Heading Home

It’s been unreal, Georgia.  I cannot believe how mild and amazing this winter has been.  As far as I can remember there was one frost delay the entire time I was here and my stint began the first official day of winter back on December 21.  That’s pretty impressive.  Thank you, Georgia, for being so kind.

Also, thank you to Cartersville Country Club for putting me up for the winter stay.  I learned an incredible amount over the past three months and everyone has been so wonderful here along the way.

When I arrived in Georgia, my first full set of clubs was awaiting me.  Before that, I had just barely began to hit a driver and only had 8 clubs in my bag.  Since that day, I have gone from hardly knowing what it meant to play a full round, to having the confidence to go out and play a round anywhere and with anyone.  I’ve gone from shooting my best rounds in the mid-80s and plenty of rounds in the 90s to shooting consistently in the low 80s without a round above the 90 mark in as long as I can remember.  I’ve shot my career record round of 80 from the blue tees and a couple of 81s from the tips.  In my personal goal sheet I keep on the computer I had written that I wanted to score at least two rounds in the 70s before heading back to Portland, but that was an outcome goal and will happen when it happens.  In the meantime, I hit my performance goals of stretching my game and learning something new every day.  This is all we can control.  The outcome will happen when the time is right and the work has been put in.  I’m not at all disappointed with the work that I have put in and am ready to head back and start the next chapter in The Dan Plan.  This chapter could be called:  Entering the Tournaments.

Also, the road trip coincides with a large milestone in the project.  Two years ago I quit my job and began the project.  The official first lesson and start of The Dan Plan was April 15, 2010 and when I began I told myself that if I had not found any source of sponsorship income by the end of the second year that I would seriously evaluate what I was doing and honestly assess if it made sense to continue down the path that I had set out upon.  I haven’t found any sponsor to help carry the financial burden of the project and I am behind where I thought I would be as far as my performance is to date (Although I am not far off from where I wanted to be by the end of year two.  I had written down that by this point I wanted to be a mid-single digit handicap and I think that I am very close to seeing this level).  But, this is such a part of my identity and I love what I do to the point where I would not reconsider the project whatsoever at this point.

I will have about 5 days to think about things as I drive across this country.  What will occupy my mind is not whether or not I should continue, but how to push forward with more energy than ever.  Reaching 10,000 hours is not in question any longer, and I don’t think it has been in question since about month 6, what is in question is the logistics of the near future.  Where to train; how to train; how to improve skill acquisition; where to emphasize time spent; and in which ways can I improve my learning absorption and retention.  My thoughts will revolve around how to improve my daily routines.

I don’t have a route yet, just plan on heading west.  If I hit the Pacific I will take a right.  Perhaps there will be a course or two along the way to break the monotony of coast-to-coast interstate driving, we shall see.

Lots to think about and plenty to read along the way.  For now, off to the course for one last practice session then it might be time to actually pack…