Your 2009 Personal (Golf) Goals

[JKilgore44]

1) Drop down to a single digit handicap - I've been improving every season and this is the year that I want to push hard and drop down to the single digits.

2) Drop my putt totals - I'm averaging around 31 and I would like to drop that to around 27. That's a steep drop, but with practice on and around the green, it's possible.

3) Improve my wedge game inside of 100 yards - Anyone can hit a full shot into a green, but hitting a touch shot from 60 yards is something that takes a bit more skill. Lately this has been killing me. There's no reason to make bogey from 60 yards out EVER.

4) Focus on every single shot - After a bad hole or towards the end of a round, I sometimes lose focus and start texting or something dumb. I want to make it a point this season to maintain focus on EVERY shot I take

[denver_nuggs_15]

Updated goals.

2009 Future Stats

Handicap: 9.5. It's been right hovering around 10 for almost the whole year.

FWs: 43.4%. It hasn't been a driver friendly year. I need it to be more consistent. And I can't deal with snap hooks. First goal: learn a power fade or get rid of any snap hook. I don't need more fairways hit (I'd like it), but I really want better misses. Driving Distance: 250. I only took one lesson this year so far (hopefully 2 next week though!) so my swing still has flaws. I haven't self-diagnosed for a while now either. When school starts again, I'll have some time for self-diagnosis, but until then, I'm fine with my distance as long as accuracy comes with it. GIR: A shade over 40% right now. I'd like some consistency with it though. I've had rounds with 10+ GIR and others with only 3 or 4. I'd like more consistency with it, but driving has also messed this stat up. Better missed drives=more GIRs. PPR: 36. PPGIR: 2.1 They're not even close to my goal yet, but I'd still like some consistency with the stats. Having 1.8 PPH one round and 2.1 the next round at the same course sucks...a lot when I have the same number of GIR! I can feel my putting improving the past few rounds, but I'd like more consistency. Low scores: 79(+7) and 38 (+2) (not in the same round either). I want more rounds in the 70s and definately more nines in the 30s. And one eagle is all I ask for! My season is getting cut short because I have to go to college, but for the remaining golf, I want consistency. No more 94 followed by a 79. I'd like an 84 followed by the 79. It starts with my head right now. I get too many doubles by not thinking. And I have a goal for next year that I don't want to forget: get good enough to give shots to my regular playing partners (mostly mid-low single digit HC).

[Grahaman]

My first post here..

1. Single digit handicap
2. 1 double per round
3. Focus on every shot

A shout out to Denver Nuggets and the impressive stats. I will add:

4. Keep stats of every round to better work on weak areas of game.

My guess would be GIR. I am straight of the tee and good with the stick but start at the green from 125ish out everytime on line with the flag and then watch if fade right and off. I bet 50% of the time I am scrambling. Fortunately I am a good scrambler.

[glk23]

Started this year with the main golf of breaking 80. First shot 80 ten years ago when playing alot but just started again last spring. 81 last Friday was the closest I have been.

More short game practice was the first thing I did towards this goal. Not only the quickest way to reduce scores, but it is free and easily done in an hour or so after work. It helped that I bought a new 60 wedge in the spring so practiced alot getting use to it before ditching it for a 58 Vokey which then needed more practice. Putting has been there and gone most of this year and seems to be coming back. Like everyone else avoiding 3 putts is always a goal.

More consistent ball striking would probably be next on the list. Part of this is messing with my swing and the other part is mental. I seldom get into trouble when I make solid contact, usually straight, slight draw or at worst a push to the right. My improved short game makes these shots doable, it is the 8-10 fat/thin mishits that need to be elliminated.

Better course management is probably the last goal, not that these were in any kind of order. I don't drive the ball a long way nor do I carry a 3W so I am not tempted to drive that short par 4 with trouble short or get on a par 5 in two. For my game it has been about the approach shot philosophy. Thus I am working on three things: take more club, stop aiming at every pin, miss to the long side. Really started working on these recently as other issues and injuries have limited play the last couple of months.

The last course management issue that has been hampering me has been accurate distance. This has been killing me on 4-6 shots per round especially on unfamiliar courses. Solved this with a rangefinder a couple of weeks ago and it has already paid off a couple of strokes a round.

[hockeyboy22094]

i would like to bring my handicap down to around a 5 or a 4 and shoot in the 60's at least once.

[MeanDeen]

When I was in high school I played on the school team and I worked at a course for 3 years so I got to play for free at least 5-6 rounds a week. My best round was an 81. When I went to college I pretty much quit playing because I was broke and was used to playing golf for free, so I just could not make myself pay to play. Now I've been out of school and in the working world for a while and realized I needed a hobby or I was going to go crazy. I decided to start playing golf again about 5 months ago and caught the bug bad. The only thing is I'm horrible now. So my goals are:

1) There's something fundamentally wrong with my swing that I want to get fixed. Even when I swing 100% and catch the ball solid it doesn't go as far as it should. I think I'm decelerating somewhere but can't figure it out. I've never taken a lesson so that is my first goal to work with a teacher on getting my swing fundamentally sound

2) My best round since I started again is a 94. I want to get back into the 80's before the year is out.

3) When I get the first two goals accomplished I will let myself get new clubs but not until then. I feel like I don't deserve new clubs yet.

[bogeyhitter25]

My goals are now finally all summed up.

-Hit Driver more. The last couple rounds I have played I've been missing the fairway with a shorter club, and hitting it with the Driver.
-Hit the middle of greens. Don't go for flags and end up with a difficult up-and-down for par.
-Scramble better. Make routine chips routine.
-Better distance control on the greens. I'm leaving putts 2 or 3 feet short. That has to stop.
-Practice better course management. I've read countless times to lay up to a good distance on par 5s. Now I've gotta start doing it.
-Stay focused. And avoid the big number. Make pars and bogeys.
-Be relaxed. Hey, it's just a game.

[dv8uagain]

Definitely get back into golf after a long break. I need to focus back on the fundamentals and just enjoy the game...

[wsjer88]

My goals for the rest of the season:

-Improve putting, hopefully make at least one birdie a round. Too often I get a GIR and then three putt or something foolish.
-Confidence with the driver, the power fade has to go away sometime...
- Break 80
- Relax, I don't like finishing rounds and thinking it could have been lower if I had just relaxed on a few holes instead of letting one bad shot or break bother me.

[Chilli Dipper]

Disregard...posted in wrong thread.

[Bug Bunny]

Develop my swing.
Figure out my driver.
Shoot a few rounds in the 80's, two in the 70's.

[geast]

Spend more time practicing my putts and chip shots. Also to not wuss out and keep playing till it snows.

[hipcheck4u]

I'm late to this thread, but here's what I'd like to get done in what's left of '09:

1) Handicap lower than 25. I don't think this is going to be that difficult because I have gone from a 30.6 at the beginning of the summer to a 28.6 trending to 26.7 currently.
2) Break 100 at least three more times.
3) Eliminate ALL thoughts between the time I address the ball and the end of my follow through.
4) Continue to improve ball striking with all clubs, driver through putter.

Thankfully, I am able to play year-round here!

[travisc]

Groove my driver swing to a power fade (from a draw).

I've always been able to work irons a bit either way, but the driver has always been right to left, and this year it has been way more left than right. Been working for a week on the fade looks to be much more consistent. We'll see.

[Hamfist]

Nice thread. First post here...BTW.

I'm new to the game. I picked it up last year during a work golf outing and had a great time. I'm a bike racer historically, and always had an aversion to golf as I felt it was not a worthy 'sport.' I realize now that was the wrong attitude. Anyway, here are my meager goals for the rest of this year:

1. Play as much as possible.
2. Develop a handicap to establish a baseline for improvement.
3. Have fun.

Cheers!

[aleski]

Given that I haven't played golf since my teens (some 8 years ago) I want to achieve a certain level of consistency. So far, I've played 9 holes from 2 under to 11 over. It would be nice to score somewhere in the high 70's or low 80's a few times before the short season here comes to an end.

My putting, especially, and short game, in general, needs improvement. I've been hitting some 70% of greens in regulation, but three-putt way too often (My best round this year, an 82, included no birdies, despite the 8 6-9 footers I had.) Currently, I'm averaging some 33 putts/18holes.

Elsewhere, I want to become more consistent with the driver, hit straighter and further.

And above all, I want to become comfortable with my new swing.

[akdoc]

Get back into the game...period. I've had a 7 year absence so just trying to get the feel back for all my shots.

[bogeyhitter25]

Eat better.
Exercise/Work-Out more.
Practice more.
Play more.
Get handicap down to single-digits.
Relax, and have fun.