She played one of the best front nines of her life.
Every shot was committed. Every pre-shot routine had purpose. She walked with intention but didn’t rush. She breathed into her rhythm. She wasn’t thinking about her score. She wasn’t thinking about the leaderboard. She was just playing golf.
When she made the turn, she glanced at the scores and saw her name at the top.
Everything changed.
She told herself, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.” She repeated the same process, the same routine, the same breathing cues. But something was off. It looked like the same process on the outside—but internally, the intention had shifted. Her focus was no longer on the shot in front of her. Her focus was on protecting the lead. She wanted the win. She wanted the outcome.
And the moment she shifted her process to become a means to an end, she wasn’t present anymore.
The swing got tighter. The putting stroke more cautious. The decision-making more hesitant. The back nine felt completely different, not because of a technical flaw—but because of a subtle shift in mindset.
This is the invisible battle most players don’t realize they’re fighting.
Psychologists call this “goal contamination.” When your process is no longer about mastery, and instead becomes a tool to get something—validation, results, status—it stops being a true process. You may look like you're doing the same thing, but your brain knows otherwise. Research in performance psychology shows that when your focus is tied to external outcomes, your brain triggers more stress responses and overactivates your prefrontal cortex, which ironically reduces fluid movement and decision-making.
In contrast, athletes who maintain what’s called a “task orientation” (process-driven focus) perform with more consistency and resilience, even under pressure.
Let me give you a different scenario.
Same player. Different day.
She starts off struggling. She’s three over after four holes. Nothing feels smooth. Her swing feels forced. She's trying too hard. She knows she needs a low round to make the cut, but the pressure of that need is suffocating.
And then it happens—she mentally lets go.
Not because she mastered detachment. But because the goal feels gone.
She’s out of the tournament, or so she thinks. So she stops obsessing over score and starts focusing only on each shot. She breathes. She resets. She commits to her process—not as a way to salvage the round, but just because that’s all she can control now.
And she plays the best back nine of her tournament.
It’s no coincidence.
When you're no longer trying to control the outcome, you free yourself to be present. You access flow. You compete with more freedom. You give yourself a real chance to perform.
This is the paradox.
The process only works when it's done for the sake of the process itself.
When your breath is about grounding you—not getting a result.
When your routine is about focus—not forcing a score.
When your attention is on this shot—not what this shot could mean.
So the next time you say you're “sticking to the process,” check your intent.
Ask yourself:
Am I doing this to feel present?
Or am I doing this because I think it will get me what I want?
Because how you answer that question may be the difference between playing free… and playing afraid to lose.
Be present.
Your Mental Coach,
Dr. Mat