I’ve never played as poorly on any tee in my life as I have on the first one. Not because the first shot is technically more difficult—it’s usually even easier, with wide fairways and no pressure from the previous hole. Still, that’s exactly where my hand shakes the most.
For a long time, I told myself it was because my body was cold, I hadn’t warmed up yet, or I lacked practice. Maybe that’s true to some extent. But the real reason is more mundane—and harder to admit: There’s almost always someone standing next to me on the first tee. Two or three people waiting for their turn, with nothing better to do in the meantime than watch me swing.
The crazy thing is: these people aren’t really interested in my swing at all. Most of them are thinking about their own first shot, about lunch afterward, about anything. But my mind acts as if I were standing on a stage with a spotlight shining on me. Psychologists call this the spotlight effect—the tendency to systematically overestimate how much others are actually watching and judging you. I know the term; I’ve read about it, and yet it doesn’t help me one bit right now. Knowledge apparently doesn’t protect you from your own mind.
That’s exactly what’s captured in *THE FIRST TEE*. The image literally says, “EVERYONE IS WATCHING! DON’T SCREW THIS UP!”—not because it’s true, but because that’s how it feels in that one moment, before the club even starts to swing back. The ball on the tee is almost an afterthought. The real picture is the imagined audience in your own head.
Over time, I’ve found a single trick that sometimes works for me—though rarely all the time: take a quick look to see who’s actually watching. Almost never is anyone actually watching. Most are rummaging through their bags, checking their phones, or talking about the weather. That doesn’t change that first second of panic, but it sometimes shortens it by a few seconds—and that’s really all a tee shot needs.
If you want to delve deeper into how much we feel overestimated and observed: “The Spotlight Effect And Golf Anxiety” explains it well. And if you want to see what this imagined circle of onlookers feels like when it’s depicted rather than described: “THE FIRST TEE.”
— Ralf List
