Jordan Spieth on the Importance of Confidence and Building Your Game

The professional golfer breaks down how practice can help you develop your poise on the course.

Confidence can be vital to find success during a round of golf. But it’s not easy to develop and keep the poise to play your way out of a tough situation or overcome a bad swing.

Professional golfer Jordan Spieth spoke to Pro Tips about the importance of having confidence and how you can build it through practice.

“Confidence, for me, is the most important thing in the game of golf, and it’s built through what’s done behind the scenes,” Spieth says.

MASTERING THE MECHANICS

Spieth says that working on the physical side of golf directly impacts his confidence. By regularly putting in the work at the range and course, he says, you can develop the poise to be ready to make big shots in key situations.

“Once the physical side comes around, I start ramping up that mental side, that confidence,” Spieth says. “I know the feels. I know when I start feeling really comfortable over the ball, understanding where that’s going to go before I even hit it and the positions and the swing to get there.”

While it can be challenging to figure out how to master certain shots or situations, this is what drives many golfers to keep coming back to the course.

“And that’s what’s so cool about the game of golf is you get to go to the range to try and figure that out every day, but it also can’t be perfected,” Spieth says. “And that’s the drive.”

PICTURE YOUR SHOT

Golf takes more than going out to the driving range and hitting balls. By envisioning what you may encounter during a round, you can build the confidence to conquer tough situations on the course.

“You’ve got to practice the right way,” Spieth says. “What I mean by that is when you are hitting balls, you just don’t go out there and hit a shot. You actually picture shots you might see on the golf course. Picture a target. Picture trouble in one location.”

Confidence can be hard to find sometimes. However, practicing and building your game can help change that. It can help develop the perseverance to hit the long drives, nail the chip shots and sink putts on the course.

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