The Mental Golf Show

🎓 The Perfect Pre-Shot Routine digital course - Dial in your pre-shot routine, play your best golf. ----- I used to always play golf with a ton of fear. And frankly, I still play golf with fear. But not as much as I once did, thanks to an understanding of some of the core reasons we as humans encounter fear. In this episode, you will learn what the core sources of human fear are, why we fear thos...

I had the great honor of hosting Dr. Gio Valiante for a conversation that had me thinking from the moment he started talking. Something about the way Dr. Gio explains things makes me feel like golf is on the one hand deep and rich and complex, but on the other hand incredibly simple and fundamental to who we are as humans. His grasp of human psychology is aspirational, so it's no wonder he's been...

🏋️‍♂️ Get the Free MVP Golf Workout from Nerd Fitness here! ----- I worked with Matt Myers at Nerd Fitness for the entirety of 2025 as my personal trainer. But far beyond building workout plans and keeping me accountable to nutrition goals, he was a partner on a journey. I know for a fact I would be so far off course from where I started 2025 had I been trying to go it alone. I can say without exa...

I've done a goal-setting episode at the end of every year for the past 6 years, but I don't think I've ever done a review of the year that just ended. This episode will show you a simple, proven way to review your year (or your day or your round of golf) that you can and should use. And I of course set some golf and podcast goals for 2026, which I think can help you do the same. ----- 📊 FREE Ment...

Steve Wheatcroft played professional golf for 19 years, almost all of those on the Korn Ferry and PGA Tour. In this episode we get into the experiences he had, the fallout of retiring, and the journey since.  Topics discussed: The Silence After Professional Sports Identity Beyond the Game The Balance of Passion and Profession Learning to Practice Effectively The Journey of Becoming a Golfer Self-P...

🎓 The Perfect Pre-shot Routine digital course: Dial in your pre-shot routine here. ----- This year has been a monumental one for The Mental Golf Show. It's the most interviews I've ever done (33 up to this point) and I feel like my skill as an interviewer has drastically improved across this year, and certainly over the life of the podcast. So with guest episodes in mind, I wanted to pull out som...

🎓 The Perfect Pre-shot Routine digital course: Dial in your pre-shot routine here. 🗓️ Basic and Custom Practice Plans: Get more organized with your practice at joshnicholsgolf.com/practice 🏋️‍♂️ Nerd Fitness: Head to nerdfitness.com , and when (not if) you go through onboarding just mention Josh at The Mental Golf Show sent you. ----- Will Knauth is a +5 handicap U.S. Mid-Amateur competitor, a Ph...

🎓 The Perfect Pre-shot Routine digital course: Dial in your pre-shot routine here. 🗓️ Basic and Custom Practice Plans: Get more organized with your practice at joshnicholsgolf.com/practice 🏋️‍♂️ Nerd Fitness: Head to nerdfitness.com , and when (not if) you go through onboarding just mention Josh at The Mental Golf Show sent you. ----- David Buck is a former professional playing pro who’s competed...

📊 FREE Mental Game Assessment: joshnicholsgolf.com/assessment - identify your mental strengths and areas for mental game improvement. ----- In this FundaMENTALS episode, we look at how expectations add tension and narrow your options, and why shifting to clear standards helps you swing with freedom. I cover the basic brain mechanics, a simple process to use before each shot, and a few practical c...

📊 FREE Mental Game Assessment: joshnicholsgolf.com/assessment - identify your mental strengths and areas for mental game improvement 🗓️ Basic and Custom Practice Plans: Get more organized with your practice at joshnicholsgolf.com/practice 🎓 The Perfect Pre-shot Routine digital course: Dial in your pre-shot routine here. ----- What if your pain wasn’t just a body problem, but a brain and golf pro...

🎓 The Perfect Pre-shot Routine digital course: Dial in your pre-shot routine here. ----- How do you lean in when the round of golf starts going sideways? It’s so easy to eject mentally and just go through the motions. Let's dive into the concept of Exposure Therapy as a tool to build your mental resilience. ----- FREE Mental Game Assessment: joshnicholsgolf.com/assessment - identify your mental s...

FREE Mental Game Assessment: joshnicholsgolf.com/assessment - identify your mental strengths and areas for mental game improvement ----- Paul Salter joins The Mental Golf Show (for the second time). Paul is a mindset and performance coach who uses hypnosis to help his clients get unstuck, uncover their edge, and unlock their potential. We cover these topics: The Commitment to Golf Mastery The Powe...

Most of us don't have caddies helping us get fully committed to shots, so we have to be our own caddies. Learning how to be your own caddie effectively can give you a huge advantage over your opponents and your own unhelpful tendencies. ----- The Perfect Pre-shot Routine digital course: Dial in your pre-shot routine here. ----- Get more from Josh Nichols: 📧 The Mental Re-Grip Newsletter: Sign up...

Dr. Doug Tataryn is the founder of the Bio-Emotive Framework. And we get into things like integral theory, the Four Facets Model of Human Transformation, and the effects of your childhood experiences on your worldview. But, and this is very important, Dr. Doug is very good at grounding these abstract topics back to golf. And I’d like to think that I represent you, the listener, in being relatively...

Special guest Coach Bruce Chalas and I talk all about college golf, the psychological demands of college golf, and the recruiting process for junior golfers. So if you’re a junior golfer, college player, a parent of one, or a coach helping players navigate this stage, this one’s for you. And even if you’re not in that world, it’s still a really cool peek behind the curtain at how high-level player...

Welcome to Episode 3 of the FundaMENTALS series, where Josh Nichols will be walking through the core components of a good mental game. This week: Handling Pressure On this episode, I want to talk about that feeling in your chest, that slight tremor in your hands, that racing thought pattern that can suddenly appear when the stakes feel higher. Something that every golfer deals with on the course,...

In this episode, I sit down with Jayne Storey for a deep conversation about golf, performance, and the inner life of an athlete. Jayne brings decades of experience in meditation, movement, and spiritual practice. Golf feels hard when you’re trying to control every move. So we dig into how letting go leads to freedom and flow on the course. If you’re tired of grinding and want to just feel golf aga...

Confidence in golf often feels like it comes and goes with your scorecard. But what if there’s a way to build confidence that doesn’t vanish after a bad hole or a bad round? In this episode, we’ll explore where true confidence really comes from—and why most golfers never find it. ----- Divot Board: Get 10% off at divotboard.com/mentalgolfshow using code 'MentalGolf10'. ----- 📧 The Mental Re-Grip...

Special guest Mike Berland joins The Mental Golf Show. They discuss the multifaceted nature of golf, emphasizing the importance of enjoyment over mere improvement. Mike shares personal experiences and insights on the psychological aspects of the game, the social dynamics involved, and the need for modernizing golf to make it more inclusive. The discussion highlights the balance between striving fo...

Welcome to the Episode 2 of the FundaMENTALS series, where Josh Nichols will be walking through the core components of a good mental game. This week: the Pre-Shot Routine. Every good pre-shot routine contains four key pillars. We explore those on this episode. ----- 📧 The Mental Re-Grip Newsletter: Sign up for weekly mental game tips at joshnicholsgolf.com/newsletter . ----- Get more from Josh Ni...

In this enlightening episode, Josh Nichols sits down with Gary Waters for a deep dive into the mental game of golf and life. Gary, a performance coach with a passion for unlocking human potential, explores how shifting your perspective can transform your experience on the golf course and beyond. From redefining success as inner peace to dissolving limiting beliefs that fuel fear and frustration, t...

Welcome to the first episode in the FundaMENTALS series, where Josh Nichols will be walking through what he believes are the core components of a good mental game. First up: Acceptance ----- Dial in your Pre-Shot Routine! 🎓 The Perfect Pre-shot Routine Digital Course ----- 📧 Sign up for The Mental Re-Grip free weekly newsletter ----- Get 10% off a Divot Board! Go to divotboard.com/mentalgolfshow...

Dallas Webster, creator of the Tangent Golf app, joins to discuss his journey from competitive high school golfer to tech entrepreneur, focusing on using data to improve golf performance while keeping technology unobtrusive. Topics & Timestamps: Introduction to Tangent Golf App (05:03) Mental Game and Tracking (06:25) The Tangent Four (14:44) AI Caddy and Course Management (10:43) Battling Men...

In order to play well, you have to let go of playing well. In order to lower your handicap, you have to let go of lowering your handicap. These paradoxes make for tough, disciplined behavior. But if you can dial this in then you'll be getting out of the way of your own golf improvement. ----- 📧 Sign up for The Mental Re-Grip free weekly newsletter ----- Get 10% off a Divot Board! Go to divotboard...

In this episode, we sit down with performance coach and hypnotherapist Dawn Grant to unpack the true nature of "the zone." While many think of it as a purely mental state, Dawn reveals it as a spiritual and mental experience that goes far beyond traditional sports psychology. She shares how her work with hypnosis led her to discover that the peak performance state athletes describe is the same eup...