The beginning of every year is a fantastic time for golfers as it allows the opportunity to take stock, reset and create a plan for the next 12 months. For most students this will tend to start and and at setting what I call "THE BIG GOALS" but with no clear idea as to how they will ultimately go about achieving them.
Creating a "Pathway to Success" can be quite a simple task, the key is simply taking those BIG GOALS and breaking them into smaller, more manageable chucks or "Stepping Stones". To begin your Pathway you simply need a notebook, a pen and a quiet place to sit and answer 3 questions:
1) What are your BIG GOALS
Ideally you will pick 2 - 3 BIG GOALS, these are normally outcome based and tend to be out of our control. They can be anything from achieving a certain handicap to winning a tournament or an order of merit. Start by writing these goals down first, and then in the process accept that they will happen as a result of question 2 & 3 (which you are about to answer), and that in reality these are in fact out of your control.
2) What smaller steps would help you get to those big goals?
Let's use an example here, one of my BIG GOALS is to shoot under par, however my current average is 78 and my best round ever is 73, what steps could I achieve in order to get to a sub par round? Some examples might be:
- Hit 14 greens in regulation
- Shoot under par 3 times for 9 holes
- Score 21 or less in a game of Par 18
All of these smaller goals or "Stepping Stones" would show you that you are making strides towards your end goals. If you keep hitting these stepping stones you can gradually make them more and more difficult until you finally get the end result you want.
3) What are you willing to commit to?
While our stepping stones are closer to being within our control, there are still external factors that can make these difficult to achieve. This is where we must look at what is fully within or control, our commitments!
Our commitments should be fully within our control. These commitments are essentially what we are willing to do week in week out in order to achieve our goals. Some commitment examples might be:
- I will practice a minimum of 3 hours per week
- I will play at least once per week
- I will have a lesson once per month
If you can answer these 3 questions, you will have a fantastic structure to tackle the new year with!
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