Breaking records is great, but most snow in February? Give me a warm March day anytime! For a golfer, possibilities and promise are in the air, and it’s the perfect time to set achievable goals for the season. A goal is just a dream with a date attached – and who doesn’t love to dream after a long winter?
Whether it’s whittling your handicap 2 or 3 strokes, building assurance in your short game or confidence in competition, or just plain having more fun with golf, setting goals is an effective way to approach your game. Here’s my golf goals game plan:
- Start with the end in sight. What’s your dream? What’s your definition of a great golf season? Solve a slice, become a better putter, move up a flight in your league, make more time for golf. Pick one goal… or pick ten.
- Do a reality check.. We’d all like to be scratch golfers. Is it within the realm of possibility this season? Achievable goals make for big rewards. Golf is hard enough without overlaying it with outsized expectations.
- Make it challenging. Commit some energy and discipline to the cause.
- Define the how-to’s, the concrete steps to attain a goal. Want to have more fun with golf? Make a list of ideal partners and courses for the season, promise to stop editorializing after every bad hit, and toss in a feel-good charity event. You’d like to kiss your slice good bye? Why not start the season with 2 lessons, a commitment to a weekly practice and an honest assessment of your 10-year-old clubs?
- Write it down. Make it yours. Check out my earlier post on keeping a golf journal.
- Pin a date on it. Let’s say, the end of the season, by Labor Day, or before the snow flies. Cancel that last one. We are so done with thinking about snow!!!