Progress Update: April 14, 2009

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Now that the weather has finally shifted to be mostly spring-like, I’m able to get in a lot of work.  In fact, if I may say so, I’m working harder now on this quest than I have at any time in the previous two years.  I’m not sure why.

It probably has something to do with the fact that I’m being treated for sleep apnea and have more energy and increased concentration than I have had in years.  It’s so much easier to practice after work.  And it’s easier for me to practice a lot longer.  I’m not wiped out after hitting a basket of balls.  In fact, I did that yesterday.  Then hit a second basket.  Then went to the practice green for over an hour.

It probably also has something to do with the fact that I’m very unhappy with my progress so far.  I think I’ve realized that I’ve worked hard, but not even close to as hard as I could, or even should.  I also know – I know - that I’m capable of the things I want to achieve.  And frankly, not having made as much progress as I’d like, all the while posting about it, is simultaneously embarrassing and frustrating.

My knee injury last year was well covered, so if you’ve been reading you know all about it.  You’ll also know that over the injury layoff and into the winter, a lot of my swing tendencies reverted to what I had going on before working with my pro last summer.

I was anxious to get working again, so I went in for a lesson two weekends ago.  At that time, I was hitting the ball quite poorly.  I had a few flashes of good shots, but overall, I was not happy.

By the end of the lesson, I was hitting the ball very solidly.  It was like we clicked right back to last year.  I was very excited.  That all changed the next day when I went back to the range and struggled again.

I fought through it, though, and worked diligently on the things I knew I needed to fix:  feeling like taking my right hand straight back, keeping my eye on the ball a little longer through impact, and getting my weight shifted a little more to the right on the back swing.

Each range session since that lesson, I struggled.  But I noticed something significant:  I struggled a little less each time.

I had hoped – and anyone who has taken a lesson will identify – that things would just “click” and I would be fixed.  No, that’s not the way it works.  Sure, I made progress during my lesson, because my pro was there directing me.

Like Hogan said, I’m going to have to dig it out of the dirt.

Each time, I’m getting a little better.  I’ve been struggling hitting anything longer than my 5- or 6-iron and even with my trusty 7-iron, I’ll get into a groove when I’ll hit some great shots, then I’ll get into a groove where I can’t hit anything.  Lately, I’ve been hitting pretty much everything on the toe for a week or so.

But yesterday, after a hundred or so balls, I stopped trying to hit my 2-iron and 3-wood and just went back to my 7-iron.  And I hit it again and again and again and again.  Until I was catching it pure every time.  By the time I had hit another hundred balls, I was finally getting there.

I realized at that point, that next time I go out, I’m probably not going to hit it that well right away.  But I’ll get there faster.  And even if I do hit it great again, I’ll have problems with my longer irons.  But I’ll hit more of them pure than I did last time.  And I’ll hit even more quality shots the time after that.

And so it goes.  There are no quick fixes.  No little tweaks that will suddenly make me a good player.

I’ve heard that it takes thousands of balls to commit something to muscle memory.  I’ve heard a thousand, and I’ve heard ten thousand.  That’s thousands to fix my takeaway.  And thousands to fix my weight shift.  And thousands to fix whatever comes after fixing those things.

That’s OK, though, because I’m in it for the long haul.  I’ve given up on quick fixes because even though my pro irons me out each lesson, I’m just being given a recipe for practice.  Next time at the range, my muscles won’t remember.  It’s up to me to make them remember and I’m finding that it takes a lot of work.  A lot more than I’ve been putting in.

Every once in a while, we’re awakened to certain facts that change the way we approach things.  I’m at that point now, and I think it’s going to be a great year.