Lesson 3 of 5
What To Do
Telling yourself you want to break 90 does not help you hit the next shot. Score goals sit in the future, and you cannot control them directly. Process goals are things you can do on every shot, no matter what the scorecard says.
JJ points out that golf is a long game. There is more time spent waiting and not playing than in most other sports. The players who consistently improve are only focused on the playing of the game during the 30 seconds before each shot. Your conscious mind only needs to be involved during the pre-shot routine. At that point it hands the shot to your subconscious, which is focused purely on shot shape and target. The rest of the time your job is to keep your mind and body relaxed.
In this lesson you will set your process goals and play JJ's Circle 18 game, a challenge to do something you have probably never done on a golf course: play a round where score is not the goal.
How To Do It
Step 1: Know the difference
An outcome goal is a result, like a score or hitting 10 greens. A process goal is an action, like completing your full routine on every shot, picking a small target before every swing, or putting the club away after every shot. When JJ says process, he means your shot routine: your preparation for each shot and your post-shot routine.
Step 2: Choose three process goals
JJ has his players write 3 process goals every day. Pick the three that would help your game most. Examples: full routine on every shot, commit 100% to every club choice, aim for the fat side of the green, post-shot routine after every miss.
Step 3: Play the Circle 18 game
During your next round, do not make a good score your goal. Do not even write numbers on the scorecard. When you finish each hole, draw a circle around the hole number if you went through your routine on every shot. If you did not, no circle. Make 18 circles your goal, or try to beat your last circle score each time.
Step 4: Take it one step further
Once you can get most of your circles, add the next challenge: do not think about golf in between shots. Golf thinking starts when you arrive at your ball and ends when you put the club away.
Step 5: Score the process every round
After Circle 18, move to the Mental Game Scorecard. Each hole you check four things: committed, pre-shot routine, post-shot review and move on, for a Process Score out of 72. Look at your process goals first after every round, then your score. Over time you will see the link between the two, and that link builds real confidence.
Track your process goals here
Everything you save here is stored in My Playbook.
When To Use It
- When setting goals for any round or practice session
- Mid-round when you catch yourself adding up your score
- After a round, to judge how well you actually played the mental game
Common Mistakes
- Choosing process goals you cannot control, like "make every putt"
- Writing numbers on the card during Circle 18 "just to see"
- Dropping your process goals once the score starts going badly
- Thinking about golf for the whole four hours and wearing your mind out
- Only judging the round by your total score
Practical Exercise
Process Reset Breath
When you catch yourself doing math on the scorecard, stop and use this breath to come back to your process. Breathe in for 4, hold for 4, breathe out for 4, hold for 4. On the last hold, name your number one process goal.
Pattern: 4-4-4-4 seconds, 3 cycles. The voice counts each second for you.
Ready
Takeaways
- You control the process. The score follows
- The only golf thinking that matters happens in the 30 seconds before each shot
- Circle 18: a circle for every hole you ran your routine on every shot
- Three clear process goals beat one big score goal
- Process focus lowers stress and keeps you in the present
Reflect
Use It Next Round
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