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

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

Last January, I wrote about setting realistic golf goals, not the “pie-in-the-sky” stuff that sounds great on Jan. 1 and disappears by Feb. 1. The idea was simple: set goals that genuinely fit your life, then build a plan that makes success nearly unavoidable.

How do you do that? By focusing on smaller goals and the steps required to achieve (or surpass) them. When you break larger goals into manageable tasks, you put yourself in position to accomplish what you want by this time next year.

Guideline No. 1: Evaluate the previous year

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

In January 2025, I outlined several goals using the same guidelines in this piece, and I accomplished four out of five. I lost 22 pounds. 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 at Omni Homestead Resort. And, according to Arccos, I became statistically more accurate with my approach shots.

The goal I fell short of was increasing practice time. Due to a back injury, I needed to protect myself so I could continue coaching my clients. Practice sessions were limited in 2025, but when I did practice, the sessions were shorter, more focused, and more purposeful 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.

Guideline No. 2: Focus on process, not outcome

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

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

That’s not to say every round was planned. Having a process in place also allowed me to say yes to the occasional last-minute “emergency nine,” knowing my responsibilities as a coach were still covered.

Processes include scheduling, checklists, routines, and habits — things you can control. Outcomes are simply the 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.

Guideline No. 3: Keep it simple

Golf is a hard game that can’t be made easier physically, but it can be made simpler. Breaking goals into smaller, attainable milestones over a defined period is a proven way to meet or exceed yearly targets. Smaller goals are easier to manage and easier to sustain.

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

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

Simple is almost always better.

Guideline No. 4: Be realistic

Right behind simplicity is realism, and you could argue it should come first. Unrealistic goals demand more time, more complexity, and often lead to frustration. Simplicity tends to breed realism.

I have a competitive junior client who already averages 59 percent greens in regulation and set a goal of reaching 80 percent in 2026. For context, the PGA Tour average is around 66 percent, with the statistical leader hovering near 74 percent. While I admire the ambition, 80 percent wasn’t realistic given his school schedule and other commitments.

After evaluating his 2025 performance, we reset his goal to 66 percent, right in line with Tour average. His process begins with improving greens hit on Par 3s 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, raising his overall greens-in-regulation percentage and lowering his scoring average.

Guideline No. 5: Look short-term

A year-long goal can lose its impact over time, much like a picture on a wall, you stop noticing it. That’s why your 2026 goals should be broken into smaller targets with shorter deadlines.

Using the same junior golfer, we set an April 1, 2026 deadline to reach 66 percent greens in regulation on Par 3s in tournament play. That represents roughly one-third of his overall goal. The next two quarters focus on Par 4s and Par 5s, with the final quarter dedicated to refining the process and building momentum into 2027.

Put it all together

Smaller, simpler, more realistic goals, completed in shorter time frames and integrated into your daily routine, are far easier to achieve. In 2025, I reached 80 percent of my goals. That success motivates me to accomplish even more in 2026.

With a clear process in place, the bigger goals you set for 2026 are absolutely attainable. Goals without a process, however, are doomed to fail.

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

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