Golf Fitness Tip: How to goal set correctly

Tyler reporting from paradise again on the eve of another great potential learning experience.  Tomorrow I am attending a two day seminar on JR training and I just found out that 14 of the TPI advisory board members are going to be there.  I’m pumped and I’ll set goals for what I want to accomplish this weekend, but let’s start with what you are going to try and accomplish this year.

It is amazing to me how quickly my clients forget everything they have done successfully when they start focusing on golf.  One of the area’s that I see the biggest deficit is in goal setting.  That could be for a lesson, a tournament, a season – whatever it is, you need to have a plan before you take that first step.  Here are some quick keys for setting goals and how we can apply this to golf.

Tip #1: Make your goals S.M.A.R.T

I learned this one in my undergrad and have stuck with it anytime I want to accomplish something.  Your goals must be S.M.A.R.T.

Specific – this means you are going to address all those W questions.  Who, What, When, Where, Why, Which?
A bad example is “I want to hit the ball farther.”  A better, not great, goal would be, “I want to hit the ball in the air 245 yards at my driving range by September 15th.”

Measurable – figure out the right scale to monitor your progress.  I have had clients say that they want to hit the ball further, only to be disappointing when they are hitting it further yet still scoring the same.  This one is easy to ensure, just make sure you can answer the question, “How would anyone know when I’ve accomplished this goal.”

Attainable – I always thought this was thrown in because they didn’t want the acronym to be S.M.R.T.  Attainability helps shape your mind to look for opportunities to help make this goal a reality.  Don’t set a goal that you don’t truly believe you could achieve.

Realistic – to be realistic, the goal most represent something that you are able and willing to do.  That willing is the key phrase.  Don’t say that you want to lose 10 pounds if you are not willing to make any sacrifices and don’t say you want to be a scratch golfer if you are not willing to practice more than once per week.  There are lots of happy 10 handicaps in the world, set a goal to be one of those if you are not going to take it seriously.

Timely – this one is easy.  By when?  If you are a 15 handicap and you tell my that the big goal is to be a 5 handicap I will say by when.  You will get frustrated and look at me crossly, but I will insist that I will treat you differently if this is by the end of the month compared to if it is by the end of the year.  By when?

Tip # 2: Have a goal sheet including short term and long term goals

The best example for this is weight loss goals.  I want to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year is a good long term goal (there are better as you’ll see in the next step).  A good short term goal would be I want to lose 2 pounds this week.  Take your long term goals and lay them out with a series of short term goals and it will be a lot easier for you to stay committed.

Tip # 3:  Make your goal Process not Outcome focused

I usually get compliance on tip number one and have to fight a little bit harder on tip number two.  This is where goals can either be lost to the land of “wouldn’t it be nice” versus “I can do this.”

I have deliberately thrown in some bad examples because I didn’t want to complicate the flow and I’m sure a lot of you have poorly organized goals that are too general to ever work.  Here are some examples of outcome goals that I don’t like as short term goals.

• I want to hit the ball 10 yards farther
• I want to be a 5 handicap
• I want to have less than 30 putts per round
• I want to hit the ball straight

These goals are great as long term goals but as short term goals they are way too outcome focussed.  Good short term goals have actions tied to them.  Some examples of GOOD short term goals would be

• I will practice putting 3 times this week for 30 minutes
• I will go to the gym 3 times this week and do my personal fitness routine
• I will avoid watching the golf channel or reading a golf magazine and stay focused on what my coach has told me to do
• I will read 1 chapter in Zen Putting each night instead of American Idol

Can you see the big difference between process and outcome goals.  It is no different than in your job setting.  You can say I want to earn 1 million dollars next year.  But that won’t make someone give it to you.  If you stick to the process goals that are S.M.A.R.T and have both short and long term goals then just staying on the path will get you there.

Good luck golfers.  Try and set a good process goal for this weekend and tell me on Facebook if it worked out.