Regardless of what we desire in life, it is essential that we set goals to give us direction and keep us on track. There are several further benefits to setting goals. They help us make important decisions, prioritise what matters, and motivate us to move forward. A list of carefully planned and considered objectives can often be the difference between success and failure.
We all know golf is an ongoing pursuit of continuous improvement. The satisfaction is not only in work but also in seeing steady progress. Us golfers are always chasing those fantastic shots that stick in the memory. The ones that make you say at the end of the round “hmmm I think I’ll come back tomorrow”. Even golfers who claim “I just play for fun” (if such a thing is possible) have general targets they want to achieve. At the very least, they have a standard they wish to maintain. Unless they’re trying to dishonestly game the handicap system, I have never met a golfer who was actively trying to shoot higher scores.
Setting yearly golf-related objectives can help you get your game to where you want it to be. This year I strongly encourage you to replace a traditional new year’s resolution with at least one golf-related goal.
Why You Should Avoid Traditional New Year Resolution Type Goals
The problem with traditional new year resolutions like trying to quit smoking, alcohol or fatty foods is we tend to discard them once we have broken them the first time. Usually, by mid-January we have relented and chalked this year’s resolution down as a failure – “oh well better luck next year”. However, if you set a yearlong goal like shaving three strokes off your handicap in 12 months or spending more time at the driving range, it cannot be ruined the second you have one bad round.
So, let’s have a look at some exciting golf goals you can set for 2021.
Non-Playing-Performance Related Goals
The goal does not need to be about improving your game. Immediately after I graduated from University, I worked as a caddy at Wentworth Golf Club, home of the BMW Championship, the flagship competition on the European Tour. I caddied for a gentleman during the golf day of an investment bank. He was the CEO of a multinational corporation who explained that he was taking golf lessons from a surprisingly honest professional. The pro informed him that he was destined for failure if he set a goal like breaking 80 (ouch). Instead, the pro gave him a list of the world’s top fifty golf courses and said, “here, your goal is to play all these”. Now most of us do not have the connections to have played Augusta National six times as he told me he had, but it is still an excellent example. Perhaps your goal could be to play the top ten courses in your region/county or three of the top twenty of the country? Maybe it could be to play ten golf courses that are brand new to you?
Mental Game Goals
Another goal could be to stop making foolish decisions. We are all guilty of this at times, but the objective will mean different things to different golfers. You may want to stop tinkering with the shiniest new equipment and just get fitted for clubs that work for you.
Alternatively, you could set a goal from a golf course strategy perspective. If you know that you always attempt high-risk shots (and fail to pull them off), focus on cutting that out of your game. If you use this example, you would need to think about how to keep track of it and keep yourself honest. Perhaps set up a spreadsheet or logbook to monitor how often are you attempting to thread the ball through a needle’s eye gap in the trees (or carry your three wood 250 yards over a lake from a downslope in the rough).
Setting The Right Type Of Goals
Think back to your school days or your recent corporate performance reviews. We are always told that we must set SMART targets (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely aka time-bound). For example, lowering your handicap is a good objective. However, it should be specific, i.e. by how much do you want to reduce it? Your handicap is measurable by nature so that one is covered. It must be achievable and realistic – how much time you can dedicate to improving your game? Finally, it must be time-bound (in this case, the end of the year).
Be even more specific by outlining how you plan to achieve it. Otherwise, you are saying little more than, “I want to play better golf”, which is probably true for everyone. Think about what that lower handicap means. Maybe it means a better short game, holing more short putts. However, maybe you already hole all your short putts so lowering your handicap would mean hitting more greens and fairways in regulation.
To recap, you should not set a goal like, “I want to lower my handicap from 16 to 13 by the end of 2021”.
You should set a goal like, “I want to lower my handicap from 16 to 12 by the end of 2021 by holing more short putts, improving my bunker play and hitting more greens in regulation”. If you set this goal, you would also need to make sure you measure your target statistics.
The same logic applies if you set a goal like “I want to break 100 / 90 / 80 / 70 by the end of the year”, it is a great goal but make it more specific by outlining the HOW and the WHAT.
Now we have that covered, let’s keep looking at the types of goals you might set.
Playing Quantity Goals
Another great theme to set goals around if the quantity of golf you play. You could give yourself a target number of rounds to play by the end of the year or an average number of rounds per month (I think it is better to set the goal as an average rather than a minimum because if you miss one month, you can still make it up). Your goal might be to play in a certain amount of club competitions or to meet new people at your golf club (which you will achieve by playing in more events).
You might want to put more effort into improving your game off the course. Your goal could be to go to the driving range at least once a week or spend fifteen minutes improving your putting at home twice each week. Increasing the amount of time you spend trying to improve your golf is a tremendous low-pressure goal. It’s low pressure because the objective is to put the time in rather than expecting a result.
Golf Fitness Goals
I believe everyone should make space on their list for at least one golf fitness goal. The objective does not have to be “I want to work out every day and add fifty yards to my drive”. However, that is a good target! Your fitness goal could be something like “I want to follow a YouTube golf workout three times a week” or “I want to spend 10 minutes a day doing core exercises for golf”. By the way, check out https://www.mytpi.com/ for loads of free golf exercise.
You could also set a goal to improve your golf mobility. Check out the website referenced above or get the book ‘fix your body fix your swing’. Other golf fitness goals could include; taking weekly sessions with a golf fitness trainer or specific training to increase your swing speed. You don’t have to get too technical and know all your speed numbers. The success criteria could be as simple as finally driving over that tricky bunker 240 yards down the 10th fairway.
The motivation to work on your golf fitness could be to avoid new injuries or manage existing ones. It does not always have to be about adding distance to your drives. If avoiding injury is your goal, it could be measure by how you feel the day after playing or doing a specified number of mobility exercise routines a week.
Commit To Monitoring Your Golf Statistics
If you already monitor your golf statistics, you probably already know what goals you want to work on, e.g. hitting more greens or fairways in regulation.
If you do not measure your statistics, starting to do so is a great goal. Within a few rounds, you will have a much better idea of what parts of your game to prioritise. You don’t need to measure every last round. Doing so would give you the most accurate picture of your game, but you could set the goal of recording your stats two or three times a month. Please don’t make it a chore, or you will not keep it up.
Some More Ideas
I have listed a few more ideas below to provide some inspiration. If you borrow any from the list remember to adjust them to be realistic to your ability and time commitments. You also need to define precisely what success looks like, i.e. how you are planning to measure it?
- Play five rounds where I score nothing more than a bogey on any individual hole
- Play five rounds without three-putting a single green
- Take at least one golf lesson a month
- Increase driver clubhead speed by ten miles per hour
- Win three club competitions
- Stop hitting it in the easily avoidable water hazard/bunker on the 12th hole
- Improve wedge play – start getting up and down from within 60 yards
- Set up a practice area in my back garden, study or garden
- Improve my golf fitness by following a golf fitness routine two to three times a week
- Stop using a buggy and walk the course more (walk at least 50% of the time)
- Play ten brand new courses
- Play with ten new golf partners
I hope this article will inspire you to plan some golf objectives for next year. I will likely write a short follow up article to share my own golf goals to a) keep myself honest, b) provide you with a more detailed example.