What are Your 2018 Golf Goals?

[sjduffers]

I feel that I am reaching my level of "incompetence" (from the Peters' principles): I am never going to gain another 25-30 yards with the driver or another 15 yards with my 7 iron. I am now aiming at keeping my game where it is and marginally improving it where there is still a bit of room.

My goals for 2018 are:

1) Get the GIR to 45%. That was the goal in 2015, 2016, 2017 and remains for 2018. I have stopped getting regular lessons (i.e. once every 3-4 weeks) and only occasionally check in with my coach. I feel I have all the tools necessary to get it there, and it's a combination of more deliberate play (I am a fast player that doesn't handle slow play very well and reacts by being even faster), better and more consistent pre-shot routine (i.e. alignment check, pick a small spot a few feet in front, etc..) and more considerations about club selection. This mostly apply to the irons: I am pretty good with the driver or fairway woods in term of selection and targets. An unmistakable sign that this is an issue is that my GIR% is currently lower on par 5s than it is on par 3s, despite being much closer to the green on average on the par 5s!

2) Fix my greenside bunker play as a glaring weakness: my sand save percentage is like 2.5%, but more troubling is the number of times I still leave the ball in the bunker or blade it over the green. It is a reason why I have a bit more trouble scoring on courses that I don't know like the palm of my hand. On courses I know very well, I am hardly ever in a bunker (either they have very few bunkers or I actively avoid them). I think I know what to do, but am having a hard time doing it, so perhaps another pair of eyes will help. I plan on taking a couple of lessons from another coach, as my current coach only teaches indoors and of course doesn't have access to sand...

3) Keep the index in the single digits, and attempt to get it under 8.0 (closest so far has been 8.2) for a couple of revisions.

4) Shoot a personal best (currently 75) on a par 70 or higher course, meaning 74 or better. Same goal as in 2017.

5) Have a round or more with 4 birdies or better. Best so far is 3 (several times).

6) Keep the putter as a strong asset (less than 5% of 3-putts and 30 putts per round). I am already there or nearly there (4% and 30.5 respectively). Ensure it stays there, even when playing on faster greens from time to time: On some faster greens (stimp 11 or higher?), I typically have an extra 3-putt or 2 as some putts get away from me, rolling too far past the hole, usually due to carelessness. This also requires more play on those greens, compared to my typical 8-10 stimped greens.

2017 was a definite step above my previous level. I think 2018 will be more of a consolidation and firming up the progress already achieved.

PS: A long term goal is to break my age, but I am probably a good 15-20 years away from that still, as I close in on 60.

[Gator Hazard]

Start golfing again.

Get instruction.

Find an instructor.

Break 100. This is the year. It’s do those things or sell the clubs because I can be okay with being a bad golfer, but I’m not okay with being a horrible golfer anymore. I want to have fun when I play, and it’s not fun looking like a total asshat. 

 

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Edited December 25, 2017 by Gator Hazard

[Piz]

I'm going to give having goals a year off and just enjoy the game.  Damn!  My goal was to have no goals and already, before the new year has arrived, I've set a goal.  Oh well...at least that is over with.  Joys of the season folks.

[boogielicious]

My gold goal is pretty simple, get healthy. I had a pretty tough year orthopedically. I had wrist and bicep tendinitis, a torn meniscus and lastly a nasty hernia to close off the year.

My plan is to start slow building my strength and swing back. I can start this first week of January although no ab work until the second week. I meet with my PT then as well.

Slow mirror swings will be first up and I hope to do that daily. I want to ingrain the proper form before I start hitting balls. I will also upload the slow swings to my Evolvr instructor too. I haven’t hit a ball since August, so it will be a long journey, but I am eager to start. I can hit foam balls indoors at my work gym, which will takes stress off too.

[gym_class_hero]

my job has changed this year, I will have 3 day weekends every week so here are my goals..

 

1. Average below 100 for the year.

2. Find a league on Mondays to belong to

3. go on a road trip with a few buddies where we play at least 3-4 rounds

4. Get a part time  job at the course I live on so I can golf for free

[Hoganman1]

My 2018 golf goals are:

1. Play at least 100 rounds

2. Take some lessons to fit my swing to my physical limitations (chronic neck pain).

3. Get my handicap back to a single digit by practicing and playing smarter. 

4. Limit my equipment purchases (no more trying to buy a game)

 

[nevets88]

• Continue refining shallow, motorcycle, turn/pivot - working better in conjunction with arms/shoulders, wrist conditions/rates. Less thinking through swing, more athletic/dynamic.
• Play more - I say this every year, I'd play more if I played better.
• Work more on wedges and putter, use Mevo to dial in distances, keep using Visio to tighten putter head path, lesson w/Preston if he's in town.
• Continue w/full swing lessons, reading/watching whatever instruction comes available (mean to take a look at David Orr's videos).
• Get fitted w/a new putter.

[Mr. Desmond]

Continue to improve stock swing.

Play 2X/week, Practice 3X/wk, In-Home practice when outside not possible.

Learn to work ball

Break 80 consistently

Improve all facets

Quit buying equipment except for driver, reshaft as needed.

[p1n9183]

I will not practice anymore this year, so my goals are: 

1. Play just for fun: have fun playing golf at my home course and even on important tournaments away from home, without practice i will have not expectations to achive on any tournament, so i hope i can just relax an enjoy every round despite the score.  

2. Keep my handicap below 2: with small improvements practicing on the course while having fun i think i can keep it low without the need of hitting the range during the week.    

[WUTiger]

Outside events already shaping my 2018 season. I'll discuss both swing and activity goals.

Swing goals:

• Get my FWs and hybrids coordinated. I have excellent FWs and hybrids that I can hit pretty well individually. Now, see which mix works best for me. Options: keep current 4W - 7W set-up, add shorter 4H. Deloft 18* (now at 20*) to 17 degree and play with single FW and 3H + 4H. Mainly I want to get fairly even distance gaps between driver and 5i.
• Better ingrain the 5SK "lateral sweet spot" motion into my swing. Work with wider takeaway, to ensure I'm not too steep on downswing (leads to OTT and other headaches).
• Get to where I regularly shoot in the 80s. I dropped a little from 25.8 to 22 HDCP this summer, and broke 90 three times.

Activity goals:

I'm site coordinator for a regional academic conference in October, so lead-up tasks are interrupting my normal golf flow:

• Will skip the local Amateur circuit this year - except for one round at a famous country club. The circuit championship - which I qualified for this year - falls the week of my October conference. And, most of the courses in the 2018 mix are an 80-mile round trip or more.
• Play in a couple of two-day district-level tournaments. The district Senior Amateur takes place the week before school starts.
• Play more with people outside my Senior group. The Seniors are locked into mid-morning MWF, and it doesn't always fit my schedule. I'm one of the dreaded unretired. Plus, I can play at several of the other Walters Management courses on space-available for an $18 cart fee. Some other W courses are much closer to where I work than my home course.
• Enjoy volunteering for the PGA Championship at Bellerive in August.

Edited December 26, 2017 by WUTiger
Shorten text.

[Club Rat]

My 2018 golf goals are:

Continue to improve and fine tune driver swing with emphasis on better hip rotation.
Also, being more consistent with iron swings, avoiding those one or two bad swings which ruin good rounds. 
Putting stroke needs priority, I've been pushing too many makeable short putts and tug uphill putts from inside 15 feet.
Create a stretching routine before all rounds, which means getting my butt out'a bed earlier for early mourning rounds.

Staying healthy, avoid golf related injuries, maybe even improve my daily diet. (mornings are generally poor)
Ward off the Wolves at my club who think this Old Guy is Over the Hill and ready to get all their Cha-Ching-Go's back .

[JonMA1]

1. Break 90 a couple times from shorter tees. 
2. Break 100 a couple of times from longer tees. 
3. Reduce my scoring average down to 95.
4. Average 2 putts per round.
5. Average 30% GIR.
6. Average 3 penalties or less per 18 holes.

[HJJ003]

My goals for the 2018 year are as follows:

1) My primary goal is to have a handicap index of sub 17 before the end of the year.

2) Practice more constantly. 

3) Play three “bucket list” courses

I plan on achieving these things by doing the following:

1) Map My Shots zones and build decision maps for the courses I play. Utilize “The Rule” and other LSW strategies and techniques to lower scores. 

2) Utlize the 65/20/15 strategy to develop my practice plan. My goal is to practice 90mins-2 hours a week and make sure I practice the higher SV skills more often. 

3) I have quite an extensive “bucket list”. I’ll explain that list in another thread. Point is I have the chance to play Pine Dunes this year as well as maybe Kiva Dunes. I will be actively looking for the chance to play a third! 

[Riverdad]

I retired about 4 years ago and have started playing a lot more since then. I played a lot when I was younger and was a decent golfer. Since I have started playing fairly regularly again I am getting excited about the game again.69

My goals are:

1. Become more consistent...I have shot anywhere between 69 and 93 over the last 3 years (72 to 90 this last year). I need to practice my short game more to regain consistency. My short game was the strength of my game when I was younger and now it is the biggest weakness.

2. Get stronger...I am old and fat. I walk about 1.5 miles a day, but I need to do some strength training. Unfortunately the course I play the most on is almost impossible for this fat by to walk (very long uphill walks between green and teebox on most holes). I do walk at some other courses.

3. Get more limber...I have started a stretching routine that is helping.

4. Get rid of the big hook that seems to creep into my game...I have been trying to hit a fade the last few times out. 1 tip from the GC about finishing with a picture frame finish has really helped my game. For some strange reason when I pull it off I am getting about 20 extra yards with my driver. I am and have always been a pretty short hitter. With the draw that I usually hit my average drive is about 230. When I hit the fade I am getting it out there closer to 250. The course I play is very soft most of the year so I guess I am just flying it farther. 

5. Get some confidence with my chipping. I am getting better, but I am still very uncomfortable from tight lies. I am trying to use the bounce of the club a little more.

6. Try to cut down on the big numbers... I need to eliminate penalty shots, 2 chips, greens hit and 3 putts, and most of all missed green with a chip and 3 putts. A lot of my problem is a loss of concentration. 

 

[tehuti]

My list is longer than I initially thought:

1. Take lessons. I have already bought a 3 lesson set with my local instructor and I just need to get started

2. Fix my putting. Way too many 3 putts. 

3. Focus on my chipping. I waste at least one or two strokes every time I have to chip onto ( or past, in my case) the green.

4. Tame my 3 and 4 hybrids. I can’t hit them with any confidence and that puts a big hole in my game between 3 wood and 5 iron.

5. Learn to hit my 3 wood off the deck. I love hitting it off the tee and dread having to use it in the fairway.

6. Play at least 1 round of 18 a month.

7. Break 100 consistently.

8. Have fun.

Edited January 1, 2018 by tehuti
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[Philosopher]

Hi everyone, this is my first post, though I've been enjoying reading the site for the last couple of weeks and am currently reading LSW.

My 2018 golf goals are:

1. Practice at least twice a week outside of my Saturday round. 

2. Recover from a bad hole. At the moment I have a tendency to follow a bad hole or a bit of bad luck with a 2-3 hole stretch of patchy concentration and decision-making.

3. Put my LSW learnings into practice.

4. Be an active member of the tst community. 

Cheers,

Phil

[Osnola]

Having neck surgery late January/early February so goal number one will to be able to play pain free.

I would like to become a better putter and will study more about putting from now until I can get out and practice more.  

I would like to begin by reducing the number of putts per round by 5 - 7 per round.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Osnola
mispelling

[Lihu]

Continue to work on my swing with the 5 minute drills even when I am not playing golf during the late Spring and Summer months.

Work on short game and putting, continue with my 4 clinics/lessons per month.

Hope to make a lot better ball contact. Want to be able to hit my 5i and 4i without feeling any apprehension.