DAVID Howell admits his injury-ravaged season has made him even more determined to do well next year.

The 41-year-old endured a turbulent campaign after struggling with foot and wrist injuries over the course of 2016.

Despite the stop-start season, Howell says this year has reinvigorated his desire and he sees no reason why he can’t play his best golf in his 40s.

“Some things you can do nothing about, but it’s definitely a reminder to do all I can in order to remain fit enough to play with the youngsters and to play for many years to come,’’ the Broome Manor man told the Advertiser.

“I’ll take that forward. It’s been a lesson to make sure I do all I can to try and stay fit by crossing the Ts and dotting the Is.

“So now I need to get back in the gym to get fit. We go into a new year and I’m certainly aware that if I can stay fit enough, then I have many more good years ahead.

“I feel like I’m hitting the ball well and there is no reason why I can’t still be playing in 10 years time.

“That is the plan. I am keen but I’m 41 now and my body isn’t going to take the toll any easier than it used to.

“But also many players have proved you can play your best golf almost into your late 40s. I’m not someone who is losing their will - if anything, I am gaining it. The desire is absolutely still burning in me, this year has fuelled me.”

Howell’s first injury came at the beginning of the year when he was forced to pull out on the opening day of the Malaysia Maybank Championship with a foot problem.

The same injury then hampered his progress throughout the first half of the year, before he was able to then claim a timely top-30 finish at The Open at Royal Troon.

After that, he was then pegged backed further in the closing stages as a wrist injury meant he had to pull out of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland just nine holes into his opening round early last month.

“Earlier in the year, my world was quite depressing with the foot being poor and me not knowing what it was,” added the two-time Ryder Cup star.

“In some ways, you’re better off breaking your arm and knowing that you’ll be alright in three months than these things where you don’t know how it will pan out.

“The foot was very debilitating in the first half of the year. That wasn’t great and obviously the wrist after didn’t help.

“It certainly didn’t affect me in the second half of the year, so I was able to play, in terms of the foot, from The Open onwards.

“Then, just when I started to feel I was playing okay, this wrist injury came along and scuppered the last three or four weeks of the season.”

Howell is now looking forward to putting a tough year behind him and hopes for a much-improved 2017.

“In general, it’s been a year to get over and move on from. The learning experiences are that I’ve got to be fit,” he said.

“Ultimately, the year was a battle having come off the previous season, which was relatively good. I wasn’t getting the wins but I was getting plenty of top-10 finishes.

“I’ve still got the drive and the ambition, which is the most important thing. This year, if anything, has reinforced that. I still love golf despite this year and I don’t like languishing in any of the ranking lists.”