important to think about life outside of the hard work and dedication. You may over-do: as a younger person, or even an adult, you could be involved in too many sports, or too many hobbies and activities outside of sport you rarely get a chance to rest. A lady once said to me in the gym, "don't play too many sports when you are younger, you will regret it when you are older." Listen, being active is vital to your life, however, in this blog we will focus on...
Read more