The performance heebie-jeebies: you get ’em, we all get ’em
Given this is my first newsletter of 2026, Happy New Year to everyone. I hope wonderfulness abounds for you this year.
And given that we acknowledge reality, we know there’s going to be a smattering of good, great and horrible, as there is every year.
So, overall, I hope you can be muddle through the good, be thankful for the great, and approach the horrible times as AFGOs. *
*AFGO = another freaking growth opportunity. I’m trying to be more polite in 2026.
Last year, I told one of my sisters that we’ve been doing our Swing Thoughts podcast since 2015.
My sister, a very funny person but not a golfer, remarked: “Gee, who knew you could talk about golf for 10 years?”
I believe we haven’t run out of things to explore over a decade and 306 episodes because we take a different tack than most podcasts focused on the “mental game.”
We interview many experts, but we also share our own experiences.
It helps that my co-host, “Humble” Howard Glassman, is a scratch golfer, a legendary radio broadcaster, and a stand-up comedian.
I’m sharing this as an introduction to a wonderful piece that Howard wrote—and talked about on episode #306—on how everyone can suffer the performance heebie-jeebies.
From the Desk of Howard Glassman:
On the podcast, we’ve had many discussions about performance as it relates to golf, public speaking and stand-up. It’s really all the same.
I recently had another experience that mines the same territory. In December, we recorded the Humble & Fred Podcast—my main gig—in front of a live audience at a clients’ restaurant.
We decided to end with a singalong—Bruce Springsteen’s version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town—with me, Fred Patterson, some folks from the show, and the audience.
I’m a 23-handicap guitar player. I’m like that guy you meet in his 60s who’s a lifelong golfer but he’s still shitty. I’m also a 30-handicap singer, but that’s only under ideal conditions—preferably alone and in the shower, not in front of more than 100 people and thousands listening to the podcast.
I practiced for a week, which included working with a scratch bass player.
I asked him jokingly what he thought was weaker: my guitar playing or my singing. He kindly remarked, “That’s an interesting question.”
With all my practice, I felt pretty good, not unlike a golfer who has a few good range sessions before a big game.
I was hoping my performance would be around a metaphorical 86, but it was more like a 95. It was a great experience, and I loved putting myself in an uncomfortable situation, but I was a little disappointed.
(Here’s a link to my “performance.” I look slightly nauseous!)
Afterwards, it occurred to me that behaviours that hurt my golf also hurt my musical performance.
Namely, I was very much in my head, trying to remember how to play the song while I was playing the song.
Also, practice isn’t like the real thing; you must give up control and throw yourself into performance, just like your best rounds of golf.
This reaffirmed that you only improve on the golf course when you just play. Don’t bring your practice mentality to the course. When you play, just play.
Many people think that if you play well and nothing goes wrong, you’ll be confident. That’s incorrect. It’s also impossible.
Confidence comes from being under pressure, making mistakes and recovering from them. From these experiences, you learn that you can overcome the many vagaries of the game and those in our life.
Happy New Year Friends. I’m looking forward to sharing learning more with you in 2026.
***
The coolest podcast that I discovered in 2025 had nothing to do with golf: A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs by Andrew Hickey.
If you’re a music nerd, you need to check this podcast out.
(Note: I have zero affiliation with this podcast. I just think it’s worth sharing.)
A music journalist, Hickey has delivered more than 180 episodes of fascinating, deeply researched and well-told history since 2018.
I’ve listened to about 30 episodes and found them engaging, educational and at times kind of sobering. More on that in a moment. Due to Hickey, I’ve added many more artists to my Apple music feed.
With a historian’s thoroughness, Hickey went all the way back to 1930s to start the series, providing illuminating context that allows us to better understand the roots of rock and roll.
I’ve learned a ton. I’m a former music journalist, including a stint in the 80s as the music critic for the Canadian Press news agency, but Hickey has introduced me to many influential musicians, producers, music industry people and songs.
For example, I learned that Charlie Christian was largely responsible for making the electric guitar a lead instrument in the 30s, as heard on Flying Home, and Les Paul systematized and popularized multi-track recording, as heard on How High the Moon.
I now have a much better appreciation for amazing musicians that I largely overlooked such as Louis Jordan, Steve Cropper, Fats Domino, Etta James, Johnny Otis, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Lonnie Donegan, Big Momma Thornton, and even Chuck Berry.
In later episodes, he explored important artists of the 60s and 70s such as Sly and the Family Stone, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix.
I learned surprising details about their backgrounds before stardom and about many of their most famous recordings. You hear lots of music; each episode is full of song snippets, including intriguing demos and obscure versions of both popular and largely unknown songs.
As for the sobering bit. As he shifts into the 60s and 70s, Hickey goes into significant detail about how bands formed, the dynamics of the groups, and their progress, but also about infighting, getting ripped off by unscrupulous managers and greedy labels, drug addiction, misogyny and narcissism.
A number of these episodes left me sad, dispelling some of the romanticized mystique that I perceived around some of my favourite musicians since I was a teenager.
They also gave me a greater understanding that most of these musicians were obsessive, insecure, and tethered to their past—just like most of us.
Nonetheless, if you’re a music nerd, you need to check out this podcast.
My most recent book is Getting Unstuck: 7 Transformational Practices for Golf Nerds, which is now available in both soft cover and Kindle formats.
