A hard habit to break.
Any bad habit is hard to break and easy to learn. At least it seems that way, in golf as in life. There are countless examples, I’m sure, but the one that I realized lately involves the closing of the eyes. The grounds out there are far from summer firm and with the massive amount of moisture comes a good bit of mud and sand. I hit what some would say is an absurd amount of practice shots, regardless of the weather. Lately, when I hit my pitching wedge and 56 degree it kicks up a glop of muck, often straight into my face. Not sure if this is supposed to happen, but the ball is flying straight so things could be worse.
However, I realized yesterday that my instincts were kicking in and I was starting to close my eyes at impact. The human body is pretty adaptive, so mine just learned that it was better to preemptively close the eyes rather than get bits of mud in them.
This is, by definition, a bad habit. I can’t train myself to swing with my eyes closed, you just don’t see that in professionals and for a good reason. Whether you are looking at the ball at impact or watching the trajectory, closed eyes can’t help.
Now, not only do I have plenty of swing thoughts to work on (one at a time, I try to keep it simple) but I must consciously make sure I’m not slipping into a bad habit. There are PLENTY of bad habits in golf, so I might as well avoid an easy one. 
Here is an image that sums up the weather, at least for me:
It’s a view from the tee box of the 15th hole of the Great Blue course, looking back at the 14th green. A great spot to stop and do some sightseeing, even in the winter. As you can see, it’s not too bad out there by any means. Wide open, in fact, there are rarely golfers out this time of year, Portlanders’ just need some more rain gear.
This next shot was a happy moment for me. I haven’t gotten a pitch-in hole in one yet, but this shot was from 100 yards out and made my day:
Notice the muddy shoes… If you are going out this time of year, these Air Bandons are the right choice!