A 5-step guide to setting your golf goals in 2026

The beginning of the year is when we all love it talk about resolutions. But within days, many good intentions fade into silence, buried under routines and deadlines.

Last January, I wrote about deployment REALISTIC golf goals, not the “pie in the sky” stuff that sounds great on January 1st and disappears by February 1st. The idea was simple: set goals that really fit your life, then build a plan that makes success almost inevitable.

How do you do this? Focusing on smaller goals and the steps needed to achieve (or exceed) them. When you break bigger goals down into manageable tasks, you put yourself in position to accomplish what you want by this time next year.

Guide no. 1: Last year’s assessment

Before setting your goals for 2026, take time to assess 2025 and establish a baseline. Look back and honestly evaluate the past year. Not to criticize yourself or brag, but to appreciate what worked so you can repeat it in 2026.

In January 2025, I outlined several goals using the same guidelines in this section and achieved four out of five. I lost 22 kilos. I nearly doubled my number of rounds played, logging 18+ more rounds in 2025 than in 2024. I played a special course, the beautiful Cascades course in Omni Homestead Resort. And, according to arccos, I became statistically more accurate with my approach shots.

The goal I did not achieve was to increase the training time. Due to a back injury, I had to protect myself so that I could continue training my clients. Practice sessions were limited in 2025, but when I did practice, the sessions were shorter, more focused, and more intentional than ever. Which leads to the next question: how do you create purpose in your practice? It starts with building a process that supports every goal you set for 2026.

Guide no. 2: Focus on the process, not the outcome

When I set my goals for 2025, I focused on the daily actions that would get me closer to them, rather than obsessing over the end result.

For example, playing more golf became a fixture on my exercise calendar. As important as my clients are, golf had to move higher on my priority list if I wanted to play more rounds. This meant scheduling golf as part of my regular routine. How often are you putting golf on your calendar to make sure you’re playing enough to maintain your handicap and confidence?

This does not mean that every round was planned. Having a process in place also allowed me to say yes to the occasional last-minute “emergency nine,” knowing that my coaching responsibilities were still covered.

Processes include planning, checklists, routines, and habits—things you can control. Results are simply a result of those processes, not the other way around. When your goals are built around actions within your daily control, you move significantly closer to achieving them.

Guide no. 3: Keep it simple

Golf is a tough game that couldn’t be made any easier physically, but it is can to become simpler. Breaking down goals into smaller, achievable milestones over a period of time is a proven way to meet or exceed annual goals. Smaller goals are easier to manage and easier to keep.

Take grade point average as an example. If your goal is to lower it by 10 strokes in 2026, that can seem overwhelming. But what if you split your round into six three-hole segments, each with a modest scoring goal? Or focused on improving the specific statistical categories that make up your scoring average?

The beauty of simplicity is that you can become very competent in one area of ​​your game, which takes the pressure off the rest. Most average players miss the greens short. A simple goal might be to aim for the back of the green more often by taking an extra club. This change requires no extra effort, just a smarter decision. Compare this to trying to swing harder with shorter clubs, which is much more complex and time-consuming.

Simple is almost always better.

Instruction no. 4: Be realistic

Right after simplicity is realism, and you could argue that it should come first. Unrealistic goals require more time, more complexity and often lead to disappointment. Simplicity tends to breed realism.

I have a new competitive client who already averages 59 percent green in regulation and has set a goal to hit 80 percent by 2026. For context, the PGA Tour average is around 66 percent, with the statistical leader hovering around 74 percent. While I admire the ambition, 80 percent was not realistic given his school schedule and other commitments.

After evaluating his performance in 2025, we reset his target to 66 percent, right in line with the tournament average. His process begins with improving the green hit on the Par 3 between 135 and 165 yards. By building a simple, realistic plan for those shots, we create momentum that carries over to the rest of the course, increasing his overall green percentage in regulation and lowering his scoring average.

Guide no. 5: Look short-term

A one-year goal can lose its impact over time, just like a picture on a wall, you stop noticing it. This is why your goals for 2026 should be broken down into smaller goals with shorter deadlines.

Using the same junior golfer, we set a deadline of April 1, 2026 to hit 66 percent green in regulation on Par 3s in tournament play. This represents roughly one-third of its total scope. The next two quarters focus on Par 4 and Par 5, with the final quarter dedicated to refining the process and building momentum into 2027.

Put them all together

Smaller, simpler, more realistic goals, completed in shorter timeframes and integrated into your daily routine, are much easier to achieve. In 2025, I achieved 80 percent of my goals. This success motivates me to achieve even more in 2026.

With a clear process in place, the biggest goals you set for 2026 are absolutely achievable. Goals without process, however, are doomed to failure.

By now, you likely have goals in mind for 2026. Spend the rest of this month building a realistic and straightforward process that allows you to reach those goals incrementally, and you’ll give yourself a real chance to succeed.

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