Ultimate Mental Game Training Program For Golf Module 2: Process Focus vs Outcome Focus

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MODULE 2: THE PERFORMANCE PROCESS

Let’s start with an exercise:

Divide a sheet of paper into 2 vertical columns. On one half, write down your goals for a round of golf.
On the other half, next to those goals, write down (with a “Yes” or “No”), whether you have 100% control over whether you achieve that goal or not.

Outcome Goals

Let’s look at what you can’t (and will never be able to) fully control in a round of golf. The following goals are examples of “outcome goals”:

The outcome of each shot
Your score at the end of each hole or end of the round
Your lie on the fairway, rough or in a bunker
How many fairways and greens you hit and how many 3 putts you have
The bounce the ball takes
Landing in a divot
The speed of your playing partners
Weather

Outcome goals can be broken down further into desirable and undesirable goals. Desirable outcomes goals would be outcomes that you want to happen such as shooting a low score, having a top 10 or hitting a high number or fairways and greens. Undesirable outcome goals are outcomes that you are trying to avoid, such as shooting a high score, disappointing parents, college coaches or teammates, 3 putts or double bogeys. Both types of outcome goals should be avoided during rounds – desirable outcome goals can cause you to try too hard to achieve them, and undesirable outcome goals can create fear.

Why are outcome goals counterproductive?

Whenever you set goals for your rounds that you don’t have complete control over (whether desirable of undesirable), it’s going to add pressure to perform and disappointment if you fail to achieve them.

Let’s say you’ve got the goal of shooting under a certain score or to avoid 3-putts. Immediately you will feel the effect of those constraints. If you double bogey the first hole or have a 3 putt, you will probably feel deflated. An outcome goal is a target for your success and satisfaction, that you don’t have complete control over.

Outcome goals are uncertain

You can’t say with certainty at the beginning of a round what score you are going to shoot, so why speculate about it?

Trying to predict the future is a common trait among golfers, which leads to performance anxiety. Nobody has complete control over the golf ball – there are too many variables and events that are unpredictable.

Let’s say you’ve had your best front nine ever. Where do your thoughts go from there? Probably into the future – thinking about both the possible glory of shooting your best score and/or losing such a good opportunity.

With both the desirable and undesirable outcome goals running through your mind, you’ll soon feel nervous and anxious – lose focus, tense up and play worse. This why so many players fall back to their comfort zone when they’re playing well.

The brain doesn’t like uncertainty

The brain prefers comfort and certainty instead of uncertainty. Certainty initiates a reward response, whereas uncertainty initiates the fight or flight response. When your focus is on aspects of your performance which is uncertain, your sympathetic nervous system prepares your body and mind to deal with those

potential threats.

Process Goals or “The Process”

Your “Performance Process” is be your goal or “playbook” in any round. It tells you the best thing to do in any moment, to give you the best chance of getting your desired outcome.

Instead of letting your mind drift onto things that are just a distraction and that will take your focus away from your process, train yourself to bring your attention back to it.

Your process reminds you of what you need to focus on to execute each shot as best you can and control your performance state.

If we can switch our focus and measure of success from what we can’t control (outcome) to those things we can control we are able to keep the brain focused on certainty, which can only help us perform better.

The Process, is a combination of goals that are within your control, that you know will positively influence your performance.

When you’re “in your process”, you’re stinking to your plan. You know what you need to focus on in any situation. Process goals keep you in the present, not thinking about what might or might not happen in the future.

Here are some examples of controllable process goals. These are actions and things that you can do in the moment, before and during your rounds, which will help get you get into your “optimal performance state” or “best player self” and make better outcomes more likely. Some examples are:

How you prepare for a round
Your Shot Routine (where your focus is before, during and after shots)
Your attitude
How you deal with adversity
Your strategy
Your body language
Your self-talk
Your ability to stay present and not be distracted

As we go through this program, you’ll discover more about what your “performance process” needs to be to give you best opportunity to play well.

Why Process Focus Works

1. Your goals for each round and each shot are now completely within your control and can be achieved with certainty, instead of focusing on the uncertainty of the outcome.

2. Knowing your process gives you simple things to focus on when under pressure, when it is naturally harder to focus.

3. To reach positive outcomes requires paying attention to each step of the process (staying in the moment and patient), rather than the end goal.

4. Having a process will give you a plan for the variability and uncertainty in a round. I.e. if this happens, they I will do this.

5. Knowing the optimal steps of your shot routine, will increase your chances of success with each shot.

6. A large part of self-confidence comes from being able to fulfil promises to yourself. If you can set and keep to your process goals – you’ll build trust and confidence.

The Phases of a Round of Golf

Your performance in your rounds is about executing a series of process goals, or your “Performance Process”. Your performance process gives you intention and creates certainty for all the phases of a round. These are:

Pre-round

What can you do before your rounds to make you feel confident and prepared?

Pre-Shot

What is it best for you to focus on as you prepare for the shot?

During the shot

Where is your focus during your swing?

Post shot

Do you react emotionally or respond positively to the outcome of your shots?

In between shots

What do you focus on in between shots?

Post round

How do you review your rounds and measure your success?

Practice time

What is your practice process?

During this program, we’ll take a detailed look at these stages of your rounds and find out what you need to focus on during each phase to maximize your chances of success.

As we go through this program, we’ll explore and discover what the best process is for you. Your “process goals” for each of will become the measure of your success.

The Mental Game Scorecard

The goal of your mental game scorecard is to keep you focused on your “process goals” during your rounds. I have 2 versions of the scorecard.

The Simple Version

The first, is a simpler version that has you measure the success of each hole by whether you were able to execute your process or not. You can decide on 4 process goals such as:

Clear visualization of the shot shape and target (clear intention)
Feeling centered and balanced before pulling the trigger
A deep breath before walking into the ball
Choosing to respond well to poorly hit shot
Making tension-free swings with a good tempo
Aligning properly to every shot
Engaging with the target
Quietening your mind during the engagement phase of your routine
Accepting every shot
Confident body language
Being present and mindful of thinking

Module 3 and 4 will help you decide upon the best process goals for you. If you achieve all 4 process goals for that hole, you will give yourself one point or a check mark in the box on the scorecard, so you will have a score out of 18 (one possible point for each hole) at the end of the round.

You can download this template by clicking this link.

The Advanced Version

I’ve put together another version of the Mental Game Scorecard which focuses solely on the Shot Routine.

For each of the 3 types of shot (Full Shot, Short Game and Putting), you will select 4 process goals.
If you achieve all 4 process goals during a single shot, you get one point which you would add you the hole box on the score card. E.g. if you had a 5 on a hole, but you went through your 4 process goals for 3 of them, you would have 3 points for that hole.
Your total score will show you how many shots you were able to execute while going through your intended shot routine. You can them calculate the percentage of shots that you achieved your process out of your total actual score. E.g. 65 process points out of a total actual score of 75 would be 65/75 x 100 = 87%

To download this version, please click here.

Your process goals don’t have to be set in stone but stick to them for at least a few rounds. We can review and refine them during the post round review.

The Power Of The Present

“I just stay in the moment. I never think one hole ahead. I’m not thinking about tomorrow. I’m not thinking about the next shot. I’m just thinking about what I need to do right now. It’s very simple.” – Brooks Koepka

As we begin to work on the “process” of playing better golf, there is one skill that you must work on simultaneously – the power of being present. When you are “in your process” on the golf course, you are in the present – the two go hand in hand. But this is not easily achieved and takes practice. The process of game improvement is the same – any activity that you are performing to improve requires deep focus – focus on that activity and nothing else.

At any moment in time, your mind can be in 1 of 3 time zones: the past, present or future. In golf, when you are thinking about the past, it’s usually to think about missed opportunities or mistakes. When you’re thinking about the future, it’s usually to speculate about the consequences of different outcomes and what they will mean for you. Being in either the past or future can cause distraction from the task, performance anxiety and stress.

The optimal place to be for high performance and making progress day by day and week to week, is the present moment. In fact, the definition of “The Zone” or “Flow State” – which you probably know of as the state of mind where peak performance happens – is being completely immersed in an activity. I.e. all that you are focusing on is what you are doing NOW. You’re not thinking ab0ut the past or worrying about how what you are doing now will affect your future.

Whenever I speak with a student after a great round, being present is what they describe. When you are present, you are experiencing the moment to its fullest. You are just “being” – not thinking and judging. Your focus is at its sharpest, your mind at its quietist and you have direct access to your skills.

However, from my ongoing work with competitive golfers, I’d say that being in the present is one of the biggest challenges that golfers face. The world that we live in with all its distractions is lowering attention spans and making it harder and harder to quiet the mind and be in the moment. But the good news, is that we can train ourselves to be more present.

One of my Tour player clients told me of her experience of having a 1 shot lead with 3 holes to play. She had seen the leaderboard, which immediately made her feel more nervous, but we had trained her for the challenges of being in that situation.

She knew that staying in the present and keeping her mind quiet was the thing that was going to help the most during those long walks in between shots. She knew that her mind would want to start predicting the future and her chances of success – but if she let it – it would reduce her chances of getting the outcome she desired. She told me that those few holes seemed “to take an eternity”, but she kept reminding herself to be present and patient, and that time would eventually pass. And it did, with her first win on Tour.

To access our best skills in the biggest moments, we must work on the skill of being more present daily.

How to practice being more present

To train yourself to be more present, you’ll need to develop greater self-awareness of what you are focusing on (to know where your mind is) and have an anchor to bring your wandering mind back to. The more you can do this, the more you improve your ability to stay present. You might have heard of mindfulness, which is the practice of knowing exactly where your mind is and what you are choosing to place your attention on. Being “mindless” is the opposite, you go wherever your wandering “monkey mind” takes you.

Being more present starts with awareness – you need to be aware of when you are no longer in the present and drifting away with your thoughts.

Awareness Meditation

The practice of meditation has been done for thousands of years, but it’s been growing in popularity in recent years – probably because people are aware that they struggle to focus their attention, which causes stress and underperformance.

The purpose of meditation is to train you to be aware of when you are not in the present moment, so you automatically spend more time there. Most of my students are practicing meditation daily and improving their ability to be more present.

To get started with meditation, all you need is a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed for 10-20 minutes. Research suggests that change in your brain starts occurring after 8 minutes of daily meditation. Here’s how to get started:

Start by inhaling through your nose for 4 seconds until you feel your diaphragm go out. This is called “deep belly breathing”. If only your chest is moving while you are breathing, you’re not filling your lungs with air.
Exhale slowly through your mouth to the count of 8 seconds. The long slow exhale sends signals to your nervous system and tells it that you are safe, and it activates the sympathetic nervous system to lower the stress response.
Repeat this breathing cycle for a minimum of 8 minutes, paying attention to your breaths – how it feels as the air it goes in, it’s temperature, your abdomen moving out and how it feels as your lungs deflate and the air is released.
If you notice your mind wander, which it will from time to time, gently bring it back to the breath. Every time you become aware of your attention no longer being on your breath, you are training your awareness and ability to stay present.
Try to do this daily for 10-20 minutes. If you’re new to meditation, start with shorter sessions for at least 3 days a week.

This type of meditation also trains you to be more aware of how you are breathing, which is key to controlling your heart rate and stress level.

Accessing The Present Through Your Senses

Another way to access “the now” is through your senses. What can you see, feel, hear and smell? On the golf course you might try “walking meditation” in between shots, (which is one of the reasons I prefer to walk than take a cart) where you pay attention to the trees, the sky, the clouds, the smell of the grass, the feel of the wind and the ground beneath your feet. When you notice your mind wandering to your thoughts, bring it back to what you are sensing.

Reward Being Present

Reward yourself by staying in the present. When you are doing any task, set a timer and tell yourself that you are going to do this, and only this, for the time period that you’ve allocated to it. Whether it’s practice, work or study, put your phone somewhere that you can’t reach for it and reward yourself with a look at it after you’ve finished your highly focused session. After time spent doing this, you’ll begin to notice when you’re losing focus and by bringing it back to the task, you’ll improve your ability to stay present and immersed in your activity for longer.

We will revisit meditation and mindfulness in Module 4.