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Why does my body freeze when I'm being watched? Investigating the truth behind 'always messing up the first hole'

荻野健人

The first tee shot. The driver that I hit straight all day at the driving range suddenly veers off to the right the moment I stand in a place where people are watching.

It's often dismissed as having a 'weak mentality,' but something quite specific is happening in the brain. And it only happens when I'm being watched.

There are spectators. My parents are watching from behind. My playing partners are watching too. On that first shot, it goes further right than usual, and my second shot is usually from a bunker. I wondered why, so I looked into it.

The better you are, the more you crumble the moment you 'think'

In sports psychology, there is a famous study by Beilock & Carr (2001). Using golf putting, they investigated why the skills of skilled players break down under pressure.

The point is this: the more a movement is practiced and automated, the more easily it breaks down under pressure.

Normally, we don't think about our swing one bit. The angle of the grip, the rotation of the shoulders, the weight shift. The body does it all on its own. That's because we've hit thousands of balls to reach a state where we can do it without thinking.

However, when watched by others, self-consciousness increases. You think, 'I have to hit this properly.' Then the brain starts to consciously monitor each movement that it usually does automatically. Research calls this 'explicit monitoring.' Baumeister (1984) had previously explained that self-consciousness interferes with the execution of automated actions.

It's like stumbling the moment you start narrating, 'Right foot, next left foot, weight is...' while walking down the stairs. That's it. When you think about things you can do without thinking, you end up failing.

So, freezing on the first hole isn't because you're 'weak.' In fact, the better you've automated your movements, the more you'll break down when watched. It's ironic.

Why 'adolescence' is particularly vulnerable to spectators

I found an interesting study here. Tice, Buder & Baumeister (1985) investigated at what age the pressure of an audience begins to degrade performance.

As a result, adolescent athletes' performance dropped when an audience was present. On the other hand, younger children's performance did not drop. There was a clear curve between age and 'how performance crumbles when an audience is present.' The study explains that this is because adolescent athletes felt that their performance had as much 'at stake' as adults.

In other words, freezing when being watched is also a sign of growth. You've developed a brain capable of understanding how you are perceived and what is at stake in winning or losing. That's precisely why you feel the pressure. The fact that you were fine when you were little but freeze on your tee shots recently might not mean your mentality has become weak, but rather that your adolescent brain has developed that far. I am 17 years old now, right in the middle of this 'period where you become prone to crumbling.'

By the way, this experiment used video game experts, not golfers. So I think this is a mechanism that happens not just because it's golf, but whenever you perform a skill in front of others. However, this is a small study from 1985, and the subjects were Western children. I can't say for sure that 'Japanese junior golfers are the same.' Please read this as a discussion of the mechanism.

So, what should you do?

This is the main point. Research shows not only 'why we break down' but also 'what works.'

The key is not to let yourself be conscious of the movement itself. Automated movements break down when you direct your attention inward. Therefore, direct your attention outward.

Vine, Moore & Wilson (2011) trained elite golfers (average handicap 2.7) in 'quiet eye' techniques. It is a method of controlling your gaze by staring at a single point on the ball before hitting it. They randomly divided them into a training group and a control group and measured the effects in actual competitive rounds. The group that received the training had more stable gaze even under pressure, and their putting was less likely to break down.

The point is to bind your attention to a specific external object, like a point behind the ball. That way, the internal narration of 'rotate shoulders, wrists...' stops.

Research on pre-shot routines (Mesagno & Mullane-Grant, 2010) points in the same direction. A deep breath, a set procedure, a single short keyword. Incorporating these kinds of 'usual rituals' makes it harder for self-consciousness to interfere with movement. By following the same procedure every time, you shift your brain from 'thinking mode' back to 'habitual mode'.

At IMG, in mental conditioning, this concept of 'directing attention outward' and 'fixing a routine' is taught as a matter of course. Separate from technical practice, the control of attention itself is treated as a subject of practice. Honestly, I think there are still few opportunities in the Japanese junior scene to systematically practice this as a 'technique'.

To be honest

I still get nervous on the first hole too. I know the feeling well where your hands just stiffen up on their own when people are watching.

But, since reading the research, one thing has changed. I stopped blaming myself for 'being nervous.' I realized that freezing up isn't a sign of weakness, but proof that my brain is working normally. What I need to do isn't to train my mind to eliminate nervousness. It's to decide in advance where to place my attention while I'm nervous.

Freezing up on the very first shot is probably the same thing. The more a player is struggling and trying their best, the stronger the urge to 'hit it properly' becomes. Ironically, that seriousness is what makes the first shot stiff. If that's the case, perhaps what's needed isn't words like 'build your confidence,' but rather deciding together on a concrete procedure to divert your attention when you're being watched.

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