5 Ways to Help Your Junior Golfer Handle Tournament Pressure

"Mental training matters just as much as swing mechanics. Help your junior visualize themselves playing with confidence, walking tall, committing to shots, and handling adversity. "

Tournament days can feel overwhelming, the stakes feel higher, the nerves creep in, and every shot starts to feel like it matters just a little too much. But pressure is part of the game, and how your junior golfer learns to handle it can make all the difference. Here are five ways to help them show up with confidence when it counts.

1. Embrace Nerves

Feeling nervous isn’t a weakness, it’s a sign that your junior golfer cares. Even tour pros admit to getting butterflies before big rounds. Instead of trying to eliminate nerves, help your junior reframe them as a sign of readiness. Teach them that nerves are energy, energy they can channel into focus, intensity, and effort. When kids expect nerves, they don’t fear them, they use them.

2. Create Routine

Routine is one of the most powerful tools for managing pressure. A consistent warm-up, the same breakfast, a favorite playlist on the way to the course — these small habits bring familiarity to an unfamiliar day. Practicing a pre-shot routine or mental reset strategy can also help your junior feel anchored when things get chaotic. When the situation feels big, routine helps it feel manageable.

3. Focus on Control

There’s so much in tournament golf that’s out of your child’s control, course conditions, pairings, weather, even bounces. Instead of obsessing over the leaderboard or outcomes, teach your junior to focus on what is within their control, their effort, their attitude, their routine, and their reactions. The more they lock in on those controllables, the more confident and composed they’ll feel under pressure.

4. Train the Mind

Mental training matters just as much as swing mechanics. Help your junior visualize themselves playing with confidence, walking tall, committing to shots, and handling adversity. Pair that with simple positive self-talk like “I’m ready” or “One shot at a time.” These cues give them something to fall back on when the nerves spike. Like any other skill, mindset gets stronger with practice.

5. Celebrate Growth

It’s easy to fixate on the final score, but that doesn’t tell the full story. The real win is in how your junior golfer handles the challenge. Did they stay composed after a double bogey? Did they bounce back after a rough start? Celebrate those moments. Let them know you’re proud of their resilience, not just their performance. That message builds long-term confidence and a love for the game that lasts.