Winter Depression Thread

[matthewojela0]

On 3/23/2024 at 3:32 AM, boogielicious said:

I can’t unsee that.

Why did I have to go and see what you were talking about... ugh. That's what I get for being curious. Gonna have to visit my Asian MT tomorrow to help get that image out of my mind lol. 

[ChetlovesMer]

So, yesterday was simply beautiful outside. I went to the range on lunch and had to walk way way way down to the end to get a spot. 

I suggested that since I'm there at the range when it's like 5 degrees outside that I should get preferential treatment when the weather is nice. ... They looked at me like I had two heads.

 

Edited March 20 by ChetlovesMer

[phan52]

We had a tough winter in Philly, but March has been very good. I have played 6 times already this month. I was in Jamaica in February and got three rounds in. The weather was beautiful and my caddie worked on my swing. He is the club caddie champ there and was very insistent regarding my swing and my putting stroke. Scores went 89, 86, 82. I was driving it 20 yards farther by the third round and my putting improved as well. The driving has translated to Philly pretty well. Putting, who knows until the greens speed up a little. 

[dennyjones]

First day of spring and we had colossal snowflakes here.   The temperature has dropped significantly.   I may not get to golf until mid-April.  

[Zeph]

This weather is curing my winter depression rapidly.

“Dugnad” today. A Norwegian word for community or voluntary work. Many clubs has one in spring and one in autumn where everyone is invited to help with various tasks on the course to prepare it for the season or winter. Lots of trees and branches were cleared today. Opening in March is not unlikely at this rate. 15 C and sunny could be mid summer.

[bkuehn1952]

I was ready to declare winter over several weeks ago. We woke up to a little surprise this morning. This is going to make golf difficult today. 😡

 

[JetFan1983]

The summers here in South Florida seem to get worse and worse, and while I could comfortably play them ten years ago, I dunno, nowadays they seem much worse. I haven't hit a ball since June, even tho I had been playing the best golf of my life for the last three months of the season. I'm looking forward to getting back in October maybe. It's been nice tho and not depressing at all to take a break. More gym, more physical therapy. We're working on healing my left tennis elbow still (which I began in January 2023) but that's been going well. I really messed that up apparently. But at least now I can golf and stuff fine despite it. Mats are still an issue but I think over time I will eventually get rid of this.

We are working on my right shoulder external rotation too as that had gotten tight in recent years. I've done a ton of awesome leg/core workouts. I'm feeling fit and athletic and ready to go.

I've been playing basketball for since early June too, getting back into the game after like 18 years away. That's been awesome. My jumper is better than ever these days. Here's me shooting a corner three this past weekend:

Forgot how much I love hoops. Working on my vertical can only help for golf as well, so it's a nice double whammy there I think. I'm applying stuff I've learned from golf practice to basketball and it works just as well, if not better, because basketball is easier to learn than golf IMO.

But yea, the offseason certainly has its benefits. More time for my family, the gym, rehab and other hobbies, but I'm really excited for the upcoming Florida golf season too! 

 

I think this was the last day I hit balls, some time in mid-June? It's looking solid when I'm going slow and controlled like this. My last 9 holes I played a match and shot +3 and won. That was pretty cool.

Anyway, it'll be fun to keep building soon. I have done mirror work everyday for like five minutes a day at least. I think that counts for something since my feels work (assuming of course that hasn't changed hehe). But the mirror work I do is like a dynamic stretch too, plus something of a workout for my right shoulder and left hamstring, two of my weaker areas both in my swing and my body.

[RickK]

39 minutes ago, JetFan1983 said:

The summers here in South Florida seem to get worse and worse, and while I could comfortably play them ten years ago, I dunno, nowadays they seem much worse. I haven't hit a ball since June, even tho I had been playing the best golf of my life for the last three months of the season. I'm looking forward to getting back in October maybe. It's been nice tho and not depressing at all to take a break. More gym, more physical therapy. We're working on healing my left tennis elbow still (which I began in January 2023) but that's been going well. I really messed that up apparently. But at least now I can golf and stuff fine despite it. Mats are still an issue but I think over time I will eventually get rid of this.

We are working on my right shoulder external rotation too as that had gotten tight in recent years. I've done a ton of awesome leg/core workouts. I'm feeling fit and athletic and ready to go.

I've been playing basketball for since early June too, getting back into the game after like 18 years away. That's been awesome. My jumper is better than ever these days. Here's me shooting a corner three this past weekend:

Forgot how much I love hoops. Working on my vertical can only help for golf as well, so it's a nice double whammy there I think. I'm applying stuff I've learned from golf practice to basketball and it works just as well, if not better, because basketball is easier to learn than golf IMO.

But yea, the offseason certainly has its benefits. More time for my family, the gym, rehab and other hobbies, but I'm really excited for the upcoming Florida golf season too! 

 

I think this was the last day I hit balls, some time in mid-June? It's looking solid when I'm going slow and controlled like this. My last 9 holes I played a match and shot +3 and won. That was pretty cool.

Anyway, it'll be fun to keep building soon. I have done mirror work everyday for like five minutes a day at least. I think that counts for something since my feels work (assuming of course that hasn't changed hehe). But the mirror work I do is like a dynamic stretch too, plus something of a workout for my right shoulder and left hamstring, two of my weaker areas both in my swing and my body.

Geez!!! You were born in 1983.  I was born in 1946, live in SE Texas where we have had 105+ head index all summer and I have played at least 3 days a week all summer long.  I have played all over Florida both summer and winter.  The breezes there seem to be much better than the still heat we have.  

[JetFan1983]

4 minutes ago, RickK said:

Geez!!! You were born in 1983.  I was born in 1946, live in SE Texas where we have had 105+ head index all summer and I have played at least 3 days a week all summer long.  I have played all over Florida both summer and winter.  The breezes there seem to be much better than the still heat we have.  

😄! I'm not kidding, man! The summers here are pretty rough! I'm not playing at sunrise or sunset though!

Seriously, I brought a buddy of mine out for a round in June and he's normally good at handling heat and even he was like "yea this isn't very fun" after about 9 holes. 

Keep in mind, I'm not really "playing," either. I'm grinding on the range, making my swing better. It's not nearly so bad if all you are doing is playing and riding a cart, never trying to change your golf swing. But that's not how I experience golf. For me it's like 5 range sessions for every round? It's just how I like doing it, I don't like ingraining my bad move by playing a lot of rounds.

And keep in mind, this is a luxury for me. I've played non-stop for three straight years, working on my swing. It's definitely trickier grinding the range in these conditions. And I needed a mental break from it too.

My dad for example, he plays thru the hot summer conditions, but he never gets lessons, never works on his game. It's just rounds for him, usually at sunrise. He never gets better. I've decided to take a different path than him in this game. The months away are good for me to do something else because disciplined practice, really thinking about what I'm doing, and trying to change things can be mentally tiring.

[RickK]

3 minutes ago, JetFan1983 said:

😄! I'm not kidding, man! The summers here are pretty rough! I'm not playing at sunrise or sunset though!

Seriously, I brought a buddy of mine out for a round in June and he's normally good at handling heat and even he was like "yea this isn't very fun" after about 9 holes. 

Keep in mind, I'm not really "playing," either. I'm grinding on the range, making my swing better. It's not nearly so bad if all you are doing is playing and riding a cart, never trying to change your golf swing. But that's not how I experience golf. For me it's like 5 range sessions for every round? It's just how I like doing it, I don't like ingraining my bad move by playing a lot of rounds.

And keep in mind, this is a luxury for me. I've played non-stop for three straight years, working on my swing. It's definitely trickier grinding the range in these conditions. And I needed a mental break from it too.

My dad for example, he plays thru the hot summer conditions, but he never gets lessons, never works on his game. It's just rounds for him, usually at sunrise. He never gets better. I've decided to take a different path than him in this game. The months away are good for me to do something else because disciplined practice, really thinking about what I'm doing, and trying to change things can be mentally tiring.

Good luck and I hope it all pays off for you.  I play in 2 year round stroke play tournament leagues.  I enjoy it, love the competitiveness and enjoy both groups and playing different courses every week.  My goals these days is not to be come a scratch player but to shoot under my age.  

[JetFan1983]

1 minute ago, RickK said:

Good luck and I hope it all pays off for you.  I play in 2 year round stroke play tournament leagues.  I enjoy it, love the competitiveness and enjoy both groups and playing different courses every week.  My goals these days is not to be come a scratch player but to shoot under my age.  

Thanks and it already has! Like I said, the last three months of my season were the best golf I've ever played. I'm within the realm of "this is fun for me" now. It was super tough grinding thru that break 90 consistently zone where I just kept hitting the toe, I kept popping up and out of every shot, getting steep. I am one of those guys doomed to shoot 95 forever if I don't really put a lot of work in, and I just wasn't gonna go out like that.

My goal is definitely to get to that point of playing lots of courses and stuff like you are, but it's been the right thing for me to focus on developing a better motion. The amount of gym work too I've had to do? I see a DPT with TPI level 2 certification twice a week. I'm in the gym five days a week. The sun zaps the crap out of me for the gym too and I need that energy for all the other things I do on top of this stuff.

I'm not really trying to become scratch either tho that would be nice! I'm just enjoying the puzzle that is golf, trying to overcome its challenges in an efficient and smart way. I'm very aware of the physical limitations I'm fighting so this summer has been continuing to address those with a good therapist. 

But that's awesome, my goal is to get out there and enjoy new courses, play more rounds, just like you're doing! We'll see how this season goes, but I might be near doing that, if I'm not there already. I was only losing like one ball a round over those last three months or so, which is great for me on these sometimes tricky Florida courses.

[Shindig]

4 hours ago, JetFan1983 said:

😄! I'm not kidding, man! The summers here are pretty rough! I'm not playing at sunrise or sunset though!

I don't know your family or work situation, but have you considered relocating to Arizona?  I was out there the past month or so and played quite a few times;  it's hot, but not humid.  

Or, if your house is sufficient size, consider setting up an indoor practice area, so at least when the weather or your schedule isn't cooperating, you can still hit a few.

... said Shindig, who has routinely disappeared for months, sometimes a year or more, at a time because of getting busy at work and just quietly sobs to himself as he walks past the room where his mat and net are during that time.  Dang, I need to not allow that to happen again.

[JetFan1983]

1 hour ago, Shindig said:

I don't know your family or work situation, but have you considered relocating to Arizona?  I was out there the past month or so and played quite a few times;  it's hot, but not humid.  

Or, if your house is sufficient size, consider setting up an indoor practice area, so at least when the weather or your schedule isn't cooperating, you can still hit a few.

... said Shindig, who has routinely disappeared for months, sometimes a year or more, at a time because of getting busy at work and just quietly sobs to himself as he walks past the room where his mat and net are during that time.  Dang, I need to not allow that to happen again.

You know what, I have thought about moving to Arizona a little bit, but I do love the winters here. It really is nice down here from like November thru March.

And I totally would do a home setup thing, I really should, but my stupid tennis elbow is really so easily flared up. It's getting better every month with dry needling, but it's so annoying too. I do think I'm finally solving the root causes thru both the dry needle treatments and fixing this steepness/toe strike thing. The former actually does heal it and learning how to plane the club correctly reduces the trauma the elbow takes because of the increase in sweet spot hits.

I really should just do a trip to Scottsdale though, I went there once many years ago and it was a beautiful place. Didn't play golf at the time so I really should go. I'd love to get away from the humidity too.

And I know there are great mats out there, like at Golf Evolution for example I've been told. In my case, I will hit foam balls off a mat sometimes at home and that has some of the effects of actually hitting a ball while reducing the impact.

And this is maybe a topic for another thread, but I've found just making air swings to be more beneficial to me than I originally thought -- that going really fast and not hitting a ball shows my flaws quite a bit too. I'll film myself just making fast air swings inside and trying to fix it. It's almost like speed training except if speed training included trying to make a really technically sound swing on top of it. Hopefully this comment isn't too much of a tangent, but It is the winter depression thread, so maybe tangents about what to do with oneself indoors with golf is okay.

Appreciate it though, I really have thought about Arizona a couple times over the last year at least.

[boogielicious]

Does anyone else find it unusual that the Sand Trappers from the warm winter states are complaining about hot summers in the WINTER DEPRESSION TREAD? 😜

 

[Shindig]

5 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Does anyone else find it unusual that the Sand Trappers from the warm winter states are complaining about hot summers in the WINTER DEPRESSION TREAD? 😜

I would like to point out I was not complaining about hot summers;  rather, I enjoy them.  It's the coming cold cold winter I'm about to face that worries me. 

[billchao]

On 9/22/2025 at 10:29 PM, Shindig said:

... said Shindig, who has routinely disappeared for months, sometimes a year or more, at a time because of getting busy at work and just quietly sobs to himself as he walks past the room where his mat and net are during that time.

You know, I was going to say something like, “What’s stopping you from practicing for 10-15 minutes every day if you have a permanent setup? Surely you have some free time for that, or you could consider it therapeutic stress relief to focus on something that’s not work.”

But I realize how entirely hypocritical that statement would be coming from someone who has owned a good bass guitar for almost 20 years that sits in the corner of my office that I spend most of my time in when I’m home and up until the past two months, only know how to play 2 songs poorly.

Now I can play 3 songs poorly 😃

On 9/23/2025 at 7:00 AM, boogielicious said:

Does anyone else find it unusual that the Sand Trappers from the warm winter states are complaining about hot summers in the WINTER DEPRESSION TREAD? 😜

 

Yea, start your own topic you bunch of crybabies 😜