Practice Helps Build Confidence

What role does confidence play in our daily lives? As students of all ages head back to school, confidence can be viewed in how they carry themselves on the first day or simply the ability to be positive while embarking on a new experience. In golf, confidence builds as a player improves their skill sets and abilities through planned practice. At The First Tee we look to create a level of confidence with our participants that correlates to life at home, in the class room, with friends or at the golf course. As well as creating answers on how we develop confidence. When we ask a group of participants to give us examples of confidence the first thirty seconds is typically met with a blank stare and sometimes simply, what do you mean?!?! Eventually examples begin to come such as, how you feel when you go play in a basketball game or not being nervous for a big test. Through reasoning we are able to determine as a group that these examples of confidence came about because of practice. Not general practice but very precise practice. Studying for a test by focusing in on particular areas of that subject or attending basketball practice and concentrating on current weaknesses like the lay up or free throw. We are then able to connect these conclusions to how we can gain confidence in golf. See, next week our participants in PLAYer programs will have the opportunity to ‘tee it up’ on the course. For many this will be their first experience playing on a golf course, having only seen the practice facility while at The First Tee, to this point, and never held a golf club before that. We want their first experience to be as positive as possible and if they can head to the first tee with confidence, that self-assurance will help carry them through this new experience. So, how do we help a participant acquire confidence in golf? Through very specific practice. This week we chose to focus in on distance control with putting and distance-direction control with pitching through two fun games. Using a game called 21, participants worked on their distance control while trying to accumulate 21 points, without going over, faster than their opponent. To be able to intentionally hit putts three different distances while stopping the ball in zones, the participant has gained confidence. Next they took the tic-tac-toe board module to pitching and focused on attaining three-in-a-row by stopping the ball in the appropriate square. Sometimes even having to block their opponents intended row. A process that requires awareness of both distance control and accuracy in direction. Again the participant has gained confidence in their abilities. For the last activity of the day, participants headed to the driving range where they practiced hitting the ball off a tee. But, not just anywhere, to a specific target. A learning curve for new golfers, though you can go to the driving range and ‘hit away’, once you are on the course the game becomes target focused. Therefore, we encouraged participants to zero in on a target like they would standing on the first tee next week. At the end of our program participants were excited about their successes of the day and took away a greater understanding of the correlation between confidence and where it comes from. Plus, they were pumped to come back and conquer a new experience on the first tee, next week. Here is to a week of preparedness and confidence in your endeavors!