HJGT Q&A Mental Fitting and Advice for Junior Golf Parents
Ready to take your mental game to the next level? Ben Esposito, the mental game expert behind In The Golf Zone, shares his powerful insights into how golfers can sharpen their focus, boost confidence, and improve performance under pressure. With unique techniques like the Mental Golf Type quiz and practical advice for parents, Ben’s approach is a game-changer. Discover how he helps junior golfers set high standards, shake off the ‘bad rounds,’ and get back on track fast. Read on to learn his secrets for mastering golf’s mental game.
What is unique about the In The Golf Zone program?
As a player, coach, and pro golfer myself, I am immediately able to put myself into the shoes of my students. I have both the physical experience and the mental game knowledge to provide both broad and situational suggestions to my players. Also, when a student first gets started with me, I have them take the Mental Golf Type quiz (which is essentially a fitting for your mental game). From there, I help a student identify their unique hardwiring, what makes them play their best and what makes them stressed. This lets us bypass hours of extra work and hit the ground running! Throughout all sessions, I combine all of this with my knowledge and insights around course management, practice plans, tournament prep, short game, stats and even equipment.
What is something that you have learned since you spoke to the HJGT last year?
I’ve noticed that many mental game struggles stem from a combination of stress, the need for psychological shifts as well as the need for a player to acquire more knowledge about how they play and/or practice. To most efficiently get over any hurdles, it’s important to attack the problems from each of these angles. Eventually, these meet in the middle and a player’s confidence soars.
What is a common mistake you have noticed amongst junior golfers and their preparation?
Understanding that improvement (especially under pressure) comes from mastering the skills instead of chasing rankings/scores. For example, oftentimes a player will insist that a certain skill (usually short game or putting) is “fine” (in this case good enough) relative to what their goals are. Usually, this is based on a self imposed standard that a player thinks that skill needs to be to shoot certain scores. However, “fine” should never be the standard. Instead a player needs to strive to be the absolute best they can in all facets of the game. Asking the most of yourself and sticking to that builds confidence and strengthens all skills enough so that one part of the game can always take over during the inevitable struggles of golf. One underrated aspect of golf is having enough skills to act as safety nets in times of need. The scores then take care of themselves.
How should parents deal with their junior golfer’s tournament results?
If you are struggling to figure out what to say to a junior golfer in a car ride home after a poor event it can be difficult. However, it’s best to direct the conversation in the way of improvement and what changes can be made to preparation, practice, skills, mental game, and even equipment. Negative talk can lower a player’s self image and make the next event even tougher to conquer. On the flip side, acting like there was nothing wrong and hoping for “better luck next time” is also unproductive. Either way, it is also important to interrupt the cycle of a player’s own negative self-talk or sulking cycle and put all attention on how to improve. Highlight the lowest hanging fruit for improvement, have the player brainstorm over the next couple of days some drills that target problem areas. The sooner a player can forgive themselves, and reorganize based on what they learned the sooner they can hit the ground running
What’s a great tip for dealing with the “rollercoaster” round of golf?
One of my favorite tips that is universally applicable no matter who you are and how you think is to “raise your standards but lower your expectations”. It sounds somewhat paradoxical at first but once we define standards and expectations in the context of golf it becomes key to our ability to stay focused but accept all outcomes. Standards are a bar that you set for yourself, a goal, and something to strive for. Expectations are predictions, something you anticipate happening or you feel needs to happen. You always want to strive for your best out of each shot, however you need to let go of the expectations and emotions tied to the outcome. Challenge yourself to set the bar higher but leave the expectations at the door. This to me resonates better than “playing like you don’t care” since sometimes that can result in complacency and lower standards.
To book a session with Ben or ask any questions contact him at ben.espositogolf@gmail.com or call 407-704-0247. Coaching is available in all states and most students are online.
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