Full Swing - Lesson 4

Setting Goals and Tracking Progress

This lesson will:

Record key full-swing statistics from each round and review your progress

Now that you’ve made the effort and put in the time to improve your swing, you’ll want to start seeing proof of the results. After all, that’s what you’re after right?

There are two important full swing statistics that most professional golfers are concerned with: fairways hit and greens in regulation. (Driving distance is important too, but it’s nearly impossible to accurately track by yourself.)

Fairways Hit %– The percentage of total fairways hit. Technically, a par 3 does not have a fairway, so this is the percentage of fairways you hit on par 4’s or 5’s. This stat is important because it implies accuracy with your driver and/or other “longer” clubs. Accuracy off the tees is presumed to be important because generally speaking a ball in the fairway provides for better position to play the next shot than one not in the fairway. Your lie should be easier to play from, your angle to the green should be better, and you should be able to judge your distance and spin more accurately.

Greens in Regulation % – The percentage of greens hit in regulation. Regulation is 2 strokes fewer than the par for a particular hole. Do not count holes in which you were close to the green or one the fringe. You must be putting (while on the green) for Birdie or Eagle on a hole in order to have hit it in regulation. This stat is obviously important for the reason implied in the previous sentence. The more birdie putts you have, the more birdies you are going to make and the easier pars are to make. You could theoretically hit every green in regulation, never make a putt longer than a couple of feet (your second putt, a tap in) and shoot even par. Wouldn’t that be a low stress round?

The following steps will allow you to start tracking your key swing statistics with the AspiringGolfer My Goals system.

Once you've started entering rounds, you'll see your averages on the My Performance Goals Home page. If you'd like to see your averages for a different number of rounds than you originally chose, you can easily change the number of rounds included in the calculation on the Configure Goals page.

Set full-swing statistic goals for yourself

One of the unique aspects of the Aspiring Golfer system is that it doesn’t just give you historical numbers to look at. It provides you a tool to set goals for yourself. Recording statistics for your game, by itself, does not help you to improve. What does help you to improve is understanding what the statistics mean, setting target goals for yourself, and then sticking to a plan to get you there. You need to make a commitment to yourself, in writing, with specific target values and dates if you expect to give yourself the best chance of success.

If you’re not a golfer who has previously tracked full swing statistics, you may not really know what your goals should be. In that case, before setting goals for yourself, you should play several rounds (at least 4 or 5) and enter those statistics into the system to get an idea of where you currently are. From there, pick realistic targets to shoot for, keeping the time period to roughly 10 to 20 rounds of golf. For example, if you play golf once a week, you would want to set your goal date for roughly 3 to 6 months. This timeframe is ideal because it allows you enough time to get an accurate measurement and to improve, but it is short enough that you are still motivated with a sense of urgency and your goals are for incremental improvement. Feeling like you are a long ways from your goals can be a disheartening thing. Also, in terms of deciding how much improvement is realistic, consider the following.

To set full-swing statistic goals for yourself using the My Goals system:

Continue to practice your full swing diligently and enter your statistics for every round you play. Make yourself achieve the goals you have set for yourself by reviewing your Goals every day.