Accuracy, Loft & Distance

My in-laws passed through town on their way to Florida for the month. While Slick & the Queen went shopping for skinny clothes, flyDad & I did "guy" stuff. We hit the driving range, the "Golf Galaxy" shop, and finished off at the Hickory Tavern to watch the second half of the NC-State vs Duke game. Fun times!

The year that we moved south, I got a new driver for my birthday & irons for Christmas. Spring came and I used them once at the driving range. Then I got sick. I don't think I used them since. That was 3 years ago. Beautiful new clubs & I couldn't use them. It's on my top-ten list of most frustrating things about the fibro. I've been unable to swing a club, but unwilling to give up & sell them.

Even as I've started feeling better, I've been really hesitant about golf. I'm really worried about injury & pain flare-ups. Pain is really difficult for me to judge. I always have some sort of dull throbbing and tingling. If I used the "don't do it if it hurts" rule for exercise, I would never do anything. If I want to have fun and/or accomplish stuff, I have to push through that. The catch is learning what pain is normal or a warning sign for a potential flare-up or a real injury. I've already determined that I can't do anything high-impact. I know I must avoid heavy lifting. What about swinging a golf club?

I hit a 1/2 a bucket of balls. I used my 7-iron almost the whole time. I took it really slow and stretched a lot. Actually, I had good results for someone so rusty. Only about 1/5 shots was a complete dud. Most of my shots were solid. In fact, a lot were straight, with good loft and went out about 100-110 yards. flyDad was really surprised. In some ways, I think I swing the club more cleanly than before I got sick. I had to relax & take it slow. I swung with care and didn't try to drive the ball. It took me longer to go through my little pile than I used to take on a jumbo bucket. There's a lesson there somewhere...

I did finish with about a dozen swings with my driver. They were all painful. They were also ugly shots. On the last ball, I felt good and drove it straight out about 250 yards. I think, given the amount of pain the swings caused, that I will probably need to avoid the driver & fairway woods for a while.

If things keep improving and I'm able to keep getting out to the range, maybe Slick & I will look for an executive course. If I can't swing my driver, at least I'll be able to play a short game. Still, I'm not going to get my hopes up. Today, I'm more uncomfortable than usual. On one hand, this could be completely natural from doing a physical activity I haven't tried in 3 years. On the other hand...well, let's not go there...