"Freezing up during a competition" isn't because you're mentally weak — Understanding the mechanics of tension through Polyvagal Theory
You had such a great swing in practice, but the moment you're in a competition, your body freezes up completely. You can play rounds with friends happily, but as soon as you're in a situation where you're competing for a score, the mistakes suddenly start piling up.
Many of you have likely spent years blaming yourselves, thinking, "I'm just mentally weak."
However, this is not a problem of character, nor is it a lack of effort. It is simply the result of your nervous system working correctly to keep you alive.
In this article, I will talk about the mechanics of the body using Polyvagal Theory and an approach from the body called the Somerset Method.
The body has "three modes"
Proposed by American neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Porges, Polyvagal Theory (Porges, 2011) suggests that our autonomic nervous system operates in three modes.
If we compare them to traffic lights, it looks like this:
🟢 Green Light (Ventral Vagal System) A state of being relaxed, connected to those around you, and feeling safe. When you are hitting balls at the driving range while chatting with friends, your body is usually in this mode. Your swing is smooth, and your body moves naturally.
🟡 Yellow Light (Sympathetic Nervous System) A state where the body enters "fight or flight" mode, thinking, "I have to do my best" or "I have to get away." Your heart beats faster, and your muscles tense up. This is the feeling when you stand on the first tee box on the morning of a competition.
🔴 Red Light (Dorsal Vagal System) A state where the danger is perceived as too great, and the body chooses to "freeze." Your mind goes blank, and your body stops moving the way you want it to. It is that moment when you feel, "Oh, it's over..." and your strength suddenly drains away.
The reason your body freezes during a competition is that your body has shifted all at once from a green light to a yellow light, and sometimes even to a red light.
Why does the swing become "awkward"?
The golf swing you have acquired through years of practice is just like riding a bicycle or using chopsticks; it is embedded in your body as memory that allows your body to move automatically without thinking (procedural memory).
However, when the light changes to yellow or red, the brain starts working excessively, thinking, "It's dangerous! I have to control this properly!" As a result, you start thinking about each movement in words, such as "Don't bend your left elbow" or "Swing slowly."
This interferes with the swing that was moving automatically.
To use an analogy, it is similar to the feeling of almost tripping when you suddenly become conscious of "right foot, left foot, right foot..." while walking up stairs that you usually climb without thinking.
After your 50s, the "yellow light tends to linger"
There is something I want you to know here. After you pass your 50s, a physical change occurs where the stress hormone (cortisol) released when you are nervous becomes harder to lower than it used to be.
When you were young, even if you were nervous, your body would quickly switch back to "calm and okay." But as you age, the yellow light tends to last longer.
Feeling like "I can't switch my mood off until night even after the competition is over" or "I feel tired until the next day" is not just your imagination; it is an honest reaction of your body. That is precisely why the methods you used when you were younger no longer work.
The Somatic Method: Switching signals from the body
Here, I would like to introduce the Somatic Method, an approach that works from the body.
Usually, we try to manage things with our heads by saying, 'Let's calm down.' But with the Somatic Method, the priority is to **'work directly on the body to return the nervous system's signals to green.'**
The reason it's hard to calm down just by telling yourself to do so in your head is that it is the body that is tense, not the head.
The specific steps are very simple.
① Feel the soles of your feet When you stand on the teeing ground, feel how the soles of your feet inside your shoes are in contact with the ground. Just focus your attention in order: 'heel, toe, arch.' This alone helps your body start to feel that 'this is a safe place.'
② Exhale for a long time Make your exhale longer than your inhale. Think of it as inhaling for 3 seconds and exhaling for 6 seconds. Breathing out for a long time acts as a switch to return the body to a green signal.
③ Look around Slowly move your neck left and right to look at the sky, trees, and grass. By widening your field of vision, your body judges that 'there are no enemies, it is safe here,' making it easier to enter relaxation mode.
These are all things you can do in the 30 seconds right before a competition.
Instead of 'not thinking,' 'change what you think about'
When you are nervous, you tend to tell yourself 'don't think about unnecessary things,' but this is counterproductive. Trying 'not to think' means you are already thinking about it.
Instead, direct your focus outside of your body.
Focus your attention on the target and the image of the trajectory, such as 'where do I want to land the ball' or 'what kind of arc do I want to draw,' rather than the form of your swing. While your brain is preoccupied with that, your swing will move automatically without interference.
Decide on a 'routine' down to the second
Another powerful method is to fix your routine down to the time.
Decide on a target from behind the ball → step into your address → waggle twice → start the swing. Practice this sequence so you can perform it in the same amount of time every time.
In a competition, just focus on following this routine like a machine. You are physically eliminating the 'gaps' for thinking. This also acts as a switch to remind your body of the green signal.
Graduate from being 'mentally weak'
The reason you can't perform to your full potential in a competition is not because you are weak.
The body has three signal modes, and when you get nervous, they switch to yellow or red. This is a survival mechanism that happens to everyone. It's just that physiological conditions overlap, making those effects more likely to appear after your 50s.
Understand the mechanism, work on your body through the soles of your feet and your breathing, and organize where you direct your focus and your routines.
With just this, the view of the competition will definitely change. Why not let go of the long-held belief that you have a 'weak mentality' starting today?
Akira Kasahara Profile:
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