New Year Resolution…Improve My Golf Game
Happy 2015! As we enter the new year, it’s a time to reflect on the past as well as look forward to the future. Most of us have been thinking about our New Year Resolutions. Yes, there are the typical ones like be nicer to others, exercise more, and save more money. But have you set any resolutions for your golf game?
Hit more greens, improve my putting, lower my handicap by __ strokes, shoot a new personal best low score. These are just a few of the resolutions/challenges that you can set for yourself. At the end of each year, I sit down for and start reflecting on my past year of golf. How did I play? Did I perform in tournaments the way that I wanted? Did I give every shot my best mental focus? Were there any times on the course that I felt like I wasted shots just out of plain stupidity?
After I work my way through the season, I look at the areas that I felt I excelled and those areas that I could definitely improve. I physically write a list of where I need to improve, and how I’m going to do it. For example, there were a couple of times that I made a poor decision on where I was going to play a shot. Either trying to hit a shot that was to difficult in the situation, or not fully thinking my way around the course, and leaving myself in tough situations to score effectively. My plan moving forward is to write on a piece of paper a simple note reminding my to fully execute on strategy and make sure that I am playing the shot that will give me the best chance to make birdie or save par. Now just writing a note to myself is one thing, seeing it and reminding myself before I hit every shot is more important.
So my intention is to tape that piece of paper to my range finder that I pull out on every shot to measure the distance to my target. This way, I will notice my mental note many times each round, and I will never forget to look at it.
I encourage you to do something similar. Evaluate your past and make sure that you learn from it to improve the future!