Week 40 Update
Full steam ahead!
Welcome Players! Read below for the Week 40 Update.
Contents:
Habit Tracker
Training Log
Skill Practice
Golf Performance
Wrap-Up
Habit Tracker
My SIJ is still not 100%, but getting better slowly and surely day by day.
I’ve significantly reduced my training time, which has given me a lot more time to devote to practice, so maybe this new balance of activity will be beneficial.
But a week where I hit balls, putt, or play every day is as good a week as I can ask for.
Training Log
Resistance Train (Gym): 2
Conditioning (Road Bike): 0
I really miss the bike. And not just because I enjoy riding.
I’ve noticed that my endurance has decreased. A full 18-hole round I used to leave feeling energized, as if could go back out for another round!
But recently, especially in the past week, I’ve finished the two rounds wanting nothing more than to go home and take a nap.
As the rest of my preparation hasn’t changed much, I’m left only to believe that I’m started to get de-conditioned from being off the bike.
It sucks to know that I’m going backwards in one area, but that’s just a temporary step I’ll have to accept until my injury heals and I’m able to start riding again.
Skill Practice
Two range practices this week.
I’m really still working on the same move as the past couple weeks, now that I am more comfortable with my hand position at the top of the backswing, for me the next feel to drive home is the patience to start the swing with my lower body, allow my hips to get around, create sideband from the torso and then swing through the ball finishing the swing instead of hanging open.
If I can do that then my strikes will continue to get better, and notably my misses this week came from rushing the downswing, getting too steep with my hands, and pulling the pull.
No secret sauce here, just need to continue practicing the right technique until it sticks.
Reps. Reps. Reps.
Golf Performance
Played 2 full rounds this week, which by all accounts, is a great week.
Let’s get into the first.
A 91 at Plantation Preserve, it was a good round!
Some notable stats:
5 Par’s
7 Fairways, 5 GIR
3, 3-putts
1 triple bogey, 1 double bogey
I played really well this round, especially on the front 9. 42!
The back 9 I started to lose driver accuracy and had one very unfortunate blow-up hole that cost me 4 strokes to my total score, at least.
I chipped really well, inside 5 feet on most, and putted well enough to score, 35 total putts is pretty low for me.
Overall it was a great-feeling round but I left disappointed that my one blow-up hole took away what would have been a new PB!
Onto the next, a round at Crandon from the Blue tees. This story isn’t as good…
Some notable stats:
6 Par’s
9 triple-bogeys (or worse), 2 double-bogeys
7 fairways, 5 GIR
3, 3-putts
21.5 penalty strokes (as calculated by Grint)
Yikes.
One thing to note about Crandon is that it’s a much harder course. Distance of 6860 yards and a slope of 142, as compared to Plantation (distance 6700 slope 125).
And it’s the slope that made all the difference, as noted by the enormous strokes lost to penalties at Crandon.
Bunkers, both fairway and green side, OB, water, I was in it all.
Crandon is a difficult, long course that rewards distance and punishes inaccuracy.
I was striking the ball well but just couldn’t stay out of trouble. I was happy with all of my misses but just wasn’t able to play well from hazards and lost way too many balls to OB/water from inaccurate shots.
I played well on the front 9 (47) with 5 par’s!
But what hurt is that I had 9 triple bogeys… that’s ridiculous!
At Plantation I only had 1!
Playing Crandon was a good measuring stick of my abilities in the sense that I can play confidently from the blue tees now, but my strategical game and controlling my misses are still weak points in my game that prevent me from scoring.
I have the ability to score now, and can do so on more forgiving courses with less hazards and greater opportunities, but at tougher courses my game is still sloppy and I get crushed my penalty strokes.
Wrap-Up
I love that playing at different golf courses bring different challenges and strategical requirements.
The game is always changing, and this week was both rewarding to see my ball striking so greatly improved and humbling to know that I still have a ways to go to being able to work my way around a course safely without losing strokes to penalty.
I’d like to continue playing Crandon this winter as a status-check of my strategical game, and look forward to the challenge of striking the ball while minimizing the punishment of misses next time I play there.
All in the name of progress!