Wicked Smart Golf 466: Dr. Don Wood - Learn to Release Trauma to Play Your Best Golf
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Feb 5, 2026 
Dr. Don Wood, performance and neuroscience expert who founded the Inspired Performance Institute, helps high performers resolve trauma that silently affects focus and confidence. He discusses hidden trauma’s hold on the nervous system. He explains how repetition codes performance, mental rehearsal in specific brain states, and quick recovery tactics to stay present under pressure.
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Early Trauma Stores In High Definition
- Childhood trauma stores as high-definition memories that loop in the subconscious and keep activating the nervous system.
- Don Wood explains this loop reduces immune function and neuroplasticity, affecting performance and health.
A Father's Mission Sparked The Research
- Don Wood began researching trauma after his daughter developed severe autoimmune and lung disorders following hidden childhood sexual abuse.
- That search for answers led him to a PhD and the Inspired Performance Program.
Past Failures Replay As Present Threats
- The subconscious treats past failures as if they're happening now, replaying high-definition footage that triggers anxiety in similar situations.
- Don Wood uses the example of an 18th-hole collapse to show how memory loops produce real-time nervousness.
