Cam Davis knows some people call it a "choker's mentality".
But the Australian quiet achiever, and first PGA Tour member to add a hypnotherapist to his team, doesn't care.
The two-time PGA Tour winner's form has faded but he fancies his chances when he tees up among five contending Australians at the Masters from Thursday.
That doesn't mean he'll be putting a number on it at Augusta National, drawing instead on his meditative discoveries to settle on a method that works for him after finishing tied for 12th last year.
"Setting a goal to play well at an event, or place a certain position, or keep my card leads to more pressure because you don't want to let yourself down," Davis explained.
"There are people that those goals fire them up, pump them up and it's a great way to be.
"But for me there's been history of not wanting to let myself down, rather than get after it.
"Some call it more of a 'choker's mentality', but for me it's being able to put myself in a place where I can play my best golf.
"Do my stuff well and get in my own little world because when I have, I've won tournaments ... it's becoming tried and tested."
Davis says his sessions, initially a suggestion from his wife, are designed to find answers "without the conscious mind trying to change it".
"It starts off with a goal, something you want to improve and then it's a guided meditation; no tricks or anything," he said.
"In that state I've found out things I didn't want to know, or didn't realise were causing blockages, to improve.
"But not just golf, how content I am in life in general.
"It's an eye-opening experience and I'm still unpacking stuff."
Davis had only worked with his hypnotherapist for a fortnight before winning in Detroit last year, a triumph that followed a US Open missed cut and no finishes higher than 37th in his previous seven events.
He'll enter the year's first major in similar circumstances, with five missed cuts mixed with three top-18 finishes, including a fifth place at Pebble Beach.
"I'm more in the camp of doing the little things well and let the big things happen," said Davis, whose top-12 finish last year, after seriously contending until late on Saturday, earned him an automatic return in 2025.
"I'd love to win and every guy out here wants to win a major. I've kind of been in contention, but I'd love to experience what it's like to hit the shots required to win the thing.
"I'm trying to get better and better every year and part of that is doing well in the majors.
"But I've figured out the goals that work best for me are not goals where I'm comparing myself to other people.
"That, finishing second but playing well, would feel like a failure to me."
