I haven’t hit an actual golf ball since my last post a couple of weeks ago, aside from a little bit of putting on the carpet. In some ways this time period is emblematic of the (first world) struggles in my golfing life – dealing with injuries, and not getting to the course very much.
Last weekend we decided to go ski on Saturday. We bought some passes before the season started that are only valid for the season and given how short the ski seasons have been of late, we need to take advantage when we can. After a couple of runs on the intermediate slope with my daughter, she and the wife wanted to get some lunch, so I headed over the expert slopes.
A couple of years ago I was able to handle the black diamonds just fine, even if it did push me near the edge of my skill level. I was not so lucky this time. On my first run I hit an ice patch and went down. I wasn’t going particularly fast, but I hit hard enough that my lower back decided to lock up. I stopped and did some stretching movements, then cut back over to the intermediate section to take the lift up and find the family. Fortunately, they had just finished lunch and didn’t really want to stay since the lift lines had gotten so long.
I was really worried about my back, as this was the most pain that I had been in since the herniation in 2020. I immediately went into rehab mode, not just resting, but doing the movements that I knew would give me the most relief. Fortunately, within a few days, things improved dramatically, and within a week I felt “normal”.
In the three and a half years since my herniation, I’ve actually had fewer back issues than I did in the years leading up to the herniation. While I certainly would have preferred to not have had the wipeout, a part of me is glad to know that I am generally doing the right things to keep my back relatively healthy, and I’m able to get things back on track after setbacks. One lesson learned is certainly to pay closer attention to the conditions. When it’s warm and slushy, I need to stick to the intermediate slopes. While I can handle the expert slopes when the conditions are good, I just don’t have the skill to go from ice to slush from moment to moment.
Another physical setback that I’m dealing with is the tennis elbow in my left arm. It improved dramatically after the injection last October, but that only seems to have lasted for a few months. I clearly need to be more diligent with my elbow rehab exercises, and hopefully I’ll see some improvement soon. I also need to put in some time to better understand how the different swing activities contribute to the pain – i.e. rope swing versus Orange Whip style device swing versus divot board. I suspect that having ground contact is much more of a factor, but I don’t think I can reasonably expect to improve / maintain my skill level if the only time I ever hit the ground is when I’m on the course.
In terms of equipment, I did make one change. I was able to get my hands on a spec chart for the Dynacraft blades, which showed that the lofts were even weaker than I expected. From the factory at least, the pitching wedge loft is 50 degrees, which is more than some modern gap wedges. The eight-iron loft is 42 degrees, which is closer to a pitching wedge than a nine-iron in some modern sets. It’s no wonder that I came up short on all of my righty iron approaches in my last round, despite making good contact. I decided to swap out the PW, 8i and 6i for 9i, 7i, 5i. That will give me a larger gap between the SW and my next iron than I had with my previous, but I expect it will be a better compromise. Time will tell.
Alternate Golf 