A Rewind and Lookahead to the Second Half of 2024

Creating content about your journey is inherently self centered.

You have to be arrogant enough to believe strangers will care about you.

At this point there must be thousands of golf creators in my niche.

The Breaking 100-90-80 Niche.

Why is my content different? Taking a 20 year break between playing helps me stand out.

Taking a two month break from sharing a newsletter or podcast doesn’t. (I am extremely on Twitter. Not so much on Instagram.)

At the the end of the day, I have no expectations of becoming a YouTube star.

My best case scenario is to grow the following large enough to funnel a few golfers into Blackbeard Golf events.

Highland Course at Primeland - Virginia - November 2024

OMNI Frisco - Texas - March 2025

In the interim, I am more than happy to use the podcast and newsletter as a living testament to my commitment to getting back into golf in a serious way and to measure my progress.

This bulk of this post was originally written on February 2024, but had gotten lost in the drafts.

A great opportunity look back on the first round of the year more than two months ago as the calendar flips to June.

Controllable:

Going to the sim for a light warm up in case the course range or practice putting green was unavailable

Controllable:

Bringing two healthy snacks because I had a light breakfast, forgetting where I put one of them so I only had one in the cart

Beyond My Control:

An important client calling me at 10:15 instead of the agreed upon 10AM

Controllable:

Feeling annoyed that he was sucking up my on course warm up time

Beyond My Control:

Cold weather preventing me from getting on the practice putting green prior to my round and the tee time being delayed until 11AM

Beyond My Control:

Windy and cold weather for the front 9

Controllable:

Wearing a lightweight jacket and packing a hoodie just in case

Beyond My Control, Maybe:

Having limited experience playing in windy conditions

Controllable:

Not clubbing up after multiple approach shots were short

Final Controllables:

Opting not to use the bathroom at the turn and instead having to hold it until 15

Recognizing my ball was dirty for a tee shot and not cleaning it because that’s faster

Not going through my normal preshot routine on the next shot after a bad shot

Opting to putt everything (at least five times) off the fringe even though I only did it a few times in the fall, never practiced and felt good about my chipping

The Biggest Controllable:

Still not knowing my exact carry distances

The warm up at the simulator felt great. Putting on the perfect putt mat. On course chipping to a sloped green. A few 60 degree wedges over a bunker or rough. A few 120 yard PWs after having the yips the previous day. A few drives because I never know what I’m going to get from the masher.

A few fat chips which was to be expected having not done any chipping on grass for at least six weeks.

Irons off the mat at the range felt great, maybe one bad swing out of 20

Even hit my pesky 2 hybrid well once and one good driver before heading to the opening tee box

Bonus Controllable:

Setting up my camera for the opening tee shot of 2024 and forgetting to hit record, of course it was piped (by my standards), 277 down the left fairway

June 1, 2024 Analysis

I ended up carding a 106. It was an abysmal drive home, because I had made a commitment around December to be more intentional during my time in the sim.

Long gone were the days of attempting to finish three sim rounds in ninety minutes.

They had been replaced by the chipping/pitching target practice game and specific on course shots.

With all the work going into that first round and the immediate result of a 277 yard opening drive, I expected a sub 90 round.

I never anticipated writing 99+ on my card again.

Around March of 2023, I discovered the Chasing Scratch podcast and ran into a situation that a lot of fans face thanks to being able to binge a podcast or show on Netflix.

It sounded like they kept making the same mistakes. I stopped listening at some point during season three.

I’m still struggling with proper sleep the night before a round that matters to me. I’m still struggling with feeding myself or bringing enough food to the course if I have overslept and didn’t have time to eat prior to leaving.

I’ve had two rounds in 2024 that I was dramatically overdressed for the heat because I either forgot to put my shorts in the car (for some reason, I decided I would change at the course) or didn’t check the weather for the back nine.

Golf is impossibly hard. I continue to be my own worse enemy. However in the rounds since that 106, I have improved my course management and more importantly, am able to move forward mentally faster from mistakes, which is both encouraging and disappointing.

How did I become mentally tougher before I remember to eat a big enough breakfast?

I wrote a massive post detailing my need to arrive to the course early enough to swing every club. And yet this past weekend, I overslept and only took a handful of wedge swings on the range.

Fast forward two hours later, there was a brief lightening delay. Following the delay, I put my first tee shot on 13 into the water. The fifth ball of the day lost to the drink.

I was primed to unleash a second 55, but finished the next five holes +3 including a two putt par on a 513 par 5 guarded by water.

I have recorded a birdie three rounds in a row. If The Grint wasn’t such a miserable piece of software I could double check my 2023 fall but I’m confident I didn’t have a birdie in two consecutive rounds.

On May 23rd, I texted a friend, “I need a breakthrough.”

This Wednesday, I texted that same friend, “Creeping closer to a breakthrough.”

We’re on to June in Eastern North Carolina.