Pondering life's inherent risk

As this evening unfolds and I replay our softball loss in my head, I begin to think of the future of not only my golf game but the direction of my life. We all have our moments in which we allow the "what ifs" to creep in, so here i sit to ponder! Thinking about my golf future I'm very torn between taking some risks and sacrifices to achieve my goals and maintaining my current lifestyle. What to give up? What to cut out? How to proceed with budgeting? All these ideas and thoughts come into play here. I enjoy my work and want to keep at it but I'm pulled more and more every day to a world within the golf industry. Just being a part of something your passionate about seems to fill a person with more joy and excitement than most other things. As I take my game to the next level I'm constantly struggling for balance. Between fitness, nutrition, range time, practice rounds, and finally, tournaments, there is barely a minute to nap, relax, etc....Now as I spoke of sacrifice before, and listed the balance issues, the problem lies in time management and deciding what is more fulfilling. Should I consider my range time and practice rounds my time to "relax"? As i attack this process head on the decisions become more diluted and less simple than they appear on the surface. Discipline is much needed at this point along with structure, two items I've had minimal success in my entire life. However, I feel that now at this time in my journey, I'm ready to embrace the change. I feel ready to attack this and do what needs to be done to cross the finish line. As we go forward, we can chose to carry with us the "burdens" and negativity of our past or simply learn from those experiences and throw caution to the wind and go after our dreams!! I like the last part!!

Fairways and Greens to all!

The golden ticket

Hello Blog world! I come to you after quite a long time of silence to update you on some positive happenings with the Journey. The last 2 weeks have been quite interesting. I played the OC Invitational two weeks ago and finished T6. While it was not my best effort I can say with confidence that I really felt the swing starting to get into a rhythm. I was able to have what I was calling a "go to" shot. the major issue I had with my swing was trusting that the shot would do what I wanted which was draw. most of my misses were pulls of draws that started to far right. The largest weakness in my game as it has been for quite some time is the short game. I had much trouble with my chipping pace and definitely some issues with putting, the greens being very quick did not help but I need to be able to putt on any green conditions. After a week of some good work on the short game with Kevin, and some more attention to the full swing, staying connected, I felt ready to compete at the first major of the season, the SD Open. Well the practice round did not provide much positive feedback as I shot a 90. Wouldn't you know it, one round later, 78 on the same course! The putting was still somewhat of a mystery but my ball striking and short game had started to come together! Posting that score and being clubhouse leader by 4 strokes gave me a strong feeling of confidence in my game I had not felt before. But Alas it would not be! I faltered on Sunday, although not playing poorly, hit enough bad shots and the two guys behind me played very well, shooting 82 while I posted a stagnant 88. As I've mentioned many times before, I really believe with failure you only get better and what I've learned from this is that a really good short game can overcome most bad days a golfer has, keeping scores in the low 80's now is paramount to winning on our tour! With the next major in less than 3 weeks it's off to the short game area I go. Much focus will be paid to sand, pitch and chip shots and controlling distance. As for putting, that is going to be worked on every day in the apartment, string line work for sure to keep the putter head on plane through the stroke! All eyes will be on Palm Springs and I plan on shinning!! Its starting to really come together, now we just need that breakthrough win! Already have my golden ticket to nationals after 3rd place at the SD Open!!!

Fairways and Greens!!

The future is now

-Preface-

Greetings all. I write this blog entry with a bit of sorrow in the present mind. As the end of my relationship commenced this week, I began to face the journey of life alone again. Reflection is a hard but necessary thing to perform in order to gain better perspective on life and how I approach it. I look back on 2010 and see many successes. I also see many failures. In looking at the entire body of work I see it as more of a down year where the failures outweighed the successes. All of these were completely within my control and I failed to attack each situation with confidence and compassion. Humility is a trait I've learned late in life and because of that, I don't quite have control over the emotional aspect of my life, allowing my confrontational side to breach the walls of inner thought and be exposed to the world. Emotional control is something I will be working on going forward, less anxiety and more calm, thoughtful lifestyle to be sure.

In the words of my buddy Chris, "I'm just saying"

But this could all just be BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!

-End-

Golf talk now!!

My practice sessions have been rather interesting these past two weeks. I have not had a chance to get out as much as I would have wanted but the times I have been able to get to the range have been very good. The quality of the practice time is getting much better. I've begun to have a much better understanding of the basics of the golf swing and how to apply them. As I'm finding the "proper" way to swing the golf club, I'm finding that the impact of a different turn means new muscles involved which means soreness ensues. I've become more confident in my shot selection and feel that I am getting closer to having better control on shot shape and direction. Tijeras Creek tournament is this Sunday. I think this should be a good showing but the real goal is next weekend which is the first major of the year, San Diego open!

Fairways and Greens!