Hey Fellow Golfer - 

Thank you for reading this week’s More Pars Than Bogeys Newsletter. If you find it valuable, could you forward this email to a fellow golfer?

Thank you.

You can click here to read the online version of this week’s newsletter. 

And be sure to catch up on this week’s podcast episode:

• #115: Noble Avoidance: The Respectable Excuse Keeping You Stuck

• #116: [Inside the Mind] Andrew Reynolds: Reducing Cognitive Fatigue, Skill Development Lag, and How to Play Freely

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about how mindset coaching and hypnotherapy can help you get unstuck from the proverbial bunker of poor performance on (and off) the course, click here to schedule a coaching discovery call with me. 

You say you’re all in.

You say you’re committed to becoming a scratch golfer…or finally breaking through that income ceiling in your business…

But when you zoom out and look at the last 6–12 months—your calendar, your bank statement, your practice habits, your energy—there’s a brutal truth staring back at you:

• You’re busy.

• You’re grinding.

• You’re doing a lot of things…

But you’re not actually moving the one goal that matters most.

Instead, you find yourself:

• Signing up for new challenges that sound impressive

• Rebuilding systems, brands, and practice plans

• Filling your days with “productive” work

All while the real dream—the one that quietly keeps you up at night—keeps getting pushed to “later.”

And that disconnect is exhausting. It’s eroding your confidence, your self-trust, and your belief that you can actually close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Here’s the good news: You’re not broken. You’re not lazy.

You’re likely stuck in a pattern I call Noble Avoidance—and once you can name it, you can change it. You can stop hiding behind impressive distractions and start directing your time, energy, and focus into the goals that actually matter.

That’s what this newsletter is about.

In today’s newsletter, you’ll learn

• What Noble Avoidance really is and why “productive” distractions quietly sabotage your golf game, business, and life.

• How Noble Avoidance shows up in your golf habits—from range sessions and equipment upgrades to practice routines that look committed but aren’t.

• How it hijacks your business and career, keeping you busy, burnt out, and stuck at the same level of income and impact.

• The fears driving Noble Avoidance, including fear of failure, fear of success, and fear of being seen truly trying.

• Five powerful reflection questions to expose where you’re currently engaging in noble avoidance.

• The simple, “boring” antidote that will actually move you toward scratch golf, higher income, and deeper fulfillment—and how golf hypnosis and mindset coaching can help you rewire these patterns for good.

Let’s tee off!

What Noble Avoidance Really Is

Here’s my working definition:

Noble avoidance is the subconscious strategy of choosing a worthy, productive, or impressive pursuit in order to avoid the deeper emotional discomfort required to pursue the goal you truly want.

Read that again. Slowly.

• It’s not Netflix.

• It’s not scrolling Instagram.

• It’s not obvious self-sabotage.

It’s the impressive stuff.

The things that make people say:

• “Wow, that’s insane discipline.”

• “Respect, man—that’s hardcore.”

• “I don’t know how you do it.”

On the surface, noble avoidance looks like:

• Growth

• Hustle

• Drive

• Ambition

Underneath, it’s something very different: Self-protection disguised as self-improvement.

• It sounds admirable.

• It feels responsible.

• It appears productive.

But it ultimately serves one purpose: To keep you safe from the emotional risk, vulnerability, and identity work required to fully commit to the goal that actually matters most.

For me, that goal is becoming a scratch golfer.

So let’s talk about you.

How Noble Avoidance Shows Up In Your Golf Game

You might not be signing up for a 75-mile race…

But if you’re a serious golfer who says you want to break 80, become a single-digit, or chase scratch, noble avoidance might look like this:

On the Course

Endless “busy” practice instead of targeted work: You spend two hours mindlessly beating balls on the range instead of working on the three shots you know are costing you the most strokes.

Playing more rounds instead of doing uncomfortable work: You keep booking tee times but avoid dedicated sessions on putting, wedges, or short game—because that’s where your weaknesses are most exposed.

Signing up for every challenge except the one that matters: You’ll join a 100-putts-a-day challenge, a 30-day speed training block, or a new fitness program… but you still haven’t booked a lesson series or committed to a real golf mindset coaching program or golf hypnosis to get your head right.

Becoming obsessed with swing theory while avoiding your emotions: You’ll watch every YouTube video, obsess over wrist angles and swing plane, but never once sit down to unpack why you implode after a double bogey—or why one bad hole ruins your round.

Off the Course (But Still Golf-Related)

Reorganizing your golf bag, gadgets, and gear instead of practicing: You’ll buy a new training aid, reorganize your bag, or obsess over launch monitor numbers… instead of going to the putting green for 45 uncomfortable, boring minutes.

Rebuilding your practice plan every week: You keep rewriting the perfect practice schedule instead of simply following a “boring” one for 12 weeks straight.

That’s noble avoidance.

It looks like you’re all in on your golf game. But your scores—and your calendar—tell the truth.

If you’re serious about taking your game to the next level - on and off the course - click here to schedule a Mindset Coaching Discovery Call to learn how I can help you make playing to your potential a habit. 

How Noble Avoidance Hijacks Your Business and Life

If you’re an entrepreneur, executive, investor, or high performer, noble avoidance is probably baked into your work, too.

Here’s how it sneaks in.

In Your Business

Building new systems instead of fixing the real bottleneck: You create new dashboards, SOPs, CRMs, Airtable bases, and color-coded trackers… while avoiding the uncomfortable truth that you need to have more sales conversations or raise your prices.

Starting new projects instead of finishing the one that matters: You launch a new podcast, a new funnel, or a new course, while the book you “know” you’re supposed to write, or the offer you need to refine, sits half-done on your hard drive.

Saying yes to every meeting instead of protecting deep work: You’re “in demand.” Calendly is packed. You’re on Zoom all day. It feels important… but the needle-moving work—the stuff that would actually change your income—keeps getting pushed to “tomorrow.”

Rebranding instead of doing the belief-level work: New logo. New photos. New website. New colors. Same limiting beliefs. Same stories about not being good enough or not deserving to charge more.

Taking on extreme fitness or charity challenges instead of confronting business fear: You’ll grind for a marathon, a Tough Mudder, a 75 Hard challenge… but won’t sit down and look at the real numbers, the real margins, or the real conversations you’re avoiding.

At Home and in Your Personal Life

Overcommitting to help everyone else: You’re the first to volunteer, mentor, coach little league, or answer late-night texts… but you can’t remember the last time you had an honest, uninterrupted conversation with your spouse or kids.

Cleaning, organizing, and optimizing everything—except your inner world: You’ll rearrange the garage, reorganize your office, optimize your tech stack… while ignoring the anxiety, resentment, or frustration simmering under the surface.

You’re not lazy.

You’re not unambitious.

You’re just directing your ambition at safer targets.

If you’re serious about taking your business and self to the next level, click here to schedule a Mindset Coaching Discovery Call to learn how I can help you achieve your potential and scale both your impact and income.

Why You Keep Choosing Noble Avoidance

Let’s get to the root.

Most noble avoidance is powered by a mix of fear and addiction.

1. Fear of Failure

“What if I give everything—truly everything—to this goal and still fall short?”

If you go all in on:

• Becoming a scratch golfer

• Scaling your business to that next revenue level

• Repairing your marriage

• Transforming your health

…and you fail?

That feels like it threatens your identity.

So your subconscious says: “Let’s pick a different goal where I can still look like a badass… but where my soul isn’t fully on the line.”

Running 75 miles fits that description perfectly. So does launching a new product, starting a new podcast, or taking on another impressive challenge.

2. Fear of Success

This one is sneaky.

“What happens if I actually become a scratch golfer?”

“What happens if my business really explodes?”

Success changes things.

• Visibility increases

• Expectations rise

• Responsibility grows

• Old identities no longer fit

Many golfers and entrepreneurs are unconsciously more comfortable with chasing success than holding it. Noble avoidance lets you stay close—but not too close—to the edge.

3. Fear of Emotional Exposure

Golf will expose you–so will deep, meaningful work in your business.

To truly pursue the goal that matters most, you have to face:

• Anger

• Shame

• Doubt

• Comparison

• Insecurity

• Old stories about not being enough

Ultra-endurance races are brutal physically—but they’re emotionally cleaner.

So are new projects, rebrands, and “busy” work.

They’re painful… but they don’t dig as deep into your identity.

4. Fear of Being Seen Trying

One of the most vulnerable things you’ll ever do is try your absolute best at the thing you want most—and let people see it.

• If you go all in on scratch…

• If you go all in on your business…

• If you go all in on healing your relationship…

…and it still doesn’t work?

That feels unbearable.

So you choose a noble alternative where effort is praised, but identity isn’t as exposed.

5. Addiction to Safety and Familiarity

Your subconscious loves what it has already survived.

If you’ve:

• Survived debt

• Survived burnout

• Survived being “stuck at the same handicap”

• Survived constantly grinding in your business

Your subconscious says: “We know this. We can handle this. Let’s stay here.”

So, even when circumstances change, your patterns don’t. That’s why this isn’t just a “time management” problem. This is an identity and subconscious programming problem.

This is exactly where golf hypnosis, hypnotherapy for golf, and deep golf mindset coaching come into play—because you can’t white-knuckle your way out of patterns your subconscious is committed to keeping.

Work with a golf hypnotherapist and mindset coach to unlearn the beliefs, programs, and behaviors that are no longer serving you so that you can play to your potential. 

Click here to schedule a Mindset Coaching Discovery Call to learn how I can help you make playing to your potential a habit. 

10 Common Forms of Noble Avoidance

Here are some patterns to look for in your life right now:

1. Building new systems instead of fixing the real problem. New trackers, templates, and automations instead of more sales calls or honest performance reviews.

2. Starting new projects instead of finishing the important one. New podcast, new YouTube channel, new offer… while the one that actually matters collects dust.

3. Taking every meeting instead of protecting deep work. “I’m networking” becomes code for “I’m avoiding the hard, emotionally taxing work.”

4. Pursuing fitness challenges to avoid business or golf challenges. It feels purposeful, but it’s pointed at the wrong target.

5. Obsessively learning instead of executing. You binge golf mental coaching content, podcasts, and books—but rarely apply what you learn.

6. Rebranding instead of rewiring beliefs. New logo, same fear of charging your worth or stepping into leadership.

7. Overcommitting to others to avoid your own priorities. You’re always available for everyone… except yourself.

8. Organizing and optimizing instead of feeling. You tidy, tweak, and optimize your environment to avoid the discomfort inside.

9. Grinding to avoid hard conversations. You can always point to how “busy” you are to dodge the talk with your spouse, business partner, or team.

10. Choosing a goal you can win instead of the goal that matters. You know you can dominate the 75-mile race; scratch still scares you. You know you can grind for another $100k; stepping back to reclaim your life feels riskier.

Be brutally honest: Where are you doing this right now?

5 Questions to Expose Your Noble Avoidance

Grab a journal. Don’t just read these—answer them.

1. If nothing changes over the next 12 months, which unlived goal would eat away at you the most—and what noble excuse would you blame instead of yourself?

2. What goal do you claim matters most—yet consistently gets the least of your focused time, energy, and emotional bandwidth?

3. What positive or productive pursuit are you using as a socially acceptable distraction from the work you actually need to do?

4. Where do you tell yourself, “I’m not ready yet”? And what goal would you have to fully step into if you admitted you are ready?

5. What would happen to your self-belief if you gave your true goal the same consistency, intensity, and reverence you gave your noble distraction?

Final Thought: Stop Hiding Behind Impressive Distractions

Here’s my commitment:

• I’m not running the 75-mile race.

• I’m backing out.

• I’m reclaiming that time, energy, and focus for my true goal: becoming a scratch golfer.

Not because I can’t finish the race. But because it’s not my real path right now.

Your version might look different.

• Maybe it’s one of the three “big projects” you’re juggling.

• Maybe it’s a role you’re clinging to that keeps you from leading at the next level.

• Maybe it’s a fitness pursuit, a rebrand, or a constant stream of “busy” tasks.

Whatever it is, you know. You can feel it.

It’s time to stop hiding behind noble avoidance and redirect your life force back into what actually matters.

If You’re Ready to Get Out of Your Own Way…

Noble avoidance isn’t a scheduling problem.

It’s a subconscious problem.

It’s an identity problem.

This is the exact level where golf hypnosis, hypnotherapy for golf, and deep golf mindset coaching and entrepreneur mindset coaching do their best work.

As a Mindset and Performance Coach, I help golfers and entrepreneurs dismantle destructive mindset programs like noble avoidance, fear of failure, and self-sabotage—so you can stop circling your potential and finally live it.

If you’re serious about:

Breaking 90, breaking 80, or chasing scratch–or–finally breaking through the invisible ceiling in your income, impact, or freedom, then it’s time to stop rearranging the distractions and start rewiring the root cause.

Click here to schedule a Mindset Coaching Discovery Call and learn how I can help you unlearn noble avoidance, reclaim your focus, and make playing—and performing—to your potential a habit.

Less.

Deeper.

Boringly consistent.

That’s where everything you want is waiting.

Your Next Step

Every newsletter will conclude with a suggested action step and further resources on the topic we discussed.

After reading today’s newsletter, well, you know the drill: take action. Review this entire newsletter and answer the thought prompts provided.

Check out one of my transformational guided hypnosis audios for further visualization support here.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram (@thegolfhypnotherapist) or send me an email directly: [email protected]

After reading today’s newsletter, I want you to take the time to complete each step in my goal-setting process. Then, share it with me via email or on social media.

Thank you for reading today’s newsletter.

If you found it valuable, share it with a fellow golfer ready to take their game to the next level.

Until next time,

Paul

P.S. What did you think of today’s newsletter? Reply back / drop a comment below to let me know.

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