Sadly, the first WD from a tourney

There have been a couple of times over the past few years where I started a tournament round so poorly that I wanted to walk off and withdraw from the competition. But, I knew that would set an awful president, so no matter how bad a round started I have always stuck it out.

The last time I thought about skipping an event was the Iceberg Open at Rose City this April, but that wasn’t from bad play, rather it was because my back felt tweaked. It was a two-man best ball so I didn’t want to let my partner, or myself, down and decided to play through the lower back pain. It wasn’t the prettiest site and I had to make some huge changes in my swing to not have sharp pains, but made it through the 36-hole event and had a lot of fun despite the personal conditions.

But, that came with a price and the next day I knew that I should have probably skipped the second round, or at the very least the back 9. It has been about six weeks since than and I have not been able to make a full swing, and for the first four weeks wasn’t even able to carry a bag or make a chip without pain. The good news is the time away has been fruitful in that I am excited about getting back out there and have actually been dreaming about playing golf lately. Also, I am starting to feel much better and think that I can return to practice relatively soon.

Today was supposed to be the first day of my favorite Portland area tournament. It is a thee day event called the Royal Oaks Invitational Tournament (ROIT) and as the name suggests entries are by invitation only, which leads to a lot of the best golfers from the area participating. You have to write a letter to the board listing your “golf resume” and based on that you are either let in or put on the waiting list for the years to come. Last year was my first time playing in the event and it was a blast. That is easily one of my favorite courses in the area and when they get the greens rolling fast it is a tough test.

I have been looking forward to this weekend for months and had many goals for the three days. So, I had been laying low in order to maximize the healing process and six weeks after making my last full swing I finally went out and slowly approached hitting a ball. I started with little chips and some putts then went out to 1/4 swings and worked up to 1/2 and then 3/4 swings. I was feeling decent and my body was plenty warmed up, so I made a couple of full swings. Immediately I could feel the same twinge of sharp pain in the lower right side of my back and shut it down for the day. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been leading up to the Iceberg, but it was the same spot.

I woke up this morning and could feel it when getting out of bed and doing random regular morning things like brushing teeth and putting on shoes. I felt like I had reverted two weeks from just two full swings. I got ready and my tee time wasn’t until 12:30 so I decided to go out to the back yard and make a few easy swings with an 8-iron and no ball. Again a little pain, but I still wanted to play in the event. I had to make a tough decision.

Around 11:15 this morning I realized that it was much more important to fully recover than to try and play as I knew that I would most likely have to WD on the first few holes even if I did give it a shot and with the adrenalin of the event I would probably end up overdoing the first few swings and reverting back to the beginning of my recovery process. So, regretfully, I called in and withdrew from the event.

It was the most prudent decision, albeit one I did not want to have to make. Still, give it some more time and fully heal before going out and doing more harm than good. The good news is I felt fine chipping and putting so this week I can at least get back out and get the short game back in order. Kind of like starting back over from the beginning, I will start close to the hole and work my way back, doing just what the body tells me is okay to do.

Over and out. Hopefully next post will concern actual golf endeavors and not just injury updates. I suppose it’s all part of the same story, though.

11 Responses to "Sadly, the first WD from a tourney"

Stefan says:

June 9, 2015 at 3:32 am

Hi Dan,

it’s fine to hear that you are recovering. But I think you should strongly consider thinking about a more back-friendly golf swing as I mentioned in a post before to avoid these injuries in the future.

And maybe now is the right time to take a step back mentally and overthink what you would like to do with the remaining 4’000 hours. Every top player in any sports has something that separates him from the runner-up: eagerness. Tiger Woods and Roger Federer have been doing literally everything possible to get to the top.

Following your posts from the beginning on I don’t have the impression that I can see the same eagerness within you. It seems a bit more to me that you are taking things seriously, but just as they come. I think your plan could have gone a bit more straight forward if your only thought from dusk till dawn would be to make it onto the tour. There are slight signs, for example, that you have played irons with a wrong lie for several years that add to that impression and so maybe it lacks a bit of planfullness and you take two steps forth and then one back and I think you didn’t yet really find your way. I would even say if after the 10’000 hours you didn’t make it on the tour that would not be a prove for being impossible to achieve that for an average talented person – provided this person offrered this eagerness.

So maybe you could take a moment now and reconsider what your ultimate goal shall be – getting a real good scratch golfer what you definitely will be – or starting to offer really deliberate practice and getting things straight to make it onto the tour.

Don’t take me wrong – there is nothing wrong with each of these attitudes. But I have the feeling that until now you did not really make a commitment to one of them.

I wish you good health and success whatever you decide.

Best regards
Stefan
normand says:

June 9, 2015 at 7:16 am

hi Dan,

I just hope that what I am prepare to say is going to wake up dan. It’s the last time that I try to wake im up. I am not trying to make im change is mind, I all ready except is decision not to want my help. Like mister Stefan say above I don’t see no eagerness at all. Because I know what it take to go to that level, I can say that dan is going to the wrong direction. What I try to give im was not normand’s way, that was a little bit of every one who before my accident try to help me during my progression. I was communicate with dan by private email because I did not want poeple to think that I was showing off. I never in my life push a side some one who try to help me. Mister Stephen is taking about lie of the club not acceptable, I can add to this that a drive 30 – 40 yards to the left or to the right or a round 80 or over for a player of this caliber is not acceptable. When I try to tell im the technical mistake in is swing, is answer was that my email was very very technical hard to understand, no question ask. Before I show you the last email I send to Dan, I just want to remind Dan that I am doing that just to try to wake you up. I am one of is supporter, I want Dan to start to think, practice and play like a pro. The email was not the final
version, I am sorry for my bad english.

Hi Dan,

In this new presentation, I will talk about what and how to practice, and give you explanation of why it’s important and some drills to do. I will start from the green going back until the tee off.

From now on when you’re on a practice putting green inside 12 feet your going to aim to a nickel, when you’re further then 20 feet, your going the aim to a tee stick on the practice green. Never to a hole on the green.

I am sending you just the half of the second presentation because it’s all ready done and I did not know if you where just polite with me or very interested. I prefer that you tell me that you don’t want my help, I won’t be mad at all, it’s the opposite, at least I won’t pass hours in front of the computer screen for nothing. I really like to help you, I see in you a little bit of me with all those persons against you. It’s like taking revenge about all the thing that arrive to my in my past, and it’s good for my personal esteem. For me it’s going to be a other golfer I guide or help to achieve is goal. Your goal is bigger then all the golfer I teach but I help dozen of dozen of dozen of golfer with the goal was to be scratch player and I never fail one time. So if you want me to guide you and to continue to help you let me know, if you don’t send me a e-mail to tell me that your interested to continued those presentations, I will tell you good luck and I will not distract you any more.

SET UP

The way I want you to make your set up. You have two box, first one is the CONCEIVE BOX, the second one is the PERFORM BOX. When you start your set up you are going into your conceive box and decide the shot you want to execute, the distance you want to carry, total distance, the wind etc. When your ready to play you take a spot on the ground about 1 1-2 foot in front of the ball on the imaginary target line, then you enter your perform box, place the club face at 90 degrees with the spot on the ground, place your feet parallel with the imaginary target line, look at the target for the last time to be sure that your body is perfect. Take the club head of the ground take a big respiration count to 2 and swing. When your in the perform box don’t think about nothing, place your club head, feet, pelvis, shoulder and swing. I want you to do this with every club, from your putter up to the driver.

The technic I want you to do is, put 75% pressure in your right hands on the putter shaft and 25% in the left hand. The feeling you should have or try to find is like guide the ball with the top of the right hand to the target and at the end push with your palm left hand on the same target line.

DRILL

This drill is the most important of all. It’s with this drill that you’re going to improve and find your feelings and your sensations. You’re going to develop and shape your swing, improve your muscular memory. The drill name is ‘’THE RUBBER BAND STRETCH DRILL’’. First you have to attach an alignment stick with tape on the bottom part of your driver handle. The alignment stick should exceed the shaft about 2 feet from the end of the club.

First PART OF THE RUBBER BAND STRETCH DRILL

Take your normal address position, with a normal grip, you should feel the alignment stick on the side of your rib cage, belly button high. Do your half back swing without moving lower body part, your harms or wrists, the alignment stick should always touch your body. At the half of the back swing the alignment stick should be parallel to the ground and on your belly button, belly button high. The tempo of the swing should be slow. If you’re doing the drill correctly the face of the club should be pointing the ground at about 10 degree, if the toe of the club is pointing the sky it’s because your manipulating the club face with your hands or arms. Most of the time, it’s because the left harm is bending a little bit. If it is your hands that are bending, the alignment stick will not touch your body all the time during the half swing.

You do this half back swing, back and fort for at least 15 to 20 times, you have to focus on the alignment stick, and it should never live your body. Another way to know if your doing it right is your going to have a very hard time to speak when you arrive at the half of the back swing. It is normal because your dorsal muscle and abdominal muscle or stretching.

SECOND PART OF THE RUBBER BAND STRETCH DRILL

From the address position you do your back swing like the first part but you carry on until the 10 o’clock position. You should do this exercise for about 15 time going back and fort. The tempo of the swing should be slow. Be careful to do the first part like before, In the second part your pelvis as to turn 25 degree back and your wrists as to bend. Your shaft as to be 90 degree with your right forearm. From the half of the back swing to the 10 o’clock position the stick is going from your body to pointing the ground ‘’90 degree’’. During that phase the stick point an imaginary target line on the ground.

LAST PART OF THE RUBBER BAND STRETCH DRILL

From the address position you do your back swing like the first part and the second part and continued until your back swing is finish. The last 2 inches of the back swing you move your right knee above your right ankle, be careful not to push your head forward, your head as to stay behind the ball, you’re just allow to move your head down. If your head move forward it’s dangerous you can develop a duck hook or stock behind swing and can easily hit the ball thin very often. During those last 2 inches you are going to make your tempo slowly stretching all your muscle. After you go down very slowly and repeat for about 15 times.

You must do this drill about 2 to 3 times a day for maybe 1 month or two. After you can do this drill 2 to 3 times a week.

DRILL

This drill is going to help you to own your real sensations,’’ THE WOODCUTTER’’ drill.

I will write this drill only if I continue to help you because it’s waste of time if you don’t want me help.

FIRST PART OF THE WOODCUTTER DRILL.

The start position is, the last 2 inches of the back swing when you do the two last move together. I’m taking about the knee and the 2 last inches of the club shaft back swing. You do the 2 last inches and the move of the knee together and repeated back and fort for at least 15 times. You should feel a lot of burn because if you do this exercise properly, you’re stretching your x factor. The x factor is the difference between the angle of the shoulder and pelvis.

After 15 times you add the next synchronized move, the right hip bumping in to the wall and the left elbow touching the rib. Then you do the move from the 2 last inches to the rib, back and fort for at least a other 15 times.

THE FIRST SET UP

You are going to put a nickel on the ground ’’practice green’’ with 5 tees stick in the ground at 4 feet around the nickel. Before you hit one putt you MUST draw a line on your ball so you can place that line on the imaginary trajectory of the ball.

The reason for putting 4 feet from the nickel is further, when your going to practice a chip or a sand trap shot your gold is going to be to stop the ball inside 4 feet from the hole ’’tee or nickel’’. That’s going to give you a target box of 8 feet x 8 feet. The gold for your putts from 4 feet is to touch the nickel and stop the ball inside 18 inches.

The reason for the nickel it’s because it’s the simple object that you can ear when you touch it and still know how much your distance past the target. The 18 inches is because if your ball stops inside 18 inches and touch the hole, the ball going to drop 100% of the time, it’s laws of physic.

The gold to do from 4 feet is to touch the nickel and stop the ball inside 18 inches past the nickel 25 times in a row. You have to place the line on the ball on the imaginary target line on every putt and never putt from the same place twice in a row. You have 40 minutes to achieve 25 in a row. If you don’t achieve your gold you stop and do the next set up. If you succeed your 25 times you carry on until you mist one. Just to give you an idea, the best that I did in my life is 104 times in a row.

THE SECOND SET UP

The second set up is pretty much the same as the first one but from 8 feet. Your gold is to touch the nickel 20 times in a row and stop your ball inside 18 inches. You have to place the line on the ball on every putt and never putt from the same place twice in a row. You have 40 minutes to achieve 20 times in a row. If you don’t achieve your gold you stop and do the next set up. If you succeed your 20 times you carry on until you mist one. Just to give you an idea, the best that I did in my life is 49 times in a row.

The reason for putting from 8 feet from the nickel is further, when your going to practice a approach shot ’’ 30 to 70 yards’’ the gold is going to be inside 8 feet from the hole. That’s going to give you a target box of 16 feet by 16 feet.

THE THIRD SET UP

The third set up is pretty much the same as the first and second set up but from 12 feet. Again your gold is to touch the nickel 15 times in a row and stop your ball inside 18 inches. You have to place the line on the ball on every putt and never putt from the same place twice. You have 40 minutes to achieve 15 times in a row. If you don’t achieve your gold you stop and do the next set up. If you succeed your 15 times you carry on until you mist one. Just to give you an idea, the best that I did in my life is 31 times in a row.

The reason for putting from 12 feet from the nickel is further, when your going to practice an approach shot ’’ 80 to 120 yards’’ the gold is going to be inside 12 feet from the hole. That going to gives you a target box of 24 feet by 24 feet.

THE FOURTH SET UP

The fourth set up you have to stick a tee stick on the practice green at 20 feet, 30 feet, 40 feet, 50 feet, 60 feet from the nickel ‘’you can put a tee if you don’t see the nickel from that far. The gold for that set up is to hit 20 times in a row ‘’4 time from each position’’ but never 2 times in a row from the same place, inside 2 feet from the target but not short of the target. That’s giving you a target box of 2 feet by 4 feet. You have 40 minutes to achieve your gold. . If you don’t achieve your gold you stop and do the next set up. If you succeed your 20 times you carry on until you mist one. Just to give you an idea, the best that I did in my life is 57 times in a row.

The reason for putting from 20 feet to the nickel is further, when your going to practice a approach shot ’’ 130 to 170 yards’’ the gold is going to be inside 20 to 30 feet from the hole.

Drill for the putter

I have 3 drills to do for your putter

FIRST Drill

The first one you need one alignment stick and a piece of wood 2’’x 4’’ by 24’’ long, you put the 2×4 parallel to the target line 1-8 inches from the toe of the putter and put the alignment stick 1-8 inches from the heel of the putter and parallel to the target line and the 2×4. . If the blade of your putter is 4 inches long from toe to heel, You are suppose to have for this example 4 1-4 inches between the 2×4 and the alignment stick. You MUST place the line on the ball every time on the imaginary target line and putt only with your right hand. You can’t touch the 2×4 or the stick, do this exercise from 4 feet and try to touch the nickel. Do this drill for at least 15- 20 minutes.

SECOND Drill

The second one you need a 6 inches of plastic water pipe ‘’abs’’, you draw a line at 3 inches ‘’ in the middle of the pipe’’. You put the line of the pipe with the line of the putter ‘’sweat spot’’. Trying to push the pipe straight to the target, if you mist the pipe will turn one way or the other, meaning that the toe or the heel touch first. Do this drill not more then 5 minutes.

THIRD Drill

I will write this drill only if I continue to help you because it’s waste of time if you don’t want me help.

CHIPPING
THE FIFTH SET UP

The fifth set up is the chipping. Your goal is to hit your chips inside 4 feet. It’s giving you a box of 8 feet by 8 feet. The shot I want you to practice is a chip shot with the heel up of the ground and the face open, usually it’s play with a sand wedge. It’s going to give you another arrow in your arsenal. You should practice for around 15 minutes.

THE SIXTH SET UP

The sixth set up is sand trap. The goal is to hit inside 4 feet from the hole (A box of 8 X 8 feet). In the sand trap, you practice to hit 1 low shot and 1 high shot, etc. I want you to practice also the heel up shot with open face like the chip shot. You should practice for 30 minutes at least. You should have a percentage of around 6 to 7 out of 10.

Drill

Draw a box in the sand of 12 x 12 inches and put the ball dead center, when you hit in to the sand, the divot in the sand is suppose to be from one side of the box to the other side of the box and 1-2 inches deep. You can do this with only your right hand if you want.

PITCH SHOT
THE SEVENTH SET UP

For me the pitch shot is from 30 to 70 yards. The difficulty of this practice is that you have to hit two different clubs from each station set up. You have 5 stations set up, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 yards. The practice should be, example: 30 yards, 1 ball with your lob wedge, 1 ball with your sand wedge, 1 ball with your lob wedge, 1 ball with your sand wedge. The goal for this exercise is to hit inside 12 feet from the hole = 4 swing x 5 set up = 20 balls inside 12 feet. If this exercise become too easy just try to hit 3 differences club from each station set up. You should practice for 45 minutes. If your average is very bad, I suggest you practice 6 minutes. I suggest that you hit a third club just to practice your 9 o’clock and your 10 o’clock swing

Drill

You practice to hit the ball with only your right hand. You swing less as possible with your body, the goal is to practice the feeling of the rotation of the right hand before impact and the feeling of the top of the right hand facing the target at impact. That can also help you with the release of the club after impact. Be careful, at impact your right hand as to be rotate ’’top of the right hand facing target’’ and at the middle of the right thigh.

APPROACH SHOT
THE EIGHTH SET UP

The approach shot is from 80 to 120 yards. The goal for this set up is, the ball as to stop inside 20 feet. You have to hit two different clubs from each station set up. You have 5 stations set up, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 yards. Like the pitch shot you have 5 set up =20 balls inside 20 feet. Put a special attention on those carry distance, in a reel game you can save up to 3-4 shots. I suggest that you try to play does shot with only the 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11o’clock swing. You should practice for 60 minutes.

Drill

I call this drill the PUMP PUMP RELEASE. Example: you swing back to 11 o’clock swing, you hold your lag, you do a down swing and when your hands arrive at your left thigh you stop then you go back to 11o’clock position, you are still holding your lag, then you do a second down swing and you stop again when your hands arrive to your left thigh, you go back again to the 11 o’clock swing, then you do a third down swing and finally you release the club head. When you do this drill it’s to help you to visualize your in to out swing to be sure that your not swinging out to in, because with this distance, usually, a bad shot would be short and left.

APPROACH SHOT WITH MIDDLE IRON

THE NEINTH SET UP

The approach shot is from 130 to 170 yards. For the next month from 130 yards and up, you can absolutely not hit a straight shot. You are going to play only baby draw or baby fade, just because your not playing straight shot does not mean that your not swinging like normal. You just have to aim your body a little bit to the right or left and open or close the face club 1 or 2 degree. That practice will show you how little you need to open or close the face to make a draw or control fade.

Drill

You have to practice your 8-9-10-11 o’clock swing, that can help you when your in trouble, under a tree or with a lot of wind.

APPROACH SHOT WITH LONG IRON
I will write this presentation only if I continue to help you because it’s waste of time if you don’t want my help.

Please don’t take me wrong

normand
Charlie says:

June 11, 2015 at 8:19 pm

Dan,

I hope you have the patience to rest, and I hope that enough rest and some rehab will ease you back to health. You’ll be very rusty, of course, but you won’t unlearn what you’ve learned. Once you’re healthy, I trust you’ll ignore all the theorists who visit this site. Follow your instincts. For the last 4000 hours, I think you’re better off minimizing the tweaks to your swing. What counts is having a repeatable swing, even if it looks like Jim Furyk’s.

Good luck. 4000 hours is a lot of time.
Kieran parry says:

June 12, 2015 at 9:51 am

Hello normand if you read this comment could you please email me. I have started playing golf From scratch for 9 months and have got my hc down to 9 and want it lower and it sounds like you know what your talking about. Email me if you would be interested to help me out. Kieranparry@hotmail.com
Gary Bennett says:

June 13, 2015 at 8:37 am

Like many golfers, the traditional 2 plane swing is hurting your back. If the problem continues, you may want to explore the one plane (Moe Normand) swing.

With as much time and effort as you have invested, you shouldn’t make such a decision without adequate research. Fortunately, there is a wealth of info. on Utube. I also recommend The Plane Truth For Golfers by Jim Hardy, available in print and ebook. Jim compares the one and the two plane swings in great detail with the goal of helping you decide which is best for you.

I have switched with very little difficulty. My back is much better and my consistency with irons and driver is greatly improved.

Hope your back improves quickly!
James says:

June 13, 2015 at 8:42 am

I support you Dan, but I agree this may be a perfect time to reasses what your plan is. Ifi could offer any advice it would be to contact Monte Schienbloom (google him). He is a fantastic golf coach and does online lessons. He also played the mini tours and nobody was able to help him with his swing. His advice on how to approach your remaining hours would be invaluable. I can’t imagine anyone else who would be better. Worth an email to him at the very least. Guys the best. Good luck and try and keep positive in this storm!
Bill patterson says:

June 13, 2015 at 9:35 am

Dan whether they love your endeavor or hate your endeavor one must admit they are taking time to respond to you.
I think your struggles with the 1000 hours makes the game more enjoyable for those of us “other” poor struggling golfers. We all wonder” why aren’t I on tv!??”
Joseph says:

June 14, 2015 at 11:00 pm

Dan,
I’ve been there! It’s tough. I’ve been following you for a few years I think and while I think your goal is unrealistic, I’ve been really impressed with you. Becoming a plus or scratch golfer is excellent in 10k hours and I imagine you’ll get there if injury doesn’t completely derail you. Good luck and maybe see you on the senior tour. And if your in Los Angeles let me know and I’ll take you to my country club.

Best,
Joseph Naus
http://Www.straightpepperdietmemoir.com
Brian Kuehn says:

June 17, 2015 at 8:41 am

What does one do as a full time golf practitioner when one is unable to play or practice golf? Performing rehabilitative exercises can only take up so much of one’s day. Clearly you are not tweeting or posting on your blog. What are you doing with all the down time? Did you find a PT job as you were thinking about several months ago? Are you able to do any sort of physical tasks? Can you at least work on your short game or putting or do even those movements cause a problem?
Michael says:

June 24, 2015 at 8:43 am

There’s a lot of advice in here, so I won’t add to the pile.

That was a tough call to make, but I think you made the correct one. Hope you heal up soon.
David Oliver says:

August 18, 2015 at 6:00 am

You need to see a McKenzie trained physical therapist!
http://www.mckenzieinstituteusa.org
I’ll be teaching an advanced McKenzie course in Wilsonville OR (just outside Portland) at the end of September. We see live patients on the courses and we’re always looking for volunteer patients.
Evaluation and treatment is free over the 3-4 days, if you’re interested drop me an email.
Dave
http://www.physicaltherapyinmotion.com

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