Golf Goals for 2023

I’m going to share a few posts on goal and theme setting for the year. I play and practice a lot of golf, and I have some specific goals for the coming year.

I work with Erik on Evolvr so I get routine coaching and swing feedback there. I have no plans to stop that in 2023 so “get help from Erik” is an ongoing element of seeking feedback for each of these items.

• Track missed shots with narrative / details (intention vs outcome)
  • Review these monthly and feed into my other drill and improvement work.
  • Arccos gives me good dispersion data, but cannot incorporate what I was intending to do.
  • My biggest gains here I expect will be off the tee. For example, aiming for right edge of fairway but I pull it left towards OB but still land in the left side of fairway. Looks good on paper but is far from what I intended.
  • Realistically I don’t expect to track every shot this way, but enough each round to produce enough evidence on trends to monitor.
• Play in at least three individual stroke play tournaments in 2023
  • At least one of these being a Rochester District Golf Association tournament
  • Stoke medal play will be a true benchmark of improvement over time. I view 2023 as a baseline setting year so have no specific outcome goals here other than participation.
• Improve driver speed (from The Stack System baseline start speed of 99)
  • Goal is 105 110 by August 1 2023. Turns out I’m already at 105 early in the year, so let’s push that up a bit.
  • I’m turning 55 in December so perhaps 110 is aggressive and perhaps “maintain current speed” would be more realistic, but I’m gonna try.
  • I’m not convinced that Stack gives enough specific guidance on how to improve (other than repeated testing and workout sessions), but I have access to Top Speed Golf which should help with technique training.
• Improve strokes gained putting, with a focus on 0–10 foot putts
  • Current overall –1.7 putting, –1.8 on 0–10 foot
  • Routine practice (9–11 foot challenge, Mickelson circle putting) at least twice per week on this range, with speed control work mixed in (ladder drill primarily).
  • Consider taking either a refresher AimPoint class, or the AimPoint level II
  • Goal is –1.4 putting (past 10 rounds vs scratch) measured around December 2023. Stretch goal is –1.0.