Friday, another week comes to a conclusion

Was a great, albeit long, week for The Dan Plan.  Made a lot of progress in my putting game, as well as in figuring out what the next few step in my training will be.  The week started off with super low energy on Monday and Tuesday, but that picked up a bit heading into Thursday.  Today, like every Friday so far, I was not able to go out for a full 6 hours, but instead found that I had putted, worked out, met coaches, did brain exercises, etc. enough for one week and wrapped it up after five hours out on the greens (it was also the first week without clouds and I found that being outside for 6-plus hours a day in the full sun can take some steam out of you!).

Speaking of sun, I posted on Facebook looking for a good combo of clothing and sunscreen to keep the sun from cancering my skin and people gave some good suggestions.  Just this week, I’ve managed to get quite the tan and that’s with SPF 30 applied at least twice a day, so I think it is going to be very important, perhaps life threateningly so, to have a good game plan around the sun.  I finally got a hat and my sister, a dermatologist, is mailing me some sunscreen to try out.  I think that it will also be good to find a few SPF long sleeve, yet breathable, shirts to wear through the summer.

Besides the sun, I also met a handful of people this week, including a few who had heard of the plan and said they thought it was a great story.  I can’t say enough how much I appreciate the support and how important it will be to have over the next few years!  Hopefully, I can gather a group of people during the coming months that would be willing to go out and putt around (or actually play one day!) on any given day.  I’ve found that putting by oneself for 6 hours a day leads to talking to oneself and I’d assume that leads to a general sense of craziness after too long of a time…   So, if anyone ever wants to play, I’m game!

CS thought it would be a good idea to start challenging people in little putting games and I agree.  It would at least simulate a bit of what I will feel in competition and couldn’t hurt as far as keeping it fresh.  I will post on the site soon where I will be at specific times and then if anyone wants, they can come out and play for fun or for lunch!

Earlier in the week CS and I talked with Dr. K Anders Ericsson and Dr. Len Hill (both experts in deliberate Practice and the acquisition of expert performance).  It was a good conversation about The Plan’s progress so far and how to push forward.  One idea that Dr. Ericsson had for when to know I am ready to move forward is to have a “graduation test.”  The test would comprise of hitting 25 balls from random spots, all different distances away, towards a hole and seeing how close I can come to the hole on average.  The way to “pass” the test would be to get, on average, all of my putts within a certain circle of the hole.  We’re not sure of what the distance should be or whether I should have obstacles or diversions during the test, but at least it’s a start for a goal as far as my putting is concerned.

My 3-footers have been getting closer on a daily basis too.  Except for Monday, I hit in the low 80% range all week.  I think if this trend keeps up, I should be ready for 5-footers in just another week or so.  Of course, I’d always refresh the 3-footers, but it would be nice to mix it up a bit!

That was the week, more or less.  It was a good one, but I’m exhausted now so am going to get a good meal in and have a relaxing weekend..