Annika Sorenstam won the U.S. Women's Open in 1995. At 25 years old she had reached a milestone in her young career that many dare to even dream. It was her first career victory. She then did something odd and yet it helped define her career. What did she do that was odd? She re-valuated her goals and embarked on a path to ACCOMPLISH those goals.
The result is one of the most storied careers in golf. Annika accumulated 72 LPGA Tour victories, 10 Major Championships, and stood toe to toe with PGA Tour players in 2003 at the Colonial. How did she accomplish so much? She set extremely high goals. And, here is the critical part, she put herself on a path to accomplish those goals. Specifically Annika's plan and method was outlined in the tremendous product called VISION 54 by her coaches Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson. Please click HERE for more information in VISION 54. I highly recommend their program.
WHERE TO START
GOALSFirst, establish a clear goal. For Annika it was to have the ability to birdie every hole and shoot 54. Yes, birdie every hole! Now that may not be a realistic goal for you! Your goal may be to break 100, 90, 80 etc. It may be to loose 10 lbs. It may also be to simply have fun and have a healthier and more fulfilling life. Point is to make it specific. You can make it a sizable goal that may seem out of reach but you would be surprised what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it!
PLAN
Second, evaluate, with razor sharp detail, what areas need to be improved in your life to accomplish this goal. For Annika she had a lot to do? She needed to hit the ball further and be able to reach par 5s in 2 shots. She needed better stamina. She needed her equipment to be better.
But this goes far beyond simply looking at your golf game - notice I mention "life" and not just your golf game. In order to reach your goals we must look at this as a life goal - not just a golf goal. I can share that for me personally I needed to organize my life better. For instance I needed to make sure to spend the quality time with my family before I played. I needed to make sure I balanced my check book as well. My check book may seem odd. Why balance my check book? Well, when I am in between shots on the course my mind will wander. The thought of having to do meaningless tasks such as balance my check book would weight on my mind and prevent me from playing my best. I had to handle my off the course business before I handle my on the course business. Think about your own game when you play well. I bet you weren't thinking about all your chores you had to do after the round.
REMOVE OBSTACLES
Third, and this is quite important, is to match up and review your goals with your evaluation with a HUGE DOSE OF REALITY. Matching up your goals, with your plan and then evaluating your plan may reveal how aggressive your goals may be. Yet removing those obstacles that prevent you from reaching your goals is the beauty of what Annika did, and what you can do!
RE-EVALUATE & ADJUST
Periodically the plan may need re-evaluated and/or adjusted. During the process job issues, family issues, health issues may pop up and challenge you ability to reach your goals as they were originally laid out.
THE 18 HANDICAP PLAYER LOOKING TO BREAK 80
For instance, let's look at a 18 handicap player wanted to break 80 for the first time. What is that going to take? First, can the player hit the ball far enough to reach a majority of the greens in regulation? Can they get the ball around the green in order to score? Once this is accomplished how is the players short game? Can they get up and down at least 50% of the time? Our player, for instance, can reach most of the holes but fails to recover from poor shots and doesn't have the short game to recover. In order for this player to reach his goals a simple solution would be to have them develop their short game. A sample plan would look like this:
GOAL: Break 80 on a regulation course over 6200 yards and a rating of 70.0 with a 120 slope one time in the next 2 years.
PLAN:
- Evaluate their wedge system and equipment - no gaps and at least 3 wedges.
- Read up on short game techniques such as Dave Pelz, Stan Utley or Dave Stockton.
- Develop a practice and training schedule:
- Take the Chipping and Putting Test once a month.
- Focus on the 3 weakest areas within Chipping and Putting
- Commit to chipping and putting for at least one hour a week
- Commit to warming up chipping and putting before playing for 30 minutes.
- Commit to working on short game for 20 minutes after each round.
- Cost of new wedge
- Cost of lessons if needed
- Maintain schedule to arrive to golf course 30 minutes earlier than usual.
- Drive by golf course once a week on the way home to practice short game.
- Join a club with a good short game area
- Take care of house chores through out the week and evenings to have extra time on weekends.
- Involve spouse/significant other with evening practice sessions.
For the player who is stuck on an 18 handicap and needs to drop roughly 10 shots off their handicap and whose lowest score is an 84 to reach their goal of shooting in the 70s might seem unrealistic. But, once we identify the goal, develop a plan and remove the obstacles we have a pretty good chance of reaching out goals.
As for Annika, her goal was to shoot 54, to birdie every hole in one round. She never quite accomplished that goal. But in her quest for that goal she shot 59 (-13), the only woman to do so, during the second round of the 2001 Standard Register Ping. She had 13 birdies, 5 pars and 0 bogeys. What happened with those 5 pars Annika?!
If you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to contact me at john.grothe@gmail.com
Your friend in golf...
John Grothe, PGA
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