Own Goals

“Eventually I began to realise that my results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed” ~ James Clear.

It’s that time of year again, the golf season is nearly upon us and as we dust off our “trusty weapons of mass destruction,” we go through the familiar ritual of goal setting for the season ahead. For the majority, this will follow the well-trodden path of those goals set a couple of months ago, the weight, fitness and drinking fewer beer goals are now, predictably, strewn to the wind, scattered like autumn leaves dancing on a breezy day.

Goal setting.

“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning” ~ Mahatma Gandhi  

Goal setting for golf whether you are a weekend warrior or aspire to the life of a touring professional can follow the same path,  just depends how much pain you are prepared to endure along the way.
The corporate world loves to use the acronym SMART, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. I’m feeling motivated already! Let’s get the cliches out of the way first.

Desire ~ a genuine desire to improve at golf, sounds obvious, but I have led an awful lot of students to water and they have refused to drink for one reason or another. Saying and doing are uncommon bedfellows.

Clarity ~ a clear goal that leaves no room for misunderstanding. Write down what you intend to do and a detailed plan of how you are going to achieve it. 

Challenging ~ it must be challenging but achievable, it must be difficult enough to grab your attention but not unrealistic or impossible. I will get to a scratch handicap this year, (currently playing off an 18 handicap). I wish you luck with that! Think big but weigh the risk against the reward. Is it possible to achieve the goal? Even the most motivated person can become discouraged if the complexity of the task and the time it would take to complete it wasn’t fully understood.

Commitment ~ must be truly committed and have that written plan for success. How much time can I set aside for practice, what are the barriers to that practice? Home, work, other commitments? Can I afford a coach? List the barriers to achieving your goal before starting, you might not have a commitment problem, you might have a life problem! 

Time ~ it takes time to achieve any goal, read the theory of compounding, 1% a day before declaring to the world your intention to qualify and bring Royal Portrush to its knees next July as you are declared the Champion Golfer of the Year.

Feedback loop ~ If you can afford it get a good golf coach, one that will help you with your plan, not the sticking plaster variety. Take your time here, this choice alone could make or break you. Example, I have a good friend who is in the fitness industry. To say that he would trash you to within an inch of your life to help you attain your fitness goals would do him a disservice. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but he is constantly busy. Just depends how much pain you are prepared to endure along the way.

Mental Contrasting.

“Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” ~ Pablo Picasso.

Angela Duckworth who wrote the best selling book, “Grit” describes Mental Contrasting as a self-regulatory strategy for goal setting. “Supplementing a goal to which an individual feels committed with a detailed plan which includes the where, when and how the individual will take action makes goal realization more probable.”(Gollwitzer, 1999; Sheeran, Webb, & Gollwitzer, 2005). It is generally accepted that there are three routes to committing to a goal, indulging, dwelling, and our new best friend, mental contrasting.
Indulging as it suggests, is fantasizing about a positive future without considering the obstacles that may present themselves along the way. Dwelling is defined as reflecting on the negative aspects of present reality. Both are one-sided forms of thinking. Guess what! avoid or you will continue to play off that 18 handicap!

Self Efficacy

“Most of the images of reality on which we base our actions are really based on vicarious experience.” ~ Albert Bandura. 

If you have even a cursory interest in the world of goal setting you will have come across Albert Bandura, the Canadian psychologist. His Self Efficacy theories refer to how our belief system shapes our performance, the confidence to exert control over one’s own motivation, behavior and social environment. Fantastic Tiger, I hear you say, what branch of Donnybrook Fair sells this Self Efficacy magic potion? As the quote above suggests we are all shaped by outside influences, yes, the nature versus nurture question is as old as time. Here’s the answer from contemporary science: “Yes, grit and everything else is influenced by genes. But grit and everything else is also influenced by experience.”~ Angela Duckworth. Role models and peers play a big part in shaping who we are, the environment you are brought up in also serves to enhance our self-efficacy, and finally, it would be churlish to suggest genes don’t play a big part in helping us with our goal setting. 

The 5 am Club ~ The Journey.

“Own your morning, elevate your life” ~ Robin Sharma.

In saying that as Mark Manson suggests “Goal setting suffers from a serious case of survivorship bias. We concentrate on the people who end up winning—the survivors—and mistakenly assume that ambitious goals led to their success while overlooking all of the people who had the same objective but didn’t succeed. When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.“

Having a goal, you have to wait to fall in love when it is achieved! When all of your hard work is focused on a particular goal, what is left to push you forward after you achieve it?  It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress. Goals are good for planning your progress and systems are good for actually making progress.

Robin Sharma, the noted author, wrote a fascinating book, aptly titled, “The 5 am Club,” in which he talks about the journey, if you are that golfer that struggles every year with making, maintaining and achieving goals, maybe you are focusing on the wrong thing! Don’t forget, winners and losers have the same goals. It’s the journey that separates them. 

Jack Nicklaus.

“Dad, you told me you wanted me to learn how to play golf”… “Yes, but $300 worth of range balls?” ~ Charlie Nicklaus.

I sometimes wonder if all the science in the world, all the physics, the biomechanics, the advances we make daily in understanding the golf swing, are just a by-product of luck. To be in the right place, at the right time, and meet the right people. Is that the reality of goal setting and achievement? Read the following excerpt from “A letter to my younger self” by Jack Nicklaus, published recently in the Players Tribune.

Dad will take you over to Scioto Country Club, two blocks from the house. You’ve lived close for a long time, but you’ve never really had a reason to go there. It’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen. The whole landscape looks amazing and fresh that time of the year. The grass is greener, and the sand is whiter than you’ve ever imagined. It’s a Friday morning, school’s been out for a while. Dad will drop you off, there will be kids everywhere. Golf bags banging around, balls rolling around — it’s a scene. It’s your first lesson. It’s warm. There’s too many people. And then you’ll meet the instructor. “Hi, everyone. How are we doing? My name’s Jack Grout. I’m going to teach you how to play golf.”

And a legend was born, one of the greatest players ever to play the game, did he know anything about goal setting? Doubt it! I firmly believe that if you do the right thing every day, consistently, without fail, you will meet your Jack Grout. It is the way of the world.

Thank you for taking the time to read! It is appreciated. Follow our Ryder Cup Captain at our dedicated Ryder Cup page and over at his website. Finally, don’t forget to sign up for my FREE monthly digital magazine plus a Charity Kindle book for Xmas which this year is being produced for Goal. Finally, you also have a chance to win a dozen Titleist Pro V1’s each & every month. Tadhg.

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Tadhg Harrington

Tadhg Harrington is a full time, professional golf instructor, and owner of the Harrington Golf Academy, based in Dublin, Ireland. He is a graduate of the Titleist Performance Institute and Setanta College. He is the eldest brother of three-time time Major Champion, Padraig Harrington.

He succeeds, employing empathy, passion and exceptional customer service, teaching above the noise, the quick tips, and the latest fads and is truly unique in the Irish golf industry.

The Harrington Golf Academy provides long term coaching programs designed to bring sensory processing to motor learning skills. Tadhg teaches the long game at Drynam Park Golf Centre and short game at Roganstown GC. His business partner, Ex European Tour Player, Rebecca Codd, also teaches full time at Drynam Park Golf Centre.