“I never learned anything from a match that I won.” – Bobby Jones
Golf is an inconsistent game by nature and scores will always fluctuate, but what’s guaranteed is that every round is a learning opportunity for long-term improvement. Too many golfers don’t spend enough time reflecting on their rounds, to highlight the things that they did well, or to look at situations and shots in the round that exposed their weaknesses. This often comes back to mindset – an ego oriented “fixed” mindset is more concerned about results, placings and how that result made them look and that’s all that matters. Mastery or “Growth” mindset golfers look deeper into the performance to find out what was learned and what can be improved. A proper post round review process can help you nurture a growth mindset, increase your self-esteem as a player and learn from every round.
Using A Performance Journal
Studies show that writing things down in a journal is a highly effective way to reflect and learn from an experience. It gives you the opportunity to make sense of what happened during your rounds and what you were feeling in different situations. This can help you identify what about your process is working, what areas of your game needs work, and it will allow you to reconcile with the round so you can move on.
Even though writing on paper is most effective, most of my students use an online performance journal that shares their entries with me. Entries can be written down on paper and uploaded as a photo or typed directly into the app. But most importantly, it’s about what you write down after a round. In this module, I’d like to share the template that my students use.
A Simple Post Round Review
“There’s no such thing as failure, you either succeed or you learn.”