goal setting

I wrote an article about this topic a few years ago, but it’s one that continues to come up — and for good reason. You’ve probably heard it (or said it yourself): “She shot 72 in her practice round… why can’t she do that in tournaments?” As a long-time competitive player and coach, I want to respond with, “It’s just not the same thing.”But I know that answer alone doesn’t help anyone understand why it’s different — so let’s take a closer look at what truly separates practice rounds (and on-course practice) from tournament play. The Consequences Are Real Even when a player takes her practice rounds seriously — counts every stroke, plays with focus, and stays disciplined — there’s still one key element missing: real consequences. In practice, no one’s asking you to sign a scorecard. There’s no live leaderboard. You don’t have coaches, friends, [...]

I often get asked advice on which tournaments/tours and how many tournaments a junior golfer should play. I wanted to share some of my advice on why this isn't a question that has a simple answer. There is not a "one size fits all" plan when it comes to tournament scheduling because all players have different goals, expectations, resume, family demands, priorities, and financial means that determine what a tourney schedule should look like. A few factors that dictate variations in tournament schedules include (but are not limited to): A player's goals for playing college golf and her current tournament resume will dictate the quality and quantity of playing in tournaments. This has varying ranges as the number of tournaments is likely important at one stage of your development. Then it does become a bit more about the quality of tournaments over the quantity once you [...]

"Perfection is motivated by fear. Excellence is motivated by love." One thing I've come to notice in the 14 years of consulting, evaluating, and watching female golfers, is their tendency to seek perfection in the game of golf. The girls have a mentality that makes them fear they are going to do something wrong or that if it's not perfect then it's not good enough. They expect every shot to be perfect. They worry a bad shot or missed putt means they made a mistake. They worry about what will happen if they miss a green. Or if they make a double bogey. Or if they hit it OB. They fear they are letting their coach or their parents down. They fear they won't get recruited to play college golf. Instead of seeking perfection on the golf course, focus on seeking excellence. Excellence is driven by [...]

One of the tougher parts about advising young girls through the college recruiting process (and even college grads who come back to me for advice on internships and job interviews) is the rejection and disappointment of not being recruited or offered a scholarship or position on the team. Not having the scores is usually a pretty obvious and understandable reason that can somewhat easily be accepted by a young golfer. But when a young golfer finds out that a friend of theirs, or rival player, or someone whose scores weren’t as good as theirs, ends up getting recruited or offered then it can be very difficult to not take it personally and wonder what you did wrong. Well after almost 14 years of working in this industry, I wanted to share some of the reasons and insight into why this might happen and how you can [...]