Golf Practice Diary
Hi, 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 for whatever crazy dream you have.
Golf Drill Practice Planner
Well, it’s been almost two years since my last “golf diary”. The Covid-19 came along, so had to put a hold on updating the site.
Over the past few months, I’ve been adding lots of new golf practice drills to the site, and to the Golf Drills Practice Planner. My main focus for the next year will be adding new posts to the site and the planner.
I’m adding hundreds of drills to Golf Drills Practice Planner for two reasons.
Firstly, because after 20 years away from the game, I wanted to immerse myself in the latest drills so I could practice smart, and see if I could get good enough to compete on the senior pro tour. Twenty years ago I was a scratch golfer, but since then have played less than a dozen rounds of golf.
Secondly, because the Golf Drills Practice Planner has to make enough sales to pay for full membership to Cardigan golf club, travel costs to tournaments, golf lessons, new equipment, etc.
The Big Goal
The big goal is to qualify for the senior pro tour when I’m 50. I’m 46. That means I have 4 years until I turn 50. To achieve the goal I need to make “tiny steps” (fractional gains) by using the Golf Drills Practice Planner (to practice smart) and the “Every Shot Counts” system (to play smart on the course).
The Sub Goals
All goals need to be broken down into smaller chunks. Below are the sub-goals needed to reach the Big Goal. I’m highly aware that the journey has to be sustainable and realistic. There’s no point in setting goals that unrealistic for me (e.g. run 10 miles a day). I’m a great believer in taking small steps consistently versus huge steps inconsistently.
Join Cardigan GC: The first step was joining Cardigan Golf Club. I couldn’t afford full membership due to Covid-19 taking a chunk out of my yoga lesson planner web application business, but the secretary kindly offered me half price membership with the proviso that I’m not allowed to play in any of the official tournaments.
Read Every Shot Counts: I completed reading the book within two days. I couldn’t put it down! It’s been a real eye-opener knowing the most important parts of the game to work on. Spoiler alert. It’s not what you think! If you’re an amateur or pro golfer, this book is a must-read. After reading the book, I quickly realised that the Golf Drills Practice Planner is the perfect resource for anyone who has read the Every Shot Counts book because it is essentially “Every Shot Counts” for the practice ground (the Golf Drills Practice Planner has 500+ golf practice drills/games to make you practice smart).
Get down to a scratch: Getting down to scratch isn’t going to cut the mustard to be competitive on the senior golf tour, which is almost entirely made up of ex tour pros (Bernard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance, Tom Watson, etc). The average handicap would probably be +2. But, for me, a scratch handicap and a 72.5 scoring average is a good goal to aim for. I can reassess if/when that goal is reached.
Daily meditation & yoga: I’m a 46-year old who’s had a serious back operation (several years ago). That means I won’t be swinging it like Bryson DeChambeau. I’ve been a yoga teacher since 2010, so I figure one of my edges will be a stretchy, strong body, and a calm mind under pressure. The trick with golf is to be “indifferent” to the outcome and immerse yourself in the process. To cultivate a calm attitude on the course, I am doing multiple mini-meditations throughout the day. Every 20 minutes, when working on the computer, my alarm goes off which is a signal for me to get off my chair and onto my mat for a 5-minute meditation, and 5 minutes of yoga.
Daily run: I love running for a couple of reasons: Firstly the views are stunning. Secondly, it teaches the brain to remain calm when the body is freaking out by focusing on the breath. I know that as long as my awareness is on deep, slow breaths, I have the energy to run for hours. That “deep slow breathing” is also key to me being able to compete on the tour. It also keeps me aerobically fit.
