5 Steps to starting 2022 season off on the correct path

2021 comes to a close and so does your past golf year.
How did you do?  Did you reach your goals? Hit any new milestones you posted on Instagram or Facebook?  Did your dreams come close to meeting what actually occurred?

Setting goals is never easy, and if you may recall, one year you probably set a loss of weight goal and gym program goal and it fell apart between February and April.  Goals are nice to set but hard to keep up with in today's world we live in so you may need to be cautious about setting them.

Let's assume you will set some goals.....so before you do we should assess 5 areas of your golf game to consider before you set to paper and pen or notebook on your computer or Ipad.

Through coaching over 30 years in golf and coaching over 2000 lessons a year I can tell you without a doubt that there are many aspects to golf that need looked at to see if you can be successful and expect to reach any of your goals you may set.

Let us dig into these 5 areas:

• When reflecting on 2021 can you dig deep inside you to see if you were stagnant during parts of your golf season?  Did Stagnation show up for you in 2021?   Stagnation shows itself in many ways such as if you were taking swing lessons did things progress.  Did the lessons have the backup of proper practice to support each one you took? Stagnation occurs when you give lip service to things you try ( such as taking a golf lesson) but do not really go after it.  If you found stagnation then you must consider that when setting a goal.  If the heart and passion are not really in someone then the results will show for themselves.
• Good golfers expect to be winner and thus are very optimistic about their game, swing and their potential.  That is not always easy to do however successful golfers are Optimistic!   As your 2021 season evolved were to optimistic usually?  Being optimistic is a very high emotion if you do not always feel it like a winning putt or great drive down the 18th fairway. Identify where you could be more optimistic for 2022 before you set those goals.
• The opposite of optimism is pessimism and most golfers are pessimists and probably more than they realize?  So acknowledging where you are Pessimistic about parts of your game is also needed.  Are you pessimistic about some clubs you have to hit ( like driver) and not others?  Do you find more pessimism when playing certain courses or playing in certain playing conditions?  Just because a course has a lot of doglegs left does not mean you could not play it well.  I think it REALLY helps someone to dig deep to where they are a pessimist in their golf game?
• Where is your confidence in your golf game now?  Where is Confidence showing up for you on the golf course?  You probably have parts of your game that you are confident in such as your driver, favorite iron, certain types of putts, or certain holes on your favorite course.  Understanding where you are confident is a great place to start to set your goals for the 2022 season.  Start with what parts of your game are you not confident in? Are they clubs, types of shots or maybe mental pitfalls you always seem to find yourself in?  Can any of these be put on a goal list for 2022?
• Golf is a game of habit just like you have a habit of waking up the same way most days and driving the same route to work and eat the same foods. Habits are routines.  Do you have good Productive Routines in your golf game?  These routines include a good Pre-shot Routine before each shot you hit.  A good practice routine is paramount to improving you golf game. If you are not 100% convinced your routine is stellar, then it needs work on the range.  A good Pre-round Routine is just as vital.  Before any round you need to warm up, stretch out, hit the ball solid and hit it on an intended target line.  Before a round if golf is not the time to practice.

I just watched the Matrix Resurrections movie and it flashed back to a scene where Neo asked about a sign over a door that said Temet Nosce....translated from Latin it says "know thyself".   That always seemed like an easy answer to blurt to someone about ones self right?  We all know ourselves and our faults.

However when you go to create the faults to fixes list; Goals for your 2022 season you really need to Know Thyself.

The above 5 areas suggested are a good way to take simple check-in time to assess more about who you are as a golfer.  Give it some time to reflect on what you find, write it out also since that always helps ingrain and understand things.

When you have reflected on these 5 areas then cautiously go about making the goal list for 2022.  Take your time on it, consider past attempts at goals and see where you may have asked too much.

Do not be afraid of the goal list, just be sure what you set out to do.  Tiger Woods stated in the PNC Father Son Challenge that he does not really coach his son Charlie.  He leaves it up to Charlie to decide just how successful he wants to be.

You only have to answer to yourself  about what you expect of yourself in 2022?Before you start, look hard in the mirror determine what you really want.  Commit to a path to a better 2022 golf season!

Al Owens now has a podcast....check out his winter series HERE