My Golf Practice Diary
Below is my golf practice diary.
I’m the creator of the Golf Drills Practice Planner which has hundreds of professional golf practice drills to choose from. I hope that sharing my diary will help inspire you to keep your own diary.
Why am I doing a golf diary?
I could have kept the diary in a notepad for my eyes only, but I figured the lessons I learn during this journey might be of help to other golfers.
First 18 Holes: Seven Over Par
Yesterday I played my first 18 holes of golf in several years.
Bearing in mind the 25+ mile per hour winds, I was surprised by how well I played. Don’t get me wrong. I was 7 over par (78). I didn’t get a single birdie. So, yes, there’s a long way to go to become club champion (my goal).
Hard Truth
The hard truth was that my short game was weak, especially putting. That’s no surprise. If a top professional takes a few weeks off, their short game takes a while to tune back in. I’ve had 20 years off. So, no need to panic, just yet.
So, all in all, there was no need to beat myself up about my first 18 holes in several years. Actually, the whole “beating yourself up” is so 90s. I used to do that a lot when playing college golf.
With an older, wiser head on my shoulders, I will hopefully avoid the slippery path of judging results, and assigning any self-worth to them. I won’t, however, deny any “hard truths” such as being clueless on the putting green.
Scratch Golfer
The last time I played regularly (college golf for TWU in 1999), I was a scratch golfer.
But in the year I graduated (1999), my scoring average was approximately 74, and I wasn’t in the top 5 (top 5 players qualified to play in NAIA college tournaments). My game had got worse since starting college golf four years earlier!
For the first three years of college golf, I was almost always in the top 5, but my golf game had far too many moving parts, and all those moving parts required a lot of practice to keep oiled. So, I essentially stopped playing in my last year of college, and focused on studies and making money to pay for college (I worked for an insurance tech company while at college).
The Main Positive
The main positive that lurks in the back recesses of my little brain is that if I was a scratch golfer 20 years ago, with a highly dodgy 1990s, old-school swing. So, with good coaching, fitness training, practice drills, and with a slice of luck, there is a tiny glimmer of hope that I can become club champion.
Fitness Edge
My local gym owner also introduced me to callisthenics. Wow! If you want a physical challenge, get the “complete callisthenics” book by Ashley Kalym. This is the exercise that I will be focusing most of my time doing.
That’s it for now.
I’ll leave you with a quote from the book called “Grit” (by Angela Duckworth) that ignited my golfing journey.
Grit
To be gritty is to resist complacency. “Whatever it takes, I want to improve!” is a refrain of all paragons of grit, no matter their particular interest, and no matter how excellent they already are.
