Goals for 2006 Season

• Play as frequently as possible is going to be another goal. Playing does not necessarily mean a round of golf, but includes practice, etc. It also includes working on my mental game when not at the course by imagining playing, as corny as that may sound.
• Reduce handicap index to 3.0 or lower. I feel I can do this, though it's a stretch. All good goals should be a stretch - set the bar high enough that you'll struggle to reach it, I say.
• Mentally commit to every shot prior to hitting it. Shots inside of 1 foot excluded, of course. This will be the toughest goal, bar none, to meet because it's too easy to just step up and hit a shot right after joking around with the guys and not pay much attention. Towards the end of 2005 I re-found my old high-school pre-shot routine and that has helped. Reading the Rotella books has helped as well.
• Eliminate the "bad shot." Once per round I'll hit just a horrid bad shot - a topped 3W that goes ten feet, whatever. I don't know many single digit handicappers that do this and it just about wastes an entire shot on every hole. So, eliminating this shot - whatever the cause - will save a stroke per round all by itself.
• Putting the same. My putting was solid this year (though I went through a period where I burned just about every edge imaginable). I made a lot of clutch putts when I had to and when my feel was on I dropped them in or left tap-ins from everywhere. Rotella really helped a lot here, even during my slump - every burned edge just spurred me on with the thought that I was even more due on the next one.
• Improved driving. My driving went through a bad phase, as did my whole swing this year. Whether it was because of an injury I didn't qutie fully acknowledge or what, I don't know, but around the time I wrote the Science Van article I started coming out of it. I was slapping down on the ball and across it a little bit. That's changed, so my driving should improve next year. Not something I can measure, but I'll know if it's improved or not.
• Improved short game. The only reason I got up and down as much as I did this year was because I putted well. I know how to play the different shots, but my touch with some of them was off throughout the year. Perhaps it's because I used so many different wedges, but more likely it's because I didn't put in much time on them. My course is supposed to get a short game practice area, but I don't expect to see that until end-of-season next year. I had very, very few chip-ins this year, let alone leaving tap-ins for par.
• Fitness! December 1 I will commence my workout routine to prepare for next year. I don't know what goals to set here, but I'm looking for some minimal distance gains (though mostly this will be due to technique, not fitness) and better physical fitness. My goal is merely to stick with it, because I think that if I do then I can't help but be more physically fit.
• Play in local events. I want to play in them. Why I didn't this year is beyond me. I don't care so much about placement - my above goals speak towards how well I place (or don't), particularly the mental one. But I want to play.
• One round in the 60s. Just one would make my year. On my home course or another par-72er, too, not some par-64 executive course or something.
• Get through to the kids on my high school golf team.
• Some stats: Score (avg): 76.5, FWY: 60%, GIR 65%, Total Putts: 30, PPGIR: 1.8, PPMGIR: 1.5.

This was one of my 2005 plans, but unless you like failure, well, forget it. It's just too easy to get rushed into hitting a shot. It's too easy to just walk up and smack at a meaningless two-footer for par when your opponent birdied (match play). It's too easy to do a lot of those things, so you tend to fail a lot early on.