What to expect when working with a Life Coach who was a professional golfer

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Vicky Tomko, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

What to expect when working with a Life Coach who used to be a professional golfer ?

Golf has taught me a lot and is part of my identity now. I am very grateful for my parents having pushed me from an early age to learn this game.

All sports are difficult but golf is exceptionally tough. Some people don’t respect it as a sport so we can also say : that game is very tough !!

Golf is beautiful, however it can also get into your head and you walking off the course feeling absolutely horrific.
Why ? The mind, the mental game and confidence play a huge role.

The amazing shots don’t happen often but if they do: it gets addicting and it is pretty badass hitting good shots !

Golf is very confrontational as the shots are either good or bad; there is hardly any in between. One cannot sugar coat or rely on/ blame someone else.
At times in the past I wished I would have been part of a team sport where on bad days I could possibly rely on my teammates or simply have someone helping to cheer me up again.
But not with golf; it is full responsibility and it is only you and the ball.

Even though not everyone likes criticism or being told what one does bad; with golf is it very easy to see what areas are good/ bad and need improvements.
For example if the Driver does not end on the short grass but rather in lakes, forests or high grass your Driver clearly needs work, if your irons are not on or close to the green, they need work, and for putting it is very obvious: if short ones do not go in and long ones do not approach the hole close enough, it needs some attention.

The general golfer is obsessed with hitting balls on the rage and hitting long shots whereas the scratch or pro golfer knows that all areas need work. And that’s where I draw the parallel to real ‘life’. Our life consists of different areas and each one needs attention in order to live a healthy and happy balanced life. If only focusing on the financial dimension of our life and neglecting our health, our bodies at some point will suffer. If we only focus on being the best possible parents but completely neglecting looking after ourselves, relationship with the spouse there is also an imbalance. Whatever dimension in our life, everything needs a bit of attention and maintenance.

And whether alone or with a coach: weaknesses should be identified and then tackled.

Besides the occasional lessons with a pro coach golfers are exposed to silence and loneliness a lot. The only way to improve is to practice and to play regularly. And that usually happens alone. This being alone can have positive effects outside the course as well : especially in Covid times during lockdowns I personally did not find it tough being alone and minding my own business as long as I can still FaceTime friends and family to keep a special connection.

Over the past decade of coaching full time I started observing how I would apply the quite logical approach of finding solutions and improving areas in my life as I did in golf. Golf as well as in life things might not always turn out the way we want, right? Sometimes life happens….But it is good to have some sort of systems or methods.

Whether is it golf or life coaching I always start with analysing: what is good/ bad what are strengths/ weaknesses, what can be improved ?

This approach applies for anything : relationships, identity search, job satisfaction, lifestyle, weight management and so on.

Long story short working with me includes:

- Analysing problems / finding better solutions in a non judgemental safe space
- Goal setting ( WOOP method but also some of my own personal ones )
- Awareness creation
- Clarity gains
- Learn new concepts
- Routines, discipline and consistency
- Mindset
- Healthy habits
- Mindfulness

I like to set goals that are realistic and then come up with a plan how to work towards them. I personally do not like shooting for the stars with unrealistic goals but goals that are attainable but challenging. One must consider obstacles, deal with the unexpected and incontrollables…. And I am not shy to confront those as I don’t believe in ignorance and avoidance.

The reality is we might not achieve every goal in our life.
However I strongly believe: if we commit to a goal, and put the right process in place we can achieve things we might initially not even think we are capable of.

Dream big, work hard and be kind.