Playing with Intention
How Being Intentional Can Lower our Scores
How Being Intentional Can Lower Our Scores
How often have you stood over a shot without a clear idea of what you wanted to do? You haven’t picked a target or decided what yardage or type of swing you will take. Am I going to hit it over the bunker? Or am I going to aim left and another 10 yards deep? Should I take a full swing or club up and swing easy?
Before you know it, you’ve started your swing. Halfway through the backswing, we’re still deciding how hard to swing or what to aim at, and if you’re like me, maybe you even changed your mind mid-swing!
What we are lacking is pre-shot intentionality and commitment to a plan.
Atomic Habits and Intention
In the bestselling book “Atomic Habits,” author James Clear discusses what is known as implementation intention.
“Implementation intention is a plan you make beforehand about when and where to act. That is, how you intend to implement a particular habit.”
According to Clear, in a research study of 248 people, researchers divided everyone into three groups with the goal of building better exercise habits.
Control Group
Motivation Group
Intention Group
The control group was only asked how often they exercised. The motivation group was shown material on the benefits of exercise, and researchers explained how it could improve their health.
The intention group got the same material as the motivation group; however, they were also told to formulate a plan for when and where they would exercise over the following week.
They had to write the following: “During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on [day] at [time] in [place].”
The results were conclusive. Groups 1 and 2 exercised at least one time a week 35-38% of the time. The third group exercised 91% of the time, double the rate of the first two groups.
How does this apply to golf?
Implementation intention could be used in multiple ways, including writing a statement before a round to commit to a particular habit you want to stick to. But I’m more interested in what we see on TV — a player and caddie discussing the upcoming shot in detail before stepping up to the ball.
The player and caddie discuss distance, wind, target, shot type, and club selection. They decide all of these factors before stepping up to the ball. The caddie gives the player his club, and the player then goes into the shot committed to their decision.
I’ve only had a caddie once in my life, and it 100% helped me play better simply by verbally telling my caddy what my intention was before every single shot.
Most of us don’t have caddies, so how can we implement this ourselves?
Pre-Shot Intentionality
It’s pretty simple. Just state out loud what your intention is for the next shot. That’s it.
We could say it out loud to ourselves or, even better, to a playing partner. A playing partner doubles the effect by adding a layer of accountability and motivation. (Shout out to Tom and Brian for providing me with some accountability)
“Ok, I’m going to play this 150 yards to the back middle of the green. Avoid the front bunkers. Smooth and easy 8-iron.”
“Frank, I’m going to play a fade with my driver up the left side of the fairway, away from the water on the right. Full swing.”
It is incredibly simple, but it works. Do this for every single shot.
It doesn’t mean you’ll hit every shot perfectly, but it does increase the odds that you will make better decisions and free your mind to hit more quality shots. The combination of these two factors can lead to significant improvements in your scores.
Implementation intention can help you eliminate doubts by providing a clear plan of action to follow. You said what you would do; now it’s about focusing on the target and hitting the ball.
I’ll leave you with a final quote from Clear:
“Hundreds of studies have shown that implementation intentions are effective for sticking to our goals. It sweeps away any foggy notions like “I want to work out more” or “I want to be more productive” or “I should vote” and transforms them into a concrete plan of action.”
I hope you found this post useful. Have a great weekend, and enjoy the fall weather.
I feel golf smarter already.