Dan Walker

There are several things I’d like to see in the professional ranks over the coming months and I have a few goals of my own, including getting my kids to see the light and embrace the game...

Talks us through his golfing goals for 2019

Farewell 2018, hello 2019! It’s time to talk goals. I don’t know about you, but I am not the biggest fan of new year’s resolutions. Willpower has never been a particularly impressive trait of mine. I was driving home from filming Football Focus at the end of last year with a pack of six mince pies on the passenger seat. Despite telling myself repeatedly that I wasn’t allowed to eat them, I am ashamed to say that none of the little beauties survived the 38-mile trip from the BBC studios in Salford to the Walker family residence in Sheffield.

Having said all that about my lack of control when it comes to food… I am convinced that 2019 is the year #Operationscratch reaches its conclusion. For the last six months of 2018 I committed myself to dedicated practice for the first time in my life. I had hit one too many weak and drifty fades and it was time to knuckle down. I had lessons with former pro Ben Mason in Sheffield, switched to PXG clubs, hit hundreds of balls at the Trafford Golf Centre in Manchester and tried to practise at least once a week. I went from a 7 handicap to 2.5 despite only managing about three rounds a month. This year my golfing goal is to knock the last few shots off that handicap.

I aim to do this by conquering the art of putting and continuing to work with Ben on widening my swing and controlling my remarkably loose wrists. In a doubles match last season, one of my opponents asked “are your wrists made of blancmange?” as I snap-hooked one into a bush. I know he was trying to get into my head but he also pinpointed a significant area of weakness.

Maybe an entire day with Simon Dyson can cure me? Since stepping back from tour life, Mr Dyson has started his Elite Golf Performance programme based at Mottram Hall in Cheshire. Apparently he looks at all aspects of your game, from golf-specific exercise to course management. I’m going to go and test it out in March so I will report back.

In terms of the professional game, I would love to see Luke Donald somewhere near his best again in 2019. It was great to see Lee Westwood and Danny Willett return to the winners’ circle at the end of last year. It was particularly pleasing to see Willett emerge from the post-masters fog after a few seasons trying to find a new swing and a bit of purpose. While Cameron Champ and the new generation of athletes/robots hit their drives 350 yards, it would be a timely reminder to the bicep brigade to see Luke ‘up-anddown-from-anywhere’ Donald back near the top of a leaderboard.

While there is plenty of cash swirling around at the high end of golf, there remains the ongoing problem of selling the sport to the next generation. With that in mind, the other item on my agenda for 2019 is trying to get my children into the game. We’ve been down to the driving range a few times together, but making time for golf in a world filled with school, music lessons, church clubs, tennis, choir, homework, cross country and a seemingly endless desire to watch School Of Rock on repeat is proving a little difficult. When I grew up, golf was always on the telly and – even though no one in my family played it – it always seemed accessible and desirable. I would love my own children to feel the same way.

One thing I don’t want to see in 2019 is a repeat of the Woods/mickelson gambling mess that was masquerading as a sporting spectacle. Personally, I have a real issue with gambling firms being so closely associated with any sport. I know millions enjoy it, but gambling has poisoned many individuals and families and it saddens me that we are continually force-fed the fallacy that you can’t enjoy sport without betting on it.

The pre-match press conference with the pair of them surrounded by dollars was about as tasteless as it gets. The fact that the tour allowed it to completely overshadow the World Cup in Australia was embarrassing, and hints at a future that could test the integrity which the sport is built upon. I feel that 2019 will be the year golf gets smothered in the sort of ‘in-play’ betting which football fans in the UK can’t watch a game without. These are the bets which really fill the pockets of the bookmakers, and while they coin it in the sport we love will be poorer.

■ You can see Dan on BBC Breakfast Mon-wed or every Saturday on Football Focus. You may also find him on a golf course... probably missing a four-footer

“When I grew up, golf was always on TV and it always seemed accessible and desirable. I would love my own children to feel the same way”