I played golf for the first time two weekends ago and played extremely well.  The reason? I was relaxed.  I used to golf a fair amount and was always focused on the outcome and on getting better.  I practiced a great deal and really wanted that work I put in to translate in to better scores on the course.  In reality what happened was that while my game improved technically the pressure I put on myself for results created tension in my game which hurt my golf score.  Why did I play well this last time I played?  simply because I was not worried about the result as I had not been playing and was just out to enjoy myself and to catch up with a good friend.