A young pro I’ve been coaching recently told me his mental golf game was causing real inconsistency in his scores. His entire belief and commitment during the round all depended on how well he was scoring. Poor golf psychology meant that a run of good scores made him play better, but the frustration from a couple of bad scores made him want to give up and go home! Why? EXPECTATION! His expectations for his score were so high, he would rarely live up to them, leading to constant disappointment and a “love/hate” relationship with the game. Sound familiar?

If so, the following are not so much mental golf tips, more questions to consider. Firstly, what is your purpose for having high expectations? I’m guessing to make sure you play your best. HOWEVER, unreachable expectations are one of the biggest barriers to you doing just that! The pressure to play to a certain standard causes tension in your mind and body - you think more, control more, steer the ball more, get more emotionally attached to the outcome of shots. The “SHOULD” attitude limits your skills, as playing “percentages” and not making mistakes becomes more important than playing great shots. The more expectations you build, the more emotion you invest in the outcome of shots, not the process. Putting all of your emotional eggs in the basket of your future score, stops you from playing in NOW, resulting in poor shots that fail to live up to your increasing expectations. So you stop trusting your swing and you look outside to fix your “technical problems”. You buy new clubs, take lessons, try out various mental golf tips, practice harder, yet your expectations still limit progress. Expectations are like goals – WITH STRINGS ATTACHED! If you beat your expectations, you just give yourself more pressure next time around. If you fall short of your “shoulds”, you’re left with guilt, embarrassment, frustration and anger. And so, bit by bit, golf becomes more hate than love!

If your mental golf game is trapped by expectations, consider this question. Why do you play the game of golf? I mean what are you ultimately playing the game for? Sure, playing well, low scores and a low handicap are important, but what are your even more important reasons for playing? I’m guessing one or all of these enjoyment, freedom and learning?

So, if the most important thing to you about golf is enjoyment, freedom and learning, how often do you experience them each time you play? If your answer is “Not much”, it’s time to change your golf psychology and remember what got you into golf. Remember now the very first time you played golf. Remember what it felt like to have no expectations and no golf tips to distract you! You didn’t know how you would hit the ball, what you would score, how much natural talent you would have. There are no “shoulds” only “coulds”. I’m guessing you enjoyed yourself because you were free to experiment and learn how you COULD play. It’s rather like having a break from the game for a few weeks or months. Because you’ve not played, you have no expectation of how you will play, so you’re free to enjoy each shot and learn the game again - any good results are a bonus! And whilst you’re free, you somehow play and score really well!!

The most successful golfers know the power of golf psychology and expectation. Ben Hogan said that if he hit three good shots in a round, that would be a good round! Unless you’re a better golfer than Ben Hogan was, now’s the time to change your expectations.

If “success” is simply a low score, then success is not in your control - you can play great golf and still score badly. Real success or failure in golf psychology depends on how well you met your real motivations for playing. Real success is how much you allowed yourself to enjoy the freedom of each shot and learn from it for next time. Expectations of success are totally normal and natural. The question is, how are you measuring success? Your score or how well experienced what’s important? What would golf be like if you were able to keep building your skills whilst treating every round as if it was your first? If you want to measure your ability to live outside expectations, record how many shots you played whilst thoroughly enjoying yourself, as a percentage of the total. From now on expect enjoyment, freedom and lots of great learning!

If you would like to use more of the latest in golf psychology to create more enjoyment, freedom and learning in your game, I’m giving away more mental golf tips through a series of six free audio tipcasts. I’m committed to helping you develop your inner game of golf psychology, so sign up for my newsletter now if you would like to receive these.

Love every shot!

Adam Sprackling