Golf Hiatus

It has been a week that I haven't touched my golf clubs. The break was a deliberate attempt to slow down and give my body a break from the onslaught of driving range visits. The rush to get my swing right was gnawing away at my ability to improve. It got the better of me. I am not in the best shape of my life, but I am doing better than last year with a lot of walking daily. I try to walk for at least an hour six days a week.

The frequent visit to the range with large buckets of balls took a toll on my body. The mindless repetition of trying to get the swing right was impacting my ability to focus on what was wrong and draining my energy rapidly. I needed to put some distance between my swing in terms of thinking it through on the best RoI for my golf routine.

One of the best things to happen to me, professionally and personally, is taking things slow. As one of my friends pointed out, "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast". The "slowness" is a skill to be learned and counterintuitive. The result is getting more things done right the first time and faster if you are measuring. "The Practicing Mind" by Thomas M. Sterner has one perfect example, which talks about how the author tuned more pianos in a day by just slowing down and being in the moment, which basically translates to reducing the amount of rework. Putting energy into the right movements is essential. That will be my focus with Golf.

Getting better at Golf is not a numbers game. It helps to hit more balls at the range, but not if you are hitting all of them wrong. After thinking about it for a week, I want to start slow with the drills, practice the swing in back yard with some hollow plastic balls and gain consistency in lift and direction. The aim is to maximize the value at the range. For every solid golf ball I hit, I want to take notes after each shot to slow down, reflect on the shot, and, more importantly, not burn out. I have thought about videotaping each shot and review, but I am not entirely sold on that setup. I want to learn to read my body before visual feedback.