Week 17 Update
Not Great, Not Terrible
Welcome Players! It wasn’t the best week of the year, but it also wasn’t the worst. Things took one step closer this week, although it was a bumpy step. We take a look at one important metric and use it to make some changes to the plan. That’s right, the Project is undergoing some renovations!
Contents:
Training Week in Review
Habit Tracker
Training Log
Skill Practice
Golf Performance
Wrap-Up
Training Week in Review
Not great, not terrible.
Yea I just started watching Chernobyl, and although this week of practice wasn’t a nuclear disaster - it wasn’t great either.
While going over my week (before writing the review), I realized that I wasn’t doing a good job.
It happens. The awe and adrenaline of starting something mixes with the repetitive nature of practice.
It’s where there’s a little bit of separation between the people who truly intend to do something and those that were merely just trying it.
There’s nothing wrong with trying out many sports and committing to none. I’d actually recommend it! It’s important to play different games with different movements and for different types of enjoyment.
For those that choose to take one practice into the deeper waters it’s instead an expression of different things.
Discipline. Consistency. Dedication.
Those traits decide a winner far more often than the most skilled, or most talented, or most anything.
The ones who stay at it the longest are more likely to win.
So when I took a good look over my weekly habit tracker, something I incorporated for the sole purpose of being a reflection of those three traits - I had to admit it. I was not performing to the standard that I knew would be necessary.
If a client handed me this data and asked, “I’m only a little-bit better than I was four months ago. Why is that?”
I’d tell them well look at your time spent practicing. It’s so little compared to time spent training or not practicing.
And to be honest, I’ve felt this was the case for a few weeks. I just knew at the end of the day when I was going to bed that if I hadn’t practiced that day, it was a wasted day.
And that’s OK.
Being perfect isn’t the goal, and it’s ok to make mistakes and not hit certain targets.
But it’s imperative to separate that from the willingness to change or improve.
Just because it’s ok to make mistakes, doesn’t mean it’s ok to become complacent with growth, allowing errors and willfully throwing away a sense of improvement.
So we take the feedback that some would view as “negative”, and instead we view it as the fuel for our next positives - connected through the bridge we call change.
One of the largest drivers of Project Par is that the core tenant of creating a structured framework to support your goals is that anyone can do it, and it can be made unique to the individual.
The realization that I haven’t been practicing enough is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate that and modify my existing framework.
Not great, not terrible.
Habit Tracker
Two good nights’ putting at home followed by couple of goose-eggs. I also was practicing my backswing motion a few times a day so that’s good as well. Catching up on a lot of things since traveling definitely ate up more of my time then I’d have liked, but so it goes.
Training Log
Resistance Train (Gym): 2
Conditioning (Assault Bike): 1
Yoga (@ home): 0
This is the one area where I think I’m starting to excel. I’ve been in a pretty consistent groove of strength training in the past month and that always lends itself well to capabilities.
My bicycle was in the shop for a tune-up and to get rim strip tape put on which will hopefully help fix my flat-tire frequency.
So this week I replaced cycling with a HIIT session on the air bike.
It was great to work at higher intensity heart zones after a few months of endurance work, and I think that’s going to significantly contribute to my practice time soon to come.
Skill Practice
No range time this week - but I was taking my 6i through the full backswing a few times.
Trying to re-enforce those habits that I was taught in lessons.
I still think about golf and the swing a lot, but I’ve got to create the time to practice regardless of the environment. That’s the only true way to improve is through repetition and consistency.
While I may be filling the repetitions, I admittedly have not been consistent.
That will improve, though.
Golf Performance
None.
Wrap-Up
In 56 weeks not every one of them can be great.
That’s ok - we stick to the plan and continue to train. I’ll be focusing on creating more objective strategies to my practice plan. While I thought I could commit the hours based off feel alone, it doesn’t seem to be panning out well.
This might be an instance where discipline can be augmented with structure.
That’s what Project Par is all about!
See you next week with the updated plan.