The end of the year is fast approaching. And it’s time to start planning for 2023. Are you planning for what you want to achieve with your golf game in 2023? Do you want to improve your golf practice routine? Do you want to add more or less time to golf practice schedule? I’m sure you have a lot more questions to ask yourself. Before attending one my 3-day golf schools in Florida, let’s help answer some of your questions. As you create your golf practice plan for 2023.
The Time to Start Planning is NOW!
Why procrastinate you’re planning for 2023 when you can do this now? Chances are, you’ll have a little bit of downtime between now and the beginning of next season. Why not use that downtime to create a plan that is holistic for your game and for your mind?
Waiting until the last minute to create a golf practice plan normally results in a plan you’re not committed to. And the plan will include haphazardly thought-out goals that were impulsive at the time you wrote the goals down. And in turn, unrealistic for you to follow through with.
It’s always best to start planning early so you can narrow down your choices as you get closer to the season. Choices about what skills to improve. As well as how much time you’ll need to achieve your golf practice schedule goals. It’s always best to think things through and make choices based upon what you can realistically achieve.
Think BIG as You Create Your Golf Practice Plan for 2023
It’s best to plan early and plan big. Put as many goals and aspirations down on a piece of paper or a whiteboard as possible. All ideas and goals are worth writing down at the beginning of this process. Realize the beginning of this process is more brainstorming than actual planning. This is what allows you to think bigger and possibly inspire you to follow through with your plans.
Once you make your big list of goals, let it sit for a couple of days. Doing so clears your mind of immediate impulses that may or may not be attainable. Going back to this list a couple days later adds a fresh new perspective to not only adding more things to the list. But also eliminating those ideas you thought of earlier, that are not realistic.
You may want to go through this initial planning process a couple of different times. I find myself doing this with not only my golf game but with my business planning. And example is this blog post. It took 3 different sessions to draft the post, editing and messaging the post each time.
Thinking big requires more time. More time to think about the big goals you want to attain. And more time to narrow down those ideas and goals that are realistically obtainable over the course of the following year.
Not All Golf Practice Plans are Created Equal
Everybody’s practice plan differs slightly from everyone else’s. The goal of making a golf practice plan for 2023 is for to be specific to you. Addressing your individual improvement goals. Scheduling your practice time. As well as your playing time.
Although you may have similar skill improve犀利士
ment goals as your friends, obtaining your goals using your friends’ ideas and goals may not be realistic for you. Variables such as physical ability to practice more often. Or your ability to place your body in certain positions. As well as frequency of practice. Each and all variables directly affect your ability to achieve the objectives of your golf practice plan for 2023. Understanding the variables that set you apart from your friends allows you to create the plan best for you and your goals.
Borrowing ideas from other golfers practice plans is a double-edged sword. Attempting to do the same drill that a friend is doing for his or her skill development can actually be a negative influence upon your skills and ability. Particularly if your friends are whimsically choosing drills or exercises without merit to their specific needs. Ask questions of your friends as to where they found the drill they’re performing. And who prescribed it to them. If they chose to do a drill based solely upon watching a video, chances are the drill is not the right one for them. And probably is not the right one for you either.
What is Your Current Golf Practice Schedule?
Base your golf practice plan for 2023 upon your practice habits in 2022. If your goal is to increase the time you spend practicing, you need to have a current understanding of how much time you practiced this year. Sometimes it’s not an increase in time that’s needed. It might be an adjustment of the current time you schedule. Committing more practice time to the skills you are deficient in. Doing so could garner the more immediate and sustainable results.
If you honestly do not practice now, then increasing practice time as much as possible is a good idea. Attempt to spread the increase of practice time over several practice sessions throughout the course of the year. Taking small incremental steps each practice session to increase the time spent practicing. Your end goal should be practicing the desired amount of time you chose as a goal, by mid-season.
Benchmark Now to Measure Improvement Later
Part of a solid golf practice plan for 2023 is understanding where your current skills are. It’s important to benchmark those skills statistically as well as at the practice facility. Using Arccos or other statistics platforms will assist you in understanding your “in the moment skills”. And how those skills effect your scores. Your ability to understand those statistics and break those numbers down systematically creates a more efficient practice plan. My suggestion is identifying the 3 skills you can improve that provides the most fun and enjoyment of golf as your primary goals.
Likewise with your ball striking and club numbers. Using FlightScope or another ball flight device. Record multiple shots with all your clubs to benchmark averages with each club, now. Comb through the data, recognizing the 1 or 2 ball flight parameters that can positively affect your long-term ball striking skills. If you’re unfamiliar with the data, engaging a good coach like myself or someone on my staff can help with this process.
What is a Good Practice Plan Without a Coach?
Many of my clients initially contact me because they’ve been practicing a lot and have realized little to no improvement. When I ask them what they’ve been practicing and how they came about believing the drills and exercises they’re practicing are beneficial for them, most answer that they saw the drill being done by someone else. Or they watched a video thinking the drill was good for them. Or they read something in a magazine not understanding the intent of what they’re reading.
I must admit I’m guilty of creating content that golfers can sometimes take out of context. Understanding the underlying causes of your swing flaws is essential to understanding which drills within videos are good for you. And which ones are not. As you’re reading a blog post or article, are you reading it from only your perspective? Or are you reading it objectively? Attempting to understand if what you’re reading applies to you and your goals?
Creating a practice plan with a coach shortens the process. As well as creates a more detailed and specific practice plan, relative to your overall goals of improvement. Utilizing statistics and ball flight tools, as well as asking questions of you, are the 3 biggest tools a great coach uses to use to assist you in creating your practice plan. And when engaging a coach to assist, insist on a good listener using the proper tools to assist you.
I hope you consider me, or one of my coaches, to assist you with creating your golf practice plan for 2023, before visiting us or any of the great Orlando Golf Resorts. It’s important you do so to prepare for any of the 3-day golf schools in Florida.
Does your Golf Practice Plan for 2023 include Short, Medium, and Long-Term Goals?
Great golf practice plans include short, medium, and long-term goals. With the long-term goals being the most important. And supported by the short-term and medium-term goals.
Your short-term goals should be just that, short-term. Design short-term goals based upon results you can obtain over a shorter period of time. A great example is playing smarter with your current skills. Making better decisions, allowing your skills to reduce the number of strokes within any given round of golf, without any practice.
Short-term goals are the building blocks of middle- and long-term goals. Short and medium range goals build the foundation necessary to sustain long-term goals and results. An example is whether you decide to start a fitness program now, supplementing your overall golf practice improvement plan. That’s just one cornerstone of the foundation of your plan.
When asked by clients to assist with creating a practice plan, I highly suggest setup standards for all shots, fitness, time commitment, and practicing under pressure, as the 4 cornerstones of any great golf practice plan. All 4 of these elements are crucial, allowing you to play your absolute best under the most pressurized conditions.
Happy Middle Ground
Medium-term plans are the connections between your short-term goals and your long-term goals. Supporting the long-term goals as the short-term goals continue to build the foundation to your overall skills and experience.
Medium-term goals typically involve identifying what your habitual swing trends are. And then creating not one, but multiple drills you can practice. At some point, you’re going to get bored with just one drill. When you do, that’s when most medium-term goals get extinguished. Having multiple ways to accomplish the same thing keeps your attention at any golf practice session. While at the same time providing random randomness to your practice. While engaging all skeletal muscular systems needed to obtain your desired result.
Long-Term Bragging Rights
Long-term goals or plans are what you want to boast about. The end results. What do you want to accomplish throughout 2023? Do you want to win a tournament? Do you want to qualify for a USGA event? Or are you just wanting to breakthrough a scoring milestone?
The short- and medium-term goals you create must properly support and sustain your long-term goals of results. It’s one thing to have a goal to win a tournament. It’s another to have short- and medium-term goals, your actual plan, providing you the best opportunity to win a tournament.
Without a solid plan of short- and medium-term goals supporting the underbelly of your long-term goals, you have nothing more than expectations. Expectations are goals without a plan. And ultimately lead to failure.
Putting all this Information Together
Once you’ve brainstormed and figured out how much time you must commit to your practice plan, it’s time to start narrowing down your long-term goals. And understanding how the short- and medium-term goals will support your long-term objectives. Drafting a plan using paper or pen, or a spreadsheet, has its merits. It’s been proven that writing down your goals reinforces your desires to obtain those goals.
Be specific as you put the plan together. Vagueness will get you nowhere. Just like having a specific target in mind as you set up to hit a shot, specific goals with specific underlying plans to reach the goals, is essential. Vagueness will also provide just enough ambiguity for you to create a reason not to practice.
Plotting your practice sessions down within a golf practice planner is not a bad idea. You can purchase a planner but the simplest one you have readily available is a calendar. Writing down when you’re going to practice. Where you’re going to practice. And what specifically you’re going to practice, is a great idea. Doing so provides you the inspiration to trigger your practice motivation. In addition, taking notes throughout your practice sessions assists you with evolving your practice plan over the course of the next season.
As you did with thinking big, once you draft the plan leave it alone for a couple of days. For the same reasons you did so early in the process. Objectivity is what you’re ultimately after as you create your final practice plan.
As you create and plot your practice sessions, create timelines that hold you accountable to specific skill improvement. An example is reducing the number of times you miss a 4-foot putt. Do you really want to spend all year practicing 4-foot putts? Or is a more specific timeline accomplishing that goal in 2-months? As you create accountability timelines for yourself, keep in mind the need to have flexibility. After all, life can sometimes get in the way of the best laid plans. And if golf is not putting food on your table, or a roof over your head, you can afford a little flexibility as you hold yourself accountable.
Conclusion
Creating a golf practice plan for 2023 starts now. It doesn’t start in 2023. It includes dreaming of what you believe is attainable. Then coming to the realization of what’s obtainable with the assets and time you use to make the commitment.
Don’t be afraid to engage assistance in this process. As like anything else, sometimes it takes a village. A golfer’s village doesn’t have to be big. But it must be inhabited by those people who understand your goals. And are willing to support you along the way.
Finally, a practice plan is only as good as its built-in accountability measurements. Benchmarks, timelines, and flexibility is what makes a great practice plan. These are the key elements you can use in the middle of the year to adjust your goals as you obtain your midterm and longer-term goals quicker than anticipated.
I know there are many choices you can make when it comes to Orlando Golf Resorts. But I want you to know, before attending any 3-day golf schools in Florida, having your golf practice plan for 2023 ready, makes you that much more prepared to experience and sustain the improvement you seek.