Welcome to the Golf Insider Challenge 2020 – the series that helps you achieve your golfing goals. You can join in if you are aiming to make your first par, get down to single figures, or aiming to get your tour card in 2020 – all golfers are welcome.

** Update – Yes, 2020 has been a little crazy, but after a couple of months away it appears many golfers could do with a nice golfing goal to head towards. We’ll update the end date from 31st October to the 31st Dec 2020 and adapt goals as necessary**

Our end date is 31st October December 2020, so have a think about the performance goal you want to achieve by the end of this golfing season and let us know.

Use the titles below to jump to any section of the Golf Insider Challenge – enjoy.

Wall of golfing dreams

Month 1 – Setting goals and planning for success

Pick an inspirational goal

The first step is to set your annual goal. This needs to be something that you would be really proud to achieve in 2020. Ideally it will seem a little out of reach, but will provide inspiration to put in some dedicated practice.

It could be to break 100, 90 or 80, to win your club championship, or anything outlandish. Hugo, our pro for this series, is aiming to shoot 59 this season, beating his previous 18 hole tournament record of -8 in 2019.

Golf Insider note: Hugo is a great golfer, he is far too humble and modest to boast, but I’ve asked if I can share his journey this year. I want to get across that if you’re trying to break 100 or 60 for the first time, the process of improving your golf is almost identical – there are no magic secrets, just focusing on the process of planning and focused practice each week. Also, I feel my work with professional players is good, but I wish I was better at it – by writing and sharing how I work with pros I hope to improve my own thinking and processes. Last of all – Hugo will be sharing his wisdom on tournament prep and scoring later in this series, he’ll provide some great insight for you all. You can follow his golfing journey and send him some good wishes on Instagram or Twitter.

Break down your dream into numbers

Once you have your golfing dream you need to rationalise the process – what will it take to achieve this goal? If your goal is to break 90, or to lower your handicap from 15 to 9, this process is quite logical. Just work out what a typical round looks like to achieve the required scoring on a regular basis – the example below may help:

Performance framework example: breaking 80

If you want shoot 79 or better, the break down is quite simple. You need 11 pars and 7 bogeys on a par 72 course. Or you could have 3 birdies, 8 pars, 4 bogeys and 3 double bogeys – that would be a rollercoaster round.

Both are equally good. However, I would advise aiming for something closer to the first break down, as most golfers play their best when they minimise their errors. From here it helps to work out what performance framework is needed to achieve this score. Take a look at the numbers below:

Fairways hit – 8/14 (57%)

Greens hit – 9/18 (50%)

Putts – 32

Up & downs – 4/9 (44%)

There are an infinite amount of ways of breaking 80, but if a golfer averages these numbers every week, she or he is highly likely to break 80. This isn’t a perfect model, it doesn’t account for a 12 on a par 3, but, if you keep hitting these numbers round after round, you will frequently make 10 to 13 pars a round.

Take a moment to consider which performance goals (FIR, GIR, up and downs, putts) you need to hit in order to reach your goal.

Pick key areas to improve

The third step is to look at your current ability and the performance stats you need to reach your goal. Pinpoint 2-3 areas you need to improve in order to hit your targets. This may be hitting more fairways, a better up and down percentage, or holing more putts inside 10 feet.

It is very easy to think that you want to improve every area of your game, but this approach dilutes your focus and ability to improve. Instead create a top list of three priorities:

Become an exceptional putter inside 15-feet. Optimise chip shots from 5-20 yards. Be clinical with wedge play from 80-120 yards.

Each week you should look at this list and think about how you will invest time to improve these three areas of your game. Try to note some useful detail for each point – what distances, what shots are key. This further refines your weekly practice goals.

Once you have your goals, the aim is to benchmark your performance in each area. To help you, I’ve put together the Golf Insider practice system – a set of skills games that will give you feedback on your driving, iron-play, short game and putting.

Create a weekly plan

The last step in month one is to create a weekly plan to improve your key areas – pick one, two or three skills games that you can commit to playing each week. Ideally these games focus on the biggest gap between your current playing ability and performance framework you’ve outlined above.

Here are some links to a couple of skills games:

Putting skills games

Chipping skills games

Long game skills games

You can also check out these links for a simple golf practice plan, or different golf practice routines depending on how many hours you have free.

Playing the same games every week ensures you take part in focused practice, and also allows you to track your skill development. If you would like more practice ideas and a way to track your practice stats each week, you can also grab a performance diary.

Month 1 summary

The first steps to achieving your 2020 golfing goals are as follows:

Pick an inspirational goal

Break down your dream into numbers

Pick 3 key areas of your game to improve

Create a weekly plan and stick to it (1-3 skills games)

Month 2 – Building your golfing avatar

In month one we focused on creating an inspirational goal and getting a basic framework in place. In month two we’re going to add some colour and fill in the gaps. This section looks at building your ideal golfing avatar to help achieve your golfing dreams.

In the original Golf Insider Challenge I took a quantitative approach to this section. This time I’m going to come at this from a qualitative perspective. Both perspectives are really useful and add value, each may suit golfers differently. So, read this instalment and if you’re a mega-keen golfing geek, combine it with this previous instalment from 2018 titled: how to get better at golf.

So you have your golfing goal – to break 90, break 80 or lower your handicap to ‘x’. Next, we need to know what the golfer who can achieve this goal looks like – your ideal golfing avatar. How do they drive the golf ball? What strengths do they have? How do they think under pressure? What decisions do they make on the golf course?

Through reading this article I hope you’ll see this process is far more important than scribbling some words down on a scrap of paper. This ideology should infuse your day-to-day practice, your decision making on the golf course, and even your technical thoughts.

Creating your golfing avatar

Grab a piece of paper, or golfing notepad, and begin to write down statements that you feel a golfer would need to achieve your golfing goal. Start off with anything that you feel is relevant, include your ‘key areas to improve’ that you made a note of in month one, but write more detail around each aspect. The example below should guide you through each step:

Breaking 59 example

Hugo, myself and James (golf psych) arranged a 40 minute call to discuss what a player that could shoot 59 looked like. Hugo led most of the discussion as it is really important that you truly own your golfing avatar – it can’t be pushed on you from someone else.

Hugo’s view of the ’59 machine’ was someone who was exceptionally effective with their long game, had a robotic driving ability, and even on their bad days was able to hit the ball straight enough to compete at an elite level.

He pictured this golfer as “being clinical with their wedge-play from 80 – 120 yards”, with many shots finishing inside 10-feet. He also felt that this golfer needed to be “exceptional at chipping from 5 – 20 yards“, rarely failing to get up and down, and often coming close to holing these shots. Simple bump and run chip shots and shots from ‘sticky’ lies in the rough were key shots for this golfer to excel at around the courses he would be playing.

You’ll notice that this narrative provides some great detail around the basic goal of ‘improving chipping’. This narrative isn’t a complete picture of a golfer capable of shooting 59, but instead highlights the gap between where Hugo sees himself currently and where he feels he needs to be. For example, Hugo’s greens in regulation stat for 2019 was over 70% for the 60+ rounds he played. He is a tour standard iron player, but feels he needs to be more dialled in from 80 – 120 yards.

Task 1 – Look at your own your golfing goal and performance goals. Write down 3-6 points that you feel really describe the type of player you would like to become.

Where are the gaps in your play?

What strengths do you need to develop?

What details are missing from your three key areas to improve?

With further discussion, Hugo began to discuss how this golfer acted on and off the golf course. He felt this ideal golfer “played with freedom”, he wasn’t tense under pressure. This golfer was also “uber efficient with their practice time”. The golfer didn’t spend time beating balls for the sake if it, instead they practiced with intensity and a clear focus, then left and got on with enjoying life.

Task 2 – Add to your list:

How does your golfer play? Aggressive, conservative, smart, risk-taker?

How does your golfer act on the golf course? Happy, intense, relaxed?

How does your golfer practice? Volume, focus, ordered, feel-based?

Applying your golfing avatar to your weekly plan

Once you have these points written out, take a good look at them. Now consider how you practice and play on a week-to-week basis. Are you really building the golfer you want to become?

If you have decided you need to get the ball in play more off the tee, then how much time do you spend improving accuracy on the range? How many 3-woods and 5-irons do you hit at the range aiming for a narrow fairway? When you play, do you practice your conservative strategy, or do you get to the 4th hole and then grab driver and hit two balls out of bounds?

You have to invest in the player you want to become.

If you have written that you want to ‘become a positive putter’ then ask yourself – do you hit 30 putts from 3-feet each week, firing each one into the back of the hole? Do you make notes of previous putts you’ve holed in pressure situations? Both of these are effective sources of self-confidence and steps towards becoming a positive putter.

If you’ve said you want to play with a clear swing thought, then how clearly do you plan out your range sessions and use your pre-shot routine in practice? A golfer that has 17 different swing thoughts on the golf range isn’t magically going to turn up on the first tee with a laser focus and calm mind.

Hopefully you get the picture when it comes to applying your golfing avatar – how closely aligned is your practice and play to the player you want to become?

Task 3: Take note of how your weekly practice and play needs to change in order to build the golfer you want to become.

Your golfing cues

The last step in this process is to distill all of your notes into 2-3 simple phrases that describe your golfing avatar. These should be written anywhere and everywhere, they are the values that underpin what you do in the coming weeks and months.

Hugo refined this to the following:

‘59’ , ‘freedom’, ‘efficient’

Every time he steps onto the golf course and practice ground, these are the values he will be using to get closer to his golfing goal.

Task 4: Distill your notes into 2-3 words which encapsulate how you need to practice and play. These words should give you direction and motivation.

Month 2 summary

The month’s steps to achieving your 2020 golfing goals are as follows:

Write 3-6 points that describe the golfer you would like to become.

Write down how your golfer plays, practices, thinks – what is their strategy?

Consider how your practice and play needs to change to match the golfer you want to build.

Write 2-3 values that will under-pin your practice and play for the coming months.

Month 3 – Managing your development

In month one we set golfing goals and targeted 2-3 areas of your game for development. In month two we covered wider aspects of development considering how you need to think, practice and play. In this edition we’re going to cover how to manage your week-to-week development ensuring you keep focused on reaching your goals.

Being your own coach

One of the big challenges in becoming a better player is managing your own development. Even with regular golf lessons you’ll likely spend 95 – 99% of time practicing and playing without a golf coach – meaning you are responsible for managing your own practice structure, providing your own feedback and making decisions on what shots you should hit.

This is an aspect of golf performance that is highly important but under-taught. This instalment of the golf insider challenge can’t cover everything needed to master this area, but will hopefully get you moving in the right direction.

Weekly targets

For each area of your game set simple weekly targets for practice and play. The targets ideally represent the standard you’re aiming to achieve, but in reality, just having a target each week gives you more focus than 95% of golfers who are trying to improve.

If driving is one of your key areas for development then your weekly goals may be as follows:

Hit 3 drivers in a row through a 10 yard gap during my range practice. Hit 8 out of 14 fairways during my 18 hole round.

If chipping is an area of focus then your goals might be:

Score more than 70 points on the Golf Insider short game challenge. Achieve a 65% up and down average during play.

These goals are so simple, but so useful as they hold you accountable to hitting a target each and every week. Don’t feel bad if you don’t achieve your goals for a given week. Just re-evaluate where you fell short and build in structured practice for the following week.

The goals you set must be quantifiable. Each must have a measure attached to it and at the end of your practice or play you should clearly be able to say the goal was or wasn’t met. Goals of ‘hitting your driver well in practice’ or ‘chipping better than last week’ are not useful as they cannot be measured.

Deciding the focus of practice

Once you have your weekly goals you’ll need to find an ideal way to practice. In month one I included some links to simple practice games for your long game, short game and putting. In skill acquisition we refer to this as your practice structure – it could be blocked or random practice, on the golf range or golf course and include a small or large amount of shots.

However, there is another layer on top of your practice structure that is really important – what is the focus of your practice? This is a complex topic, but below I’ve outline three stages you’ll likely go through as you try to up-skill an area of your game.

When you are trying to up-skill one area of your game you’ll encounter the following three broad steps:

Step 1- Building a robust technique

The first step is to build a robust technique. If putting is your focus, you need a putting stroke that repeatedly starts the golf ball on line. If you are working on your driving you may have a dreaded slice that needs improving. Step one may involve making technical changes such as a grip change to improve your slice. But building a robust technique can also be done without having golf lessons. For example, an extended period of chipping practice will help you to dial in your strike and distance control.

During this stage blocked practice is really useful. It allows you to hit the same shot over and over again until you can work out how to do it. Your focus at this stage is building a technique that is good enough, not perfect, just good enough.

You’re not aiming to hit every drive like Rory McIlroy, just most drives in the fairway and others in the right hand rough. When you can hit 7/10 shots are good enough (not even perfect, just good enough) move onto the next step below.

Step 2 – Using your skill in varying situations

The second step is finding out if your skill works in different situations – can you still control the distance of your chips from various lies. Can you consistently hit the green in different wind conditions and with different clubs.

At this stage you’re looking to include more varied practice, you don’t have to vary every single shot, but add variety to the shots you hit on the driving range and when chipping and putting. Test yourself in different situations, can you still hit good iron shots at 70% full speed, can you hit a slightly lower and higher ball flight with your driver and not revert back to your old, dreaded slice.

This practice can be done on the range, but I also advise players to hit a few extra shots on the golf course when they can find a time where the course is quiet enough. Again, when you can hit 7/10 shots that are pretty good move on to step three.

Step 3 – Testing your skill under pressure

The third and final step is testing if your new skill holds up under pressure. To find out you can play competitions on the course with friends and check out this article for some ways to introduce pressure into your practice. Don’t expect instant success, you’ll likely revert back to more hitting poor golf shots the first few times you put yourself under pressure.

The key part of managing your develop at this stage is not to think your golf game is broken. Instead, take notes of what went wrong under pressure – what direction did you miss? was it a poor strike? do you keep leaving putts short? Does a wild hook suddenly appear towards the end of your round?

This data is objective and allows you to consider what you need to practice and focus on next week. This loop continues week after week throughout the season.

Month 3 summary

I’m sure by now you are very competent at setting weekly goals and planning your practice. This month asks you to consider the specific focus on your practice: building a robust technique, using your skill in a variety of situations or testing it under pressure.

It is a small addition to your thinking, but can really help you make progress with your golf game. At the start of every week plan out:

The key area(s) of your game to work on. A clear goal for your practice and play. A clear focus for that area of your game – technical development, practicing your technique in varying situations or testing your skill in pressure situations.

After every week check to see if you hit your goals and refine your practice and play for the following week.

Month 4 – Broken systems not players

Hopefully by this point in the year you’ve made some good progress with your golfing goals. You’ll likely have some glimmers of greatness, smattered with the odd chaotic score – that is golf, the aim is to keep moving forward, but no player has ever mastered the art of consistency.

In this instalment we’ll look at a way of improving stubborn areas within your golf game, those parts of your game that no matter how hard your try, you can’t seem to improve. The way I like to work on these areas is to view them as systems. You have your own system for how you drive the golf ball, a system for holing putts inside 10-feet and a system for hitting wedge shots from 80 to 120 yards.

Some of your golfing systems are exceptional, they are your strengths, others are areas you struggle with. The fist key point is not think of yourself as a bad putter, or driver of the golf ball, rather you have a poor system for that area of your game. Generally these systems are inefficient, they are too varied. Your goal is to improve the system.

What makes up your golfing systems?

Each golfing system can be broken down into the functional parts that dictate your performance.

Perceptual cues

Planning / decision making

Technique

Skill (precision, accuracy, adaptability, variability)

Practice structures

Physiology

Equipment

Every area of your golfing game is a sum of these parts. If you improve one or more of these areas, that part of your golfing game (driving, iron-play, putting) will improve.

Using this approach there are three key steps to improving stubborn areas of your game:

Understand your poor shots and when they occur. Select the parts of the system responsible. Come up with a plan to improve those sub-systems.

Below we’ll cover a driving example, however the same process applies to every area of your game.

Example of improving driving

My goal for this year is to shoot -5 for a competitive round. I’m yet to achieve this with my few rounds to date, but a key area I’m falling short in is driving. Below is the systems approach I’m following to work on my driving in the coming weeks.

Step 1 – Understanding the poor shots

A quick look at the pictures below show that the majority of my poor drives miss left. Some just left, some wildly left. The shot shape is a hook, so I know I need to work on my club face and swing path, but a systems approach allows a far more complete analysis of how I can improve my driving performance.

Above are some simple ways to use the Golf Insider Performance Diary to track where and when you hit poor shots.

You’ll note above I sometimes track the number of the hole where I hit and miss fairways (bottom left), this helps pinpoint where I make my errors around a golf course. You can adapt the same approach to assess where different clubs you hit off the tee end up. Or make simple diagrams showing where putts and chips finish in relation to the hole.

Step 2 – Select the parts of the system responsible

The next step was to consider which parts of the driving system need improving. The obvious one was my swing mechanics, and the information above tells me I needed to build a golf swing with a less closed club face through impact. For more technical details around fixing a hook check out this article.

However, this data also helped inform my practice and play. In practice I’ll spend more time working on hitting fades, to neutralise the hook ball flight. During play I’ll pick targets on the right side of the fairway when there is danger left. I will also plan and visualise hitting a small fade on tight holes where these is trouble left.

I also considered how physiology and equipment can play a role in this change. Adjusting my driver settings, or adding a stiffer shaft, with less torque would also reduce the hook shots, however equipment is not something that I felt needed changing in this instance.

The aim of step 2 is to run through each part of the system and consider what changes could be made to improve your overall performance.

Step 3 – A plan to improve sub-systems

The final step involved creating a plan for improving my driving system:

Perceptual cues: N/A

Planning / decision making: Aim right-side of fairway, play more fades.

Technique: Get club face less closed at top of swing, work on forearm rotation and setting wrists in backswing. Also improve body rotation through impact.

Skill (precision, accuracy, adaptability, variability): Need to become more precise and accurate with 2-iron, 4-wood and driver.

Practice structures: Work on hitting neutral shots and fades with long clubs, practice Will’s range challenge with small fairway targets.

Physiology: Improve rotational, thoracic strength, improve lower body strength to help drive through impact with a solid base.

Equipment: N/A

This process gives me a great template to become a better driver of the golf ball. It also rationalises the process and gives me simple, achievable steps to help improve my performance.

Month 4 summary – Back to you

It is now up to you to decide how this approach fits to your golf game. The same process applies for every area of your game. For putting and chipping begin by building up a picture of the direction of your poor shots. Are shots missing long, short, left, right. Then work out when your good and poor shots occur – bump and runs, high chips, mid-range putts…

As soon as you have these two pieces of information take a systems approach to consider how you can improve that area of your game. What parts of your technique need work? How can you practice to improve distance control or accuracy? Can you think and plan shots more effectively to reduce the size of your errors during play? Does you equipment help or hinder you?

Nothing is off-limits, just ensure all your changes tie in to help you improve the problems of accuracy and consistency. Your aim is to re-build a better system for you to play golf with. This approach isn’t an instant cure, but I’ve found it can lead to some really effective improvement which are long-lasting changes in performance.

That is all for now – I hope that this section proves helpful, feel free to leave your comments below.

Keep up the fine work.

ps: If you would like the next instalment emailed to you, sign up for the Golf Insider weekly post and don’t forget to post your golfing goal below.

Happy golfing – Will @ Golf Insider

Post your golfing goal

Sharing your goal with the world (or a few thousand golfers) sure will motivate you to get out there and practice. Just leave your name and golfing goal for 2020 as a comment below – I will update the wall of dreams on this article weekly. Thanks so much for joining in.

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