Expectation managemenet cont'd

Part 2

"I finally made it to the golf course. I am so excited. I can't wait to shoot my best score today. I am finally starting to get confident with my game. Seriously, last time I played I hit a couple of the best golf shots that I have ever hit. I can't wait to do it again today! Today is going to be my day!" 


What is expected to happen to this player when they step up on the first tee and hit their drive absolutely perfect (pushed it a little bit), hits off a tree, bounces in the water and they proceed to make a 10. If we made a list of the expectations that they had,  2 failed within the first golf shot. Now what? 

The only direction that this players mentality can go from here is down. If they had the ability to get out of the hole that they have just dug, they wouldn't be in it to start with. 

This is a recipe for failure and far too many average golfers show up tot the course with this mindset. Too many golfers show up to the course with result based expectations. Instead, we should expect ourself to dominate OUR process. Consistency within your process is what creates the results. We have to dial in our focus in order to master our mind. What we are looking for is something like: 

1. Give every shot the respect it deserves
2. Going to hit a lot of bad shots, expect to miss in the right place
3. I expect to get a lot of bad breaks that I am going to have to overcome

NO matter what your skill level may be, the expectations you have correlate directly to, A) your enjoyment and B) the quality of golf you play. Next time you about to tee it up, try something like: 

"I am so excited to be able to spend this afternoon on the course. Feels good to be out here.  I am well aware that bad golf shots are more related to poor process than they are poor swing. Let's see how many smiles we can catch today." 

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