Setting Goals For Your Next Round of Golf

What goals do you have for your next round or tournament? Your goals for golf will have a big impact on your performance and development as a player.

When I ask this question to a new student, I’ll typically get a response like: “To win. To shoot 75 or better. To have a top 10. To avoid 3 putts.”
Although these all would represent desirable outcomes, having goals like this before and during a round can cause:

• Performance anxiety
• Frustration and disappointment
• Loss of confidence

For this reason, I encourage my students to make sure any goals they have for rounds or throughout the season, serve the purpose of higher performance.

Why Set Goals For Golf?

1. Goals give you something to focus on that is productive
2. Goals raise effort because the prospect of achieving them is exciting
3. Achieving goals you a boost of energy and confidence that makes you want more

Types of Goals for Golf

All goals fall into these two categories:
• Things that you can achieve in the future (Outcome Goals)
• Things that you can “do” (Process Goals)

The Upside of Outcome Goals for Golf

It’s important to know what you are working towards i.e. your “vision” and to know why you want to achieve it. Goals can be inspiring and  motivate us to put in the effort each day. A better scoring average, a higher ranking, winning big tournaments, getting into a D1 college program are all examples of good goals to have.
But when you are in the midst of activities that are going to take you there (i.e., your rounds and practice), thinking about those goals can hold you back and here’s why.

The Downside of Outcome Goals for Golf:

1. We don’t have complete control of the outcome
When we are always focusing on uncertain outcomes, it can create performance anxiety, too high arousal, tension in the body, and sub-optimal mental and emotional states.

2. If the success is the result, then we’ll be disappointed a lot of the time
If the goal is to “win” or “shoot a low score”, then you will under-achieve a lot of the time. Golf has more failures than successes. Of course, the intention is to win and shoot a low score, but if you are to declare that and measure your success by it, you will fail a lot of the time, which will affect your confidence, self esteem and motivation. You will feel like you haven’t made progress when you probably have.

3. Outcome goals are in the future and take us out of the present
If you focus too much on what you want to achieve, it takes your focus away from what you are doing NOW. To play your best requires being fully in the present moment.

A Better Approach To Goal Setting: Process and Internal Goals

With the players I work with, I rarely talk about score and we measure a player’s success by whether they stuck to the plan, put in maximum effort and got the best out of themselves whatever the result.
Before a round or at the beginning of a week, we only set goals for that they have complete control over. This lowers performance anxiety, helps them stay present and gives them things to focus on in the round that will help them perform better and make progress towards becoming a better player. Here are some examples of these goals:

For a Round:
• Picking good targets and having a good course strategy
• Committing to shots
• Confident body language
• Breathing to control nerves
• Positive self talk
• Accepting shots
• Staying hydrated

Internal goals such as:
• Gratitude
• Patience
• Being calm
• Being mentally tough

Weekly goals:
• Practice plans
• Gym sessions for golf
• Mental game exercises

In my free mental game ebook, you’ll find a goal setting system with worksheets which you can print out to keep on track and accountable in your rounds and throughout the week. It’s important to make it very clear what the goals are, and if possible, share these goals with someone else.
Being disciplined and putting in the work EVERY day will give you small wins that will add up to self-trust, confidence, better skills and take you to higher levels of performance.

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