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Nico Darras describes himself as “the monster who lives under your bed,” which doesn’t quite fit someone so pleasant.

What Darras really means is he forces you to confront the parts of golf that scare you the most. We were discussing a regrettable sequence from my round a few weeks back in Orlando: a ball behind a greenside bunker, a flubbed chip into the sand, a double bogey that made me want to fling my wedge into a lake. It would be easier to try to forget a hole like that ever happened. Darras’ company, Golf Blueprint, exists to make those the moments we focus on most.

“If you and I spent the day together, you know what the first thing we're going to do is?” Darras asks. “I'm going to go put your ass in a tight lie, right behind the bunker, and you're going to hit that shot. And success or failure isn't the result. How many times do you go to practice and face your fears?”

I’ll admit, my default form of practice during the summer is to throw on some headphones after dinner and chip and putt in flip-flops until I’ve found a groove. Save for dirty looks over my footwear, there is hardly a face-your-fears vibe. Darras says that’s a miss. A practice session without pressure is like weight training with balloons.