Newfound respect for Mr. Woods and co.

I’m not sure if anyone is interested in hearing about this, but it is definitely a part of my life and has a large affect on my training, so I think it’s worthy of a blog.  That, and I’d like to write about it as therapy..

My girlfriend and I are having some rocky times lately.  It is not the first time that this has happened, but this time feels a lot more “real” than in the past and so has been affecting me on a larger scale.  I think that it’s the main reason that I have had a hard time adjusting to training in Florida and it’s obvious that it affects my training because it’s not from exhaustion that I have been walking away, rather I’m ending my days when my focus turns from golfing to relationships.

What I’m learning from this experience is that it takes an amazingly focussed mind to play golf even when everything else in your life is coming up peaches, when you add in emotional turmoil you’re talking crazy amounts of focus.  The difficulty in remaining focussed grows exponentially.  I can’t even imagine what it is like to perform at the PGA level while going through a divorce, or after your father passes away, when a wife is diagnosed with breast cancer, or any number of other tragic events that can happen in life.   At times, people have taken personal time away to deal with the personal aspects of their lives, but to remain at the level of play that is necessary to be competitive, you have to continue working in order to hone your game, so you know they were out there practicing during that time.

I know what I’m going through is a drop in the bucket compared to suffering through real tragedy, but it still manages to creep into my practice and to get to where I want to go I need to learn how to compartmentalize my emotions.  I don’t want to learn to be a sociopath or anything like that, but rather to know how to differentiate my “work” life and my “personal” life.  At this point, I’m not very good at that, but there is plenty of time to work on it.

There is so much more than golf to learn here..

I feel much better.  I guess I didn’t need to ramble or rant too much, but just to get out a few paragraphs about what I’m going through.  It helps me realize what I need to do, which is to learn how to deal with external pressures while continuing to grow towards my goal of being a pro golfer, no sweat.

In other news, a reporter from the St Petersburg Times, Michael Kruse, met up with me out at the Treasure Island Golf Center.  It was fun to have a stranger (and someone potentially writing about the experience) following me on the course.  I thought I would be a bit stressed in that situation, but I honestly felt as calm as if I was out there alone.  It probably helped that he has a cool demeanor that lets a person relax.  I did, however, not play my best, but I still hold the Florida grasses at fault.  After ten days, I’m getting a little more accustomed to playing on these grasses, but think it will take a little while longer to fully understand how to hit a ball from these types of lies.  I’ll probably “get it” by the time I fly back to Portland and then will have to relearn Oregonian grass..  But, that’s a subject of an entirely different blog: adjusting to whatever your playing conditions are that day..