Pretty good weather this week meant more outside activities…
…including a neighbourhood walk (with the pictured Bougainvillea in probably my favourite colour) being one of the sights. I also visited Booyeembara Park for the first time in years (having walked there regularly when our dog was getting old and needed short, but stimulating, walks). It was interesting to see where the mountain bike track has gone in, with lots of viewing areas incorporated into the path alongside.
I visited Booyeembara Park because it’s next door to the public golf course range where I spent an hour or so this week trying to sort out my drives (still unsuccessfully, it seems, given what happened in competitions this week, although it was all working just fine on the range, of course). With the nice weather across a few days there was a lot of other golf practice this week as well.
Reading:
I’m making a promise to myself that I will read more of The AI Con soon (since I didn’t get around to it this week as the weather was a lot better than I expected)! I read a strange crime fiction novel this week, which I’m not sure I’d recommend to other people, but I’m still considering reading the next in the series, or maybe trying out the other series from the same author. I’d like to think about this a bit more before posting any links here (or critiquing/recommending in more depth).
Golf:
I played a social round on Monday with someone I’ve not played with in ages, which was good. My play was not at all consistent, but I enjoyed catching up with K. She also (see last week) doesn’t throw down another ball as a means to practice on course, but wasn’t bothered when I did.
I also did a lot of other practice, with a session at the public range (mentioned above) for hybrid, 3 wood and driver (which went well, but had no positive effect on course for my driving at least) and two chipping, iron/hybrid on range and putting sessions at my home course.
I played ok on Wednesday and Friday, trying out a few things. I mostly concentrated on the grip check routine I’ve written about elsewhere, but I also experimented with using practice swings or not. That came out of the way that I’ve been hitting well on the range, but not so well on course. Often my practice swing on course seems great, but then I don’t hit the actual shot that well.
But, after trying with no practice swings for things other than chips on Friday, I’ve decided you can’t skip a practice swing on course. That means the practice swing needs to be incorporated into range practice sessions, so, on Saturday, I spent time on the range with fewer balls to hit, but practicing the whole of my shot routine from taking aim and grip setup behind the ball, to a practice swing alongside, a grip check and then the shot itself. I cycled through clubs, not hitting the same one twice unless I’d completely duffed the shot! It was challenging to stay focused and the range ground condition was poor (very bare after a lot of people had already been through that day), but this session was definitely worth doing and I’m going to stick with that for a while.
Before the range I did a bit of chipping and after there was time for some putting. I’m really putting the time into good quality focused practice, so maybe I will see some results eventually!
Exercise:
I did two solid home sessions again this week to complement physio. I think it’s easier to commit to these when I’m also doing a lot of golf. I just do weights before or after practice, and it either serves to warm me up really well, or helps me recover and even out my body after all the swinging in one direction.
I went for two walks (see above).
Food:
D did some great cooking this week and I filled in the other days. There’s a lot of things in the freezer which is going to be handy when we lose cooking momentum (as I think is likely to happen for a bit now).
Garden:
D did the tidying again this week. I was going to do some too, but then he pointed out that I might as well wait for the storm to come through before bothering!
Adventure:
This week we went to a concert. If it hadn’t been raining we’d have gone out for food too, but as it was we had a bite to eat and then headed out for Jeff Martin, who was great (if a bit weird) as usual.
Sewing:
I want to make a t-shirt… at least I’ve decided that much!
Three ideas:
- Keep doing the two additional weights sessions
- Make a t-shirt (?!)
- Still need to do the thing I’ve been putting off (or something about it at least)
I’m pleased to be so physically active at the moment. It does great things for my mind too. I’ve written up all my recent golf ideas/changes here. I split the information up so it’s a more useful record for myself (since it is not much use for anyone else, I expect). I’ve also been keeping up a regular #ThreeGoodThings #3GoodThings posting practice on Mastodon which is a recognised strategy to improve mental health. I’m thinking about doing a post on some things I’ve been trying recently, what works for me, and what doesn’t.
