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Here's a secret about your golf brain: it can't tell the difference between "don't hit it in the water" and "hit it in the water." Every time you tell yourself bad shots aren't allowed, you're actually loading the exact shot you're trying to avoid — and burning a ton of mental energy doing it.

In this episode, Carlos breaks down one belief system that's quietly running in the background for almost every golfer — the idea that bad shots and blow-up holes simply aren't allowed — and why flipping that single switch off might be the fastest, lowest-effort update you can make to your game.

In this episode:

• Why treating "bad shots aren't allowed" as a rule backfires on your brain (and your scorecard)
• The real reason "what we resist, persists" — and what happens when you stop resisting
• What worry actually looks like on the course (hint: it's not what you think)
• The difference between reacting to a bad shot and responding to one — and why that difference is the whole ballgame
• Why even Tiger and Rory win tournaments with bad rounds in them
• A simple, repeatable way to respond to any bad shot, starting today

🚀 Ready to find out what's really running in your head on the course? Book a Golf Mental Game Evaluation: https://calendly.com/carlos_and_laurie_benavidez/mental-game-evaluation 📩 Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegolfpsycho/ 🌐 Everything else: https://www.thegolfpsycho.com/ 🎧 Listen on the go: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2523086

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Ever have a hole that just owns you? Same OB shot, same water ball, same three-putt every single time? You're not imagining it, and you're not alone. In this episode, Carlos and Laurie break down why your brain keeps recreating the same disaster on the same hole, and share 3 mental game tips to finally rewire it including the exact approach Carlos used to turn his own nemesis hole into one he actually looks forward to.

Ready to stop fighting your own brain and start playing to your potential without changing your swing? Book your evaluation at golfpsycho.com.

Golf Drives You Psycho, or You're Psycho for Golf — welcome to Golf Psycho.

#GolfPsycho #GolfMentalGame #MentalGameGolf #GolfTips #GolfPodcast #SportsPsychology #GolfCoaching #GolfMindset

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In this episode of The Golf Psycho Podcast, Laurie guides a short breathing meditation built for one specific moment: when a round starts falling apart and you need to get your head back before it costs you more strokes.

The exercise is a simple 4-4 breath — four seconds in, four seconds out — recorded as one continuous track with a natural stopping point at 2 minutes and a full version that runs to 5. Carlos explains why this only works mid-round if you've practiced it at home first: train it when you're calm, so it's available when you're not.

This one's built to save and reuse, not just listen to once.

Timestamps

Ready to find out what's actually costing you strokes? Book your Mental Game Performance Analysis at [thegolfpsycho.com].

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In episode 14 of The Golf Psycho Podcast, Carlos and Laurie tackle one of the most common and least talked-about reasons golfers stop improving: the difference between putting in effort and putting in skilled effort.

Carlos opens up about the 20 years he spent stuck at the same score, and the exact framework (programming, accountability, and support) that finally broke the plateau — including the raw, unedited moment he broke a personal best he'd held since he was 17. Then Laurie and Carlos walk through 5 practical tips you can start using in your very next practice session, whether you're working with a coach or figuring it out on your own.

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Too many golfers guess their way through 100 yards and in. Carlos and Raul break down Raul's wedge play at the Firecracker tournament and build the system for turning that guesswork into confidence — mapping wedge distances by swing speed and clock position, fixing the belief systems that quietly sabotage practice ("my bunker game is trash"), and using the same mental game skills that got Raul out of a first-hole spiral.

Pairs directly with our previous episode on putting under tournament pressure — listen to that one first if you haven't yet.

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You're not missing putts because of your stroke — you're missing them because you're guessing. Carlos and Raul break down how to read grain on the green, how to calibrate your real putting distances instead of eyeballing them, and why the state you arrive at the green in decides how confident you feel over every putt. Includes the alignment-stick distance drill a touring pro taught Carlos, and two real three-putts from Raul's last tournament that came down to grain, not stroke.

NOTE: BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR EPISODE ON POST-SHOT ROUTINE TO HELP TIE THIS IN!

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Golfers don't lose tournaments on the back nine — they lose them on hole 1. In this episode, Carlos sits down with Raul to break down a real tournament round at the Firecracker in Austin, where an unmanaged nervous system turned a short par 4 into an 8 before the round ever got going — and the exact adjustments that turned the back nine into five-plus birdie chances.

Carlos and Raul dig into why "just relax" doesn't work, how nervous system dysregulation shows up in your hands before it shows up on the scorecard, and the two pre-round habits — intention-setting and warmed-up breathing — that keep golfers out of the first-tee spiral entirely. Carlos also walks through a live 4-4 / 4-8 breathing demo and the most common mistakes golfers make when they try it.

If you're a competitive or serious amateur golfer who's ever felt your first tee shot slip away from nerves, this episode gives you the actual mechanism behind it — and what to do about it before you ever get to the course.


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🎥 Filmed by L&C Media Productions – https://www.lcmediaatx.com/


00:00 – Intro: Why round 1 nerves cost golfers strokes
01:37 – Raul's tournament backstory and pre-round nerves
02:54 – Hole 1 breakdown: wrong club, ruling confusion, blown-up 8
05:15 – Hole 2 struggles and the shift toward breathing
06:46 – Carlos steps in as caddy — the turning point
08:59 – Tip 1: Set an intention before you tee off
10:13 – Tip 2: Warm up your breathing before you warm up your swing
18:43 – Why tournaments only feel like "a different beast"
20:16 – Watch your hands: grip tension, adrenaline, and the "won't this distract me" myth
27:09 – Live 4-4 / 4-8 breathing demo + common mistakes
30:47 – Recap and what's next: mental game for putting

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n this episode of Golf Psycho, Carlos (golf mental game coach) and Laurie (occupational therapist co-host) dissect the psychological battle that raged behind the scenes at the 2025 Ryder Cup. With hostility, heckling, and poor crowd behavior making front page headlines, we dig into:

• Which players showed mental steel (and when)
• How Europe's team seemed more resilient overall
• Moments when U.S. players looked shaken by pressure + crowd noise
• Key mental game strategies you can use when distractions hit
• OT + neuroscience insight: how your brain processes heckling and noise

Whether you're in a local tournament or just chasing personal bests, this is a masterclass in staying composed under fire.

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