Recap Your 2016 Golf Goals

[GangGreen]

 

On 12/4/2015 at 11:38 AM, GangGreen said:

Main goals is to get the HI down into the 12-13 range. 

To get there I plan on:

1.  Stepping up the flexibility/strength training in the off-season.  Started last off-season, really helped eliminate a lot of the nagging little injuries this year and I think gave me a few extra yards of distance.

2.  Keeping up with the lessons.  I've started each of the last 2 seasons with a handful of lessons from a great instructor, seems to get me headed in the right direction each year.  Might add a mid-season lesson or two just to make sure I don't stray too far as the season progresses (I tend to hit a wall mid-August and usually start falling into some old bad habits). 

3.  Playing more courses.  I tend to play 70% of my rounds on my home course.  It's a good challenging shorter course but I tend to struggle when I play "away" especially on longer courses.  I think my overall game (and scoring) will improve if I add a little more variety and challenge myself a little more regularly.

Certainly other things I plan on doing, but those are the main ones.

 

Not too bad, got close to my main goal and finished the season with an HI of 13.5, more importantly though my overall play felt vastly improved compared to last year.  I did stick with the off-season flexibility/strength training and kept up with the lessons (both of which helped tremendously) but still ended up playing the lion share of my rounds on the home course.

[GolfLug]

Posted January 10 · Report post

1. Make driver a strength. - Warm, very warm. Last 4 out of 5 rounds including the 2nd day one down in PH last weekend indicative of a significant improvement. Can't bag it as a strength yet. Need another 5 rounds with the same level for confirmation. Plenty daylight left to get this one in for 2016. 

2. Establish a playable chip. - Nope. Has gotten worse. Last round chipping was miserable. 6 nGIRs in a single round resulted in double bogey or worse . I can float load pitches fairly well and bunkers are no problem for getting within 15-20 feet but the short chips are horrible. Verrry yippy. Used to be a decent aspect if not a strength 2 years ago. Will ABSOLUTELY feature in 2017 goals.   

3.  Drop HCP between 6 and 7. - Nope. Not sure if it will feature in 2017 as an actual goal.

[Shooting29]

Tried following the instructions but my android phone doesn't play well with this site.

2016 goals were 1. get back to scratch. 2. play in the final group.  3. shoot career best 9 and 18 hole rounds.

1. goal achieved, finished the year at +0.4

2. goal achieved, played in the final group of my club's memorial day tournament. 

3a. Failed, still working on shooting 29 3b. goal achieved, shot my career best 65 -5 on a 70.2/135 rating / slope 

[billchao]

On 12/6/2015 at 0:23 PM, billchao said:

Basically the same as every year:

1. Get my handicap down. I think 12 is a reasonable number. I made a lot of strides this year with all aspects of my game and I should continue to see improvement in the coming year. Biggest thing holding me back is my full swing issues, which I know what to do for. It's also a matter of taking my home swing to the course, too.
2. Play more golf. Kind of related to #1 as it will help with lowering my handicap and getting my home swing to be my course swing. My scores for the most part have been trending downwards and more rounds with differentials in the teens will knock the 20s out.
3. Get a full fitting. I talk about this every year but I think it's time to finally do it. I'm at the point now where the changes I make in my swing will be less drastic and I need to start getting the most out of my equipment. Understanding my specific needs and what shafts, lengths, etc., is going to be a big part of it. For example, @SavvySwede and I talked about shortening the length of my driver and fairway woods the last time we played together, but I want to know for certain that this will actually help me before I make a permanent change to my equipment. There's a Callaway Performance Center near me and I want to do this fairly early in the season.

1. Got to a 13.8, not quite there. Got busy towards the second half of the season and had less time to play and practice so the improvement waned. Did manage to drop 3 strokes though, so I give myself a B-.
2. I actually played slightly fewer rounds than last year. C.
3. I actually did this. Made a shaft change to my irons that made my numbers better, but the swing was the biggest problem with the woods. A.

[Hardspoon]

On 11/23/2016 at 5:34 PM, JonMA1 said:

2. Failed. While I averaged below 100 for the season, most rounds were from shorter tees. Broke 100 from this distance only 3 times.

 

On 11/23/2016 at 5:34 PM, JonMA1 said:

If I don't hit these goals, TST Mods and Forum Leaders get to change my avatar to anything they want for the entire month of January, 2017.

So...Carolina Panthers flag? 

[JonMA1]

1 hour ago, Hardspoon said:

 

So...Carolina Panthers flag? 

Ha ha. That's right... anything you guys want.

[Marty2019]

Okay, this is what I said: 

====================================================

My goal for 2016 is to break 80 at least once.   I don't care if it's from the senior tees.   I don't care if I have to include 2 mulligans.  Just. Break. 80.   With a minimal amount of cheating.   If I can do that, I promise I will work on eliminating the cheating.  

Right now I'm 62 years old, I shoot in the mid-80s, from the senior tees, with some cheating.    By which I mean 2 mulligans off the tee per round, and a lot of 3 foot putts conceded.  I never fail to break 90.  But I have never broken 80. 

I took up the game seriously about 2 years ago, and have slowly, slowly improved. 

There's no particular way I am going to get below 80, just general improvement in every aspect.   I do need to practice my putting a lot more.   My lag putting is getting a lot better, but I am not good at reading greens and I miss too many makeable putts, 8 feet or less.  My driving is good.   I just need to keep my drives in the fairway.   

====================================================

That's kind of an embarrassing post to re-post, but there it is. 

I have not accomplished much of this.   I have approached 80 multiple times recently, without fudging my score like I used to.   But I don't think I had a good enough plan for breaking 80.   Just practicing putting and hitting my tee shot in the fairway isn't enough.  Breaking 80 requires hitting greens in regulation and converting some birdies to offset the inevitable bogeys or double bogeys.  So in my case, breaking 80 requires better iron plan and a better short game. 

So my plan is:

1) Better equipment.   I got fitted for some new irons, but haven't received them yet.  I have been using a $200 set that I found in the bargain bin in my local golf shop. 

2) Instruction.  I bought 10 half hour lessons, so far I have taken 4.  But basically, in the long run, have an instructor. 

3) Better practice habits.   Don't just beat balls at the range.   Video my swing.  Consult the video between shots.   Focus on what my instructor wants me to do.  

 

[cutchemist42]

Get to a 15 by Gamegolf's measurement.

 

Missed the mark, but I was also injured for 1.5 months during our short Winnipeg summer. I think I was trending there. My goal next year might thus be getting to a 12. Brief mention, but I plan to do more Winter hitting this year.

[rkim291968]

On 11/30/2016 at 4:23 PM, rkim291968 said:

 

1. Didn't even come close to 12 HI.  The best I've got to was low 14.
2. Was at mostly in 14 - 15 HI until November.   I am at 16.4 now.   There are two more HI reports, 12/15 & 12/31, to go.   The goal is still pending but I consider my 2nd goal a success.

My HI is down to 15.9 as of 12/18/16.   With a few more rounds before 12/31 & mostly bottom 10 scores to come off the handicap system queue, my 12/31 HI will only go down from 15.9.   So, I achieved 50% of my 2016 golf goals. I am getting up to grab a beer ... --->        

Now what do I do for 2017?   

[Lazarus]

Goal was to play more and reach single figures.

Mini goal was to break 80 and increase my driver swing speed.

>> 

I did play more but only for a 2 month period.

Got my HC down from 16 to 11.5. Missed my goal but its a decent shift and my goal was very ambitious.

Broke 80 once (78) and hit 80 twice in a row.

Driver SS up from 100 to 107 average.

- Very eager to reset for 2017!

[Lihu]

On 12/4/2015 at 11:02 AM, Lihu said:

My goal is to get 2.5 keys. Any combination or set of them, as long as they add up to 2.5 I'd be happy. Not sure how realistic this is, but it's a goal.

It's very realistic, but takes a lot of time and effort. . .

I don't think I'm at 2.5 keys. After yesterday's session, I feel like there is a lot of correction to make in my swing.

Based upon my distance gains I think key 2 is acceptable, for now.

Key 3 is still needs work. My shoulders are now too open at impact according to one of my "range buddies". I had the opposite problem when starting, and now I need to figure out a "happy medium". This is a difficult key to get for me apparently.

Key 1 still needs a lot more "work" because I still sometimes feel like I am close to losing my balance at the finish.

Starting to work on keys 4 and 5.

Probably still under 2 keys.

[NJpatbee]

- Stay healthy and work on back strengthening (again).  Prostate cancer knocked me out for 10 weeks in 2015

- Get my soon to be unofficial handicap from 17.7 to 16.0.  I will keep my GHIN also to see how much of difference excluding rounds played by myself makes and in case I get an invitation to play Pine Valley (anyone?)

- Hit crisper short irons (the only ones I still use)

- Practice pitching and chipping more than 15 minutes/week

- Play 40+ rounds in 2016

I never had a chance in 2016 - my health returned but my wife has serious health issues so of course my priorities changed. I only played 12 GHIN rounds since my 6 solo rounds no longer counted, but my handicap did go down 1/2 point.  I played a couple of rounds before and after the GHIN season, so perhaps I played 22 rounds.  I did temper my goals for 2017 knowing my playing and practice time will be limited but I am still anxious for the season to get here. 

[Uncle Peter]

 

On 2016-01-29 at 8:46 PM, Uncle Peter said:

My 2016 Goals:

 

1) Improve strike with driver (i.e. hit the clubface center more often)

2) Consistency, with swing, distances, ball paths, etc.

3) Shoot more sub-90 rounds. Should follow from completing other goals

4) Hit more greens in regulations

5) Play more courses. There's a lot of quality courses in my area that I've been wanting to play.

1) Sort've. Halfway through the season, I decided to go ahead and just play my natural fade and forgo fixing my swing to fix it. It worked out, as I had a fair idea of where the ball would be going.

2) Yes, mainly with the driver due to #1

3) I had a couple, but I just didn't get to play enough.

4) I didn't play more rounds overall, but I did play courses that I'd only played once or twice before, as opposed to my regular courses.

[pecos24]

On 3/23/2016 at 11:50 AM, pecos24 said:

Goals for 2016:

1) Multiple rounds under 100. (I only did this once last season)

2) Get my handicap index under 26.

3) Improve my average driver distance to 220 yds.

1) Accomplished.  I had back to back rounds of 92 in July.

2) Close but no cigar.  I finished the season at 26.0.

3) Not even close.  I am really struggling with distance on my driver.