setting goals

[doublesuited77]

When you guys set goals for the upcoming golf season, do you focus on the outcome (the score) or what it takes to get there.

For instance, one of my goals is to get my handicap index under 2.   Should that be the goal by itself or does it make more sense to get intermediate goals like

- hit one more green in regulation

- reduce penalty shots

- improve sand shots by x?

[Harmonious]

At your level, I think you should set goals for various parts of your game.  You are going to be in the 72-78 range just about every time out.  It's important to know HOW you get to 72 more often.

In my case (I'm an engineer - go figure), I track my fairways, GIR's, scrambling and putting stats, then compare them to the tour averages, since I have no other "baseline" to use.  My fairways hit for 2010 was 75% (which compares very favorably to PGA tour averages), but my GIR was only 55% (way below). My scrambling was 55% (OK), but my putts per round was 30.8 (way too high). In no way can I approach PGA standards of play, but it does show where I fall the furthest away.

So, for 2011, I will be working on my approach shots with my irons, trying to hit at least 11 GIR.  I am also working on my putting, trying to get my putts per round under 30.  If I do those things, and everything else stays the same, I should drop my index a stroke or two.

[B-Con]

If you look at the [url=http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/41931/your-2011-golf-goals-official-thread]2011 goals thread[/url], it looks like most people choose to pick "what it takes to get there". In general, I think that's the best approach. If you're managing someone else's efforts, or you're performing a task that is difficult to measure, then just setting the final goal may be the best option. But if you're the one who has to achieve the goal, it doesn't matter how you set the final goal, you still are the one who has to figure out how to make it happen, so why not make the "what it takes to get there" the goals? But after all, the detail goals are for the benefit of the high level goal, so having one (maybe two) high-level goals is always good to keep you on track. So, I pick a high-level goal and a few specific sub-goals that are designed to get you to that high-level goal. If you're achieving the sub-goals (or even unable to achieve them) and not getting closer to the high-level goal, pick new sub-goals.