Golf: It's time to dust off the cobwebs

The end of August is in sight and so is the end of summer, well almost! Or maybe I'm just anticipating the start of the new golf season. Although it's been a pretty busy summer with lots of golfing activities happening throughout the UAE, many may not have had the opportunity to play regularly throughout the summer and it's a good time to start thinking about getting ready for the golf season.

The Emirates Golf Federation's calendar is already packed with events from September onwards; time to start preparing in earnest.

Golf is a ‘use it or lose it' skill and for those of us who have dealt with an off-season know that it takes a while to get it back on track.

You may have started already. If so, I'm hoping you didn't just grab your clubs out of the garage and head to the first tee. There are a number of things you can do to make this your best playing season ever. Start by making a checklist, I've listed a few to help you get started:

Check your grips - Grips should be changed at least once every two years, but depending on how much you play, they may need to be changed as often as every six months.

Check your spikes - Spikes that are worn down may cause slipping during a swing, loss of balance and excess foot movement may cause mishit shots leading to unnecessary bogies and worse.

Check your golf bag - Take inventory. Take everything out and see what you have or don't have - balls, tees, markers, all the basics, and stock up or replace. Take your gloves and throw the used ones in the garbage. Stiff leather won't keep its grip on the club - Ever. Take all your towels and wash them before putting them back.

Check your swing - It may not be part of your bag, but it's your game! Go to the driving range and take a few swings with each club to work out all the kinks. Too many of those? Take a lesson to get back the basics of your setup.

Mark your areas

Devise a plan and define your goal for the upcoming season to help you stay focused on what you want to accomplish with your golf game. It's not enough just to say you want to ‘play better' this year. Of course you do. We all do. But that's not an actionable goal. Decide which parts of your game need improvement and then you can devise a plan of action.

Set aside some time each week for practice and work on the things you identified in your goals. We've heard this many times, but if you're serious about improving your game this year, then a commitment to fitness should probably be on your list.

These are some of the main things that you may need to do to get ready to have your best golf season ever. You may not need to do all of them and your list might include things that I didn't mention.

The bottomline is, the best path to success is by utilizing a plan and a checklist is the easiest way to capture that. Tailor your checklist to the things you need or want to accomplish this year and you'll be ready to hit the ground running.

I hope that you are looking forward to the new golf season as much as I am!