Heading to Hilton Head and Orlando

Over the past two days I participated in my first tournament of the season.  Granted, it was a 3-man 2-day scramble so it was not exactly a pressure event as you could go for everything and these things really just boil down to how the team putts, but it was still something different than practice or a practice round.

We hit the ball pretty well, but for some unknown reason the three of us collectively had an off weekend putting-wise which kept us far from the winner’s circle.

I’m not quite sure yet what to take from the event, although know that I need to tighten up my approach shots and keep working on 8-10 foot putts and spend time learning how to better read breaks.  Those things are always on the practice books and can forever continue to improve.

The weather is starting to change for the better here, too.  Today is the first day where there is more sunlight than darkness as the sun sets 12 hours and one minute after rising.  That transition is one of my favorites as it means Spring is here and the next 7 months are golden golfing (or anything outside) weather.

But, Portland can be hit or miss in early Spring and I have been planning on visiting my family in Hilton Head for some time.  March is a great time for golf down in South Carolina and I am flying  out tomorrow for a two-week stay on the island.  I’ll be staying with my parents and looking for any type of game or small tourney to play in while south.  It is always interesting to take a break from Bent grasses and practice on Bermuda for a while, too.

This coming weekend I am also driving to Orlando to attend/present at the ICHP conference.   ICHP is a small gathering of PhDs and other interesting researches/golfers who get together once a year in order to share ideas as well as golf for three days.  This year it is at Orlando’s Orange County National golf course which I hear is a great track.   I am excited to meet everyone and to tee it up there for my first ever 18 holes in Florida.

During and after the conference I will report back about any new ideas or thoughts that I hear.  There are some amazing minds attending this year and I know I will find some new inspiration over the weekend.  From now until then I will do my best to put together a presentation about The Dan Plan as I have been allotted a 30 minute speaking slot on Friday.  Shouldn’t be too tough to put something together, I have almost four years of material to cover…

Speaking of that, two events are drawing near.  The half way point and my four year anniversary.  They may even hit around the same week, which would be pretty cool.  Looking back I thought the entire 10,000 hours would take just 4 years, but at that time I had no clue what deliberate practice was nor could I foresee what a realistic and reasonable practice rate/routine would be once I was going on all cylinders.  Four years and 5,000 hours seems like a good pace to me.  And, who knows what the second half will bring.  I am very excited about it.  It seems like a new beginning and this time I know exactly where I am and where I need to be.

And, as always, if you are going to purchase anything at all on Amazon please go through the link on the right hand side of this website and help support the plan!