Have you set your 2018 golfing goals?
Have you set your 2018 golfing goals?
It’s that time of year again. The time where I begin to think about dusting off the clubs and get practising again. I say this every year and so far, it has never really amounted to anything. However, by putting it on here, I have something to hold myself accountable.
A question I get asked a lot is “Have you been playing much?”
The answer unfortunately is no. Rather more embarrassing is, I haven’t played a round of golf since September. The aim for last year was to play at least once a week and practise once a week as well. It’s all very well telling yourself that this is what you’ll do, but, it never ends up working out the way you plan.
That’s why I’m going to set my self more realistic goals for the upcoming season, as well as discussing Why, How and When.
The main goal is to just enjoy playing. It sounds simple enough, but when you don’t play regularly and especially when you aren’t practising often enough either, it becomes a struggle to put a decent score together.
Why
I would say last year was probably my best season off the tee, which for me has always been the main struggle. The other areas of my game are where I noticed the biggest difference. I wasn’t consistent in any part of my game. I noticed my distances with clubs were all over the place, I would go from hitting the club 10 yards shorter than expected to 10 yards further than expected. My chipping and pitching wasn’t too bad, considering that is the area of the game I can 100% say I didn’t practise at all. My putting was, well, it was rubbish to be honest! But again, that’s down to not practising. The thing I’m looking for most here is consistency.
How
Like I said earlier, I’m going to be realistic with my goals. I had a look online for practise structures and came across one from Tiger Woods. I couldn’t get over how much he did in his “daily” routine.
I’m all for working hard on my game but it just goes to show how much he had to put into become the best player at the time!
I’m going to come up with a routine of my own, granted not as intense as Tiger’s, for a practise session a week. I’m also going to get myself a lesson before the season so that I can add a purpose to my practise rather than aimlessly hitting balls on the range.
When
I’m planning to commit to hitting 50 balls twice a week in the build up to the season and then 100 balls once a week and at least one round a week during the season. I also think that heading to the course for some short game practise would benefit me greatly, while being able to use the time to improve my putting!
Feel free to ask me at any point how the practise is going, and I’ll try to make sure that if I say I haven’t been doing it that next time you ask me I have been!
