Anxious moments: Many golfers struggle with performance anxiety

            Let’s talk about anxiety. Perhaps, an overused and misunderstood term in today’s culture, anxiety is a mental and emotional reaction and condition that goes well beyond simple “worry,” and becomes a serious issue that often impairs well-being and behavior.
There are over a dozen psychiatric disorders with anxiety as the basic element, from panic attacks to acute stress to PTSD. But here we’re focused on low  to moderate levels of anxiety as it affects a golfer’s (and others) performance. We can define anxiety as the apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by feeling of nervousness and/or physical symptoms of tension. For golfers and other athletes, a sense of anxiety – some call it dread – can be persistent, and ever-present, but generally it is brief and situational, like teeing off before a crowd of onlookers. Mostly, the person becomes unsettled and unable to think clearly. Even pro golfers struggle with anxiety, like PGA Tour star Bubba Watson. “I was so worried about what others believed about me that I wasn’t acting like the person I wanted to be,” said Bubba in Guideposts February 2022.

            Several years ago, when I was asked to coach Heather, a 15-year-old high-school golfer with ample talent and a burning desire to do well, her mother offered that she was the best player on her team, but there was “something holding her back.” After several conversations during coaching sessions, it became painfully evident that Heather was seriously hurting herself with anxiety that went beyond random. (You may be able to relate to feelings she did disclose.) She was quick to admit that she often felt “edgy” and inadequate when things went wrong, and she especially fretted under any kind of pressure, like having to make an important par-saving putt late in her round. I asked her to tell me what was going through her thoughts before a pressure putt. “I just think, this will be so embarrassing when I miss,” she shared candidly. Hers seemed to be a classic case of self-sabotage, the kind that causes grown adults to avoid taking good jobs because they can’t stand the thought of having to give a speech. As the situational stress mounted, Heather described it this way: “I get all tight and then I can’t even think.” At that point, with a putter or a wedge in her hands, she has no chance to make a high quality shot.   Often the problem lies under the surface, below one’s threshold of awareness. As I probed further it turns out that there were several variations on Heather’s “I’m a fool” theme, but they all seemed to boil down to one recurring thought: “Everyone will see I’m a loser.” Again, a common theme for young and old alike. I noted the emerging root of self-esteem, that mom didn’t realize was holding her back. “What would a badly missed putt suggest to you,” I gently asked. Hesitating she replied, “Then, they will know how awful I really am.” “And what would that mean?” I continued. “I let Mom down. That I’m a failure, a horrible person, I guess,” she poured forth, tears now streaking down her cheeks. Her unreasonable thoughts had taken hold of her. And taken hold of her performance, as well as dampened the talent she already had.

            Anxiety, caused by self-submerging thoughts and feelings, seems to plague golfers just like sadness follows regrets. For many it’s a different, more exaggerated sense of worry than we would have in everyday life. It seems that some anxiety is part of the package of life. It’s a natural byproduct of having a brain that is capable of such high-wire acts as considering the future. A little anxiety is good, even necessary, and a great motivator to get us to play well and perform ably. Yet too much anxiety can be self-defeating, and anxiety-caused panic downright disabling.

            Whether it’s in sport or in the office, performance anxiety is characterized by a pattern of frequent, agonizing over specific activities and events. Fortunately for Heather she had friends, did well in school and was a normal teenager, with her anxiety flare-ups usually confined to golf.

Dr. Charlie Blanchard is a licensed psychologist specializing in sports and leadership. Contact him at docblanchard71@gmail.com.