Heat Wave and Future Plans

There’s not exactly a heat wave in Oregon, but seems like the rest of the country is shocked by swollen temperatures.  Today in Portland it’s scheduled for about 85 degrees (fahrenheit, of course; although I hear that it feels about 85 celsius in Washington DC right about now) and that is surprisingly the hottest day of the year so far.  Last year we had hit 100 on a couple of occasions by July 24, but this one has been much milder.

Anywho, I’m not exactly here to chat about the weather no matter how much I would enjoy spending a Sunday morning over a cup of coffee doing just that.  What I am looking to talk with myself about (aka blog) is the quickly approaching winter.  It’s not for another five months, but that time can/will fly by, especially if no plans are made and I can’t afford to spend the entire rainy season in Oregon.

There are some great things about practicing through the winter here in Portland:  The courses are open almost 365 days due to lack of snow, you have the place to yourself because of the intense rains and …  well, now that I think of it those are the two reasons.

The downfall is the conditions of the courses are very unlike anything you would see on tour and so you are, in some ways, building bad habits and learning in sub-optimal conditions.  Through the winter, the greens are flooded about once a week and you would never putt on those in a competitive setting.  The ball gets plugged to the point of losing it, even sometimes when you hit a green.  And, you can’t really compress the ball on impact because the soil is so soggy.

This isn’t exactly the case of a distance runner going to Denver for altitude training.  If it was a case of “train hard so the competition is easy” I would be all for it, but I think it would be more advantageous to practice where you might eventually play and to get some new stimuli along the way.  With five months from now until January, it’s time to make some decisions about where to try and spend the winter months.  From what I hear, Arizona, Southern California, Florida, Texas, New Zealand and Australia would all be good choices.  Not sure if I could afford to rent a place in any of those, but figure if I can find a club to play/practice at everything else will fall into place.

The winter is just around the corner, so enjoy those hot summer days for now, but don’t forget to make plans before the future creeps up on you unexpectedly.