MODULE 2: THE PERFORMANCE PROCESS

In order to become the best player you can be, you’ll need to put a plan in place – a set of guidelines and “mini goals” so that you get the best out of yourself daily and in your rounds. Success with this plan is not based on score or results, but by completion of certain tasks and how much effort you give to them. These tasks will keep you focused on what’s most important for growth and make sure you give 100% in practice and play.

This series of tasks and intentions is called your “Performance Process”. Although we’re covering this early in the program, as you go through the modules and discover more about yourself and the tools you have available to you, you can refine and add to it. To help you understand what is meant by “process”, let’s do an exercise:

1. Get a sheet of paper and divide it into 2 columns. In the first column, write down your goals for a round of golf. Move to step 2 once you have done this.
2. In the second column, next to those goals, write down (with a “Yes” or “No”), whether you have 100% control over achieving that goal or not.

Outcome Goals

If you did the exercise above, I’m sure that at least some of things that you put into your goals column would have been desired outcomes, such as your score, fairways and greens hit, and number of putts. Or perhaps you put some goals down in terms of avoiding undesirable outcomes such as “No 3 Putts”. Either way, these are all “Outcome Goals”. And if you thought about whether these are 100% within your control or not, you will have put a “No” for them in the 2^nd column.

The negative effects of outcome goals

It goes without saying that everyone that plays golf would like a good outcome – to shoot a low score or play well. That is obviously preferable to playing poorly. However, when you are performing any action and you are concerned as to what the outcome of that action will be, it can make achieving your intended outcome more difficult.

A simple illustration of this is a golfer telling me that they can play great on the range, but on the course they unable to play to the same level. Clearly their focus shifts and their internal state changes when there is a consequence to their shots, and they are accountable for how many of them they play.

In golf, there are many variables and events that are uncertain, such as:

• The outcome of each shot
• Your lie on the fairway, in the rough or in a bunker
• The bounce the ball takes
• How your playing partners play, their personalities and their playing speed
• The weather
• Where you finish in the tournament
• What other people might think about you and your game

If we allow any of these things to take our attention away from the tasks required to hit the next shot well, it will negatively impact performance.

Why can score focus work against you?

1. It takes you out of the present moment – the mind isn’t quiet and fully focused on what you need to do now
2. The fear of not meeting your outcome goals for a shot or round can create performance anxiety and increase nerves
3. It can cause you to get emotional as you judge the outcome of each shot as to whether it helps or hurts you achieving your outcome goals
4. It can affect your motivation and effort i.e., if you predict you will reach your outcome goal you put in effort but if you predict you won’t, it can cause you to lower effort or give up
5. It can cause you to miss out on appreciating the experience of playing golf – there is so much more to it than your score, but this is missed when success is measured by outcome

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples:

Example 1:

Let’s say you’ve got the goal of shooting under a certain score and avoiding 3-putts in a round. Because a good score is at the forefront of your mind, you want to get off to a good start. Because of the self-imposed pressure, you might double bogey the first hole or have a 3 putt (which is possible for the best players in the world). With your chances of achieving your outcome goals taking a big hit on the first hole, you will have to deal with the negative emotions and added pressure to turn it around. It can also cause you to play more aggressively to get those shots back, potentially leading to more big numbers.

Example 2:

Let’s say you’ve had your best front nine ever. Perhaps you didn’t know what your score was until you checked it at the half-way point, but now you know you’re playing as good as you can play. Because of this, your mind shifts from the present to the future and the desired outcome of shooting your best score or the undesirable outcome of not taking advantage of such a good opportunity. The combination of excitement and fear from allowing your attention to focus on these possibilities will probably make you feel nervous and anxious, causing you to lose focus on your shots and tense up. This is why so many players fall back to their comfort zone when they’re playing well or in contention in a tournament.

Whether it’s focusing on achieving positive outcomes or avoiding negative outcomes, focus on outcome goals should generally be avoided before and during your rounds. I’m not saying that this will be easy or black and white just because you choose it, thoughts about score can and will pop into your mind, but with increased awareness and improved focus, you will be able to shift your attention away from them and back to what you need to do in the present moment.

The positive effects of outcome goals

Some players benefit from pushing themselves by the prospect of score and it helps them increase focus. I’ve heard of players raising their performance by telling themselves “Let’s make some birdies” or “I can birdie this hole”. To me this isn’t necessarily an outcome goal – it’s more of an optimistic outlook and a prospect that excites them and raises their focus and energy. This is something for you to explore and possibly use to control your internal state before and during a round.

In the previous module, we created your “vision” for your game, which involves visualizing the future outcome of your efforts today. In this case, an outcome goal shows you where you are going and why you are going after it.

Another way that outcome goals are helpful is when we are doing game analysis and setting “Performance Goals” (we’ll cover this in Module 7). Performance goals could involve a season long scoring average and statistical targets for the areas of your game that will help get you there.

However, once the plan is established, focus during rounds and practice needs to be on executing these tasks or your “process”.

Defining “Process”

Unlike outcome, which is uncertain and focusing on it can have negative effects, a process is a series of intentions and actions that we know will increase our chances of success, that we can bring our attention to NOW.  If you can execute your process, you are doing your best.

Your process is:

• Your plan for improving your game
• Focal cues for your shot routines
• A set of guidelines to help you control your internal state during rounds

Why Process Focus Improves Performance

The brain prefers certainty

The human brain prefers security and certainty rather than uncertainty. Certainty initiates a reward response, whereas uncertainty initiates the fight or flight response. When your focus is on aspects of your performance which are uncertain, your sympathetic nervous system prepares your body and mind to deal with the unknowns or possible threats. We know this as nerves, performance anxiety or “the fight or flight response”. Alternatively, focusing more on what you can control i.e., “your process”, helps you stay poised and present.

Your Process is present

Whenever we can bring our full attention to what we are doing now, and not think about how the outcome of it will affect us in the future, we are going to perform better.

The best place for your mind in any round is in the present moment. The present is where the mind is relaxed yet focused on what you are doing now.

When the mind goes into predicting mode or you are thinking about what’s going to happen next, you are in the future. When you are unable to move on from the last bad shot or 3-putt, you are in the past. Neither of these “time zones” are helpful to you on the golf course.

Your process reminds exactly what you should be focusing on at this very moment, now.

Your process is what you do when you perform your best

If you know what brings out the best in you during your practice and play, then it makes sense for you to focus on doing those things. This will require self-discovery, reflection and thought which I will prompt throughout this program. In time, you’ll understand what triggers your “Flow State”.

Process is emotionally neutral

With a measure of success that is 100% within your control and certain, it’s easier to stay emotionally neutral and not react. I.e., if you executed your shot routine and that was the goal of the shot, it’s easy to accept the outcome whatever it was. Emotions can draw energy and focus away from the task at hand (the shot).

Process distracts the Ego

The ego mind can easily sabotage our efforts by outcome thinking and predicting what will happen next. We can become distracted from the present and what is most important for us to perform well. The ego mind needs to be brought back into the present and re-focused on “the process”.

Your process is your plan

“Planning places effort, where effort is most needed.” – Coach John Wooden

Your process is your plan for a round or practice session. Before you go out to play or practice, your process should be decided upon. I also like to think of it as a series of “internal goals” – those things that you can do that you know will positively influence your performance. This turns something complex (shooting a good score), into simple executable steps. With repetition, it becomes more automatic and requires less thinking, so you free up mental energy for engaging your senses fully in each shot.

If you are able to do A, B, C and D that you intend to do during each round, then you are doing the best you can do. This is why I created my “Mental Game Scorecard” to help players track process, stay accountable and train focus with each round.

If you can set process goals for your rounds, you’ll immediately lower distraction and performance anxiety and increase your confidence and chances of playing well.

So what does a “process” look like? To start building your process, let’s think about what needs to go into each phase of a performance. This will be your first pass at your performance process – you can add to it or refine it as we go through the program. I’ve got a worksheet for this which you can print out and write in your process goals for each phase.

The Phases of Performance

Intentions and values

What are the values and characteristics of the player you will bring to each practice session and round?

Pre-round

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

Pre-Shot

What are the best things for you to focus on as you prepare for a shot? What is the mental and physical process? Is it breathing, visualization or self-talk?

During the shot

Where is your focus during your swing? Do you have a technical cue?

Post shot

How will you respond positively to the outcome of all your shots?

In between shots

What will you focus on in between shots to keep yourself present and conserving mental energy?

Post round

How will you review your rounds and measure your success?

Practice time

What are the performance goals you are working towards? What do you need to do to work towards those goals?

The Mental Game Scorecard

The goal of the mental game scorecard is to keep you focused on your values and your “process goals” during your rounds and define success as getting the best out of yourself in every moment, no matter what game you have that day. I have 2 versions of the scorecard.

The Hole by Hole Version

The first, is a simpler version that you score your process by hole. 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

Modules 3 and 4 will help you decide upon the best process goals for you. If you achieve all 4 of your process goals for that hole, you will give yourself 4 points in the box on the scorecard, so you will have total score out of 72 (18 X 4) at the end of the round.

You can download this template by clicking this link.

The Shot Routine 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 to the hole box on the scorecard. 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. The scoring system for each shot is “binary”, you either get a 0 or 1. 1 would be for completing all of your process goals and 0 for missing at least one of them.

Your total process score will show you how many shots you were able to execute while going through your intended shot routine. You can then 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.