How to Become a World Class Golfer: Building Your Golf Success Vision Statement (Part 1)

Aussie Jason Day is a World Class Golfer

Imagine that you decided to become a great golfer—a world class golfer. You love playing golf so much that you want to make it your career choice, and you desperately want to be successful playing it.

You dream of winning big professional tournaments, you want to earn lots of money, and you want to walk the beautiful green fairways of Augusta National and many of the other famous golf courses where major golf championships are played.

You possibly also want to win a major or two.



Does that sound much like you?

Do you have a big and bold vision of what you want to achieve in golf that is similar to the one I’ve just described?

Are you a golfer who is deadly serious about becoming a top ranked professional golfer sometime in your future?

We hope that you do.

In today’s article (part 1 of a series) we want to help you to develop your vision of what you need to do to develop your game to a world class standard, and over the following weeks we will help you to build your golf success bridge from where you are to where you want to take your game to.

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All Success Begins with a Bold Idea
What do you want from playing the game of golf? The definition of an idea is "a thought or suggestion as a possible path to action."

I'm sure you would agree that everything "man made" began with an idea first? 

Everything you can see around you was devised by a man or a woman (or a group of men and women) who thought their idea was good enough to put into action, and eventually through a lot of effort it became a reality.

This is a simple statement of fact, ideas need action to exist. As such there are just two main types of ideas.

1. Ideas that stay in your head.
2. Ideas that become a reality because you act on them.

There are lots of ideas that you have had that remain as ideas, and there are many ideas that you have had that you turned into reality.


Here's a simple way to think about it.

                                                                REALITY  
                                                Ideas into Action

Much of your life is a product of your ideas that became reality. Learning to drive a car started with the idea that you wanted to drive a car, which led to driving lessons, then passing a driving test, and eventually earning a drivers license to legally drive a car on the road.

Learning to play golf started with the idea that playing golf was something worthwhile doing. The idea led you to go to a golf course (or driving range) to try it out.

You either took some lessons formally, with an instructor, or informally, by reading a book, or possibly watching a DVD.

Or maybe a family member gave you some tips to start you off. 

Either way what started out as an idea became a reality.

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The Golf Success Vision Statement?
Now there are ideas, and then there are big and bold ideas that you can develop a golf success vision statement around.

You see, the effort that moves you towards your vision should come after you develop enough clarity around your vision.

And only a vision that is truly inspiring can influence you to become motivated enough to sustain the long-term effort required to achieve your vision.


You must be truly inspired by a bold vision of what you believe is possible so you can develop the motivation you need to fuel the daily physical effort required to make it come true for you.

You cannot be vague and general about your vision, you must be very specific about it, so you will need to continually render your vision with as much detail as you can imagine.

The clearer you are about what you want from the game of golf, the easier it will be to build a plan for turning it into reality.

A golf success vision statement is a simple declaration about what you want your golf game to look like in the future (usually around 5 to 10 years but can be longer).

It is your long-term vision of where you will take your golf game to. The following questions will help you to start formulating your own golf success vision statement.

1. Describe Your Core Ideology (The What)
   E.g. I want to become a top 100 golfer in the world (we consider a golfer ranked inside the top 100 as a world class golfer).
   
   
2. Describe Your Core Value/s Behind this Ideology (The Why)
   E.g. I want to become a world class golfer because I want to play on a major professional golf tour where I can play for large purses every week so I have more opportunity to become a financially independent professional golfer by the time I am 40.
   
   I want to earn enough income from playing professional golf to support my family and provide them with a better life...
   
   
3. Describe What Your Game Will Look Like 5 Years From Today (The When and Where)
   E.g. 5 years from today I will be playing full time on the European Tour and my world ranking will be inside 300.
   
   
4. Describe What Your Game Will Look Like 10 Years from Today (The When and Where)
   E.g. 10 years from today I will have won at least 3 times on the European Tour and my world ranking will be inside the top 100.

Never forget that everyone at the top of world golf was once at the bottom. All world class golfers started out as ordinary golfers with a vision that they could be a lot more. Developing your vision helps you to formulate your plan for getting yourself from where you are currently, to where you wish to go.

For a more detailed goal setting process to help you to develop your long-term vision. (click here)

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Rory Has a Bold Vision That Drives Him

Rory McIlroy's Grand Vision
Think about it, how do you think Rory McIlroy developed into a great golfer? It wasn't just hard work was it?.

He must have originally started with a bold idea that he could become a great golfer from Northern Ireland. He would have thought about this idea everyday as he went to work on it.

Because he was continually inspired by his bold vision, he was motivated to apply himself diligently to it. The result of this constant mental and physical attention to the vision was that it moved him closer and closer to it.

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Warning: Where There is No Vision...

Here’s the rub though, and it's important. 

The biggest challenge we continually face working with elite golfers struggling to make progress in their game is that very often their vision is anything but clear. 

In fact, in most cases it isn't written down anywhere. You cannot achieve unprecedented golf success by just "winging it." 

Winging it can and does lead golfers to try a bit of this, and try a bit of that. In other words they approach golf improvement as a fragmented and jumbled process that guarantees one thing; they are likely to give up well before they reach their vision.

Why?

If you have an impoverished vision of what’s possible in your golfing future then you are likely to find it difficult to bring it into reality. You will get a reality, but it won’t be the one you really want. 

Why would any golfer have the motivation to work really hard on their game if they don’t have an inspiring vision of what they want to achieve from playing golf? 

Think about it like this. Motivation = Motive (vision) x Action (effort)

Therefore a fundamental requirement of long-term golf success is consistent action towards worthy goals. Research backs this up by suggesting that persistence of effort and grit is directly related to a golfers passion for achieving their long-term goals. 


We find that a lack of vision is probably the biggest stumbling block to elite golf success.

In summary, the path to golf success begins with a well thought out vision of what you want to achieve from golf. The clearer you can be about the level of success you wish to achieve playing golf, the easier it will be to develop a relevant and purposeful plan of action.

Go to work today on your golf success vision statement. Imagine what your life would be like as a top 100 golfer and everything associated with that vision.

In next weeks article we'll show you how to start building a world class golfer plan of action that covers the specific steps that will build your bridge from your vision of what's possible to your reality.

See you next week.


Lawrie Montague and David Milne - Pro Tour Golf College
Your Success on Tour is Our Business

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