Setting Your Annual Golf Goals – The Do’s and Don’ts
Instead of simply praying to the golf gods, golfers should set clear goals and establish a plan for how they are going to reach those goals. Golfers should continually analyze and adjust their personal golf goals throughout the year based on progress. Golf goals can be set at any time of year but there is no better time to start than this time as we transition from one golf season to the next.
Below are four simple tips to guide you in your golf goal setting process:
Do – Focus on the Right Result-Oriented Goals
Result oriented goals such as winning your club championship, winning a specific sectional tournament, or qualifying for a particular event put too much pressure on a single event.
The best type of result-oriented goals focus on statistics that you can track and improve throughout the year. Use the following result-oriented goals as a blueprint for your personal ones.
- Make 80% of putts from within 3 feet
- Get up and down from inside 20 yards at least 40% of the time
- Hit 60% of fairways
Do – Set Process-Oriented Goals
The one mistake that golfers at all levels tend to make when setting their goals is focusing only on result-oriented goals. Process-oriented goals are specific actions that you directly control that can help you achieve your result-oriented goals. Some good examples of process-oriented goals are:
- Practice my short game for 2 hours per week for 38 weeks out of the year
- Develop a consistent pre-shot routine that establishes a confident mindset ahead of each shot
Having a healthy mix of process- and result-oriented goals should set you up for success.
Don’t – Make Your Goals Too Easy
Goals should energize and motivate you. Make sure your goals push you to continue with your training process. Striking the right balance between setting goals that are too high for you to achieve and setting goals that you believe will be an easy win can be tough. When in doubt, err on the side of being too aggressive to push yourself to a new level.
Do – Re-Evaluate Your Goals Regularly
Do not write your golf goals for the year and then stick them in your desk and forget about them for the year. Your golf goals need to be a regular part of your golf practice routine as you evaluate the right training plan to reach these goals. Keep your goals written in your phone and refer to them on a regular basis to ensure you are aligning your training plan to your goals.
As you progress throughout the year, do not be afraid to re-evaluate and modify your goals. Are you performing better and need to adjust your goals to be more aggressive? Have you noticed some concerns in your performance that need to be addressed in your goals in the future?
Once you set your goals, work with your Under Par Performance Golf coach to help determine the right practicing plan to achieve your goals. The Under Par community is full of insanely dedicated players who have also decided that “easy” is no longer acceptable.
