Expectations and Goals - What's the difference? And how does it apply to my golf?

So do you expect to break 100 or is it your goal to break 100? Do you expect to hit a straight drive on the first tee or is it your goal to hit a straight drive? If you set goals to achieve an outcome, then you should expect to achieve it, right? Or should you? Many of my clients expect to play great, however they do not set any goals to achieve an outcome of playing great. So then expectations fall short and golfers become frustrated. We can start to change this by asking ourselves - What's the difference between expectations and goals?

Let's first look at the definitions of each-
Goal: is a desired result a person envisions, plans, and commits to achieve
Expectation: a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the near future

Now let's look at a golf example-
Mr. Stone only goal this season is to break 100. He already expected to break 100 because he's been playing golf for 10 years and he feels like he should have done that several times over. However his expectations haven't been met, yet. Mr. Stone comes to me for a lesson and explains his frustration to me. I ask some questions to get to understand his limitations, etc. I ask him his goals, to which there is only one — break 100. Only one goal, easy enough right? Nope! This is his expectation, not his goal. He hasn't planned to break 100, he expects to break 100. Big difference. During our time together evaluating his game, I begin to see how Mr. Stones' expectations vs. goals can differ. When we are on the putting green he lags a putt to 6 feet and expects to make it. Expects, but doesn't practice 6 footers. Hmmm. How can Mr. Stone expect to make a putt he doesn't practice? Because he can, it's his expectation. It's my job as an instructor to help coach my players into changing expectations into goals that they can achieve. I believe if we can make Mr. Stone a better putter, he has a greater chance of breaking 100.
Expectation: to make 6 footers, by doing so he can break 100
Goal: break 100 by becoming a better putter, so that he can now start to eliminate 3 putts from his round
If Mr. Stone commits to practicing the drills I give him for putting, he can now start to expect that he will achieve his goal of no more 3 putts in a round and therefore, giving him a better chance at breaking 100.

Now the expectation of breaking 100 changes to the goal of breaking 100.

So now how does this apply to your game? Take some time to ask yourself about your expectations and your goals with your golf game. Are they one in the same or different? Hopefully by reading the post above you will begin to understand the difference between the two and challenge you to set some goals to achieve.

Come see me at Breakers West soon! My lesson book will be open November 8 for the 2011-2012 winter season. Looking forward to working with you on your golf game and your goals!