Golfing Goals/Resolutions for 2021

I am writing this blog four months into the year and the subject of this blog is something that would usually be covered at the start of the new year during the lull between Christmas and the start of January. From that you can probably guess that this return blog is around goals and resolutions for the year. Like a lot of people I was pleased to see the return of golf on Monday 29th March for golfers based in England, unlike the majority of golfers who will access this I have not played since the easing, this is due to a house move impending meaning all of my golf equipment is currently in storage and with my wife due to give birth in around six weeks it could be that the goals I have set are aspirational to say the least. However, I have firmly believe that when you have a highly stressful job, a young family and a hectic life in general it is vital that you find balance- for all of the above but for yourself as well. Looking at my golf game I feel I have set some goals that will see me playing more golf, trying to do more in terms of my blogging and importantly setting realistic goals that will help me improve my golfing game. As you will see with a lot of these goals/resolutions you will see a lot of linking between them.

Below are a list of my resolutions, why I have chosen them and what achieving them will help me to do longer term, the why as it were.

Resolution 1 − Play more golf in 2021

A very broad resolution here, but I know that I need to be playing more golf in order to be a better golfer. 

• In 2019, I played 12 round of golf
• In 2020, I played 14 times 
• In 2021, I am aiming to play at least 15 rounds of golf.

One of the things I often here people talk about, myself included, is that consistency is one of the most vital ingredients of learning and embedding improvement. In order to improve at anything you need to devote time to it and I have not done that enough. When I reflect on my game I feel that other that my distances I can hit straight, putt well generally and on occasions can have a good short game. What stops it all coming together is not playing enough and not practicing enough. If I can play more rounds of golf then being better at all of the small parts will lead to more consistency and an improving golfer. Also from the perspective of wanting to review more courses if I hit my first goal of 15 rounds, this could potentially be 15 new courses to review and blog about.

Resolution 2 − Make a birdie in 2021

I would love to...except I haven't hit one
in a long time

I know a lot of people reading this will not have this problem but I have not hit a birdie in a long time. In my fourteen rounds last year the best score on a hole I achieved was par. I know to be a better golfer I need to be cutting the amount of double bogeys to bogey, bogeys to par and so on and by doing this I will see my handicap improve and I will also become a better, more consistent golfer. I know this goal is not necessarily one that I can achieve but if I meet my first goal and play more then the chances of achieving this goal improve dramatically. It is also a goal that would make me feel better about my game generally and help me feel that it is moving in the right direction. 

Resolution 3 − Do something practical with golf once a week at least. If it is practicing then create a routine for this

Practice makes perfect or permanent are two well known phrases that are often banded about. However I know that for me purposeful practice is what I think will make the difference. I know that I have been guilty in the past of wanting to practice and going to the driving range getting a bucket of balls and smashing through them focusing on the clubs that I hit well with on that night, ignoring the ones that are not working so well. I also know that I have previously got out a putting mat and a putting device and putted balls, even though on the course I consider this to be a strong area of my game (being positive in my language there!). What I actually need to do is analyse my game more often and actually work on the areas that need developing. At present I would consider that as my chipping and short game. Pre lock down I think a visit to the range and working on this would have been an option, one of the courses local to me has a devoted chipping area so that could have been an option also. However, going into the back garden with a mat and dropping a target and trying to get close by will do the job just as well I think. Whatever I do it needs to be purposeful and actually be there to help improve my game. 

Resolution 4 − Find a golf coach and have some lessons

To go alongside my third resolution I think I need to find a local golf coach to work with and have lessons to improve my game. I know there are a lot of tutorial videos out there and the growth of social media means you can get an idea of what others are doing to improve their golf. However there is no substitute than working with a qualified coach. Tuition with identify your areas of weakness and work on them with you talking you through what is going well and what still needs to be worked on. By doing this and the above, I think improvement is more likely to happen.

Resolution 5 − Gain an official handicap

One of the most common questions golfers of my ability are asked (before I hit a ball I must add here) is 'What is your handicap?' The answer to that question is that I don't have a proper handicap and I use three different apps regularly, all giving me slightly different handicaps. For me, one of my goals for the year would be to gain and official handicap by ideally joining a golf club. This will then help me achieve a goal of playing more, help me by playing in competitions and finding other local golfers to play with. I also think setting goals like the next one would be more realistic and accurate.

Resolution 6 − Reduce handicap to at least 22

Over the last few years, since I have been playing a little more regularly (I took about three years off from playing), I have successfully reduced my handicap 

Handicap history

May 2018  − 39.3

December 2018  − 26 (This is mainly through eight rounds and dropping shots quickly by finding a basic level of consistency I had when I stopped playing. My first round back in May 2018 was an utter shambles!)

December 2019  − 25.5

December 2020  −  24.2 

(Data taken from Golfshake)

If I look at the reduction I have made at the end of the three years I have I can see a 0.5 drop from 2019 to 2020 and then a 1.3 drop from 2020 to 2021. By practicing more, playing more and having lessons I think a drop of 2.2 shots is realistic but still potentially a challenge 

Resolution 7 − Reduce my double bogies and 

worse down (currently at 45 percent)

So due to my fascination with data and statistics I looked at each score from the last year to analysis the percentages of pars, bogeys and so on from my rounds of golf.

The data is below;

2020 Golf Stats	How many achieved	Percentage
Eagles	0	0%
Birdies	0	0%
Pars	10	6%
Bogeys	88	49%
Double Bogeys	54	30%
Triple Bogeys	20	11%
Worse	8	4%

I think the statistics speak for themselves. If these birdies and pars column have higher numbers in that the triples or worse to begin with then this will help to address this situation. After that, look at the amount of doubles made and add some of those to the bogeys column and this will help this statistic change massively, improve me as a golfer and reduce my handicap down. For me, these statistics and being aware of them are really useful to have in mind when I am looking at improving, if I know that I can afford three double bogeys a round, nothing worse and all better than that it should help me meet my current handicap to begin with before then trying to cut this.

Resolution 8 - work on the mental side of the game, pre shot routines, warming up etc. 

I think it is fair to say, looking at the quote on the left, that this has been something that golfers have considered for a long period of time. For me, someone who has been playing for a little while, I still do not have this covered. When I book to play a round the usual thoughts are around looking forward to getting out to play and that is probably the extent of it. I will turn up on the day of the round and sometimes I will head out to the driving range and go through the motions of hitting balls, sometimes I will putt but again none of it is purposeful or has a reason behind it. Then out on the course I will sometimes play a practice shot, again without a reason other than because my playing partner might or I have seen others do it. I just go through the motions of playing the round. I don't go into a round with a target in mind, I don't preempt where shots will go, I don't think about course management and I think this side of the game is vital to improving and just helping the process. I have read the statistics about how you need to do an action a certain amount of times before it becomes a habit, it can only become a habit if it is consistent in the first instance so this is something I am going to try to embed and work on this year.

Resolution 9 - improve my longest drive (currently 216 yards)

I know this might seem a strange goal to have in mind but for me I know I am not a huge hitter (the longest drive vouches for that) but I would like to be able to hit the ball longer off the tee in order to give me more of a chance to make pars and birdies. I look at players who I play the game with and that addition 30 - 50 yards perhaps makes the second shots a bit easier than trying to hit to my limits with a wood or hybrid. I am fairly comfortable with my game and know my distances more than I have done previously but just to be able to hit longer off the tee would be great!

Resolution 10 - Play at least five new golf courses

As someone who has produced a list of Top 100 courses within a 90 minute radius of my house, it then becomes more important that this is put to the test by myself and my own opinions. Since April 2020 when I put the list together I have played some of the courses and would change some of the order and have been informed of others that could have made the list that didn't last year. I think the only way that you can properly have opinions of these courses is to get out and play them yourself. I think a minimum of five is more than achievable and if I can play more than that then even better!

Resolution 11 − Complete more golf course blogs

This is the main reason I got into journaling my golf on social media. Yes, I would like to improve my golfing ability and to cut my handicap but realistically it is not the main reason I started my blog and it is not what the majority of posts are about across my Instagram and Twitter feeds, or what a lot of people want to see and read about. I would like to review some more golf courses and get back into writing golf course reviews both in terms of a small review format for places like Instagram and then longer course reviews that people can then get into a read more about if they choose too. It is something that I really like doing so why not start it again!

Resolution 12 - 2021 Top 100 golf courses

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing of my Top 100 golf courses and although it was quite time consuming and perhaps has not had the amount of reads on it I would have liked it is something I would like to revisit each year and change based on my own experiences and what others inform me of as well.

So that concludes my goals for 2021, a lot to cover in a shorter time frame than usual.

Hope you have enjoyed reading them and let me know what you think!

Allan

#thisdadgolfs