Golf often demands more than technical skills, requiring athletes to stay mentally sharp in high pressure situations. Competitive play often pushes golfers to manage nerves and confidence at the same time. Angela Chancellor helps students in the program become stronger.
“They have to be more forgiving of themselves when they’re playing,” Chancellor said. “And that way they’re able to move on with confidence. Otherwise, it erodes their confidence and how they play, and they start doubting their abilities.”
Golfers play about 15 hours a week or more. A big part of their training focuses on building up strength in their swings and experimenting with different techniques to see how far they can drive the golf ball. They also work on their endurance, learning to stand the heat and maintain focus during long rounds in varying weather conditions
Beyond physical skills, they spend time refining their precision, improving their putting and developing a strong mental game to stay calm under pressure or anxiety. It’s a mix of physical conditioning, technical practice and mental preparation – all aimed at becoming a more consistent and confident player.
“I’ve had kids with superior athletic talent that couldn’t score in a competitive situation,” Chancellor said. “They get beat by kids that were not as skilled as they were, but [the other kids] had the calmness and knew how to keep control when things got hard in an event. So you’ll see it’s a great equalizer if you can control your mind when you’re playing.”
Sophomore Parker McGehee has been playing golf for 12 years. It started when his dad was watching him for the day, and his dad decided he wanted to go to the golf course.While there, McGehee picked up a golf club and hit the ball.
“I picked up a club and I enjoyed it a lot,” McGehee said. “It felt like something inside me clicked. It was fun and relaxing at the same time. I like how it blocked everything out and that the main focus was the golf ball.”
Since that day, golf has had such an impact on his life. He has spent countless hours playing and worked to overcome daily mental battles on the course. McGehee said the sport teaches him how to stay composed under pressure.
“Golf really tests your mindset, and it’ll see how far you can go,” he said.
Every athlete copes with mental struggles or anxiety in his or her own way. Some focus on controlled breathing or meditation before a match to calm their nerves, others listen to music to get in the right mindset. Some athletes find comfort in routines like stretching before a game, or using positive self-talk from adults and friends to boost their mental state.
McGehee said he talks to himself to ease his nerves. Telling himself “you’ve got this” or “you’ve done this before” helps him a lot to ease his nerves.
“You’ve practiced for this, relax and go with the flow. Don’t overthink it,” he reminds himself before big matches.
His highlight in the sport comes during the match when he sees his hard work pay off.
“That feeling of accomplishment whenever you make a good shot, it’s like a kid receiving candy for the first time, you enjoy it and want more,” he said.
Sophomore Lilly Raymond reached the State Meet as only a freshman and loves the game her dad started teaching her when she was 9. But like McGehee, the mental aspect of golf proves challenging for her too.
Right before matches Raymond gets herself so worked up and into her mind, thinking she’ll mess up for something so little causing her to perform below her potential.
“I just get so mad at myself for stupid things like hitting too far or not giving the hit enough pressure to make it go far away into the hole,” Raymond said.
But Raymond has learned ways to push back against those negative thoughts and continues to get better.
“I overcome my negative thoughts by just knowing that you can’t do anything about your past shots and you can only get better by having a good mindset and moving forward,” she said.
Her experience has taught her that everyone struggles sometimes, and that the way you think to yourself is often the key to improving. She tries to give her teammates positive encouragement, and hopes athletes who struggle with performance anxiety or pressure to win realize they are not alone.
“It’s common, very common, because it’s the biggest issue in sports,” Raymond said. “Everyone has the physical ability to do it, but if you aren’t mentally there, then you’re just not going to perform at your best.”
