Have you set your Golfing Goals for 2010?

It’s that time of year when we reflect back over the year and ask ourselves what have we really achieved. Did my golf game improve? Is my scoring improving? Has my swing improved? Did my putting average come down at all? How about my percentages of greens hit in regulation?

The new year presents a perfect opportunity for you to evaluate where your game is heading, think about what the game really means to you and set some new objectives for the coming season.

Goal setting does not have to be as serious as sitting down and making yourself a contract, it can be as simple as setting yourself some measurable short term and mid term objectives that will help you focus on your longer term goals. Think of it as a business plan. You wouldn’t run your business to it’s potential unless you set a detailed plan and strategy of how you will run your business.

One of the great things about my profession is that each day when I go to work it is different. Not a different working environment, not a different schedule but different in the sense that I am helping golfers towards achieving there own personal goals. For some it is as simple as beating their best friend or spouse, for some it is getting their skills competent enough play with their boss or potential client and for others it is winning the Club Championship or getting through their PGA training.

I’d like to tell you a little story if you would be so kind to listen. I refer to a student of mine that started with me some 9 years ago shortly after I arrived to Hong Kong. As I routinely do with each golfing student we sat down and talked about why she had decided to take on professional golf instruction and what she was looking to achieve. Well at this time all that she was interested in doing was to join her husband to China so as not to become a golf widow on the weekends. It so happened that she picked up the game with ease and with a commitment to regular instruction she started playing on the course and was scoring very impressively. I suggested to her that she might try her hand at competition and she reluctantly started entering into club competitions. Soon followed success with numerous victories at club level including the Club Championship in First Division. Soon followed selection into the Hong Kong Team to compete Internationally, followed by the decision to turn Professional by entering into the Hong Kong PGA training Program with resounding success including successful completion of the program and winning this Year’s Order of Merit (Ladies Division).

Not bad for someone who started out taking lessons so she could be competent enough to join her husband on the weekends to China for some family golfing. What a perfect example though of what can happen when you make a commitment to the game, a commitment to your coach are not afraid of reaching your next goal.

Wishing you a year of great golfing and life success.

Coach Smith.