The Mental Trap Every Golfer Falls For—and How to Avoid It

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00:00The mental trap every golfer falls for, and how to avoid it.

00:05You chunk a wedge from 30 yards with your favorite club, and feel the sting between frustration and self-loathing.

00:12You'd think options make you smarter, like,

00:14Look at me, I've got imagination, I'm playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

00:19And then, thud.

00:21Your ball goes 6 feet, your hands feel like they betrayed you, and it's the Paradox of Choice, Golfer Edition.

00:28The Paradox, coined by psychologist Barry Schwartz, says the more options we have, the harder it is to choose, and we're less satisfied.

00:37On the course, that mental buffet means too many clubs, trajectories, and smart ideas,

00:43so you freeze, short-circuit, and wish you'd just kept it simple.

00:48It's not just you, even tour players battle it, which is why sports psychologists like Brett McCabe preach conviction.

00:55Like, don't just choose a shot. Choose it like it's the only shot in the universe.

01:01Because if you're halfway in, guessing, doubting, second-guessing, your body will follow suit.

01:06Hesitation is the silent killer of golf shots.

01:10Even swing thoughts get overloaded.

01:12Dr. Will Wu says too many moving parts flood the brain,

01:16and recommends external cues like skip a rock, or throw the ball.

01:20Scott Fawcett, creator of the Decade System, builds a playbook to take choices off your plate.

01:26He'll tell you to forget heroic shots and favor boring, smart targets.

01:31Critics say it sucks the soul out of the game, but Fawcett shrugs.

01:35Because what's more fun, playing Picasso or walking into the clubhouse with a personal best?

01:41He even points to Tiger Woods, the icon of shot-making, and observes maybe we shouldn't copy that guy either.

01:46Sure, Tiger had a nine-box drill to master nine different trajectories.

01:51But as Wu says, Tiger's an outlier.

01:54Copping his practice is like a weekend guitarist trying to learn Beethoven after seeing Eric Clapton do it once.

02:00So, if you stand over a shot with too many choices, club in hand, doubt in heart,

02:05the fix isn't more practice, more thinking, or more gear.

02:09Choose a shot, commit to it, and swing.

02:12Maybe it's less second-guessing, less overthinking, and a lot more commitment.