Every year our advisory team goes through a business planning exercise. We each develop our own goals for the year and then share these with the rest of our team members. The goals are both personal and professional. It is quite an invigorating time together as we present our plans to 16 of our peers in Summit Wealth Group.
One of my personal goals has been focused on lowering my golf handicap. In 2011, I set a goal of lowering my golf handicap to 8.5 (for golfers, a lower handicap is a good thing; it means you are improving your chances to shoot par). You see, I had reduced it to 10.3 and felt that the new goal of 8.5 was attainable (the “A” in SMART goals). However I had to adjust my goal the next year as my handicap began climbing. I set a new goal of getting it to 9.9. By this time it had climbed over 12 and was going in the wrong direction. This summer, my handicap was at 14 and I can recall second-guessing my still unachieved goal of seeing it fall below 10.
I was determined to focus on improving my game this summer and started by getting some lessons from a professional. Eric became my golf swing coach as well as my mental coach. The first thing he did was to analyze my swing by recording a video of it. It was eye-opening to me as I saw bad habits that had developed over the years.
Eric was very kind in pointing out that I needed to make some changes if I wanted to improve my game and have a chance to reach my goal. He identified my shortcomings and had suggestions that proved to be very good ones for me. Next, I had to implement those recommendations in order to see success.
On July 30th I received my bi-weekly handicap revision from the US Golf Association and the great news was that my handicap had dropped to 9.9 (my first time below 10)!
As I think back over the years, I realize that I probably could have shortened this process if I’d gone to Eric to begin with. Instead, what I’d done, was to try to figure out my golf game on my own. This reminds me of the benefits of a professional. His ability to draw on years of experience, coupled with having a heart of a teacher enabled him to speak into my golf life and make a difference.
Randy Morris, CFP®, ChFC®, AIF®
CEO
How to Lower Your Golf Handicap to 9.9 - Goal Setting, Hiring a Professional and Perseverance
