New Year's resolutions for golfers and how to keep them going

12/31/2024 08:00 AM

Mental performance coach Duncan McCarthy on how to cut yourself some slack in January…

Resolutions aren’t for everyone and people will quickly point out that, if something’s that important, you need to move it up the priority list before the end of the year.

But I also respect that some people feel highly motivated going into January as it gives them the opportunity to wipe the slate clean again after a period of probable bingeing over Christmas.

The most common aim is get fit and lose weight and we’ll set our expectations too high a lot of the time so we’re setting ourselves up to fail.

We tend to jump in with two feet and it’s really hard to do that, particularly at the moment.

If you just set yourself a target of doing something twice a week, and anything above that is a bonus, then you are more likely to feel good about yourself. It’s not a soft way out, it’s just a kinder way to form a new habit and be realistic about it.

And cut yourself some slack. All our routines aren’t what we’d like them to be at the moment and we’d all love to see our friends and family so give yourself a bit of a break.

If you want to lose weight or get your handicap down then you know that you’ll have to do something a bit different so find some realistic time for some practice or some exercise.

When your club opens hit some balls on a Tuesday and a Friday for half an hour if you can, or just one day, or practise your putting.

Time is limited for a lot of people so forego one thing that has historically happened but make it realistic.

If you drift for a few weeks or months and you’ve not done anything the tendency is to dwell on the past.

Try and have the self-awareness that you can't go back and change but look to the future and change it going forward.

You might have had six weeks off but it doesn't have to be seven – do something to make things a little bit better and get the ball rolling again.

It might just be a 20-minute walk but see it as the start of something better.

Duncan McCarthy is a mental performance coach who works across all sports including golfers Marcus Armitage, Mel Reid and Major champion Ashleigh Buhai

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