New Year's Resolutions for the Top Stars on the PGA Tour

Happy New Year, golf fans. In the forward-looking spirit of a newly minted 2016, and amid declarations of commitment to losing five pounds, calling your mother every Sunday and putting 10 percent into savings, we’ll take a look at what some of the tour’s best ought to be resolving this new year.

And in a similar spirit to our Christmas wish compilation, these resolutions will be limited to producing positive results inside the ropes (although Bubba Watson’s could carry over).

Here are the New Year’s resolutions for those who burn brightest on the PGA Tour.

Tiger Woods

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Resolution: To follow the doctor’s orders

Tiger Woods has admitted that being patient and giving his body time to heal isn’t his strong suit.

The list of injuries he’s returned from too soon—most recently his first back surgery—is none too small.

As Woods told NBC/Golf Channel's Roger Maltbie (h/t Golf Digest), there’s no timetable for a return from his October back surgery (the second in as many months). And as he indicated in an interview with Lorne Rubenstein of Time, a return from a nerve injury is a tricky and unpredictable task.

So, the most important resolution Woods can make this year is to heed his doctor’s advice regarding when he can return to practicing and eventually playing.

A healthy Tiger Woods may never win another major, but an unhealthy one certainly will not.

Rory McIlroy

MARWAN NAAMANI/Getty Images

Resolution: To not participate in recreational sports

Based on comments he made to BBC Sport's Iain Carter, Rory McIlroy has learned his lesson about the dangers of recreational sports.

The 26-year-old’s decision to avoid activities in which he could sustain injury is as much about perception as it is reality—McIlroy must devote himself fully to the pursuit of major glory while he’s in the prime of his career.

The young Ulsterman can kick around the soccer ball after he’s won 20 majors and 100 tournaments.

Jordan Spieth

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Resolution: To put in the hours in the gym

While Jordan Spieth could tighten up his swing, he’d benefit more from another five yards off the tee.

Spieth was 97th on tour last year in clubhead speed. More clubhead speed would allow him to play long-iron shots that fly higher and land softer as well.

And while there’s always caution in searching for more distance, today’s specialized golf-fitness professionals are entirely capable of helping a player increase clubhead speed with golf-specific exercises.

None of this is to say Spieth needs to bulk up like Woods; rather, as he’s indicated, per Golf News Net, clubhead speed and distance ought to be a focal point for the golfer in 2016, as it’s his greatest weakness compared to rivals Jason Day and Rory McIlroy.

Jason Day

Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Resolution: To stay hungry

Having made good on the major promise he displayed early in his career with a record-setting win at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, Jason Day has given no indication he intends to take his foot off the gas.

However, his world has most certainly changed; he’s more marketable, more exposed and he's busier, while he and wife Ellie welcomed their second child recently.

The most important thing Day can do from a golf standpoint in 2016 is resolve to do what he did in 2015: work hard on his swing, his mental game, his course management and his fitness. In short, work on all the aspects of champion golfer.

His resolution ought to be to keep that pedal pressed to the floor.

Rickie Fowler

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Resolution: To never forget the “overrated” poll

Remember what happened immediately leading up to and at The Players Championship? Golf.com conducted an anonymous survey of tour professionals that named Rickie Fowler (along with Ian Poulter) as the most overrated player in golf.

Fowler set out at Sawgrass to prove his contemporaries wrong and proceeded to win the “fifth major” in steely, determined fashion, firing crisp iron shots to tucked pins down the stretch, going six under across his final six holes. He then took down Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia in a sudden-death playoff.

Fowler will do well to remember the intensifying fire and laser focus he displayed at Sawgrass.

Bubba Watson

Uncredited/Associated Press

Resolution: To work on his on-course demeanor

Bubba Watson has a reputation for being rabbit-eared inside the ropes, often whining and worse. His outbursts and overall demeanor have been the subject of much scrutiny in recent years, especially now that his profile is raised as a multiple major winner.

And after he whines about water on his clubface or mud on his golf ball, or he berates caddie Ted Scott, Watson pledges he will do better in the future.

Let’s hope 2016 is the year the long-hitting left-hander keeps that promise.

Phil Mickelson

Lee Jin-man/Associated Press

Resolution: To make a final push

Phil Mickelson will turn 46 in June. You don’t have to be a golf statistician to know that golfers rarely win majors after 40. Julius Boros, the oldest major winner, was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship. Thus, Mickelson would be approaching “oldest ever” territory were he to a win a major in 2016.

Unfortunately, from both a results and statistics standpoint, Mickelson appears in decline.

While he’s hitting the ball with power, he was 161st in driving accuracy and 177th in greens in regulation on tour for 2014-2015. His putting declined from 2014 levels, and even his vaunted scrambling wasn’t up to snuff (Mickelson ranked 84th).

All this speaks to a man who isn’t giving the maximum effort on the practice range and putting green. And if he is maximizing his practice time, it isn’t working.

Either way, Mickelson needs to put the pieces together and put in the time for a final push. Father Time will not afford him many more opportunities to make the same resolution.

All stats via PGATour.com.

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