2014 Golf Goals Official Recap Thread - How Did You Do?

[iacas]

With the year coming to a close, it's time for our yearly self-assessment thread. Here's how this will work...

Quote your post in the 2014 Goals thread , then write something below your quoted post to let us know how you did! Simple!

Also link to your "My Swing" thread if you have one, and post a recap of your goals there as well.

Please do not reply to the posts of others people . This thread, like "What'd You Shoot Today," is not intended to be a discussion, but merely a list of people's goals and how they fared. If you want to quote and respond to someone, check for their My Swing thread.

[Golfingdad]

Similar to last year, and similar to @mdl in that my main goals are to keep getting better and keep lowering that handicap.  But for fun and to give myself something concrete to look back at in a year, let's say:

1.  Get my handicap index back under 7, with the ultimate end of season goal of getting it under 6.

2.  Win another tournament, perhaps even 2. :)

3.  Keep playing and practicing as much as time, and my back, will allow.

These were my original 2014 goals, which were all achieved by September.  Because of that, I set new and improved, more ambitious, goals for the remainder of 2014:

Keep the handicap under 6.

Get back to practicing a little more stupid monkey like (I've started getting a bit lazy and have been hitting too many balls, and also not doing any work at home).  I vow to fix that.

My reach; get the handicap under 5.

I will post again at the end of the year to determine if I was successful or not (although so far, so good on 1 and 2), and those will go a way to determine where I'll set my 2015 goals.

[rkim291968]

- Attend one LPGA or PGA tour event in person.  - Done!

- Lower HI below 13 - went to 22 instead and just got it back down to 19.

- Custom fit golf clubs. - went to one fitting but didn't result in getting new clubs

- Enter at least 50% of home club tournaments (drag my wife into some) - Done!  Didn't medal on any but did well in a few tournaments (finished 4th twice).

- Enjoy golf  (don't lose temper or get into fight ) - Done!  No fights (had to bite down on my tongue a few times).

My progress/final report on bold above.

[dfreuter415]

1) End the year (2014) with a single digit handicap

2) Add 10-15 yards to my average driving distance

I finished the year with a 7.5 index, so I had a much better year than I expected, thanks to an improved short game.

As for the driving, my distance didn't change, but I did play more rounds from the senior tees. This allowed me to hit shorter irons to the greens.

[billchao]

I'm going to be more specific with my goals this year because I think they will help me focus on achieving them.

1. Play at least 20 rounds during the active season.

2. Establish an official handicap. If I hit goal #1, I'll finish the year with a handicap that, besides being official, doesn't span three years.

3. Get a club fitting for my entire bag. I am definitely going to do it this year.

4. I'm going to get ambitious with this one and shoot to finish this year with an 8 handicap.

Extra Credit: Get an Edel Putter or attend an AimPoint Class. I'm not entirely sure where I'd be able to do either, yet.

1. Nope. I managed 15. More if you count each 9-hole round as a separate round, but I don't.

2. Didn't do this. I don't know, I guess I just wanted to save the $40.

3. Didn't do this, either. I did a lot of work on my swing this year and I decided I shouldn't get fit with a transitional swing. I'm also going to possibly maybe have to stop using absolutes

4. Was I drunk when I made this one?

Extra Credit: Did the AimPoint.

I'm going to have to rethink my goal setting.

[PJCdude]

1. Break 100 over 18 holes DONE! Shot a 98 on July 29th, but that was my only sub 100 round this year 2. Break 45 over 9 holes Not done. My low for 9 holes is still 48 which I've done twice. Once on the front nine of my 98 and another time during a 9 hole round 3. Par every hole at least once on my home course. (Just started playing but already got 5 down and 13 to go after only 4 rounds) Still only have 9/18, but 2 of those holes also have birdies with my name on them.

[Lihu]

My goals for 2014 were just kind of scattered thoughts.

If being able to hit all my clubs with some degree of proficiency was a goal, then I can happily say I have limited success. Making a specific handicap was not really a good goal for me, but I did kind of meet that one since I amended towards the end of the year.

My 2015 goals are much more specific and geared towards something I can control.

[Fairway_CY]

I've been taking some time to think about my goals this year.  I didn't post any in 2013 because I wasn't really sure how much I'd get to play... but I know that 2014 will be a golf-filled year... at least for the first half of the year.  So... my goals are below:

1. Win a tournament.  I've spent 4 of the last 6 years entering tournaments, both by signing up for county tournaments and by joining clubs.  All of them have been either full handicap or have used flights.  Over that time, I have come close... but never won a tournament.  I did post the lowest score in one tournament back in 2010, but because of club rules (I had to post 3 rounds with the club first, and this was my 3rd round with them)... I was not eligible to win that one.  I finished second in a match play club championship a few years back, also.  So... my plan is to enter and play in approximately 10-15 tournaments this year... hopefully at least ONE of them will yield a win.

2. Finally finish a round with less than 30 putts.  I've had this same goal now for a few years.  I just can't seem to put a round like that together.  I think the lowest I've ever had was 31 putts in a round.  I will have a lot of practice time early on in 2014... I plan to spend a lot of that time on my putting.

3. Reduce my handicap to below a 14.0 level.  A few years back, I started at around a 23.0 handicap.  I said then that I really wanted to get it lower.  By the end of that year... I was down to a 16.7 handicap.  The following year, I played only until July... then I got a new job that took away a lot of my time for golf.  In 2012, I barely played at all... playing 2 full rounds, a scramble and a pair of 9 hole rounds.  Last season, my handicap steadily went up... and I finished at 18.1 for the year.  I want it to be a great year for me.  To do that, I need to lower my handicap pretty significantly.

4. Become a better driver of the golf ball.  I waste so many shots recovering from poor drives.  I've spent the last few years working on becoming a little more consistent... but I'd like to hit at least 50% of fairways.  Right now, over my last 20 rounds, I've hit 39.43% of fairways.  There's about a 20% difference in hitting a green in regulation for me when I'm on the fairway over when I've missed the fairway.  This will immediately improve my scoring.

Beyond that... my primary goal is to have fun.  I love this game.  It's shaping up to be a very good year for me... I hope to take advantage of my move down south.

Until the 2014 recap...

CY

1. I didn't really get to play as much as I had hoped, but I did enter a few 'small scale' tournaments using a non-official handicap.  In one of them, I ended up 'winning'.  I don't count it because it wasn't an official USGA handicap that was used, and it was also a field of like 12 players.  So... I'll head into 2015 with this being one of my goals, still.

2. I think the lowest I finished with was 32 putts in a round this season.  My stat tracking lacked, so I'm not really sure where I finished... but a quick glance appears to show that 32 was my low for the season.  I definitely didn't finish with any rounds below 30 putts.

3. Not even close.  First, I didn't register for a USGA handicap this year.  Second, my scores were steadily in the 94 - 104 range for most of the rounds I ended up playing... so, my handicap, if I had registered, wouldn't have made its way down below 14.0 at any point.

4. Again, my stat-tracking has lacked this season... but from what I can see, I hit about 33% of fairways this season, which is actually worse than what I was at when I set these goals.  In July, I played 2 separate nine-hole rounds, and I failed to hit a fairway in each of those rounds.  I literally went 0-for-July in fairways hit.  It's certainly something I need to work on this upcoming season!

CY

[Missouri Swede]

1. Break 90

2. Handicap index 20 or better

3. Consistently (at least 1x per month) upload a video to evolvr (by which I also mean that I have done the work to make a new video worth uploading).

1.  Success!  Twice.

2.  Nope.  Would have if I had done #1 more.

3.  Nope.  Life (family, work, illness) got in the way, as it should.

[RFKFREAK]

1) Learn to become a halfway decent ball striker.

2) Improve on my 7.29% GIR and get it to 20%

3) Lower the amount of holes that I score triple bogey or worse.  Averaged 7.59 holes per round with a triple bogey or worse this year.

4) Consistently shoot in the 90's.

5) Score somewhere in the 80's at least once.

6) Learn to hit out of the bunker and not be afraid of it.

7) Improve on my 2.07 putts per hole.  Would like to get it to 1.75

1) Since I never defined what, "halfway decent," meant, I'm going to say yes to this.  I feel as though I hit fewer balls fat, thin, or topped.

2) I improved on my GIR % on the year but didn't reach my goal of 20%.  Got to 12%  Considering the ceiling for GIR is 65%, I have a lot of work to do.

3) This got lower, as well.  My triple bogey or worse average this year is 5.22, so, still pretty bad, but an improvement.  Over my last 4 rounds of the year, that number was reduced to 4.4  so heading in the right direction.

4) This did not happen.  Was able to put up 3 rounds this year under 100 out of 19 played.

5) Nowhere near close.  My lowest score of the year was a 94 on a super short wide open course.

6) Spent a minimal amount of time on this as I feel I have a lot of other things I should concentrate on so failed.

7) Amazingly enough, my putts per hole remained at 2.07 so failed here, as well.

Met my goal on 4 out of 7 but didn't really feel I made any major improvements on my game from 2013.  I only need to look at my HC for proof.

[treebound]

Quote:

Since I didn't play golf once last year due to work and family things, might not have even hit the driving range, this should be fairly simple:

1. Play more than in 2013, hopefully weekly or at least every other week once the courses open. I'm in Wisconsin.

2. Hit the driving range or at least chip a bucket of balls elsewhere at least weekly if not more often.

3. Re-establish being able to hit the driver and other woods.

4. Keep out of the woods and trees with my drives as much as possible.

That's enough to get me re-started.

1. Well due to a variety of things I only got to play one round of golf in 2014, so functionally I played more that in 2013 so I'll count #1 as done.

2. Almost did this, and several weeks I was able to hit the driving range several times, so overall #2 was functionally completed at least during the open golfing season.

3. Did a whole lot better in years past as far as the driver and woods go, still a lot of room for improvement but few if any banana balls.

4. if I don't count one particularly bad day on the range then I did okay on this one as well.

Off to think and then find the 2015 thread.

[dave s]

I don't make tons of golf goals but try to focus each season on one aspect of my game. Last year was hitting more par-3 greens as a way to reduce overall round scores.  Started keeping stroke average on par-3 holes the prior season and my stats were pathetic. My par-3 average was about 4.5 strokes per hole.  Reason? Not hitting the greens in regulation, obviously.

Had many practice sessions early last season hitting short- and mid-irons off tees at the range to targets scoped with the Bushnell.  Last season was 70-80% GIR in the 130-160 range but was  < 50% on  beyond 160 yards.  Results:  Lowered that par-3 average to closer to 3.5 per hole and won a TON of money on my golf league.  Won several closest-to-pin shots and made birdies for skins money as well.

Two years prior, my single goal was making ALL 'makeable putts.'  These are putts 4' and closer to the hole.  My putting practice consists of using 2 balls and hitting putts from 12/3/6/9 positions around a hole from 2, 3, 4 then 5 feet.  I do this drill on two different holes on the practice green prior to teeing off every round.  It's nice to roll up a first putt and slam in that 2-4 footer to save par or whatever the hole might be. Significantly reduced 3-putts, and over an 18-hole round, I'll only miss 1 (usual) or 2 'makeable' putts at worst.  Definite stroke saver there.

This year's focus will be on making more solid contact from the fairway on shots longer than 130 yards. From 8-iron in, I'm pretty solid.  Anything longer than that and it's dicey at best.  Have the right tools, just need to refine the swing and practice more.

dave

[Uncle Peter]

2014 goals:

-Hit straighter shots

-Have a good number of rounds in the 80's

-Shoot a new lowest round

-Play more often

-Hit approach shots much closer

1) I'd say I hit a few more straighter shots this year, but there's still a ton of room for improvement

2) Yes I did have several rounds in the 80's this year; more than any year before

3) I did shoot a new low round of 86 (or 87 I think)

4) I played more often as well. I think I got in about 10 more rounds than last year and on a more regular basis

5) I wouldn't say I hit my approach shots that much closer this year, probably just the same as last year

Pretty good overall I think. Now to set a few goals for this season.