Right now in my part of the world we are just on the other side of Winter heading to Spring. As of today , we have 81 days until golf season begins.
Since the beginning of November I have been spending most of my mornings at the gym or as I call it Senior Daycare. I feel very fortunate that I can still go and workout and get this old body in shape for the upcoming golf season. Many people my age are not afforded that opportunity. My routine consists of cardio, stretching,weights, some band work,doing functional golf movements and speed work. Along the way I have had some conversations with people much younger than me. The biggest take away from these conversations is getting insight from people that are 35-40 years my Junior. The mindset of these athletes is pretty cool. One young man went from being a Ju Jitus competitor to a bodybuilder and is going back to Ju Jitus. We have spoken about the dedication it takes to compete in each sport and how they differ. It is so important for any athlete to speak with athletes from other sports just so you can get a different perspective. Not many athletes or Coaches do that. They consider it a sign of weakness. Too bad for them because they are not learning.
Golf season seems far away, yet it is closer than we think. The mindset that I have right now is that I have to trust my training when the season arrives. Last year I played the best golf I have played in the last ten years. Part of that was my commitment to fitness and relearning the foundations of my game, which I had neglected for sometime. I got to that point because I was probably looking for that immediate gratification that society has been serving up and not willing to put in the work. What I know now is that any type of achievement changes from day to day. What does not change are the cornerstones for it. They are preparation, time management, investing in our self and personal discipline .
An important question that I asked myself at the end of last year was: Can I physically do everything I want to do with my golf swing? The answer was no. I can not do everything. So I set out to improve my process and understand it more fully. I am training my mind and body better. Learning how to use statistics better to improve my game, which has opened my eyes up to a few things. Understand in my training that I am vulnerable . I will struggle and will look and feel awkward. Finally, I found a phrase in some notes that I made and it said “ your training does not go anywhere, it just needs to be uncovered”. So I am using that phrase as fuel as part of my improvement process.
The biggest thing that I see for the upcoming season is trying to manage the expectations of my game and not to let the gap between reality and expectations get too big.
Until next time!
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Between The Ears 