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Just starting out. Do I have good goals?


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Well, to this day I have played only 12 rounds since I have started play a few months ago. F First round, shot a 111. Then a 106. Then I had a goal to break 100. Finally did that around round 5, with a 98. Then I wanted more...moved back to the blues to practice for school ball. Next goal was to break 100 from blues. Did that after two more rounds. Next goal was mid nineties..hit that in about two more rounds too. Then yesterday I was going to break 90, had a horrible day with 98. Came back out today with the motive of redeeming myself and to break 90. Shot an 87!! I'm just wondering if I'm making good progress and setting good goals? Should I do anything different with my goal setting? Please let me know..I would love to hear from you.
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Well, to this day I have played only 12 rounds since I have started play a few months ago. F

First round, shot a 111. Then a 106. Then I had a goal to break 100. Finally did that around round 5, with a 98.

Then I wanted more...moved back to the blues to practice for school ball. Next goal was to break 100 from blues. Did that after two more rounds. Next goal was mid nineties..hit that in about two more rounds too.

Then yesterday I was going to break 90, had a horrible day with 98. Came back out today with the motive of redeeming myself and to break 90. Shot an 87!!

I'm just wondering if I'm making good progress and setting good goals? Should I do anything different with my goal setting? Please let me know..I would love to hear from you.

I will put it this way, you are at the level of golf were you can make great strides. Once you start breaking bogey golf, 90, it gets tougher. The reason is, making parts consistently is tough. So, I would tame your expectations on the fact that it will take longer to get the same gains you have gotten already. The primary reason is, there is a limit to how low you can shoot, so the closer you get to par golf the tougher it gets to maintain and get there.

Great job so far, keep it up. Just have good expectations and keep at it. You came to the right place to further your goals.

Here are some invaluable resources

http://thesandtrap.com/t/58816/65-25-10-practice-ratios-where-to-devote-your-practice-time (Practice time)

http://thesandtrap.com/t/61376/5sk-video-thread (Instructional videos)

http://thesandtrap.com/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice (How to practice)

http://thesandtrap.com/t/56069/good-golf-posture

http://thesandtrap.com/f/4180/member-swings (where to post your swing to get instruction from some very smart people)

That should get you started on the path to playing great golf. Golf is a long process, so don't get upset over the bumps in the road.

Oh, Welcome to the Forum!!!

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Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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I will put it this way, you are at the level of golf were you can make great strides. Once you start breaking bogey golf, 90, it gets tougher. The reason is, making parts consistently is tough. So, I would tame your expectations on the fact that it will take longer to get the same gains you have gotten already. The primary reason is, there is a limit to how low you can shoot, so the closer you get to par golf the tougher it gets to maintain and get there.  Great job so far, keep it up. Just have good expectations and keep at it. You came to the right place to further your goals.  Here are some invaluable resources [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/t/58816/65-25-10-practice-ratios-where-to-devote-your-practice-time]http://thesandtrap.com/t/58816/65-25-10-practice-ratios-where-to-devote-your-practice-time[/URL] (Practice time) [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/t/61376/5sk-video-thread]http://thesandtrap.com/t/61376/5sk-video-thread[/URL] (Instructional videos) [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice]http://thesandtrap.com/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice[/URL] (How to practice) [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/t/56069/good-golf-posture]http://thesandtrap.com/t/56069/good-golf-posture[/URL]  [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/f/4180/member-swings]http://thesandtrap.com/f/4180/member-swings[/URL] (where to post your swing to get instruction from some very smart people) That should get you started on the path to playing great golf. Golf is a long process, so don't get upset over the bumps in the road.  Oh, Welcome to the Forum!!!

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely look into those posts! Do you think that I am getting better quickly, or too slow? I have some people tell me I have a natural talent, and others act like it's an everyday thing. I'm just not sure about the pace I'm putting on advances to my game.

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To me, that seems like very good progress. I think you're the only one who can determine what your goals should be.

Well my main goal all around is to do better than the round before. And there has only been 2 times where I have done worse than the round before. But now I'm making actual score goals and hanging them up on my fridge as I get them. It serves as motivation to me

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Your goals are fine and you're coming along quickly IMHO. It's good to set a scoring goal but be mindful of what keeps you from making that goal when you fail. Too many three putts, not hitting enough greens, etc. Don't get too down on yourself if you don't reach your goal quickly. Just focus on what you need to improve and the scores will come. Good luck.
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Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely look into those posts!

Do you think that I am getting better quickly, or too slow? I have some people tell me I have a natural talent, and others act like it's an everyday thing. I'm just not sure about the pace I'm putting on advances to my game.

You are 18, you could be pretty athletic, and might be able to put club to ball in a better way than other beginners. I have no clue. You are at what ever pace you are at. You can only change that by how you react to it. Meaning, if you just do this recreational you might cap out at a certain level and never get any better than that. If you dedicate yourself then you could become very good. Asking if you are going too fast or too slow is subjective.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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You are 18, you could be pretty athletic, and might be able to put club to ball in a better way than other beginners. I have no clue. You are at what ever pace you are at. You can only change that by how you react to it. Meaning, if you just do this recreational you might cap out at a certain level and never get any better than that. If you dedicate yourself then you could become very good. Asking if you are going too fast or too slow is subjective.

My step dad took me to the driving range when I was little and said I had a natural talent for it. So did my grandpaw. But my parents didn't have enough money to keep me in the game. Now we are doing much better with money, and my grandparents business is doing great so they are helping me as much as they can now. I might start getting lessons soon. But that being said, I'm starting to get serious about it now. I really want to make the golf team (tryouts are in about 2 weeks) and I'm thinking about pursuing a scholarship if possible. The only thing that is scaring me is me thinking I'm going to get to a certain level and not be able to get any better. I'm just not sure where that level will be.

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Your goals are fine and you're coming along quickly IMHO. It's good to set a scoring goal but be mindful of what keeps you from making that goal when you fail. Too many three putts, not hitting enough greens, etc. Don't get too down on yourself if you don't reach your goal quickly. Just focus on what you need to improve and the scores will come. Good luck.

Thanks. Today, I hit 2 triple bogeys and 2 double bogeys. So that shows about how good I did on the rest of the holes. I have a lot of positive shots I can look at from today's game (one being a 54 footer putt for birdie) and a lot of negatives. Mostly hacked shots.

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My step dad took me to the driving range when I was little and said I had a natural talent for it. So did my grandpaw. But my parents didn't have enough money to keep me in the game.

Now we are doing much better with money, and my grandparents business is doing great so they are helping me as much as they can now. I might start getting lessons soon.

But that being said, I'm starting to get serious about it now. I really want to make the golf team (tryouts are in about 2 weeks) and I'm thinking about pursuing a scholarship if possible.

The only thing that is scaring me is me thinking I'm going to get to a certain level and not be able to get any better. I'm just not sure where that level will be.

Listen you'll only be as good as you can become by your own effort. You are looking for answers only you can answer for yourself. Asking people if you are making good progress is totally subjective. You'll get people who might out pace you, and say you are moving to slow. You might get someone who never had the success you had. Honestly their opinions don't matter compared to yours.

As for the golf team, depending on how good your team is. All you can do is try out. If you fail, and want to make it next year then work your ass off. Do it in a smart way. The links I posted is a very smart way to get better at golf. If you are looking for a scholarship, then bust your ass off the right way. Shooting mid to upper 80's wont cut it. You need to be near scratch to have a shot at a scholarship. To do that in less than 3 years is going to push you hard. So you got to ask yourself, how dedicated do you want to be. Even in the end, you still might not make it. That is always an outcome.

Yep, pretty much how everything is right, you can never know your ceiling for golf. All you can do is try.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Listen you'll only be as good as you can become by your own effort. You are looking for answers only you can answer for yourself. Asking people if you are making good progress is totally subjective. You'll get people who might out pace you, and say you are moving to slow. You might get someone who never had the success you had. Honestly their opinions don't matter compared to yours.  As for the golf team, depending on how good your team is. All you can do is try out. If you fail, and want to make it next year then work your ass off. Do it in a smart way. The links I posted is a very smart way to get better at golf. If you are looking for a scholarship, then bust your ass off the right way. Shooting mid to upper 80's wont cut it. You need to be near scratch to have a shot at a scholarship. To do that in less than 3 years is going to push you hard. So you got to ask yourself, how dedicated do you want to be. Even in the end, you still might not make it. That is always an outcome.  Yep, pretty much how everything is right, you can never know your ceiling for golf. All you can do is try.

Well thanks for the advice. I plan on getting very serious about my game. By the end of this year, if I keep playing/practicing as much, I want to be shooting low 80's pretty consistently. I think lessons for a few months and playing as often as possible will get me to that point. I'm very determined, and the outcome was great today...best feeling I've had in a while. That feeling was like a drug, and I'm craving it more and more.

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Here are two pieces of advice:

  1. Learn the rules, and play by them. If you have any aspirations of competitive golf, you have to know the rules. Make sure you're hitting every putt (no gimmes), no mulligans, and no foot wedges. You aren't doing yourself any favors by making your score seem better than it is.
  2. Establish a handicap. This is the only real way to track your progress. You may shoot 87 on an easy course and 93 on a hard course and think the first round is better than the second, when in reality, it could be the other way around. A handicap takes difficulty of the course into account.

Best of luck to you.

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Tyler Martin

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Well thanks for the advice. I plan on getting very serious about my game. By the end of this year, if I keep playing/practicing as much, I want to be shooting low 80's pretty consistently. I think lessons for a few months and playing as often as possible will get me to that point. I'm very determined, and the outcome was great today...best feeling I've had in a while. That feeling was like a drug, and I'm craving it more and more.


Well if you want to make the team and have a shot at a scholarship you have to make a "don't look back" commitment towards this, setting goals is fine but you would be better off setting goals to do this much work on this part of my game or that part so you push yourself the right way and don't just focus on numbers at this point, the reason I say this is because if you start taking lessons which you have to, your going to have periods of regression before improvement in scores and you don't want to get the process compromised by what scores you are shooting, understand this is a journey and not a race and as long as the work is done properly you can reach the goals and if it takes a little longer so be it at least you will have made it and opportunities will still be there.

Rich C.

Driver Titleist 915 D3  9.5*
3 Wood TM RBZ stage 2 tour  14.5*
2 Hybrid Cobra baffler 17*
4Hybrid Adams 23*
Irons Adams CB2's 5-GW
Wedges 54* and 58* Titleist vokey
Putter Scotty Cameron square back 2014
Ball Srixon Zstar optic yellow
bushnell V2 slope edition

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Well if you want to make the team and have a shot at a scholarship you have to make a "don't look back" commitment towards this, setting goals is fine but you would be better off setting goals to do this much work on this part of my game or that part so you push yourself the right way and don't just focus on numbers at this point, the reason I say this is because if you start taking lessons which you have to, your going to have periods of regression before improvement in scores and you don't want to get the process compromised by what scores you are shooting, understand this is a journey and not a race and as long as the work is done properly you can reach the goals and if it takes a little longer so be it at least you will have made it and opportunities will still be there.

I understand what you mean. But it almost seems like a race when I have just started playing and I'm looking to possibly do something in college with golf with only a little over a year to do so. I'm very good at listening to people trying to help me, I tend to pick up on things pretty quick. At this point I could still get better and better, but without lessons I think I would maybe max my game out around high 70's because of flaws in my swing. I have actually fixed some of the things in my swing in my own just by hitting hundreds of balls on the range until I found my swing and then hit a lot more to try to force it into a habit. That's why I've had spikes in my game to where I would improve 11 strokes from one round to the next. Lessons now would be the best, but I don't know if my parents are willing to yet. If I had lessons I have no doubt in my mind that by the end of this school year I would be consistent mid 80's if I really applied myself

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Note: This thread is 3706 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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