Following on from reflecting on what you enjoyed and what you learned in 2016, now would be a perfect time to set your goals for 2017.

High level goals are easy to say but harder to achieve. For example, “lower my handicap from 12 to 9.” This is a great place to start but no more than that.

The next step would be to review your strengths and weaknesses against your current handicap;

On an A-F scale with “A” being “outstanding” and “F” being “I need a lot of help” quickly assess your golf game under these categories:

Driving (include ave number of fairways hit out of 14)

Fairway shots – Shots from 150 yds to the green (and note if you typically miss left, right, short or long)

Pitch shots – From 100 yds (and note if you typically miss left, right, short or long)

Chipping – 20 yds

  1. Chip and run – no obstacles
  2. Lob shot over an obstacle like a bunker, ditch, etc

Note how often you get up and down in 2, 3 or perhaps more..

Putting – do you come up short or go long, miss left or right and how many 3 putts per round

Bunkers – do you usually get out first time? How often to you get up and down from sand?

Course Management – do you ask yourself “what’s the right shot here” or always use the Driver come what may?

Mental strength – are you a head or a heart player? What happens if you hit a poor shot, how long before you “get over it?”

You may not have all this information to hand, so give yourself a grade anyway, and make a note to capture more information on all forthcoming rounds.

Having given yourself an honest assessment, it’s time to put a “cunning plan together”. Please read my next blog for help on this.