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About this blog

a/k/a My move from casual golf to serious focus on improvement in my golf game.

Entries in this blog

Stage 5 - Time to get golfing

Well, my return to golf has not happened but I plan to swing a club in the next few days.  I've done a couple easy swings with The Stack and can do it, just need to actually "Do It".  My though is to spend a few sessions getting my swing back before I do the baseline for The Stack so maybe that starts 1-2 weeks from now.  Also, once I know I am swinging somewhat back to normal it will be time to start Evolver, hopefully in 1-2 weeks As for my weight loss, I've plateaued and have been stuck

Entering Stage 4, finally

I initially planned to start stage 4 i@ Dec 8th but the surgeon nixed that idea.  This week he finally gave me permission to remove the walking boot and begin therapy.  I still have restrictions and will not be swinging a golf club for a while and also my cardio exercise is limited to walking only, no jogging, and if on a stationery bike I need to stay "In the Saddle".  He does not want excessive pressure on the foot.  He does not want me doing leg presses, squats, etc. with anything more than m

End of Stage 3, but Stage 4 "Delayed"

The cast was removed yesterday and overall the doc is happy.  I'm now in a Walking Boot and can begin adding weight to my leg.  He wants me to start with between 25-50% weight on my foot for the next week and gradually work up to 100% weight bearing over the next 4 weeks.  He also wants me to hold off on rehabilitation therapy until after January 11th.  I was hoping to start rehab before Christmas in hopes of swinging a golf club beginning in January but I guess I was overly optimistic. I'm

Moving to Stage 3

Weighed in this morning at 241.2 which is a little above the 240 goal I had for before my surgery.  A miss but overall I am satisfied since down 40 lbs since start of phase 2 @ 3 months ago. Surgery is this morning so starting Phase 3 and the goal is simple, do not gain any weight between now and when I get the OK to resume weight bearing on my foot @ Dec 8th.  Given there will be very little physical activity during this period it will be up to portion control & quality food. Have

Stage 2 – 4 Weeks Left and Very Motivated

First, I want to thank you for the encouraging comments, they help a lot. I am now 8 weeks into the 12 weeks of my “Stage 2” goal.  As in the past, my focus on golf has been taking backseat to losing weight and that shows in my golf game.  Last week I shot a 52, of which 6 shots were trying to get out of 2 bunkers, that is 4 wasted shots.  My problem with bunkers is self-inflicted, I never practice them (WOW, what an insight, the area of my game I never practice is the worst part of my game

Stage 2 - Update after first 4 of 12 weeks.

I am now 4 weeks into the 12 weeks for my "Stage 2" goal. As for golf, I'm not getting out to the range so no practice.  I am trying to keep my head still but since not practicing I am less than successful.  Unfortunately I think there will be no range time this year.  Not good for the game but it is what it is. On the health front things are going much better even though I am not doing the activities as initially planned.  I started therapy on the knee on Aug. 4th and it is much bette

On to Stage 2

The last 2 weeks did not go exactly to plan but I will count them as a success.  I did cardio @ 4 times per week, not 7 per week, and did only 1 weight session each week instead of 3.  On the eating better front I did good and only had 2 “Cheat Days”.  Even with the lighter schedule I did get down to 281.4 which is a drop of 5.4 pounds.  Since my goals were to stabilize and stop gaining weight, I will count that as a success. The fewer workouts were primarily due to a lot of outdoor activit

A New Beginning - Again

Well, today is the start of new goals and new determination.  My Golf goals will not kick in until 2024, after my surgery and after sufficient rehab to begin swinging the club.  In 2024 I will sign up for Evolver On-line training and start workin on true swing issues.  When that will start will depend on my progress in the rehab after the surgery.  Rebah will not even begin until Dec. and I figure I'll not be ready to swing a club until possibly January or February. For my health goals I am

This is Frustrating

I hate to admit it but this blog is becoming a little less "Golf" and more "Health" than I would like.  I was hoping that for now I could just accept the foot/ankle surgery was upcoming and golf but unforrtunately that is not the case.  For those who saw me golf at Little Mountain i was a disastor near the end of the round.   Both my ankle & knee were killing me.  My hope has been that my knew was hurting because my gait was off due to the ruptured tendon in my ankle.  Well, last Friday I sa

Getting There, Maybe? Hopefully?

I've golfed several rounds now and the ankle brace and it should not be an issue but I think walking a round is out of the question.  At Little Mountain it was "Cart Path Only" and a lot of walking ensued and by the 16th hole I was ready to stop.  I seem to do OK when there are no cart restrictions but a lot of walking was not pleasant.  I've golfed enough rounds with the brace that I am not really thinking about it during my swing which helps.  So now I need to move to improving my swing and ju

Looking Up

Well, I did 9 holes this week wearing the ankle brace and I hit some really nice shots and I could still walk after the round.  Once I stopped thinking about the ankle and just did the swing it was fine.  Score was not low but was not over the top either.  I am not certain but I may have been swinging a little easier because of the brace and was making very good contact. Distances were just fine, maybe even a little longer than last year but 9 holes is so few it is hard to draw many conclusions.

1st Time on the Course This Season, Hoping Things Get Better

Well, yesterday was my first time out this year for 9 holes.  It started "OK" with 3 consecutive bogeys which could have been better had I sunk one of the 2 par putts.  For me that is good.  But on the 4th hole I caught myself not doing a full turn and my right foot felt like it was glued to the ground.  The scores increased hole-by-hole along with the sharp pain.  Thank God my putting was good.  I sunk both a 15 & 20 footer and left a 30 footer only a few inches right of the hole.  On #8 (P

Going to Be a Year of Change

It has been a very long time since I update this blog.  As I write this I am unsure how my golf season will unfold.  I have had foot & ankle problems for 20+ years and in the past year they got bad, real bad.  Today my Dr. gave me two choices.  Surgery or an updated & more aggressive custom orthopedic brace.  I am opting for the brace and keeping surgery as a last resort.  I've had custom orthotics for years but these new ones will go farther up the ankle and will restrict my ankle movem

Looking Back at 2021

Its been too long since I updated this blog but it is March 2022 and time to reconsider goals & plan.  Looking back last year did not achieve much of what I wanted.  I lost most of the weight I was looking for but put some back on over the winter.  I'm not giving up on that, just need to moderate my portions.  As for golf, I did AimPoint as planned and that was time & money well spent.  Putting improved last year but the rest of my game was still inconstant and did not improve as I had h

Time to Re-Focus

Well, The past 6-7 weeks has not been good for my game.  I could list many excuses but bottom line is I cannot expect to improve if I do not do the practice.  Other that the practice green before my league I have not been to a range once for quite some time.  I will look for the positive, my putting is the best area of my game and it shows that practice can and does work so if I make time for the range I should improve other aspects of my game.  Also, this morning I met up with @dennyjonesand wa

Progressing & Regressing

Its been longer than anticipated since my last update but I have been busy with both golf & my day job. My transformation is continuing but nowhere near complete.  On the good side, my putting has been fantastic.  Still a few 3-Putts but they are mostly when I have a very long first putt, say 50' or so.  Still, I have sunk a few of those super long putts to the astonishment of myself and others.  The big difference is my confidence.  I now always believe I can get it very close no matte

AimPoint & Looking Forward

I did not plan on so long between posts but I’ve been busy with Life, Work & Golf.  I’ve never practiced so much on golf and I think I am getting things figured out.  At least I need to have that hope otherwise I will get very depressed if I conclude I will never get better a this game. I finally took my AimPoint Putting lesson on April 9th.  Much later than hoped but it was worth waiting for.   I had a couple concerns with AimPoint before my lesson but based on many positive comments I

Going Backwards to Move Forward

Well, things with the golf game are a little frustrating but I am trusting in my pro.  When I started this series with him, we discussed my goals and we agreed I was not looking for a quick fix.  He is working to make little tweaks in my swing.  I’m waiting for my latest lesson video and will post that but in general he initially worked on me completing my rotation on the backswing to position A4, take a brief pause to and start my hip rotation before starting my downswing and not “Swinging Out”

The Journey Has Begun

I’ve laid out a lot of goals and activities and now the plan is in action, but not without some further tweaks.  I was cautioned about taking my full swing lessons too close together and not allowing for sufficient practice time.  Yesterday I re-booked several lessons to stretch them out.  I did lose the “5th Free Lesson” but I should be getting more value out of the four. I took my 1st Full Swing lesson last Tuesday and focus was on the driver and I plan on doing the drill he gave me repea

My Plan and its Evolution

My overriding goal is, of course, to lower my scoring and the unstated goal is to move from the B Flight to the A Flight in my league.  I am not going to repeat my initial 2021 goals here but you can see them here if you like.  There is a fair amount of detail on my game from last year.     It would be arrogant of me to think that my initial plan is so perfect that it should be carved in stone and never allowed to change.  The plan has barely begun and thanks to TST that plan is

Setting the Stage

I’ve decided to create this blog to chronical what I hope is a major transformation in my golf game.  I am not an experienced writer and have no idea if anyone will find this of interest but I am forging ahead anyway.  I hope you enjoy and I look forward to your thoughts & comments. I have been golfing for many years.  I took 2 lessons in high school but played very little after that year until 2000 when my wife & I planned to start golfing together and purchased some real cheap clu


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    • FINALLY hit some balls this weekend. I did a short range session Saturday.  Hit only 20 balls.  10 with 8 Iron & 10 with Driver.  Overall the foot felt good during the session but I did notice I was not fully turning and was rather flat footed on the last couple of shots.  In the past that usually happened as the pain in my ankle kicked up but this time I did not feel pain...AT THAT TIME.  About 30 minutes after the range session pain clearly kicked in and I had to ice that evening.  I
    • While both of these are true, of the two I'd peg beer as the greater of two evils. It turns out the problem, maybe the greater problem with alcohol isn't just the empty calories, but alcohol also raises your cortisol level. Increased cortisol encourages your body to save/add fat. Chocolate, conversely, particularly dark chocolate, can actually help lower cortisol. I've all but given up alcoholic beverages. This coming from a man with an enviable stock in spirits (particularly Bourbon,
    • I agree with all comments 100%.  I did speak about it with PT today and they felt I should be able to swing and asked if my not doing it was due to pain or due to lack of confidence.  Right notwI would say maybe both.  I've not even tried a normal speed swing.  Just now I finished a short walk after lunch and the foot is hurting so I am thinking a true swing could cause some pain, or at a minimum discomfort.  Either way, discomfort or pain would inhibit a successful Stack session. The frust
    • Yes, this. Stack is not rehab. And you don't want to train yourself to swing slowly.
    • Make sure you are really confident with swinging fast before you start Stack. Stack is going to ask you to swing as hard as you can 20+ times during a session. If you're still a little tentative, I would be worried about injuring yourself and not getting as much out of it as you could.  And repeating what others have said, don't beat yourself up about having chocolate and beer. If your diet is to eliminate those things entirely, it's going to be harder to be successful with it. Much better
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