The Fear of Going Long
Perfection is a dangerous pursuit.
This is another concept that applies to both golf and life. Ironically, the moment we try to be perfect is often the exact moment we come up short. Now, it can absolutely be argued that the desire for perfection fuels success, and speaking from experience, I think there is truth to that. If you ask my family, I have no doubt they would agree that I am a perfectionist. They would probably argue that it is one of the reasons I have been successful in sports. But that same perfectionism that has allowed me to get to where I am today may have also reached its peak. I think that in order to get to the next level, at least personally, I can no longer be a perfectionist. I believe it is now holding me back.
Striving for perfection can push you to improve, work harder, and achieve things you otherwise may not have achieved. But there is also a line that must be drawn. Because constantly chasing perfection can lead to never truly being happy with results, and sometimes, it can even lead directly to failure.
Most things in life do not require perfection. Many times, success comes from a freer, more committed, all-out approach…trusting yourself, going with the flow, and allowing yourself to perform without fear. In sports, this is often called the “flow state.” In golf, and in life, so many mistakes are not caused by lack of talent or preparation (although that certainly can be the case sometimes) but by fear.
Fear of failure.
Fear of looking foolish.
Fear of making the wrong decision.
Fear of letting yourself down, your team down, or your loved ones down.
And in golf specifically, fear shows up over and over again, especially in the short game.
I like to call it the fear of going long.
I experience this almost every round I play, especially when chipping around the greens. How often do you hit a chip shot and leave it short? I’d bet it’s quite often. For me, it happens far too often. I’d say nearly 95% of the chips I leave short come from the exact same issue: trying to be too perfect, or simply being scared of hitting it too far. And honestly, I would much rather miss long than leave a chip so short that it doesn’t even end up on the green.
I actually remember having this conversation with my dad when he was teaching me how to play golf. I would play while he rode alongside me, watching and giving feedback. He pointed out how often I was leaving my chips short. He wanted me to realize how much room I actually had to miss long. That area past the hole is an area I don’t think we really pay any attention to. There is almost always room to miss long, and not always room to miss short. He asked me, “Wouldn’t you want to at least give it a chance to go in?” and “So what if it goes long?”. Such simple questions. But they stuck with me. That was during my first year of golf. I am now almost ten years down the road and am just now truly applying that concept to the way I play.
Maybe he was right. Maybe I really am stubborn.
There is nothing to be scared of. The moment fear enters, we lose our ability to perform at our absolute best. If you want to shoot low scores, you must also be willing to accept what happens if you fail. If you go all in, you go all in both ways. Maybe if you play more reserved, stay confined, and swing a little scared just to keep everything “safe,” you’ll still shoot some good scores. But if you never allow yourself to go all out, you may never see your fullest potential. You may never experience the course records, the personal bests, or the rounds that make other people talk. Personally, I would much rather go around an entire golf course swinging freely, fully committed to every shot, than spend the entire round scared over every swing…increased heart rate, tension, poor results…all because I’m focused on what might happen instead of focusing on what I want to happen.
That pursuit of perfection creates two major problems.
First, it can make you choose the wrong shot. Instead of taking the highest percentage play, you try to pull off the “perfect” shot…the one with almost no room for error. You become so focused on executing something flawlessly that you actually increase your chances of failure. It is important to choose targets and shots that lead to the highest chance of success over time. Like I mentioned in my blog about the Law of 100, if you were to hit 100 shots from the same position, which decision would produce the lowest possible score over time? Find that shot, and commit fully to it. Not only does that remove the need for perfection, but it also becomes much easier to commit to a high-percentage shot than a low-percentage one that creates fear.
Second, and more importantly, trying to be perfect creates fear. You become afraid of imperfection.
What happens if I chunk it?
What happens if I blade it?
Don’t hit it too far.
Don’t hit it too short.
Eventually, you become afraid to fully commit because you are too busy trying to protect yourself from what could go wrong. Instead, find the shot you want to hit. See it clearly in your mind, and then make it happen. Stop focusing on the “what ifs” and start focusing on what you actually want to do. How can you walk away from the shot feeling satisfied? Feeling committed? Feeling like you succeeded as a golfer? Pick a high-percentage play, fully commit to it, and execute.
And if you fully commit to the shot and it still doesn’t work out? Then maybe you picked the wrong shot, or maybe you simply need more practice. But at least you can walk away knowing you gave it everything you had.
And you cannot play golf with fear.
The moment fear enters the swing, everything changes. You decelerate. You hesitate. You guide the club instead of trusting it. That is the fear that causes chunks, blades, and weak shots that never really had a chance to succeed. More often than not, the ball comes up short because somewhere deep down, you were protecting yourself from the possibility of hitting it too far.
Again, when I talk about “going long,” I’m mostly referring to the short game. But fear affects every part of golf.
I have something I like to call my “panic button.”
I tend to press it right at the top of my backswing, just as the downswing begins. This panic button shows up whenever I haven’t fully committed to the shot because of fear. The backswing feels fine, but then suddenly – BOOM – panic enters. From the top of the swing to impact, weird things start happening that completely interfere with letting the club move naturally. When I hit that panic button, I stop being athletic. I stop trusting the motion. Instead, I start trying to control the club, force the shot, or protect against a bad outcome. I’m trying to avoid something I don’t want instead of swinging freely toward the result I do want.
That is fear without commitment. It’s the fear of going long…or the fear of going all out. But the truth is, going long is often where the best shots…and the best opportunities…are found. The same applies in life.
So many people hold themselves back because they are scared of overshooting, failing publicly, or taking too big of a swing. But when you live cautiously out of fear, you rarely give yourself the chance to discover what you are truly capable of. As Bob Rotella famously said, golf is not a game of perfect. You have to be willing to fail in order to succeed.
Commitment is what separates fear from confidence.
To eliminate the fear of going long, you must fully commit to the shot you choose. Once the decision is made, there can be no hesitation. No steering. No protecting yourself from failure. Just trust. Ironically, that complete commitment is probably the closest thing to perfection we can actually achieve…not because the result will always be perfect, but because the mindset is.
In golf, and in life, the best outcomes rarely come from playing scared. They come from trusting yourself enough to go for it fully, even when failure is possible.
Especially when failure is possible.