Words of Wisdom by Moe Norman

“Golf is to have fun,” he told me toward the end of our conversation, repeating a theme he had brought up before. “What do you have to lose? A lousy ball, that’s all. If you lose yours, grab another one out of your bag and hit it. That is what the game’s about, and that is the first thing I was taught 55 years ago: Have fun. Most golfers don’t see the bright things. All they see is the bad.

“But if you see the bad things, that’s where your mind will take you. If you drive a car down the road and look at the sidewalk, where do you think you’re going to put the car? It’s the same thing on a golf course. People see only trees and water. But I don’t. To me, they are only there as an ornament. They are there to make the course look nicer. All I see is the tee, middle of the fairway, and middle of the green. That’s golf. I hit my 18 fairways and 18 greens, and go on to the next day.”

“Gee, Moe,” I said, “it must be boring for you.”

“Like heck it is,” Norman said. “That’s fun.”

From The Story of Moe Norman, golf's troubled genius.

Dead Bugs and Planks

No more excuses.  I got the heavy bag set up so I can train with my Muay Thai coach who's offering to teach me remotely on the weekends. I also got a really nice weight set with enough weight to keep me busy for a very long time, battle ropes, jump ropes, ab wheel, curling bar, kettle bell, and a jogging stroller for when it's not so hot outside.

This year's been bad for everyone.  Too many have lost their lives and loved ones.  Millions have lost their jobs and their future is uncertain.  Gyms and businesses are closing, people adjusting to what might be the new normal for the foreseeable future, and an overall feeling of helplessness living in America with so many people including government officials not doing their part to get us moving past this like so many other countries already have.  The whole situation led to a big decline in my overall well-being and my physique and fitness declined to a pretty extreme degree.  

But it's time to pick up the pieces and get back to work!  I survived, and I can't keep moping around feeling sorry for myself over things I can't control.  I've been working out pretty consistently since I got the weight bench set up last weekend and I'm feeling fantastic.  I'm working in some core strength exercises to speed up the process because sitting on the couch for over a third of the year has all but erased the foundation I need to pick up heavy stuff and move my body quickly.  Yesterday in-between sets I did one-minute planks.  Felt really good and got some great core activation.  I'm going to keep doing planks and plank variations till it isn't hard anymore before moving on to the harder core strength routines.

I found this great video yesterday by Jeremy Ethier and I'm excited to add this move to my daily routines:

Going to work on this move every day so I can get myself back on track.  Stretching every day in the office has helped a lot too with getting my mind right.

Overall, I'm feeling completely different from how I was feeling six weeks ago.  Six weeks ago I was at rock bottom, feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere in life, and just not knowing where to start.  Now I'm working a new job, golfing with my friends again, training regularly, getting things done around the house, and most importantly I'm feeling that nagging itch again of seeing how I'm unfinished and ready to launch myself to new heights.

No more excuses.  And when I do make excuses, I acknowledge what they are, give myself a few minutes to relax, then pick myself up and get back to work!

2020 won the 2nd and 3rd round, but I'm fully recharged and about to knock its ass out.

Range session last night with Juno & Thomas

Key things I worked on last night that I don't want to forget (besides that sweet drive I hit at the end of the session):

I need to remember the 10 words of the stack & tilt system BEFORE I set up to the ball.  Namely,

• Weight Forward
• Shoulder Down
• Hands In
• Arms Straight
• Tuck Hips (butt under torso)

At address, I need to trim it down to "Weight Forward" when I set up to aim, and my trigger to start my back swing is "Shoulder Down."  I've noticed that when I'm conscious of "Shoulder Down" I tend to make consistent impact with the ball first turf second. 

With driver and fairway wood I need to approach them with the same mentality as my 7-iron now that I switched to stack & tilt.  I'm fighting a push and a bit of a pushy cut (not quite a slice) with the driver, but that's because I'm still working on trusting the tee height since I haven't hit the club very much in the last six years.  "Shoulder down" needs to be my swing thought when I dip the front shoulder, but I also need to start working on making sure I don't shrug the trailing shoulder in the back swing because that might lead to me leaving the club face open at impact.

Overall, driver and fairway wood were pretty solid last night.  Definitely making better contact with the new Cobra F8 hybrid, which was very exciting!  It's not a very forgiving club, but I'm finding the center of the face way more than I was before.  I think I'm getting used to the heavier weight of the club compared to my old 3-hybrid. 

With pitching I need to remember to hinge the hands pretty early, and release the hands down into the ball but making sure I turn the body together with the hands and arms.  The swing thought that worked for me last night was "Hands Arms Body Together."  That was the trigger to initiate the takeaway and hinge the wrists.  Impact was pretty consistent.  Not perfect, but better than before.  Distance control is still really really bad but first things first.  "Hands Arms Body Together" was the trigger that pretty much eliminated the chance of me hitting leading edge first and had me moving confidently through the ball.  Problem I ran into a bit was thinning it from time to time, but that went away as soon as I focused a little more on the hinge at takeaway.

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Overall, great session.  Ended it with Thomas telling me which clubs to play next after every shot and that was a great mental toughness game to get me in the mindset to play the shot well without thinking I had multiple tries per club. 

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New Instagram and Golf Posture Article

We got ourselves an instagram account!  Can't wait to post golf pics from the crew.

Follow us at @LordsoftheLinks

Our newest golfer, Dr. T is just starting.  She's had a few range sessions and is progressing at breakneck speeds.  One of the biggest things she, and all of us, need to work on is better posture.

I found this really cool article that gives a nice description of how to get yourself setup like the pros.

Do this:                                Not this: