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HOW TO GAIN CONFIDENCE

Golf is a doubly difficult game because you must conquer both physical and psychological problems. One of the latter is how to gain confidence. 

Confidence is not something that can be created out of thin air. No amount of confidence will get a ball into the hole if it is improperly stroked. A scared golfer with a good stroke will not play as well as he can, but he will still defeat the confident golfer who has nothing else to back him up. Psychology cannot overcome physics.

Feeling of confidence are deceptive. For instance, when I was a youngster with only three clubs, I putted with a two iron. I still have great confidence in my ability to putt this way, but I can putt much better with a putter in which I have less emotional confidence but more intellectual confidence. One of the reasons why many golfer don't improve is that they have false confidence in wrong methods.

This has been verified by many, many experiments.

True confidence is not a permanent possession. It will deteriorate in the presence of continued failure. The best method for the development of confidence is to over learn.

• Over-learning leads to successful play.
• Successful play leads to confidence.
• Confidence leads to more successful play.

A feeling of confidence is beneficial because confidence and fear do not exist simultaneously, and fear is the great destroyer of shots. Fear is destructive because it tends to activate muscles which should not be used. Fear also tends to prevent movements of other muscles which should be used. This results in shots pulled off line, shots that are hit fat and shots that are topped. Fear makes one stupid. Fear will cause you to ignore the computations you have made and, at the last instant, you will decide to hit the ball a little harder. Fear will cause you to ignore the computations you have made and, at the last instant, you will decide to hit the ball a little harder. Fear will cause you to drawback from the ball as you hit it, like the pulled punch in boxing-and the shot will fall short. In short, fear is generally disastrous.

The cocky, unafraid player has the advantage, unpalatable at this idea is to most of us. Sometimes the cockiness is concealed, as it should be, but it is nevertheless effective. This cockiness is, more than likely, the difference between otherwise equal players and accounts in large part for those golfers who are better than their equals when there is pressure.

Cockiness is better than fear but it has weaknesses of its own. Confidence is no guarantee of success. To be cocky without cause is better than to be fearful without cause, but both attitudes are faulty, since they are unrealistic and do not conform to the true facts. The best attitude in the long run, is to be as cold blooded a calculator as possible with no self-delusions. The best antidotes for fear in golf are first to over-learn, and then to do what you fear until you become accustomed to it.

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