New Year, New Me. or Something Like That

[Midlifecrisis]

I’m a runner. I would like to be a golfer. That’s what this post is about. It’s also probably about my mid-life (or one-third-life hopefully) crisis, if that’s what you want to call it. I recently read Paper Tiger, so you probably have an idea where this is going. 

I kid, I kid. I’m not trying to become a professional golfer (although I did enjoy reading some of the Dan’s Plan blog and the thread here about it). 

ABOUT ME

I’m starting this thread to document my efforts of becoming a more competitive golfer. There are no gigantic goals or pipe dreams, I literally just want to improve at something and be competitive again. I’ll be posting here mostly for tips and advice, but also to give myself some accountability. Maybe some people will get a kick out of following my progression if I make some.

I recently turned 30 (again; see username). I was always an athlete... basketball, soccer, and track in high school, then narrowed that down to just track in college. I was a walk-on at a Division 1 program, got pretty good, and towards the end of my career was one of the better milers in the northeast.

I still run, but not competitively. I’ve tried a few times to get back to college shape, but life happens and I’ve never gotten there. Now at 30, it’s pretty clear to me that the glory days are exactly that… glory days. I’ve been reflecting a lot on that lately, and I’ve realized that it will always be a regret of mine that I never took a real crack at running professionally after college. There were a million excuses why I didn’t, and I honestly, I don’t know if I was good enough. Probably wasn’t. But I should have at least found out. But that’s life, shit happens. 

What I’m really getting at is that I miss the process. I miss having daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. I miss standing on the starting line… I miss 3 pm practice with the boys… I miss the feeling of running a new best, just knowing that in two weeks you’re going to break it again. I don’t think I can get that with running again. But why can’t I find it with something else? 

That’s where golf comes in. It seems like a sport where I can maybe find some of what I’ve been missing for the past few years. The hard work, the progression, the feeling of slowly but surely getting better at something. The feeling of obsessing over little details to gain an edge. 

GOLF BACKGROUND

My Dad taught me to play as a kid, and I took a few lessons when I was 12 or so. Right after that I went pretty much all in on basketball and soccer, so I didn’t play at all through high school or college. In my early to mid-twenties I’d go through stretches where I’d get into it and hit the range a bit or play a few rounds. This past July I started to play somewhat consistently. Played 15 rounds between July and September, and my handicap at the end of September was 20.2. 

THE PLAN

Spend 60-90 minutes per day, 5-6 days per week, focused on golf related activity. This can include reading and studying, but will mostly be practice. Unfortunately I live in Boston and it’s the middle of winter, but hopefully I can be creative and find ways to get it done.

Beyond practicing and studying, I’m beginning to focus my fitness regimen around golf. I’m placing a real emphasis on mobility and flexibility. I’m lucky enough to have a great gym at work where I already work out 4 days per week, so this shouldn’t be very difficult. 

I plan to recap my weeks here every Sunday and post objectives for the upcoming week.

MY CURRENT GAME

This is the best assessment of my game based on my limited knowledge. This morning I emailed a golf professional in the area to hopefully schedule some upcoming lessons so I can better pinpoint what I need to be focusing on the most.

Strengths

• Reasonably athletic
• Good hand/eye coordination
• Decent strength, good distance when I connect with the driver
• I have my Dad’s old 5-wood (true wood, 4 screws as the sweet spot) and I hit that thing dead straight and 200 yards like 98.6% of the time.

Weaknesses

• Very tight/weak hips
• Terrible, terrible putter
• Lot of blowup holes / bad focus
• Bad rotation / don’t finish shots well
• Uncertainty with club distances
• No idea about how/what to practice… usually just smack balls at the range
• No clue about golf analytics, what stats to focus on, etc.
• Probably need to upgrade clubs. Playing Ping Eye Twos and hand me down Woods

WEEK ONE OBJECTIVES

• Strength/Mobility on Monday/Thursday
• Core/Balance on Tuesday/Friday
• Indoor putting practice 5 days
• Schedule lesson / club fitting
• Research golf analytics to better understand what stats I need to be tracking

QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY

Any tips on things to practice during the winter without being able to actually hit balls? I’ve found a ton of putting drills and I have a carpet that rolls pretty true. 

Any Boston folks have tips on instructors? Or just anything related to Boston golf… courses to look into for the summer, cheap membership options, etc. This summer was a struggle, kind of just bounced around to whatever public course I could get a tee time at.

Books I should read? Was planning to start with Every Shot Counts.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to ask, and hope to become a valuable member of the community. 

Oh, and Happy New Year.

[Double Mocha Man]

1 hour ago, Midlifecrisis said:

I’m a runner. I would like to be a golfer. That’s what this post is about. It’s also probably about my mid-life (or one-third-life hopefully) crisis, if that’s what you want to call it. I recently read Paper Tiger, so you probably have an idea where this is going. 

I kid, I kid. I’m not trying to become a professional golfer (although I did enjoy reading some of the Dan’s Plan blog and the thread here about it). 

ABOUT ME

I’m starting this thread to document my efforts of becoming a more competitive golfer. There are no gigantic goals or pipe dreams, I literally just want to improve at something and be competitive again. I’ll be posting here mostly for tips and advice, but also to give myself some accountability. Maybe some people will get a kick out of following my progression if I make some.

I recently turned 30 (again; see username). I was always an athlete... basketball, soccer, and track in high school, then narrowed that down to just track in college. I was a walk-on at a Division 1 program, got pretty good, and towards the end of my career was one of the better milers in the northeast.

I still run, but not competitively. I’ve tried a few times to get back to college shape, but life happens and I’ve never gotten there. Now at 30, it’s pretty clear to me that the glory days are exactly that… glory days. I’ve been reflecting a lot on that lately, and I’ve realized that it will always be a regret of mine that I never took a real crack at running professionally after college. There were a million excuses why I didn’t, and I honestly, I don’t know if I was good enough. Probably wasn’t. But I should have at least found out. But that’s life, shit happens. 

What I’m really getting at is that I miss the process. I miss having daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. I miss standing on the starting line… I miss 3 pm practice with the boys… I miss the feeling of running a new best, just knowing that in two weeks you’re going to break it again. I don’t think I can get that with running again. But why can’t I find it with something else? 

That’s where golf comes in. It seems like a sport where I can maybe find some of what I’ve been missing for the past few years. The hard work, the progression, the feeling of slowly but surely getting better at something. The feeling of obsessing over little details to gain an edge. 

GOLF BACKGROUND

My Dad taught me to play as a kid, and I took a few lessons when I was 12 or so. Right after that I went pretty much all in on basketball and soccer, so I didn’t play at all through high school or college. In my early to mid-twenties I’d go through stretches where I’d get into it and hit the range a bit or play a few rounds. This past July I started to play somewhat consistently. Played 15 rounds between July and September, and my handicap at the end of September was 20.2. 

THE PLAN

Spend 60-90 minutes per day, 5-6 days per week, focused on golf related activity. This can include reading and studying, but will mostly be practice. Unfortunately I live in Boston and it’s the middle of winter, but hopefully I can be creative and find ways to get it done.

Beyond practicing and studying, I’m beginning to focus my fitness regimen around golf. I’m placing a real emphasis on mobility and flexibility. I’m lucky enough to have a great gym at work where I already work out 4 days per week, so this shouldn’t be very difficult. 

I plan to recap my weeks here every Sunday and post objectives for the upcoming week.

MY CURRENT GAME

This is the best assessment of my game based on my limited knowledge. This morning I emailed a golf professional in the area to hopefully schedule some upcoming lessons so I can better pinpoint what I need to be focusing on the most.

Strengths

• Reasonably athletic
• Good hand/eye coordination
• Decent strength, good distance when I connect with the driver
• I have my Dad’s old 5-wood (true wood, 4 screws as the sweet spot) and I hit that thing dead straight and 200 yards like 98.6% of the time.

Weaknesses

• Very tight/weak hips
• Terrible, terrible putter
• Lot of blowup holes / bad focus
• Bad rotation / don’t finish shots well
• Uncertainty with club distances
• No idea about how/what to practice… usually just smack balls at the range
• No clue about golf analytics, what stats to focus on, etc.
• Probably need to upgrade clubs. Playing Ping Eye Twos and hand me down Woods

WEEK ONE OBJECTIVES

• Strength/Mobility on Monday/Thursday
• Core/Balance on Tuesday/Friday
• Indoor putting practice 5 days
• Schedule lesson / club fitting
• Research golf analytics to better understand what stats I need to be tracking

QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY

Any tips on things to practice during the winter without being able to actually hit balls? I’ve found a ton of putting drills and I have a carpet that rolls pretty true. 

Any Boston folks have tips on instructors? Or just anything related to Boston golf… courses to look into for the summer, cheap membership options, etc. This summer was a struggle, kind of just bounced around to whatever public course I could get a tee time at.

Books I should read? Was planning to start with Every Shot Counts.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to ask, and hope to become a valuable member of the community. 

Oh, and Happy New Year.

Best of luck to you. I will follow your trials and tribulations. Most people in midlife crisis buy a red convertible sports car. In your case I would recommend some red head covers. And you really should change your name to One Third Life Crisis.  Welcome to TST.

[boogielicious]

16 hours ago, Midlifecrisis said:

QUESTIONS FOR THE COMMUNITY

Any tips on things to practice during the winter without being able to actually hit balls? I’ve found a ton of putting drills and I have a carpet that rolls pretty true. 

Any Boston folks have tips on instructors? Or just anything related to Boston golf… courses to look into for the summer, cheap membership options, etc. This summer was a struggle, kind of just bounced around to whatever public course I could get a tee time at.

Books I should read? Was planning to start with Every Shot Counts.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to ask, and hope to become a valuable member of the community. 

Oh, and Happy New Year.

Welcome to The Sand Trap! I came to golf from bike racing. The stresses on you body are different in golf and it may take a bit to dial in your swing. Being flexible really helps. After bike racing, I had to work on flexibility because my body position riding tightened areas, especially in the upper body and hips. Yoga is a good place to start. There a a bunch of yoga for golf YouTube videos. 

For golf swing, the best place to start is here. We did this last April during the shut downs. They are excellent drills and most can be done inside if you have room. They really reinforce the proper motions for the golf swing. If you can film them, even better. Post them in the thread if you want.

For instructors, I have not found any in the Boston area that are not at a private club, so I use Evolvr, on-line instruction. There are a lot of bad instructors around, so beware. 

I also have a Member Swing thread and I encourage you do try creating one.

Books: 

Lowest Score Wins

Stan Utley’s The Art of Putting and The Art of the Short Game

Joey D’s Fix your Body, Fix Your Swing

We also have a reading section you can look at.

For non-instructional books,

Tom Coyne’s , A Course Called Ireland, and A Course Called Scotland.

Again, welcome and Happy New Year!

[Midlifecrisis]

15 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Best of luck to you. I will follow your trials and tribulations. Most people in midlife crisis buy a red convertible sports car. In your case I would recommend some red head covers. And you really should change your name to One Third Life Crisis.  Welcome to TST.

Just checked and life expectancy for a white male is 77 and change, so it looks like Two Fifths Life Crisis will have to be my new name. Appreciate the welcome and the recommendation on head covers!

[Zippo]

My suggestions - spend less time looking back and more time looking forward. Regrets, in my opinion, are mostly a waste of time. Everything you've done in your past has made you what you are today. If you don't like what you are today then NOW is the time to make changes. Your username assumes that you know how long your life will last. You don't. So now is the time to be looking forward and doing what you need to get to where you want to go.

Sign up for Evolvr - relatively inexpensive online golf lessons that will help you focus on one or two priority items.

Post a member swing.

Enjoy the life you have - not the one you wish you had...

[Missouri Swede]

2 hours ago, Midlifecrisis said:

Just checked and life expectancy for a white male is 77 and change, so it looks like Two Fifths Life Crisis will have to be my new name. Appreciate the welcome and the recommendation on head covers!

Don't sell yourself short!  For a non-smoker 30-year old man (without other info), that gets you to age 83 (average baseline).  Welcome to TST!

https://jhinsurance-east.azurewebsites.net/life/life-expectancy-tool.aspx

[Midlifecrisis]

3 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Welcome to The Sand Trap! I came to golf from bike racing. The stresses on you body are different in golf and it may take a bit to dial in your swing. Being flexible really helps. After bike racing, I had to work on flexibility because my body position riding tightened areas, especially in the upper body and hips. Yoga is a good place to start. There a a bunch of yoga for golf YouTube videos. 

For golf swing, the best place to start is here. We did this last April during the shut downs. They are excellent drills and most can be done inside if you have room. They really reinforce the proper motions for the golf swing. If you can film them, even better. Post them in the thread if you want.

For instructors, I have not found any in the Boston area that are not at a private club, so I use Evolvr, on-line instruction. There are a lot of bad instructors around, so beware. 

I also have a Member Swing thread and I encourage you do try creating one.

Books: 

Lowest Score Wins

Stan Utley’s The Art of Putting and The Art of the Short Game

Joey D’s Fix your Body, Fix Your Swing

We also have a reading section you can look at.

For non-instructional books,

Tom Coyne’s , A Course Called Ireland, and A Course Called Scotland.

Again, welcome and Happy New Year!

Thanks for the warm welcome. Long, slow running has definitely caused super tight hips and hamstrings for me. Did some mobility and strengthening work this morning... going to be a long road to loosen those babies up! Planning to start some yoga this week via Youtube.

Going to start with the Stan Utley book you recommended. Couldn't find a Kindle version of LSW, looks like just hard copy.

Will plan to start on some of those drills this week and post a member swing. Thanks again for the help and the welcome.

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, Midlifecrisis said:

Thanks for the warm welcome. Long, slow running has definitely caused super tight hips and hamstrings for me. Did some mobility and strengthening work this morning... going to be a long road to loosen those babies up! Planning to start some yoga this week via Youtube.

Going to start with the Stan Utley book you recommended. Couldn't find a Kindle version of LSW, looks like just hard copy.

Will plan to start on some of those drills this week and post a member swing. Thanks again for the help and the welcome.

If you have a foam roller or peanut roller, it does wonders for the IT band. That is where I was super tight after racing. LSW is only on hardcover or paperback, but it is the best golf book IMO. Well worth the price.