#144: [Inside the Mind] Dr. Michael T. Lardon: Mastering Golf's Mental Game: Dissolve Performance Anxiety

If you care about elite golf performance, you can't ignore your golf mindset or your golf mental game.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Michael Lardon—a psychiatrist and performance expert who has worked with Olympians, major champions, and elite competitors—to explore what truly separates good players from those capable of sustained excellence.

Together, we go beyond surface-level routines and visualization to clarify the difference between sports psychology and sports psychiatry, unpack what anxiety actually is from a biological and nervous system perspective, and explain why so many golfers sabotage their performance by time-traveling into the past or future.

You'll learn why outcome goals create pressure while process goals unlock performance, how to channel intensity without tipping into volatility, and why positive obsession, creativity, rest, and play are essential to sustaining elite golf performance over years—not just one hot stretch.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The difference between sports psychology vs sports psychiatry—and why it matters
• What anxiety is (physiology, emotions, thoughts) and why it becomes chronic
• How "time traveling" creates anxiety—and how presence dissolves it
• Positive obsession vs destructive obsession—and how to sustain passion for decades
• How to use the creative mind (visual, rhythm, feel) to access the zone
• Why the best performers are humble, curious, and mastery-driven
• The role of rest, recovery, humor, and play in elite longevity

If you want a stronger golf mental game, more emotional control under pressure, and a deeper understanding of how to access the zone on demand, this conversation delivers both the science and the strategy.

Get your pencils ready and start listening. 

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More About Dr. Michael T. Lardon

Dr. Michael T. Lardon is a board-certified psychiatrist and one of the pioneers in applying clinical psychiatry to elite sports performance. He has worked with Olympic athletes, professional golfers, and high-performing competitors across multiple disciplines.

He is the author of Mastering Golf's Mental Game and Finding Your Zone, where he blends neuroscience, temperament research, emotional regulation, and disciplined focus into practical frameworks for sustained peak performance.

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High-Performance Hypnotherapy and Mindset Coaching

Paul Salter - known as The Golf Hypnotherapist - is a High-Performance Hypnotherapist and Mindset Coach who leverages hypnosis and powerful subconscious reprogramming techniques to help golfers of all ages and skill levels overcome the mental hazards of their minds so they can shoot lower scores and play to their potential.

He has over 16 years of coaching experience working with high performers in various industries, helping them get unstuck, out of their own way, and unlock their full potential.

Click here to learn more about how high-performance hypnotherapy and mindset coaching can help you get out of your own way and play to your potential on (and off) the course. 

Instagram: @thepaulsalter

Key Takeaways:

• Anxiety is often a presence problem, not a performance problem. It arises when your mind leaves the present moment and starts time traveling into the past or future, creating a gap between where you are and where your thoughts are.
• Elite golf performance is built on process goals, not outcome goals. Winning, making the cut, or shooting a number are results; committing fully to each shot is the only controllable path to those results.
• Positive obsession fuels mastery; destructive obsession fuels burnout. The difference is whether your intensity is rooted in passion and love for the craft—or fear, validation, and imbalance.
• The creative mind unlocks the zone. Great players move from left-brain planning (distance, wind, lie) to right-brain creation (see it, feel it, rhythm it) before executing with trust and "no brain."
• Fun and pressure cannot coexist at full volume. Reconnecting to enjoyment, perspective, and passion lowers anxiety and opens the door to freer, more instinctive performance.

Key Quotes:

• "So if I can be fully present, there is no anxiety, if you will. Now, not an easy thing to do… but where should my mind be? It should be in the gap between two thoughts."
• "If you want the good grade, you don't think, 'I'm gonna make the good grade.' What you think about is, 'This is the material in front of me and I need to master it.' And if I do that, that translates into a good grade."
• "Fun and being pathologically nervous—they're not possible together. If you're laughing and you're having fun, we open up the avenue of really doing good things."
• "Those who know do not think. And those who think do not know."
• "We're the noisiest passenger of our own ship. We think we know what's going on—we think we control it—but not really. Our unconscious mind is processing things all the time."

Time Stamps:

• 00:00: Understanding Sports Psychiatry vs. Sports Psychology
• 05:36: The Nature of Anxiety in Performance
• 10:38: Strategies to Manage Performance Anxiety
• 15:05: Positive Obsession vs. Negative Obsession
• 17:38: Sustaining Passion and Avoiding Burnout
• 24:35: The Unique Approach to Self-Discovery
• 26:13: Managing Intensity in High Performers
• 29:36: The Role of Passion and Fun in Performance
• 36:15: Self-Talk and the Mindset of Champions
• 41:05: Exploring Altered States of Consciousness
• 45:21: Final Takeaway: Enjoy the Game