2,000. really?

One year, 5 months and four days = 2,000 hours (strange math, but it adds up) of deliberate practice.  2,000 hours spent literally over a ball working on something in my swing/putt and learning how to play golf.  2,000 hours of aha moments, setbacks, mini-triumphs and determination to get better.  2,000 hours of improvement.

You know what?  I’ve been trying to write a blog about hitting this milestone for the past hour, but in all honesty it’s just not a big deal to me.  I didn’t realize that I was at 2,000 hours until this evening when I was updating the stopwatch, which is kind of funny considering how I had a blog ready for two weeks and was counting down for almost a month when I crossed over the 1,000 mark.  It’s not that it means anything less or that I’m not as focussed, it’s just that I’ve been so into my training lately that these secondary aspects have lost a bit of luster.

It does have meaning, though.  Passing the 20 percent mark means that there is 80 percent remaining.  It means that for how far I have come, I have four times as many hours still to go to prove the point that it is possible to go all the way simply with determination and hard work; to prove that talent is a word we’ve created to sum up those individuals who’s persistent grinding has taken them above and beyond in their field of expertise; to make an attempt at the statement: “we are all created equal.”

Eighty percent remaining also provides a certain level of comfort.  I can still tell myself that I am in the infancy of my golfing career.  When I flub a bad shot, I can tell myself that there is a long road to go and not to stress out because I’ve only practiced for x,xxx hours.  But as this thing called time slips by, I will soon be entering the awkward teen phase of my golfing life.  I’ll be in that stage where I still make mistakes despite knowing good and well what I should/could be doing.  This could, perhaps, be a difficult stage to pass, but there is no point in stressing the hypotheticals and we will cross all hurdles when they present themselves.

For now, I can appreciate where the second 1,000 hours has taken me.  When I began this chiliad, I had just stepped onto the course for the first time and was limited to playing holes from about 40 yards out with my longest club being a PW.  Each hole was a par 3 and my average score for 9 was around 35.  Today, I have 7 clubs in my bag (putter, 56, 52, PW, 8-iron, 6-iron and 3-hybrid) and I shot an 83 from the white tees.  That’s a pretty huge leap.  I know you make the biggest steps at first and take huge chunks off of your ultimate goal at the onset of a learning a new skill, but still, there is so much you can do with 1,000 hours of focussed learning and I look forward to the 3,000 mark with great anticipation.

Perhaps, then, it could be fun to make some predictions about my game come hour 3,000.  If anyone has any ideas about where I’ll be 1,000 hours from now please let me know, I’m all ears.  Personally, I’ll be a bit bold and say that I will be under a 3 handicap and playing with all 14 clubs.  When the handicap system refreshes this Wednesday I will have my first official handicap and no matter what that is I feel confident I can get that down to below a three over the next 8 months.

Thank you all for tuning in and for all of the support.  All of the comments and emails have helped countless times over the past 2,000 hours and will be a continued support system for the 8,000 to come.

Cheers to the next 1,000 hours!