How to Work Through a Slumping Golf Season
Have you struggled through a tough season?
When you are struggling, it is difficult to focus on anything but the struggles.
Focusing on the struggles will keep you stuck struggling.
This becomes a cycle that is hard to break…
Difficulty staying focused, low self-confidence, negative thinking and unproductive negative emotions worsen matters, making it feel as if you will be trapped forever in mediocrity.
There are two important questions to be answered:
- How can you play through struggles without hurting your confidence?
- What is the best way to work your way through those struggles?
To answer these questions, let’s look at a current player on the PGA Tour who has been struggling this season…
Jordan Spieth has had a tough year…
- Spieth earned the lowest amount of prize money of his six-year career.
- Spieth failed to claim a PGA Tour title for the first time since 2014.
- Spieth had no runner-up finishes this season.
- Spieth missed five cuts.
- Spieth fell out of the top-10 rankings.
Spieth tries to keep a positive perspective, find the positives in his game and refuses to dwell on the struggles of his season.
Spieth understands there are ups and downs and, by accepting this truth, he is able to keep his focus on the challenges and opportunities in front of him.
This is how Spieth maintained his confidence despite his struggles during the 2018 season.
SPIETH: “Everyone goes through peaks and valleys of results in any part of your game.”
As he attempted to earn a spot in the Tour Championship, Spieth was focused on his next round and not the struggles of his 2018 season.
SPIETH: “My mind is not set on any kind of projections, I promise you that. It’s not do or die for me. I’ll embrace the challenge and try to go out and work my way into the top 10… That would be the goal because outside the top 10, it’s difficult to win the FedEx Cup.”
Spieth is not focused on future outcomes (wins, ranking, tournaments) nor is he focused on things that happened in the past (which is every tournament up to the present date).
Spieth focuses on the challenge in front of him.
In addition, Spieth embraces the challenge of finding ways to continually improve his game which keeps him grounded in the present.
It can be frustrating to not play the way you know you are capable of playing, but if you want to find your way out of your struggles, you need to focus on solutions and not the struggles themselves.
Working Through A Slumping Season:
Stop trying to figure out what has been going wrong or what has happened to cause all these struggles. This mindset will keep you stuck in the past.
Instead, adopt Spieth’s mental approach. Embrace the challenge.
Rather than trying to solve all your problems at once, set small manageable goals each week.
Setting small goals helps keep you focused in the present while helping you build confidence through the process.
Work on your game and be patient.
Related Golf Psychology Articles
- On Slumps, Yips, and Danielle Kang’s Comeback in Golf
- What is a Positive Attitude in Golf?
- Mindset and Performance Ruts in Golf
- Subscribe to The Golf Psychology Podcast on iTunes
- Subscribe to The Golf Psychology Podcast on Spotify
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