New Year Resolutions for a Happy Golf Year

With the new year in full swing (so to speak), golfers are making resolutions - the ultimate players are tweaking goals for themselves while beginners are laying the basic groundwork for the future.

Are you looking to shave strokes off of your handicap or are you seeking to improve your chipping?

This golf writer has created several golf goals:

1. Improve short game: chipping and putting. Concentrating on the most important parts of the game will help me to lower both my round score and my handicap.

2. Keep a positive mindset and "can-do" attitude while playing: it's easy for your thoughts to spiral downhill during a round as the strokes start to add up. Instead of focusing on the negative, catch yourself, look around at the beautiful day you have been given and think about your best shots so far during the round.

3. Practice with a purpose: No point in practice if the only thing you do during your time on the driving range is smacking golf balls as far as you can - think about every shot you take and make the most of each ball you place in front of you.

3. Play more golf! I offer this golf resolution every year and try to stand firm on this goal. Can't play 18? Go out for 9 holes! Watching a kid for the afternoon and think you can't play golf? Take the kid to the driving range and teach the game to someone new! Where there is a will, there is a way.

Whatever you choose to do, be specific about your goals, write them down and continue to review your progress throughout the year.

Happy New Year! Any questions or comments, place them in the comments section below and tag us on Twitter @Golf4Beginners.

3 Steps to Achieving YOUR #Golf Resolutions

Resolutions are made this time of year and, for golfers, the main theme is to work on areas which are weak and need improvement.

What is your most important new year golf goal?

PGA Tour players, in general, rely on the short game to get them into contention, so it seems like a just and proper resolution to work on wedge and putter development. Other golfers like Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, may be looking ahead to a certain major victory in 2018., and devising individual goals to get them there.

One thing is for sure - luck and/or wishing won't make it happen. "You are what you do, not what you say you'll do." - Carl Jung

In this Golf for Beginners blog, we hope that you set reasonable and achievable targets. Here is how to start this process:

1. Look at your game and decide where you are at your weakest or where you lose the most strokes. For me, it is in my approach shots and putting.

2. Put your goals down on paper - make a list and determine how you will achieve those goals. Break down each goal into smaller parts. As I have been told in the past...how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! SET YOUR GOALS NOW!

As for my personal golf goals, I need to get to the range more and focus on shots that are 100 yards and in. I also need to bone up on chipping with clubs other than my sand wedge, such as my 8-iron.

SET GOALS THAT WILL MOTIVATE YOU!

A good tip I found on Mindtools.com is to write down why your goals are valuable and important to you. Make sure that your goals are: specific. measurable. achievable, relevant and you attach a due date to them. Just saying, "I want to improve my putting this year" or "I want to lower my handicap" isn't enough.

3. Get out there and make it happen!
Many a resolution has been broken because we are not determined enough to work our way through our sluggishness ...we also make excuses. After reading this blog, why not work on one of your resolutions?

Read: Golf Resolutions for a Happy New Year


Which golf resolution will you be working on this year? Write it down here, in the comments section of this golf blog, and tweet us at @Golf4Beginners, then make it happen!