Fare thee well, sunshine.

It’s funny how bad habits can slowly creep their way into your swing.  I hadn’t seen Christopher Smith for a while until going out to Pumpkin Ridge for a lesson today and after just a couple swings he noticed that I was using my left index finger to “stabilize” the putter, something he said he had never seen a good putter do, but rather it’s a crutch for amateurs.  Somehow I had started doing that over the past couple weeks and I think it is one of the main contributors to my slacking performance as of late.

This is why having a good professional overlooking your progress is so crucial.  I am way to “involved” to notice bad habits finding their way into my game, I need to have some trained eyes peering in from time to time.

It’s also important for morale.  I was getting a little beat up by my plateauing progress (or at least what I thought was the state of my progress) lately and also was feeling a bit saturated by the amount of putting that I have been doing over the past 6-plus months.  I talked with Christopher about it over a cup of coffee and he understood the need to avoid potential burn-out.  The two of us discussed what steps to take next and it looks like I will be spending more time playing nine and 18-hole “games” and less time working on three and five-footers.  I can’t tell you how much of a relief this is.  It’s not that I was getting to a quitting point, or anywhere near it for that matter, but my frustration level was impeding the amount of training I could get in in a session.

So, change it up and I’m ready to go again!  Tomorrow I have a new set of goals, a new format for my training and a new attitude.  It’s going to be a good day.