Time away

I am taking my first real break (more than two days) from The Dan Plan and golf this week.  Tomorrow, my girlfriend and I are driving to Yosemite to camp for a week.  I have not taken this many days off since beginning the project in April of 2010, but think that now is a good time for a few moments away.

I have been pushing it hard over the past couple of months and my body is not too happy about it.  Everything aches in the morning and it takes longer and longer to get things warmed up in practice.  I’m not complaining or whining, just think that for longevity sake, a week off to relax the back, knees, shoulders, neck, arms and hands will do me a world of good as The Dan Plan reaches the 1/3 mark towards 10,000 hours.  There is a lot of time left to improve the game, and potential injuries would only delay things, so taking some time off to heal and strengthen the body/mind is a good thing.

There will not be a new episode on the front page of thedanplan.com this week or next due to being in the woods and away from computers and websites and such.  I’m sorry that we can’t keep updating them, but I am the one who posts these and won’t be around to do it.  We will get back to it starting Tuesday, September 11.

Speaking of Sept. 11, I’m playing in my first tournament with an official cut starting that day.  It’s the PNGA (Pacific Northwest Golf Association) three-day Mid-Am and after the second day the top 60 of 120 entrants gets to play in the final round.  This is huge and exciting for me.  There will be a lot of really good golfers playing and the tournament is going to be at Columbia Edgewater, my home course.  I have played some solid rounds out there and know that if I stick to my game and stay engaged I can make the cut.  And, not only make the cut but compete.  It’s time for me to make the transition from thinking about keeping up with scratch golfers to knowing that I can compete with them on any given day.  This week away marks a transitional moment in The Dan Plan: before Yosemite = always focussed on mechanics and making sure what I was doing was the “right” swing; after Yosemite = time to play ball.

Now is when we flip the switch from learner to competitor.

That’s not to say that I won’t continue the deliberate practice, by any means.  And, I won’t stop tweaking the swing or working on 1-foot putts.  Rather, it’s a mindset that I realized I have had since the beginning, that I am the newbie learner who is out there playing with the big boys.  I’ve grown up a lot over the first 3,200 hours and have pushed past 90% of USGA handicap keeping golfers.  The next 6 strokes are going to come off via confidence and mental game and the best way to improve one’s mental game is to know that the next step is possible.  If you don’t believe it, it won’t come true.

For the time being, I am going to be concentrating on my mental game and how to stay fully focussed while remaining emotionally balanced.  A friend passed along a Ted Talk this morning that deals with this subject and I thought it was a good watch.

Here is the first part.  It’s 18 minutes long and delves into the subject of changing your thoughts via controlling your emotions on a physiological level:

Keep the heart calm and the mind will follow.  There is a lot more to it, but that’s a good place to start.

Calm, cool, collected and confident.  That’s what I am going to bring back from my week of vacation in the woods.  Mark it on the calendar, this week is a turning point in The Dan Plan.  I will shed the naiveté and identity of amateur and emerge competition ready.

I’m really going to miss golf.  But, I’m going to have an amazing time at Yosemite with my girlfriend in the interim.

Talk with you all in a week.     Dan.