Permission to Fail | Dr Raymond Prior on Playing Golf Freely

**What if the secret to playing better golf is giving yourself permission to fail?** This week on **How Low Can You Go?**, performance psychologist and **Golf Beneath the Surface** author **Dr Raymond Prior** returns for a fascinating conversation about the mental game of golf, playing under pressure and why trying desperately to avoid mistakes can actually make them more likely. Dave has improved this season. His handicap is coming down. He reached the semi-final of his club championship. But the breakthrough he's been chasing still hasn't arrived. And in that semi-final, something happened that every competitive golfer will recognise. His opponent started to fall apart. Instead of thinking, *let's go and win this*, Dave started thinking: **Just don't screw this up more than he does.** What followed wasn't pretty. Raymond explains why our brains don't simply distinguish between "positive" and "negative" thoughts. Instead, he describes the battle between **pursuit and avoidance** — and why thoughts like *don't hit it left*, *don't make double* or *don't mess this up* can completely change the task we're giving our brain. We get into: - Why trying **not** to hit the bad golf shot can create a two-way miss - Pursuit vs avoidance and what it means for golfers - Why "just swing freely" is much harder than it sounds - Playing under pressure in match play and team golf - Why the best performers need to be willing to fail - The relationship between **stable confidence and failure** - Why caring about what other people think can affect your golf - What it actually means to **play golf freely** And eventually, Raymond turns the conversation back onto Dave. After all the practice, lessons, coaching, podcast conversations and time invested in getting better at golf, has Dave created another problem? Has his score started to feel like it needs to **justify all of that investment?** And if it has… **how do you fix it?** That's where we'll leave Part One. **Part Two coming next week.** **DR RAYMOND PRIOR — GOLF BENEATH THE SURFACE** Dr Raymond Prior is a performance consultant and author of *Golf Beneath the Surface: The New Science of Golf Psychology*. He works with elite performers across professional sport and beyond, and his work explores how psychology, neuroscience, confidence, acceptance and our relationship with failure influence performance. Find out more about Raymond, his work and *Golf Beneath the Surface*: **Golf Beneath the Surface / BTS Mindset:** https://www.btsmindset.com/ 📸 **Instagram** https://www.instagram.com/gbtspodcast/ **ABOUT THE SHOW** How Low Can You Go is a golf improvement podcast exploring how amateur golfers can improve their game, lower their handicap, shoot lower scores and understand what actually moves the needle — without wasting time on the wrong things. At the heart of the podcast are two very different golf improvement journeys: **Dave is trying to go from a mid-handicap golfer to single figures, while Chris is chasing scratch.** Chris Donaldson and Dave Alexander speak to leading golf coaches, performance experts, sports psychologists and some of the smartest minds in golf to discover practical golf tips and strategies that everyday golfers can use to play better golf. Whether you’re trying to break 100, break 90, break 80, reach a single-figure handicap or get closer to scratch, How Low Can You Go is about finding out what really helps golfers improve. 🎧 **Listen now and start turning bad rounds into better golf.** 📸 **Instagram** https://www.instagram.com/howlowcanyougopodcast/ 📺 **YouTube** https://www.youtube.com/@HowLowCanYouGoPodcast 💌 **Contact** [howlowcanyougopodcast@gmail.com](mailto:howlowcanyougopodcast@gmail.com) If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the podcast, leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and share it with a golfing friend. It genuinely helps us reach more golfers who are on exactly the same journey. HLCYG LIVE — TAKE ACTION **World-class coaches. Small groups. Real golf improvement. With Dave and Chris… in Scotland.** Join us for our launch in 2027. **No commitment — just register your interest.** 👉 JOIN THE HLCYG LIVE PRIORITY LIST