2014 Targets and progress

A recent email from GolfShake promoting the awesome ImproveYourGame got me wondering if everyone set themselves targets or aims for the season before the year started.

If you did what has happened, objective achieved? work in progress? or just want to forget the year and start again? Are you still in with a chance? Today's weather is hopefully just a glitch and we might have another 2 months of playable time.

I started this year at 7.2 handicap, the whole of last year was dreadful, probably played over 30 qualifiers during that time (went from 5.5 to 7.2), hit buffer on occasion (mainly at the top end of the buffer) and really couldn't figure out what went wrong just seemed to have no form at all when a qualifier came around. Best round was a 3 over gross at Prince's (first time I'd ever played there), followed by a 15 over the next day at my home course.

So this year my target was to regain Cat1 status, I can honestly say the start of the year I had no idea how I was gonna play and simply wanted a target that was a stretch but still achievable. Well a good start to the year and I hit quite a buffers but with the same hopeless games in between. I then finally hit a gross 75 in May and suddenly the confidence was back, and by the end of July I had managed a few little cuts and some consistent form to hit another gross 75 which gave me a cut to 5.3 !!

I have to say I'm not confident of my ability at the moment, my driving seems to have deserted me, and my trusty putter isn't doing enough to get me out of the poor driving. Will it hold on to Cat1? I've no idea at all. Currently at 5.4, and by my reckoning I have about 9 qualifiers left before the end of the year ... of course I could cut retire from all the remaining games and rest on 5.4

In the three sports that I've seriously engaged in - athletics, tenpin bowling, and golf / longdrive golf planning, training and goals have been the backbone. As a result I have, just like all serious competitors, sawn against the grain insofar as nearly all of my time has always been spent practicing / training and studying rather than enjoying playing / competition.

I feel that it's important to accept that if one wants to seriously improve, and even better still - compete at a high level, it's essential to do things differently to most. As most just don't cut it. Most don't even seriously try.

Thus, my own view is that before drawing up any plans one has to take an honest cold hard look at oneself, one's available time and resources, and in my case the weather! In the part of Wales where I reside it usually starts heavily raining in mid-August and then essentially continues non-stop until around May. But that's where cross training and adapting comes in. But that's another subject.

Plans need to be realistic, with realistic intermediate goals set, and one's whole family needs to be on board if one gets serious. Improvement inevitably involves becoming increasingly selfish with one's time, financial resources, and even energy.

Improvement is always hard and always involves an element of pain which can manifest in a number of ways. Unless one truly embraces that then one's aspirations are no more empty dreams unless one is looking at slow improvement over a very long period of time.

OK you say, I just want to drop a few shots off my handicap not compete for England! I hear that, but still it's painful. Let me give an example of what might be needed in order to seriously improve in a single season:

You're a typical chap. You work 35-40 hours a week and occasionally even have to do some overtime on a Saturday. You love your golf, but you also have a family and sport time is limited. You're not interested in rapid improvement via repeated visualisation of body movements etc. You regard that as a load of nonsense and feel that you need to practice with a club in your hands. OK fine.

Assuming that we are in the summer months and it gets light at 5.30 a.m. And, you start work at say 8 a.m. Essentially you will be up at 4.30 a.m. and find your way to practice turf by 5.30 a.m. You then have structured practice for 90 mins. (not ingraining swing errors) before completing your journey to work. Even though you are getting into bed by 9 p.m. you still like some shut eye in your car during your luncheon break. Just a few minutes cat napping helps you to keep going. You will be doing that five days a week, or alternatively practicing after work and missing putting your little children to bed. Either way it's hard.

It's a 48-50 week operation with things to be undertaken in the gym. as well. Rain never stops the work. The endless work.

That easy? That's just the start of commitment to improvement but it would be a great start. Laugh at such notions and shrug one's shoulders and one has the answer. One is a dreamer. That's absolutely fine provided one is honest with oneself.

don't really think you answered the question there ivan lol

I wanted, badly, to be off 12 at the end of the season. Started on 17 this year after a lot of lessons through the winter and dropped 2 shots in the first month. Since then got it down to 13.8 and scored 39 points on sat and -2 net sunday so I think im still in with a shout to do it, next season I want to be on 10 or less which is going to be difficult. I have the utmost admiration for you guys off 6 or 7, that's a great standard of golf.

I worked on my short game throughout the winter with the aim of getting my handicap down to 5 and holding it there this year. I was off 6 last year and had realised I don't get up and down often enough which needed amending so I worked on chipping and pitching for 3 days a week and an hour at a time. Technique was changed and I had lessons which worked and others I couldn't adapt to. The difference in my idea of training and Ivan's is I am not trying to perfect anything, simply breaking down my key weakness and spending 4-5 hours a week on that. The difference in my handicap has been reflected, I am now off 5.0 and will get to 4 by the end of the year. The next improvement will come as I improve my putting as I feel that isn't good enough.

Using this site, I have noticed my weaker holes and, I have started to change the club I take from the tee on certain holes as I miss the fairways on these holes. This, along with some putting, will get me to 4. Then I will start on the physical fitness and hopefully that will get me another shot lower next year. Slow but steady progress but plenty of practice with defined goals as well

Mbachi, big changes coming very soon which will help with this even more

Using this site, I have noticed my weaker holes

have you ever seen the aimpoint stuff ?

I thought the aimpoint stuff was there for putting. I have contemplated having a day course on aimpoint just to see if I'll putt less times. Would like to bring my number of putts down but without sacrificing greens in regulation