Why do I suddenly forget how to hit a 3rd shot drop the second someone says "nice third shots"?
- Randy from Traverse City, Michigan
Hi Randy, Great question! This is a common issue for many players, including professionals — so rest assured, you’re not alone. Much of the reasoning lies in how much of your game is automated by your subconscious mind, the layer that sits just below your level of conscious awareness. Let’s put you on the couch!
The curse of compliment
When someone compliments a part of your game, you suddenly become aware of the shot and its perceived effectiveness. This shift can move your brain from an execution mode to an evaluative mode, which can interfere with your ability to rely on the automatic processes that normally govern the shot. Instead, your brain may partially revert to an earlier learning mode, similar to when you first developed the skill — where conscious control becomes more involved.
Remember when you first learned to drive a car: you had to deliberately think about which pedal was the brake, which was the accelerator, where the turn signal was, and so on. Over time, these tasks became automatic, freeing up your attention for other things — like navigating or remembering your wife's Starbucks order.
If you were to suddenly drive with the same step-by-step concentration you used as a beginner — apply the brake, use the turn signal, hold the wheel at 10 and 2, apply gas — you’d likely perform worse. You’d be bypassing years of automated neural programming in favor of micromanaged control.
For the record, muscles don’t actually have memory: the term "muscle memory" is a colloquial way of describing deeply ingrained neural pathways. These systems support procedural memory, which operates largely outside conscious awareness. That kind of non-conscious automation is well suited to the brain’s implicit systems — not the conscious mind, which can easily get in the way when someone draws your attention to your beautiful third shot.
Performance anxiety
I, for lack of a better word, am a showpony. I always have been and I can’t deny it. I love people watching me play and it doesn’t usually have a negative impact, unless I acknowledge their approval. The moment I hear applause or anything that could be deemed complimentary, it disrupts my rhythm, takes me out of any kind of flow-state that I was enjoying, and typically leads to a host of errors. This is a result of a quick and jarring shift from ‘playing’ to ‘performing’ and the associated increase in pressure felt.
This pressure comes from the raised expectations that you are indeed as good as your best shot — the third shot in your case.
With the pressure added, performance anxiety comes all too soon, leading to a rise in stress and tension, something that will tighten your hands and have a real impact on a soft, control oriented shot like the third shot drop.
Remember Randy, pressure is a privilege and you must be hitting a mean third ball to garnish compliments in the first place. The more you compete, the better you get and the more accustomed you become to these compliments and the effect they have.
Until next time, enjoy those great third shots my man!
- Morgan
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