Better Golf Academy: Strategy to Awesome Golf - How to Get Motivated

How to Get Motivated

10/31/19 • 21 min

Better Golf Academy: Strategy to Awesome Golf

In this episode of the Better Golf Academy, I discuss how the motivation works and why after a certain point, or when it gets too hard, or when we start losing steam, drive, and motivation...we slowly fade out and even quit. But what keeps us motivated to continue to pursue our goals?

Dr. Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist with her research focusing on how motivation influences our decisions. And She talks about these 3 foundational principles that help motivate us.

Progress Monitoring. The brain does a good job processing positive effects. And as you progress, it helps you to stay focused and going after your goal. As you know, I always talk about my Engineering days...and the famous quote “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”. There’s definitely some truth in that.
Social Incentive. We are social people. We really care what other people are doing. We want to do the same and we want to do it better. Example: 9 out of 10 people pay their taxes in time enhanced compliance in that group by 15% bringing in 5.6 billion pounds. Highlighting what other people are doing is a very strong incentive. I truly believe this, one of the most effective results-driven workout concepts out there is still CrossFit. Because of their philosophy of this Social Incentive. It’s brilliant creating a small community of people to encourage each other, compete with one another and keep each other accountable. Social Incentive.
Immediate Rewards. True that! We are impatient, some of us have ADD (me) and we need immediate feedback, immediate incentive and lots of immediate rewards...in whatever form that we can get it in.

I think we can all agree that improving our golf game is a long, and ambitious goal. We need more inspiration than hey, you suck, you need to go practice and get better. We need to intentionally put steps in place to guide us day to day and keep us motivated to get there. And, I think this is a great science that is backed up by research.

Here are the 3 action steps for you:

#1, set specific goals, remember to go to bettergolfacademy.com/9 to download the performance report to help you set your specific goals.
#2, Don’t be a loner. Play together, bet, create competitive situations to push you, care about each other’s performances and improvements. This will create an incentive to work harder and improve. And...
#3, Make turn your goals into tiny habits. Reward yourself often and see your simple progress and celebrate.

I am still so still inspired by the quote by Jacob Riis “...I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.”

Let’s keep hammering away. Hundred, thousand, 10 thousand, 100 thousand balls hit, putts hit, chips hit, every club in your bag hit, pursuing excellence, setting goals, achieving them and celebrating the small victories!! I am here celebrating it with you. And hoping for a huge breakthrough in your game, the rock splitting in two moments in your golf journey.

In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to Better Golf Academy, let’s get better together. Yeah? Cool. Love you guys, bye for now.

Dr. Tali Sharot, a neuroscientist with her research focusing on how motivation influences our decisions. And She talks about these 3 foundational principles that help motivate us.

Progress Monitoring. The brain does a good job processing positive effects. And as you progress, it helps you to stay focused and going after your goal. As you know, I always talk about my Engineering days...and the famous quote “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it”. There’s definitely some truth in that.
Social Incentive. We are social people. We really care what other people are doing. We want to do the same and we want to do it better. Example: 9 out of 10 people pay their taxes in time enhanced compliance in that group by 15% bringing in 5.6 billion pounds. Highlighting what other people are doing is a very strong incentive. I truly believe this, one of the most effective results-driven workout concepts out there is still CrossFit. Because of their philosophy of this Social Incentive. It’s brilliant creating a small community of people to encourage each other, compete with one another and keep each other accountable. Social Incentive.
Immediate Rewards. True that! We are impatient, some of us have ADD (me) and we need immediate feedback, immediate incentive and lots of immediate rewards...in whatever form that we can get it in.

Here are the 3 action steps for you:

#1, set specific goals, remember to go to bettergolfacademy.com/9 to download the performance report to help you set your specific goals.
#2, Don’t be a loner. Play together, bet, create competitive situations to push you, care about each other’s performances and improvements. This will create an incentive to work harder and improve. And...
#3, Make turn your goals into tiny habits. Reward yourself often and see your simple progress and celebrate.

In the meantime, thank you so much for listening to Better Golf Academy, let’s get better together. Yeah? Cool. Love you guys, bye for now.

Previous Episode

How to Play the Par 3s Better

So, let’s talk about Par 3s. How do you feel about them? You know how most golfers feel about Par 3s? They don’t talk about them with lot of joy and admiration. Well, why? Most amazing signature holes on golf courses are Par 3s. And, also, think about it...Par 3 is really a Par 4 that you’ve already hit a perfect drive off of. You hit it right down the middle...and you have a perfect lie and the best angle going into the approach shot. How hard can it be?

Well, let’s look at the Professional Tour Stats.

Par 5’s, pros score 4.67 average score...which below par. Nice
Par 4’s, pros score 4.04 average score...which is slightly over par.
Par 3’s, pros score 3.07 average score...which shows that it’s what pros mostly struggle with.

Why? In theory, shouldn’t you be able to score better than the par 4s? You essentially hit a perfect drive.

Well, here’s what you might not know. Par 3s, if you look at the overall design of all the golf courses, yes, they might be the most amazing signature holes, but they are also most guarded, they sometimes have the smallest greens compared to other holes, they have more bunkers around them typically compared to other holes and they definitely love to add hazards around them AND ...the architects tend to make the Par 3s harder because they think we have an advantage because we get to tee it up and have a perfect lie and angle to the green.

So what’s our goal? We need to out-smart the architects and we need to do our homework and walk up to the shot confident and prepared.

Next Episode

Three Fundamental Questions Answered

There are so many aspects of the game that are negotiable. That's one of the reasons why I don't talk about swing techniques on this podcast, there are so many different ways to achieve your goal. I can offer one suggestion but someone else can offer something completely different and the result could end up being the same.

But, why do we have to know the science behind it? Because it doesn't change. It's what we all need to work on to improve. But there are 3 key fundamental questions we can answer through science.

How to hit it straighter? Understand the relationship between your clubface and your swing plane at impact.
How to hit it longer? Understand the relationship between swing speed, ball speed, attack angle, launch angle and spin.
And finally, how to hit it over and over again? Eliminate using small muscles and focus on using your large muscles in your swing.

Golf is an endless journey of improving and perfecting. This game of golf can be so complex yet so simple at the same time. It's an individualized game that you can't try to mimic or compare with anyone else. Along with black and white fundamental of science, it also offers a more complex, variety of colors and shades, which is mixed with technique, science, and art.

And it involves mental, physical and even spiritual components that when it's all aligned, understood and executed, you can fully experience the fullness of it and appreciate the infinite details and beauty of it all. You all with me?

I hope all this can help give you a new perspective on your growth and help you reach your full potential.