At the start of each golf season most of us set ourselves targets for the year ahead. The sport we have chosen can be incredibly frustrating and hitting those goals often involves a lot of hard work.
You can be sure that the world’s leading golfers do exactly the same thing.
When Rory McIlroy hit his first shot in anger in 2025 the thing he wanted more than anything else was to win The Masters to complete the career grand slam and finally end his major drought. Scottie Scheffler would have wanted to win at least one major and increase his lead at the top of the world rankings. Mission accomplished.
A host of tour pros on both sides of the Atlantic would have targeted the Ryder Cup, while others would have wanted nothing more than to achieve their first PGA Tour win – step forward Tommy Fleetwood and Cameron Young and a host of players on the DP World Tour, led by Marco Penge, who barely kept hold of his card in 2024 but has won twice this year.
Like most of you, at the start of 2025 I set some targets for myself.
We are all different, of course, but chief among my objectives was to get my handicap down to 12. And I have somehow managed to achieve my goal. In fact, I have actually got my playing handicap to 11.
It gives me a great deal of satisfaction, although it has involved a lot of graft and there has been some pain along the way, not least being my performance at our recent Senior Club Championship when I had a round to forget from the championship tees.
There were other targets I set and I have managed to achieve most of them. I have to admit that it helps to be retired, which has given me a lot more time to focus on my goals.
Many of you may have decided to visit more courses, to reduce your handicap, to spend more time at the range or book some lessons. We have that in common.
So here are some of the targets I set myself for 2025. I suspect that many of them will ring a bell with you.
Improve My Putting
Putting has always been the greatest strength of my game but as the years progressed I became aware that I was struggling to hole putts from three feet to 10 feet. I would give myself birdie opportunities or chances to save par but, for the life of me, I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole. It was incredibly frustrating. And then I went for a putter fitting with Golfshake’s own Ryan Rastall. I ended up going home with a Wilson Infinite putter and it has transformed my game. I have just completed a pairs Texas scramble where I holed around 150 feet of putts – everything I looked at disappeared into the hole. And it has not been a one-off. In my first round with my new putter I recorded just 25 putts and am now regularly managing around 28 putts per round. Now if only I could get the rest of my game to the same standard!
Improving My Fairway Woods
I drive the ball pretty well, finding a lot of fairways. But I had started to struggle with my three wood from the fairway. Time and again I would find the middle of a fairway, reach for my three wood and end up in all sorts of trouble. So I took myself off to a local driving range which also has a well-stocked golf shop and offers custom fitting options. The fitter asked me to hit a number of shots with my existing club. He soon confirmed something I had already suspected. I had been fitted for every other club in my bag other than the three wood and I had reached the conclusion that the shaft was too stiff for my ageing bones. Within a few minutes I was cracking the ball quite beautifully with a Ping four wood fitted with a senior flex shaft. I was also fitted for a seven wood. I have to tell you that it is the best money I have ever spent. I absolutely love both of these clubs. If you have never used a seven wood I would urge you to have a go. It is a club that is unbelievably easy to hit and the ball flight is such that your golf ball will hit the target and stop quickly.
Teamwork
By the end of the golf season I will have played in 16 team matches. I have won more than I have lost and I have loved every single minute of it. For golfers who want to visit other courses, it is a complete no-brainer. You pay around £20 and for that you get coffee on arrival, 18 holes of competitive golf, and a meal and a drink. Tell me any other form of golf that represents similar value for money. You also get to meet like-minded people and because these are friendly fixtures, nobody takes it too seriously. My proudest moment actually involved a defeat. My playing partner had to walk off on the second hole after pulling a back muscle. It meant that I had to play on my own against two very good golfers. I managed to get to the turn one up. In the end I lost on the final green but I knew that I had given it my very best shot. I have also represented my club in some proper competitions and have loved every minute of it.
Away Days
It had been a long time since I had entered an open day and at the start of the year I made up my mind that I was going to put that right. Myself and a close friend entered a Mizuno Pairs event at Yarmouth and Caister. It was a glorious summer day with no wind. At the turn we were actually leading. I told my partner that we should not have checked the leaderboard and, sure enough, we let it slip on the back nine. But it was a wonderful day and it proved to me that even at my advanced age I could still compete.
High Society
I went away on my first golf society weekend for years. I cannot tell you how much I was looking forward to it. It turned out to be a huge disappointment. It was badly organised and after a long and sustained period of wonderful weather, the heavens opened on both days! Not to be put off, I have organised a golf break of my own for September 2025 when a small group of us are heading to the Cotswolds. I have been careful with the people I have asked. I know they will all get on, that we will have plenty of laughs and that some decent golf will be played. Fingers crossed for the weather! Golf breaks can be expensive but if you shop around it is still possible to find some incredible bargains.
Range Finder
At the start of the year I vowed to spend more time at the driving range. I have always believed that you should go there with a clear vision, that you should always have something to work on rather than simply hitting dozens of golf balls without a clear purpose. I have ticked off this target and the part of my game that has benefitted most has been my wedge play because I have finally worked out how far I hit all my wedges.
Going The Distance
I finally invested in a golf watch, and it has been a game changer. Having realised that my playing partners were becoming increasingly fed up with me constantly asking how far I was from the pin, I finally took the hint and bought myself a Garmin Approach. I now couldn’t play golf without it. If you don’t have one, I really do recommend that you consider making this investment. The one thing it has confirmed for me is that 150-yard markers are seldom accurate!
Holiday Time
I have played some wonderful courses in Scotland while on holiday with my incredibly understanding and long-suffering wife, and I also played a wonderful 18-hole course at Aldwark Manor in Yorkshire. The bonus for Mrs C is that we also got to stay in some beautiful hotels and enjoy some stunning food.
What targets did you set yourself for this season – and have you accomplished them yet?
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