(courtesy eastlongisland.com)
So, it’s a new year and time for a new commitment. Well,
rather, a re-commitment, to a challenge – nay, a quest – that I sort of
abandoned last year. Of course, I’m talking about my journey from 30
handicapper to 1.4 INDEX capable of attempting to qualify for the United States
Open.
I know
this isn’t the first time I’ve done this here, but I’d like to apologize for
not updating this thing since about Valentine’s Day of 2016. I promise you, I
would have rather been updating the blog than doing a lot of what I had to last
year.
In
defense of my sparse updating schedule, 2016 saw me get married, start a new
job, go to the Masters for the third time and lose two grandparents on top of the normal BS we call “life.” That
being said, it wasn’t a totally lost year on my journey despite my infrequent updates – so the next couple weeks, I’ll mostly be catching you up on 2016.
First of all,
progress WAS made. I began the blog as a 3.7 handicap shooting 82 in less-than ideal
conditions last February. As I sit and write now, I am a 2.4 INDEX coming off a
77 (with two doubles) in equally as frustrating conditions this past Monday.
Again, it’s not going to be turning any heads or earning me any checks any time
soon – but progress is progress and more than a stroke in a summer is still
solid, especially on this end of the spectrum.
Twenty-sixteen
brought a lot of firsts: First competitive rounds, first round under par
(sort-of) and my first two rounds of even par. For someone carrying a 2.4
handicap, that may sound kind of nuts – but I don’t make a lot of birdies or
doubles. It’s not by choice, but my strategy has long been “par you to death.”
Unfortunately, that’s going to need to change. No one qualifies for U.S. Open’s
with even-par 72’s.
That’s
why I’m deeming 2017 to be “the Year of the Birdie.”
Last
winter, I said my goal was to hit more greens in regulation – which I did.
Crunching the numbers, my percentage of greens in regulation jumped form an
abysmal 15% to close to 35%. Putts were also down, as I went from averaging
34.5 putts per round to just under 32 a round.
With jumps like that, you’d think I’d
have gotten even better, but I saw a dip in fairways hit and lost ball while
trying to overhaul my driver swing in an effort to gain some yards off the tee.
Ahh, the plight of the amateur!
With all this in mind, I’m also
announcing a slight alteration to the plan. I will not to be dumb as to think I
have a snowball’s chance in hell to get to a 1.4 INDEX by April to try and make
it to Erin Hills – so the new target is the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
I figure, by then, I’ll have another summer of competitive rounds and about 18
months to knock that final, pesky stroke off the handicap.
Stay tuned over the next couple of
weeks as I will be posting a couple more reflections, some plans for the new
year and some tips and tricks that helped me in 2016 and that I will be leaving
heavily on in 2017.
Thanks for coming back!
-Matt
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