‘Goal Setting’
Remember what your dad used to say to you “if you do not know where you are going you will not know when you have arrived”.
Golf is no different; if you do not set goals and targets for yourself you will not truly know if you have achieved anything.
Before each round of golf you should get into the habit of writing down your mental goals for the round to come.
These goals will become your mental commitments, which you will strive to achieve over the full 18 holes.
These goals should include areas of the mental game where you are struggling, for example:
- Forgive yourself – if you tend to be hard on yourself
- Forget bad shots – if you let one bad shot become two or three
- Stay in the present – if you let your mind drift forward to what may happen or back to what should have been.
- Stick to routines – if you tend to ‘suck it and see’
- Enjoy yourself – if you get down and depressed
- Breath from the stomach – if you become nervous or agitated
You should read these commitments before you start to play, after 9 holes and again after you have finished the round.
When you have returned home review the list again in an honest manner and give yourself a score out of a possible 10 for achieving your goals.
Any goal achieving a score of less than 8/10 should remain on the commitment card for the next round.
For those goals where you were successful remove them from the card and replace them with new goals for the next round but do not forget the previous goals because they need to become good mental habits.