2024 Season Goals - What Say You?

[faizshahkerty]

Lowering your handicap in golf involves improving various aspects of your game. Here are some key areas you can focus on to see improvement:

1. **Consistency**: Consistency is key in golf. Work on making your swing, stance, and alignment consistent on every shot. This can help reduce errors and improve overall performance.

2. **Short Game**: A significant portion of shots in a round of golf occur within 100 yards of the green. Focus on your putting, chipping, and pitching skills to save strokes around the green.

3. **Driving Accuracy**: Improving your accuracy off the tee can lead to better positioning for approach shots and more opportunities for birdies or pars. Work on hitting fairways consistently to avoid trouble and set up easier second shots.

4. **Course Management**: Learn to play smart golf by making good decisions on the course. This includes knowing when to play aggressively and when to play conservatively, as well as understanding your strengths and weaknesses.

5. **Practice Routine**: Develop a structured practice routine that focuses on your weaknesses while also maintaining and refining your strengths. Practice with a purpose rather than just hitting balls aimlessly.

6. **Mental Game**: Golf is as much a mental game as it is physical. Work on staying focused, managing emotions, and maintaining a positive attitude throughout the round.

7. **Fitness**: Improving your physical fitness can lead to better performance on the course. Focus on flexibility, strength, and endurance to help you maintain a consistent swing and energy level throughout the round.

8. **Equipment**: Make sure your equipment is properly fitted to your swing and playing style. Using the right clubs can help you hit more accurate shots and gain confidence on the course.

9. **Lessons**: Consider taking lessons from a qualified golf instructor to receive personalized feedback and instruction on how to improve your game. A professional can help identify areas for improvement and provide guidance on how to address them effectively.

10. **Practice Patience**: Lowering your handicap takes time and dedication. Be patient with yourself and focus on gradual improvement rather than expecting immediate results. Consistent practice and perseverance will eventually lead to lower scores. https://bammtech.com/en/opswat-solutions/

[Badams69]

Goals for 2024

personal goals:

Improve strike location - far too unpredictable lately.

Find swing vs achieve swing (and stick to it) - Been down too many rabbit holes, time to let a bit more of natural into the movement.  With the goal of being able to trust it.  Not that it will be perfect, but that I'll begin to have better correlation between expectation and execution. Can score with worse if I know what is likely coming out the barrel.

Shoot par or better - intention is for 18 holes. Unfortunately I would settle for under par on just 9 holes as of this typing.  Been too dang long!

[JuniorXVIII]

On 10/26/2023 at 6:25 PM, GolfSpy_KFT said:

For those of us living in the colder climates in the US, as well as globally where your season is not year round, the end of the 2023 golf season is rapidly approaching. I pose two questions to you: Did you accomplish your 2023 season goals? What are your 2024 season goals?

I'll start things off with my 2023 season goals:

• Goal #1: Break 90 - MET
• Goal #2: End the season below a 20 HDCP - MET
• Goal #3: Par every hole at my home course - In progress...so close!

I was able to accomplish goal #1 during the Cobra challenge, shooting an 88 on a Par 70 course where I played quite a few of my rounds. It was not my home course, but essentially a "home away from home" as I have played it many times with it being in close proximity to my in-laws cabin. I had never legitimately broken 100 before this year, so this was a MASSIVE accomplishment. I posted two other sub 90 rounds this year as well, but both were combined 9 hole scores of the front/back of my home course, so I put an asterisk on those. Still, a large accomplishment, with my most recent a combined score 81, shooting a 41 on the front 9 this week Monday and a 40 on the back 9 the following day.

I was also able to accomplish goal #2 just this week, dropping my handicap to a 16.1 following my combined round 81. A -2 exceptional score was added to the differential of that round, and all other rounds used to calculate my handicap currently. I am the most proud of this goal BY FAR, as I started this season as a 30.3 handicap. I have never carried an official handicap before this season.

For my third goal, I have carded a par on every hole except for hole #7. I will have potentially a few more chances to accomplish this one, but it is in danger of not being met. I am hoping to cross this one off as well, but if not, it is ok.

 

For 2024, my goals will closely mirror my 2023 season. The biggest challenge I will face in 2024 is the uncertainty of how much golf I will be able to play. The course where I have had a membership this year is increasing it's fees by 18%, and it is uncertain right now whether or not I'll be renewing my membership for 2024. If this is the case, posting scores and lowering my HDCP will be a challenge. I am working on possibly getting a part time job in the Pro Shop, which would come with a membership benefit, so that would be great.

• Goal #1: Consistently score in the 80s
  • I would REALLY like to break 80, and I believe I can, but that seems like possibly an overreaching goal for next year. If I can consistently score in the 80s next year, I would be thrilled with that. I know that I can do it, now I just need to get it done.
• Goal #2: HDCP to 12-13
  • Again, this will be dependent on whether or not I am able to post enough scores to continue dropping my HDCP. When I was working on goals for next year, my target was 15. That is when I was at a 20. Now that I am at a 16.1, I am shooting for the 12-13 range as I know dropping it once you get lower becomes more difficult
• Goal #3: Par every hole on my home course, birdie 50% or better
• Goal #4: Make the alternate shot playoff round in the annual member/guest tournament
• Goal #5: Play in my course's Club Championship

I could continue on with goals, but other things I want to work on are just that, continuing to develop my ball striking and swing consistencies. I will leave those off of this list for now.

 

Looking forward to hearing what everyone else is hoping to accomplish in 2024!

Hey man so glad for you to smash your targets this early! What do you think was your biggest factor to dropping handicap and breaking 90? 
 

I have hit 90 3x and never under Id love to achieve it this year

[GolfSpy_KFT]

46 minutes ago, JuniorXVIII said:

Hey man so glad for you to smash your targets this early! What do you think was your biggest factor to dropping handicap and breaking 90? 
 

I have hit 90 3x and never under Id love to achieve it this year

So for my 2023 season, the biggest difference for me was being able to practice and play consistently compared to years past. I was on the range 1-2x a week all summer and played typically 9-27 holes each week. Eliminating penalties off the tee by keeping the ball in play and reducing my number of 3 putts are probably what contributed most to my improvement last year. 

[Big Jan]

My main goal is shoot a 75 or better this year. My lowest round ever was a 77, and I've had a couple of 78s and even more 79s. Once I get that, I'm hoping to get a round that's even par or better either next year or by the end of this year. 

My other two goals which go along with the main one are to fix the ball flight on my driver and improve chipping/pitching. My miss-hit with the driver is this high spinny fade/slice depending on bad the swing was. Most days it's still controllable, but I lose a ton of distance, especially in Oklahoma where it's windy almost everyday. I'm hitting a lot more low power fades (which is my ideal shot shape), now it's just a matter of doing that more consistently.

My chipping and pitching has definitely come a long ways as well. My average distance from the pin within 50 yards has been better, but it's still not good enough to consistently get up and down. I'm a pretty decent putter, but obviously I make a lot more putts from 3 feet then I do from 10.

[Huse343]

• Go from a 3 hdcp to scratch
• Never have a round of 80 or higher
• Have 1 round with 25 putts or less
• Have 3 or more rounds in the 60’s

[revkev]

Play golf more and have fun doing it. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

Beat @cnosil. Period.

[gingerbeast87]

Main aim:

work on the slice with the driver

Sub aims:

get the handicap down to a nice round 20.

Only have maximum of 3 3-putts per game.

Do a successful intentional flop shot in one game this year.

 

[Flanpro]

30 minutes ago, gingerbeast87 said:

Main aim:

work on the slice with the driver

Sub aims:

get the handicap down to a nice round 20.

Only have maximum of 3 3-putts per game.

Do a successful intentional flop shot in one game this year.

 

Good list!

[Flanpro]

1. Improve my iron game from 125 - 175 yds. Simply put hit more than 65% GIR instead of 50%

2. Take an average of 28 putts per round this will also mean improvement in my chipping = shorter putts

3. Win senior men’s club championship 

 

[Rob Person]

Pretty much worked out the bad slice, developed a medium draw though.

Long irons need work, badly.

Putting has been quite good lately. Very few 3 putts.

Broke 90 consistently. Hoping to maintain that through 2024.

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Beat @cnosil. Period.

Not creating very lofty goals.  I guess sometimes we need to create goals that can be easily achieved.

[daniel.chanisheff]

• Work towards a 15hcp (21.9 more, down from 36 12 months prior)
• Be more aware of my swing - realise what went wrong when a strike doesn't go the way I intended 
• Become more adaptable to issues on the day - quickly fix the error or change my plan instead of realising it after the round 
• Differential practice which is more variable and intentionally different to just repetitively trying to hit a "good shot"
• Beat my highschool friends and take home the ASH cup (Adelaide Sydney Hackers)

[J01NER]

Mine was to break 90 and I shot an 88 in March so now I just wanna do it again! Taking lessons at PGA superstore so hopefully I can stay around 90 and get my handicap down

[Dan1993]

Overall Goals this season:

• Play more consistently, at least 2-3 times a month
• Drop my handicap to under 18
• Started a YouTube Channel to document my progress, so i want to film and upload consistently

If I can hit my goals or close to it, near the end of the season, Im going to get a full bag fitting and prep in the offseason to break 80 the next season!

 

[Swaggy_H8]

This is an awesome idea, having it written down makes it official and having others be able to see them makes it officially official. 

My goals for 2024:

1. Practice more!!! Just making the time to get out there. At the same time, being productive while I do it. Pick 2 things to work on each day and hammer those down. Monday - chipping and wedge shots.  

Wednesday - putting (can do at home with putting matt)

Friday - irons and woods

Just getting into a routine where I am able to be consistent with it. I think getting out there and doing more practice will be the difference in my game.

2. Improve short game - chip shots around the green, bunker shots and putting. Chip shots have been my enemy this past year. Really trying to improve this part of my game to reduce strokes.

3. Break 75 - I usually bounce around on tee boxes at my home course. I have had a few really good rounds from each of those tee boxes but I want to get under the 75 mark from the tips out there. That would be a huge accomplishment. And my first 2 goals would really help with that.

[TuukkaH]

I started golfing just a year ago and finished the season with handicap being 26.1. 

Since the end of the season, lot of winter training has been ongoing in simulator. I think that my swing and consistency has improved a lot and the goals for the next season are something as follows:

• Break 90: I would expect this happen already in early this summer, current confidence for this is high
• Lower my handicap to 20. That number is my minimum requirement but would like to see it going down all the way around 15. 
• Improve putting. I know that last summer, this was my biggest weakness / area of improvement in golf. 3-putts were too familiar for me and I want to improve a lot on this. I will spend more time around the practice greens this summer

My local golf course opened a back-9 already last week and I was happy to start season there. I played 44 (-6) so that is already promising very good for becoming season. 

[sirchunksalot]

It's still early in the season but I wanted to update this thread on how I'm doing on achieving the goals I set out at the end of last year for this year. 

1. Play more

I'm off to a good start with this one, even though I've had some health setbacks the last few weeks that have hurt the number of rounds I've played. I'm not sure where the round count stands as of right now, but I have been able to get out on the course more since the start of '24 than I did in the last five months of '23. 

2. Play more with friends

This has been the goal I've probably done the best on this year. My friends and I have been able to play around five times so far this year and this season is still young. I find that it's a lot more relaxing playing with others and I'm a lot more gentle with myself around other people. 

3. Play new to me courses 

So far, I've only gotten to play one new course and that was yesterday at Olde White Oak which I really enjoyed and plan on going back to. It was fun and now that I've seen the course I think I might be able to formulate a plan to play it better. I'm not worried about meeting this goal since the forum trip is coming up at the end of May and that'll put me at 4 courses this year. 

4. No real scoring goal

This one hasn't changed much and I would still be happy to get back to the level I was at in 2019. I don't know if this will happen but I'm determined to improve. I just did a calculation of my handicap of the last 19 rounds I've been able to dig up and the handicap is sitting at a 31.5 which is a little saddening to me. I am seeing improvements in my game and hope I can build on this positivity moving forward. 

[CFreddie]

8 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

It's still early in the season but I wanted to update this thread on how I'm doing on achieving the goals I set out at the end of last year for this year. 

1. Play more

I'm off to a good start with this one, even though I've had some health setbacks the last few weeks that have hurt the number of rounds I've played. I'm not sure where the round count stands as of right now, but I have been able to get out on the course more since the start of '24 than I did in the last five months of '23. 

2. Play more with friends

This has been the goal I've probably done the best on this year. My friends and I have been able to play around five times so far this year and this season is still young. I find that it's a lot more relaxing playing with others and I'm a lot more gentle with myself around other people. 

3. Play new to me courses 

So far, I've only gotten to play one new course and that was yesterday at Olde White Oak which I really enjoyed and plan on going back to. It was fun and now that I've seen the course I think I might be able to formulate a plan to play it better. I'm not worried about meeting this goal since the forum trip is coming up at the end of May and that'll put me at 4 courses this year. 

4. No real scoring goal

This one hasn't changed much and I would still be happy to get back to the level I was at in 2019. I don't know if this will happen but I'm determined to improve. I just did a calculation of my handicap of the last 19 rounds I've been able to dig up and the handicap is sitting at a 31.5 which is a little saddening to me. I am seeing improvements in my game and hope I can build on this positivity moving forward. 

Great update @sirchunksalot - glad to see you are progressing well on your goals!  Keep it up buddy!

[sirchunksalot]

5 minutes ago, CFreddie said:

Great update @sirchunksalot - glad to see you are progressing well on your goals!  Keep it up buddy!

I appreciate it @CFreddie! I'm hoping to keep the momentum going throughout the year and surpass the goals I set forward. 

[jonry]

Get Golf Fit

My desk job is brutal on my flexibility and smoothness. My swing has more hitches than a tractor pull.

[mr.hicksta]

Keeping it simple here, as I'm focusing on getting to the range and on the course regularly since I haven't played since February 2023. 

[kejoal11]

My goals for 2024:

Coming off a knee replacement surgery in March 2023. 

1. Work on flexibility and building left leg back. 

2. Get back to practicing two to three times a week and playing 2 times a week. 

3. Get handicap back down to single digits as it ballooned prior to surgery. 

Edited April 27 by kejoal11
updated info

[JuniorXVIII]

3 hours ago, kejoal11 said:

My goals for 2024:

Coming off a knee replacement surgery in March 2023. 

1. Work on flexibility and building left leg back. 

2. Get back to practicing two to three times a week and playing 2 times a week. 

3. Get handicap back down to single digits as it prior to surgery. 

Good luck my man! Go out there and light it up 

[kejoal11]

32 minutes ago, JuniorXVIII said:

Good luck my man! Go out there and light it up 

Thank you.  Thats the plan. 

[Güter McJunior]

2024 goals:

1-Learn what my handicap is. 
2-Start using woods/a driver. 

[Notjustduffin]

After coming off an injury which has kept me out for a while  I am just trying to get back into the swing ( no pun intended) of things. At one point i was a 14 handicap but currently I am around 20. I have only played with Those dicks sporting goods clubs but I  know that I cannot make any gains with equipment not made to improve my game. I am hoping to become a tester and maybe be able to afford the equipment to further my golf game . Drive and desire are not lacking . so here's hoping we can make some gains and maybe be low double digit handicap by the end of the season and if we are really lucky single digits.  Im just a lefty looking to play a game that I love and hate all at the same time. 

[bardle]

Getting back into things I'd love to break 90 this year. Swing is looking pretty good so far just need to focus on those touch shots inside 100 and putting. 

[ChitownM2]

For this year I want to work on getting my driver squared away so I can hit fairways at a higher clip.  I figure I can probably knock 4-5 strokes off my average score if I can get my fairways hit up to ~40%.  

Also want to work on my fitness and flexibility as I get older l so I can be sure that I'll still be able to play in 25 years....