Breaking the routine
It’s been a good week for golf. My energy level is coming back and starting to get close to where it was back in Florida as the sun starts to poke her head out of the cloudy sky. We’ve had two days of sun up here in Portland and I’ll take them. Lord knows that we might go grey again for the next couple months..
Last week I went out and had a good lesson with Christopher. The lesson was on the course and we talked a little about course management and a lot about aim, something that countless amateur golfers do poorly, me definitely included. I had been lining up for my 50+ yard shots as if I was going to hit the ball 10 yards to the left of the flag and then wondering why I was hitting the ball 10 yards to the left (go figure). Strange how simple some solutions are. That said, it might have taken me a month to realize that my aim was off, and that’s why a good coach is crucial, they can save you hundreds of hours of struggling.
We opened my stance and things seem to be flying straight now (at least when I hit the ball solidly). But, there is a whole new bag of worms with the new stance. I had been overcorrecting for how closed I was standing, so now I have to learn how to NOT overcorrect and hit straight through. There’s always something. 
You are either learning or unlearning in the world of golf.
Here is an image from my day out with CS, as you can see we had the place to ourselves:
Despite my gripes about the weather, it’s actually a great time to be out and about on the golf courses in Portland. There’s a little bit of rain, to say the least, but if you have a rain suit you stay dry enough and there is hardly anybody out, so you can go as fast or slow as you would like. A great time of year to really focus on learning.
Two days ago, I went out and played 18 holes with a good golfer named Scott. I had practiced with him and his son Ben often last summer but hadn’t seen them for a while. As the weather changes people start to crawl out of the woodwork, though, and he appeared on the putting green yesterday as if he had Rip Van Winkled the winter away. On the course, he played very well, I think he shot about 4 under for the 18. It was a good experience to go out with him and see how he managed the course and what he thought about during the round. I don’t think I learned anything too specific, outside of how relaxed he was regardless of what type of shot he hit, whether it was in the sand or two feet from the hole, he just seemed to let it roll off his shoulders. He also had a very specific pre-shot routine. I am just building my own and am slowly seeing how important it is to have. A good pre-shot routine keeps you focussed and grounded during a round.
I played okay as well, shot about 6 over from 100 yards for 18. Had a couple three-putts, two sand saves and perhaps three miss-hits, but outside of that I plugged along and made the shots that I needed to. Here’s a pic of Scott on the 10th fairway of the Greenback course:
And a view from the lake on the 14th hole of the same course:
Yesterday, I went down to Lake Oswego to see Physical Therapist Shawn Dailey for a checkup. I hadn’t made it down to see him since before Florida, so it was great to catch up. He’s a wonderful PT and I strongly recommend him for anything from injuries to performance enhancement. I am lucky to have such a great PT. He went over some of my more tender joints, (ie feet, ankles, knees, lower back) to see if anything was swollen or on its way to getting injured, but said that I look solid enough to keep the train rolling.
We also shot some high speed video of my full swing so that he could analyze it to see if there was anything that might cause injury down the road. He didn’t go into the swing mechanics themselves because, as he pointed out, that is Christopher’s job, but he did note that I was doing amazingly well for the limited time I have practiced full swings. He also said that there was nothing that would directly cause an injury, but that my lower back and shoulders would probably be getting very sore and that I should break up my time on the driving range into segments, doing a lot of putting and chipping in between. Makes sense to me. Also, I should start icing my knee, prevention is the key to success when you have five years of intense practice ahead of you.
I think it’s time to go climb the corporate ladder and get out to that practice green. Hope you all are having a great week!