I was walking through downtown Chicago one evening, staring up.
Skyscrapers everywhere.
Massive. Beautiful. Untouchable.
I stood there and thought—how do they build something that tall?
Then I remembered:
They go down first.
Before a single floor goes up, they dig deep. The taller the tower, the deeper the foundation.
You don’t build a skyscraper from the top down.
You start in the dirt.
And that’s exactly how the mental game works.
Everyone Wants the Tower
You want to compete with confidence.
Stay composed. Feel clutch under pressure.
That’s the part people see.
That’s the tower.
But what most people don’t see?
The work underneath.
The thoughts.
The habits.
The beliefs.
That’s where the real game is played.
Why You Keep Feeling Stuck
I’ve worked with golfers who had perfect swings…
and still couldn’t close a round.
Why?
Because their mental foundation was cracked.
They told themselves:
“I always choke.”
“I’m not mentally strong enough.”
“I screw up when it matters most.”
This inner voice becomes your reality.
That’s not guesswork. It’s science.
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, a neuroscientist at UCLA, studied how repeated thoughts create strong neural circuits. You literally wire your brain through repetition.
The more you think “I’m weak under pressure,”
the stronger that mental circuit becomes.
But here’s the flip side to this: You can rewire it.
Kobe Knew It All Along…
Kobe Bryant visualized every tough moment before it happened.
Bad calls. Missed shots. Crowd turning on him.
He trained his mind to respond—not react.
That wasn’t magic. That was the mental reps he put in day after day.
I worked with a junior golfer chasing after a D1 scholarship.
His talent? Off the charts. But his mindset? Full of doubts.
He’d spiral after mistakes.
He didn’t believe he could finish strong.
So we got to work:
He journaled after every round
He tracked his negative self-talk
He practiced pressure scenarios in his mind
He wrote a reset script to use after bad shots
Six months later—same swing, new story.
He closed rounds like a veteran - like the Black Mamba on the course.
The tower looked different because we rebuilt the base.
Now it’s Your Turn
So ask yourself:
What do I say to myself when I mess up?
What thoughts keep looping when I feel pressure?
Where am I mentally shaky right now?
If you want to build confidence, you have to go down first.
Confidence isn’t magic. It’s earned.
Want to Build with Us?
Every Wednesday, we send out one mindset lesson from the MPGA 18 Holes Newsletter. We are currently preparing something special in our mental kitchen to launch something in September that is exciting and new. For starters, we highly encourage you to stay with us on our journey through this newsletter:
One tip
One story
One way to build your tower
If you have enjoyed reading our Wednesday 18 Holes Newsletter, share it with a teammate, a coach, a parent, and let’s build our towers from the ground up.
Skyscrapers don’t rise without shovels.
And neither will you.
Let’s get to work.
Your Mental Coach,
Dr. Mat
