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Last year, to make myself feel better about a lack of progress in my handicap, I determined one’s golf season shouldn’t be judged by a set of numbers. Instead, I devised a year-end golf assessment based on a series of questions …that resulted in another set of numbers.

But this is still different. As opposed to your handicap index, which is based on your scores, the Golf Competence Achievement & Reward Test (aka the Golf CART) takes a holistic view of your golf life over the last 12 months. It wants to know about the relative state of your game, yes, but also how you fared in different contexts, and how much you derived from the experience along the way.

The Golf CART might seem like a joke because it won’t be much use when determining strokes on the first tee. But it is a worthwhile way of zooming out on the year as a whole and focusing beyond the three double bogeys made in your last round.