You missed a three-foot birdie putt — and your brain immediately decided that chances like that don't come around very often. That's counterfactual scarcity: a near-miss that doesn't just sting in the moment, but sends a signal forward that opportunity is rare. And that belief is what loads the pressure onto every close look you get from that point on.

The fix isn't positive thinking. It's a more accurate story. You hit it close because you can hit it close. The scarcity was never real — your brain just told you it was. Stop thinking scarcity, start thinking series.