Is this you? You’ve made a couple of great putts on the front 9. One was about a 12-footer for birdie on hole number 1 right off the bat; what an explosive start. And the other was on number 4 – an eight-footer – a right-to-left hard break. You stroked it perfectly, the ball left the putter surfact on the line you’ve intended and the speed was precise, it turned exactly how you’ve visualized it and it landed in the center of the cup. You’ve executed with focus and meticulousness from the beginning to the end of the putt, and it paid off. You are pumping your fist, you are getting the glimpse of understanding what it means to be in the state of the flow – in the zone – completely locked it. In fact, on hole number 8, you chipped a shot in. It’s the best nine you’ve ever played.
Now, the back nine starts, and you are evaluating the front 9 round in your head, just going over the enormous amount of luck and good fortune you’ve experienced. And now you are thinking, what are the odds of me doing that again?Surely, my luck has now run out. I mean, I could do it again, but the odds are against me.
Doubt sets in; it’s not that you are anticipating something terrible will happen, but you are somewhat accepting the fact that there is a possibility that a double bogey is lurking around the corner. In fact, you are thinking there is a massive percentage of possibility.
Have you ever played with someone who’s having a streak of pars and birdies? He or she is playing out of his/her mind, and you are jotting down the score on the scorecard. What do you whisper to yourself? Wow, he or she’s having an amazing round. There’s no way I am going to say anything out loud.
Why?
Some of us will say that we’ll jinx it, meaning we will cause the player to experience bad luck. But you know what we are really saying? We don’t want to proclaim the positivity that’s going on right now because we will now flood their mind with doubt.
Because we are all mathematicians at the core of our being, we are calculating the odds. And according to our calculations, the odds of us screwing up this incredible round are very, very high since we just already beat the odds of playing the front nine flawlessly. In order for me to flawlessly play both 9s, that’s going to take a miracle.
And now, our mind has shifted. It went from “I am in the zone” to “I wonder when this zone will end?” because it will end. And the sad part is that you start playing differently, you start playing defensively, you want to protect your front nine as much as possible, and you eventually crumble. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hello?
Why does this happen? It is caused by your own limited beliefs, and they all stem from the same place: your brain’s desire to protect you from your future pain. Listen to me. This impacts your ability to play your game to the fullest level. Listen again. This limited belief can impact your ability to live your life to the fullest.
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