Your 2012 Golf Goals - Official Thread

[wedgehammer40k]

My Top 5 goals for 2012

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1 Beat Tiger in a skins match

1. Break 100

2. Eradicate my slice from my Driver

3. Improve my putting.

4.Improve my short game ie chipping.

5. Birdie a par 3.

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[TourSpoon]

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

1. Hit 60% fairways

2. GIR 50%

3. Scrambling 45%

4. Cap below 5.0

5. Work on Pre-shot routine

Twenty Round checkpoint...

FWY 53%

GIR 41%

Scrambling 45%

Cap 4.5 index

Pre-shot - not quantifiable but consistent

There is more work to do but this is good progress.

[sofingaw]

Break 100 By Christmas. Tinkered around for years, but I started playing seriously in early July. It's late August now.  Lowest score so far 128. 3rd round of the year.

But, had a 57 on 9 the other day, which doubled, is 114. Moving, moving.

[phan52]

I wanted to get my course handicap to single digits for at least a cycle. It ain't happening now. I'm stuck at 11 and there's not enough time. I just never had enough time to practice this year and I don't see that changing over the next month and a half.

[ZiggyZappa]

Unfortunately I had to stop playing 1996 'cos "life happened" - just started again 6/8 weeks ago. I am currently a 16 and want to get back to 9 (as in 1996). Would love to shoot in the 70's again, but for now, just would be happy to shoot low 80's.

[daniel2852]

Originally Posted by daniel2852

1. Make Par on a hole( have only shot a few bogeys to date, but I know I have the potential) 2. Play a full 18 rounds from the white tees 3. Be able to hit all my irons for distance 4. Improve slice(getting better already) 5. Hit the green in regulation at least once and 6. buy a hybrid for my bag because I will never be able to hit my 7 wood

Need to update this since I have achieved some of these goals now and I need to update since I'm hitting much better than when I posted this and I got some new irons.

1. Make birdie on a hole (shot a par last month for the first time)

2. Play a full 18 rounds from the white tees(still haven't accomplished it but I will soon, only reason I couldn't last time was it started raining.

3. Hit my irons, especially long irons more consistently. I can hit the short irons all right, but my long irons need work.

4. Hit straighter shots. My slice is gone for the most part since I keep my left arm much straighter now, but I hit occasional slice or even the rare hook. I can work on this by keeping my left arm straighter and staying down on the ball.

5. Hit the GIR at least once on a par 5 AND a par 4.

6. Buy a 2 hybrid for my bag. I can hit my 7 wood now, in fact its become one of my favorite clubs in my bag. I would like a 2 hybrid though and maybe take my 5 wood out.

7. Hit a par 5 green in 2 shots. Okay, probably won't achieve this one, but it's a fun goal and I certainly love to try. In fact, I had a chance on a par 5 I played at Colarado national but I couldn't hit my 3 wood out of that lie, it wasn't far to the hole though, I could literally see the green on my second shot probably 200 or slightly less yardage.

Well this is a more reasonable list, and its cool that I accomplished some of my goals on the first list. But I'm always coming up with more, and always improving.

[cooke119]

Like others, break 90.

[robrey85]

Originally Posted by robrey85

My overall goal is to cut my handicap in half from 30.5 to 15.

Some side goals would be:

To play and/or practice more often. I would be happy with practicing twice a week and playing once a week.

To have a consistant drive giving me a playable lie whether its in the rough or fairway.

To learn my B & C swing as well as perfect my A swing.

Develop my short game

These were my goals until I injured myself and was out for 3 months so now that don't have a chance of taking my index lower,.

Attain somewhat of a lower index that notes my overall improvement ; I'd like to get it down to something like 20-25. Not sure what can be accomplished by the end of the year.

To break 100 on a consistent basis ; only have done it twice this year.

To develop my long irons, fairway woods and driver ; I cannot hit these as well as I can hit my short irons for some reason and I can't figure it out.

Score a card with no 3 putts ; I 3 putt wayyyy too often and it needs to calm the hell down.

[Dawgpack]

Not a ton of time left but...

1.) Consistently break 100

2.) Be more consistent with driving

3.) Actually calculate a handicap

[atb5079]

I wanted to get to a 12, but wrist surgery ruined that goal. However, with my new irons I got in March and one pivotal lesson, my game has never been so good. Volume on the range is the only thing slowing me from getting to a 12.

[mbrodeur86]

I'm glad to say I met and exceeded my goals for this year. I wanted to break 80 and I did twice (78 & 79) and I also got my first eagle (never could reach the par 5's in 2 until I got a great driving tip here and a Rocketballz driver). And on top of that, it was a chip in eagle. Since then, I'm able to reach 2 of the par 5's at my local course. Got my handicap down from 12.1 to 9.9. I sold my Cobra S3 Max clubs and bought Taylormade Burner 2.0 and Cleveland cg16 black wedges (50, 56, 60). Can't wait to try them out.

[Kygolf]

shoot in the low 80's normally

[sportsnut]

1- Break 100, came close and was forced to stop in my low 100's

2- Focus more on proper swing mechanics and consistency instead of trying to kill the ball with a mighty swing (really hate that this one still plagues me)

3- Play once a week, practice once a week and be better at taking my lessons and practice to the course.

After reviewing my wish list I did good at golas, broke 100 and then 90 later in the season, getting better at swinging within myself and not trying to kill the ball, and got better taking it to the course. Come on 2013.................................................

[divot dave]

Originally Posted by divot dave

new golfer here... my 2012 goals are to get off the driving range and onto a real course... hopefully this weekend. I also hope to go out enough times to establish a functional handicap. I'd like to see my driver straighten out off the tee... so far having pretty good progress with that but straight drives occur about 45% of the time. Slices are occurring less and less, and slices out of bounds are becoming rarer too.

So by end of fall, i'd like to see consistent fairway drives, extremely inconsistent slices, and I'll get back to you on what I'd like to see as a handicap just as soon as i get one :-p

well, I managed to accomplish a number of goals. basically everything mentioned above except for a functional handicap. I typically shot in the low 100's high 90's by the time my playing really slowed down due to cold weather.

I'm most pleased with my drives off the tee and the work on my slices. I've managed to groove some solid fundamentals (as opposed to weird compensations) to fix the slice and I now hit consistent fade/straight/slight draw. I now need to work on hitting those shots at will as opposed to unpredictably... for instance, I setup anticipating a baby fade, but  end up hitting a draw... frustrating, but nearly as much as the slice was.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Going quant in 2012.

1. Average putts per GIR below 1.9. (Last 50 rounds: 2.03. Completely unacceptable. )

2. Average GIR above 55.6%, or 10 greens per round. (Last 50 rounds: 52%, or 9.4 greens.)

3. Driver club head speed consistently over 105 mph. (Current: 97 - 102 mph.)

Wow, those were really stupid goals.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Wow, those were really stupid goals.

I'm glad you finally admitted it :)  Acceptance is the first step towards recovery.

Just kidding, maybe this year?  Or are you revising your goals?

[elementz]

Well, I didn't get out as much as I liked due to travelling a lot on business so the majority of these goals have not been reached.  I would also like to point out that 2012 was my first season of tracking my golf stats.  Most of the goals in this thread were plucked out of my head but now that I have a sample (small) of various stats, I can use that to build on for 2013.

Originally Posted by elementz

Well, I think I narrowed down my 2012 golf goals.  It seems I haven't really progressed over the last 3 years (read: break 100 consistently) but I am looking to attempt to practice just as much as I play.  Not sure how often I will get out but I am hoping at least 20 times.

1. Consistently shoot in the 90's - Last July I bought an Iphone and checked out some golf apps.  Downloaded Golfshot (lite) which is an awesome app for scorecard/stat tracking.  Was only able to log 5 rounds so my stats are terrible and skewed.  My scoring avg over those 5 rounds shows as 105 (111,108,102,100,109 - The 100 I shot 5 weeks later on the same course as the 111 - nice eh).  Like most of us Sand Trappers....after each round, I think back on how many shots I lost out on whether they were penalty strokes, easy missed putt, top the ball, fat shots, etc..The last round I had for example was a 109 and I fired my first 4 tee shots into the woods.

Result - I played 13 rounds and shot in the 90s twice (92 & 94).  My avg score was 104.87...although if I removed my first round last season (117), it would drop about 2 strokes but that wouldn't be fair now would it.

2. Average 36 putts per round - My putting is hit or miss and is something that I have worked on quite a bit in my basement this past winter.  I have a much better grip now with less wrist action and am looking forward to hitting some practice greens and trying some drills.  I had no problem draining 20 footers last year to save a double bogey :)  Small sample size again, but for my 5 rounds last year, my putts show as 39/round.  Since this will be the first year of fully tracking stats, 36 seems like a nice round number...

Result - My putting came in at 38.61 putts per round  Four of my first five rounds, my putts were in the 40+ range.  The other 8 rounds, I played around with my putting grip and my avg came down to 35.84 which would have acheieved my goal...but I can't exclude rounds, however, it shows that I was making progress.  I will be picking up a new putter soon (Odyseey 2 ball) that I can't wait to use.  I also tracked my number of 3 putts....I avg 5 a round.  Definitely got to lower that.

3. Fairways hit at 35% - For my FH and GIR, I had no idea what to put for an achievable goal so I kind of pulled the numbers out of my rear and will see how I do.  They aren't very high but I am trying to be realistic.  If I find out halfway thru the season that I am smashing these particular goals then I will readjust...I should be able to hit at least 5 fairways per round....especially the way I have been cranking the driver at the range...hope it translates to the course.

Result - Well, I am pleased to say that I killed  this goal by hitting the short grass at 44.59%.  I neglected to track my club distances but I know I am not very long off the tee, 200-220 yards.  A lot of shots off the tee came from my 3W which helps.  There were some rounds where I was dead on and other rounds where I couldn't help but slice and hook it all over the course.

4. Greens in Regulation at 20% - Again, wasn't sure which % to aim for but this seems about right for me.  I am not very long off the tee and I can't hit my irons very well consistently so I have a hard time hitting GIR....but I think I can try and manage 3-4 per round.  I would like to be able to start learning my distances with each club too....

Result - Hard to score well when you're not hitting those GIRs, and I wasn't even close.  My GIR avg was 7.69%, that's not even 2 a round.  Goes to show you how my bad my iron game is. I am striking the ball better but the one thing that gives me trouble is my alignment/aim....and that's not just with my irons, goes for my putter as well.  I have hit my ball dead straight a few times, only to be 30 yards to the right of the green since that is where I was aiming (unknown to me).  I need to find a drill or tips to help me with this....the train tracks just don't work for me.

5. Reduce Penalties - I really believe this is what kills my score most days....always nailing balls into the woods or in to the drink...My goal is ultimately zero but will start keeping track to see how they affect my score at the end of the day.

Result - Same ol Same ol....Averaged 3.65 penalties per round....tack on your penaltie strokes and the trouble that comes with it adds about 7-8 strokes to my score.  The course where I shot my best round (92), I played the same course a few weeks later and shot a 103 with 7 penalties. .  Ugly

6. Reduce Fat/Thin shots - Would like to eliminate these all together...I am always good for a few bad ones every round so it will be nice to try and fully eliminate those types of shots...nothing worse than teeing off on a 500+ par 5 only to top the ball and have it roll 20 yards.   Makes for a much longer hole ;)

Result - Well, I am pleased to say that I cut out almost all fat/thin shots out of my game since I switched to S&T.;  I can't recall if I topped the ball at all last season, though I definitely did hit some fat shots taking a few massive divots out of the course.  The only time where I feel I really mishit shots is when I am on a slope.  Other than that, I am pretty happy the way I struck the ball.

7. Walk vs Ride - I like to walk more than ride as I am out of shape and this helps, but on those super hot and humid days, I would rather cart just for the shade and  the small breeze I get...I don't do well in the sun at all.  I usually have to slap on 70 SPF multiple times in the day.  After each round, I will note on whether I walked or used a cart....will be interesting to see how each affects my score if at all over the season.

Result - Didn't track this but I probably walked slightly than riding a cart.

8. Finish top 4 on my "Guys Golf Trip" - Every June me and 7 other guys head to PEI for the weekend and play a couple of rounds.  Awesome times but for the 3 years that I have been going, I never finished better than 7th.  It's not competitive but there are some bragging rights.  2 of the 8 are pretty decent but the other 5 guys are right around where I am in skill level....A small personal goal of mine to have a good showing on what is always a great trip.

Result - Came 6th of 8. We go in the middle of June and the season doesn't usually open up to May.  I am hoping to get more practice in before this years trip as the courses we usually play are a little more tougher than my local tracks.

9 - Establish Handicap - No idea what my handicap is but I am sure it's in the 20-30 range.  This will be the year that I finally figure it out and stick with it.  That will help with a goal for 2013 to lower it whatever it may be at the end of this year.

Result - I didn't look to much into this as I didn't play too many rounds but I am sure it's probably pretty high.

There you have it..those are my quantifiable goals for 2012.

[BuckeyeNut]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeNut

Everyone wants to get better, but I'd be happy to just MAINTAIN and not get worse!!  If I can stay in the 1-2HC range.....I'm good with that.  It would be fun to record my lowest ever index beat my current record of 0.9, but if that doesn't happen I'm good with that too.

I do have one demoralizing habit that absolutely kills me............."the shanks".  IMO.....there is nothing more demoralizing than a shank.  Now that I think about it, my goal for 2012 is to get control of the shanks!!!  I swing from the inside and my hosel is always creeping very close to the ball and every once in awhile...POW.....I hit one sideways and the result is usually a double-bogey.  I'd love to be able to play golf SHANK FREE!!!!!!   If I can eliminate shank-doubleBogs from my card in 2012, I'd be a very happy man.

LOL

At this point, I can't imagine such a game....

I found my previous post in this thread from late 2011 about my goals.....................I guess my 2012 was a success.

My 2012 golf year summary:

Rounds Played: 205
Birdies Made: 401
Eagles Made: 10
Fairways In Regulation: 52%
Greens In Regulation: 45%
Successful Saves: 41%
Sand Saves: 31%
Putting.....1.63 per hole/1.83 in regulation/ 29.36 putts per round
Low Score: 69 from blue tees: Par72..... 6,564yds with a 72.5CR 137slope
Low Score:72 from Black tees: Par72......7,121yds with a 75.1CR 141slope
High Score: Purged from memory
Most Birdies in a round: 6
Most consecutive birdies: 4
Number of times scored 4 or more birdies in a round: 28 times
Number of times scored even par or better for 9 holes: 45 times
Number of times held it together long enough to score even par or better for 18 holes: 9 times
Lowest HC Index: 0.0
Highest HC Index: 3.1 (the usual springtime funk)
Earliest Round of the year: January 1
Last Round of the year: December 18

I have no complaints. I got to a 0HC, so I guess the year was a success.   I do still fight the shanks...LOL Oh well...it's an ongoing battle.