Your 2025 golf season is over - now what?

Not sure what to do now the 2025 golf season is over? Matt Holbrook talks stats, goals, open competitions and golf trips to make 2026 your best season so far.

With the first few doors on my golf-related advent calendar now open, red tees with ‘Merry Christmas’ written on them in white, for anyone wondering, my thoughts are well and truly already focused on my golf in 2026.

Yes, we still have some Stableford comps between now and the new year, but for the hardy golfer, winter is a time to plan and prep for the following season.

Personally, I like to split this into 3 sections as follows.

Performance: Knowing Where You Stand

One of the first things I always do is look back at the goals I set for 2025 and see what I have managed to achieve. I lean heavily on the Golfshake stat tracking system for this and always have done, picking some metrics that are specifically tailored to the level of my game.

The stat overview page is basically my guru for this. Whilst there are loads of different ways to track and improve using the Golfshake system, the overview page will always give me a great holistic view of some of my key metrics.

For example, at the start of 2025, I recognised that my par 3 scoring average was 3.45 during 2024. Whilst my home course boast a 245-yard par 3, I knew this wasn’t going to get close to an average of 3, however, I decided to set this goal as a 3.3 scoring average.

Using the stats overview page, being able to drill down on one specific course and an individual metric like this means I can focus on trying to gain minimal margins on particular things. Playing off around 4/5, those extra 1% gains can make all the difference.

Once I have revisited my goals for the year about to finish, I will then use this as a base for my 2026 goals. Trying to pick some low-hanging fruit and attainable goals to use during the course of the season which I will track during the season - these also form the basis of my lessons.

Performance goals, for me, should be more about being able to measure something during the process, using the stats to keep on top of goals and making sure you own the performance element of them. If you are going to a lesson, having something tangible to hand to your professional saying ‘This is what I need to work on’ rather than turning up with zero performance-based knowledge is that pointless; you may as well not bother!

Events: Planning Your 2026 Calendar

I like to play in open competitions. There, I said it. And there are 2 main reasons why.

1. Playing with an index (currently) of 4.2, I feel I am right in the bracket of not being able to compete very often at club level and not quite good enough for scratch competitions.
2. It’s a great way of playing some top courses and at (sometimes) a fraction of the cost.

I’ll say something that some of you may disagree with (but I know many will agree): I don’t want to be playing in competitions against higher handicap golfers. It’s a not a criticism, just my personal preference, and many of the open competitions I look at are advertised predominantly as ‘Scratch Opens’. Many of these comps will have handicap limits (some 4, some 8, some 10) and there will also be a handicap prize on offer. But I want to be putting myself in the mix against better golfers.

So as I look out the rain-covered window on this dismal December morning, I am already looking ahead and planning my diary for 2026 - giving me something to look forward too. I'm using various club websites, social media and other places like Golf Empire to hunt out events.

I recently lucked out with grabbing a last-minute spot for The Old Links Cup - a 36-hole medal event at St Annes Old Links at the start of May. This particular event is a 36-hole scratch medal competition for golfers that have an index of 2 to 7. £80 for 36 holes is an absolute steal for this course at that time of year too.

I mainly try to enter all the open comps that form part of the Suffolk Golf Union Order of Merit - Ipswich Golf Club, Aldeburgh, Felixstowe Ferry for example.

There are some others that are worth looking at too - and not just for the better players.

Golf Pairs is another great company hosting many events throughout the year - mainly pairs Stableford events – with a handicap limit of 28 for ladies and 24 for men.

National Club Golfer also offer their NCG Top 100 Tour - another large selection of events run during the course of the year at high end venues. Their 2026 schedule is now live.

And finally, another series well worth a look is Amateur Golf Events whose 2026 schedule has been extended and will feature 20 events around the country. I’ve already pencilled in the Little Ashton Pairs event on 1st May 2026, which should be a fantastic day out.

All of these offer the chance to play some great courses at fantastic prices.

Trips & Bucket List: Experiences for 2026

Entering the various 36-hole open competitions gives me my competitive fix. I may then actually lean on things like the NCG Top 100 Tour for a different fix as I always look to tick one or two courses off my personal bucket list.

As I said above, I’m not really looking to go into events to compete in a Stableford competition against higher-handicap players - although I know lots of people would fall into this category and love the competitiveness of them.

But some of these events are run at some top, top courses, many of which may be on bucket lists for lots of us. So whilst I may not enter these with a view to playing my best golf and competing with the masses, they can certainly add a great day out, a great experience and excellent value for money.

So I have tried to plan my competitive golf, tried to plan some other days out, but the one thing we can't guarantee in this country is the weather…….this is where our good friends at www.golfbreaks.com come in handy!

On a personal note, I am celebrating a big birthday early in 2026 - and what better way to celebrate said birthday than a group of friends and 3 days in the sun? A planned 3-day trip to Spain with B&B and unlimited golf for £300 - can't be sniffed at for the start of the year, with another possibly on the horizon towards the end of the year.

So that’s where I, and I’m sure many others, are currently at, looking back and looking forward in order to make sure 2026 is filled with success, experiences and plenty of laughs along the way.