January 8, 2024The Divot

Best intentions for a new yearThe year is still fresh enough that many of us have not yet struck our first shots of 2024.We have not yet three-putted, not yet chunked a greenside chip shot and not yet made our first birdie, which may be the slowest of the aforementioned triumvirate to occur.With the winter wind keeping many of us inside while visions of Hawaii dance on our television screens, there is still time to make a list of – let’s not call them resolutions – intentions for our golf in 2024.As a club leader once told me, don’t make rules because rules have to be enforced. Make regulations because there’s more gray area.It’s the same with intentions as compared to resolutions. They are aspirational, not absolutes.And, they are almost universal.Play more golf in 2024.

Spend more time chipping and putting than hitting balls on the range.

Play from the tees that fit your game, not your ego.

Cure that slice.

Cure that hook.

Enjoy the walk – or the cart ride.

Don’t be a cheapskate. Get a new pair of shoes that don’t have mud stains from when Tiger was a kid.

Keep hope alive that pro golf will come to its senses and get everyone back together soon.

Just say no to scramble events.

Figure out a way to make slow players faster. Slow players don’t get it because they rarely have to wait.

Hit enough club.

Pick Rory McIlroy to win the Masters.

It’s a new year.Maybe this is the year.That’s the intention, anyway.Ron Green Jr.E-MAIL RONphoto: krisanapong detraphiphat, getty images illustration: Barbara Ivins-georgoudiou, ggpCoverPicture ThisFinding common ground in golf’s uncivil warCallaway Win Ad 010824Callaway Ai Smoke Family 010824‘The most turbulent times in golf’Odyssey 0108242024 preview introCalendar season restores rhythmEurope’s drip-drip-drip erosion of talentGoing for the gold all year longRival tour raises stakes for pro golfWomen wrestle with independenceAmerican men plant flag at top of gamePlayer enthusiasm drives gameCruising waves of pent-up demandOpenings extend renaissance in designCallaway Chrome Tour 010824A Few Extra HolesIt's Your Honor‘Smart face’ in Paradym Ai Smoke drivers unlocks distanceGFore 010824Range RatFlightscope 010824Leadbetter’s lifelong lesson planPGA GamerKirk keeps good times rolling at SentryLPGA 010824New look for a Georgia coastal classicModleski’s rise at Jones Cup: 1st alternate to 1st placeWin Ad Jones CupElite Amateur Golf Series adds women’s tourR&A stage Middle East Golf Leadership ForumThe DivotStatsMasthead