Confidence building
Common Mental Traps Related to Confidence Building
Spot the stories that drain belief and replace them with better on-course questions.
The stories get sticky
Mental traps sound convincing because they use evidence from your own rounds. “I always miss this tee shot” or “I can’t putt under pressure” feels true, but it usually ignores all the ordinary shots that worked.
Common traps
| Trap | Better response |
|---|---|
| Fortune telling | Pick the target anyway |
| Scoreboard math | Return to the current shot |
| Comparing swings | Play your pattern today |
| All-or-nothing thinking | Accept a playable miss |
Name the trap and it loses some power.
A useful question
Ask, “What would I do if I trusted my normal shot?” The answer is usually clearer than the anxious version.