[MYMcvBgl]

As I said before in my intro thread, quoted below, I would like to make a thread that tracks my progress back into the game off golf after my 5 year break that chronicles my progress towards a teenage dream of qualifying for the US Amateur by the age of 30. My intro thread lays this out in detail. I would love if anyone here at THP had feedback for me, as I feel it would help me with things I might be missing. If nothing more, I would like to do this for myself as a personal log of my progress towards my goals...along the way, maybe some of you will find a small level of interest/entertainment in me doing so.

I will post round-ups of my practice sessions, the notes I took away from them, brief descriptions of my rounds, and swing videos which I will analyze with apps on my iPhone. Basically, anything I do to help get my game back, I will post about it in here.

The quote below is long enough, and sums a lot about me and my plans up, but here are the qualifiers I plan to enter in 2013 (as stated below, I am giving myself this year to get my game "back together").

• US Amateur
• US Amateur Pub Links
• US Open

Intro thread, quoted:

Spoiler I guess it is about time I make an introduction thread here so you all can get to know a bit about me...

Where to start? I am now 26, graduated from OSU with a degree in Finance/Economics and work as a Financial Analyst. When I was 19-21, I was a scratch golfer. GHIN was as low as +2.something. I planned on golf being my career (teaching, not playing, I knew I didn't have what it took to play on tour). I planned to attend a golf academy, but then had second thoughts...if my parents were willing to pay for me to get my college degree, why not? So off I went to Ohio State. I started in Marketing, planning to try to land a job as a Sales Rep for a major OEM. Then, I decided to go the Finance route, and ended up studying Finance and Econ. I plan to get my CPA soon, and I'm still undecided on the MBA route - I am driven in my work, and I'm not sure it is a necessity for my career to progress how I want it to right now.

Back to golf. I am a very long player tee to green. I played in many tournaments as a junior, and with a lot of high level golfers, and I have yet to play with anyone "longer" than me. The "all over the place" days come as part of the territory with this. I am a very streaky player. I never had any desire to play college golf, I just wanted to party and have a good time during the "best years of my life". When I got to school, I slowly lost interest in the game...this was due to a combination of a few things 1) no money to play, as I had always had free golf back home through employment, high school team, etc. but no longer did away from home and, 2) no one to play with consistently. So, for five years, I played a max of 3 rounds a year. When I played I had highs and low, I remember mysteriously breaking par once, playing a few rounds that were "worse than any I could remember" and so on. These terrible rounds made it tough for me to love the game the way I once had. I am conditioned to play the game well, and to have fun I require that I play well. Nothing can ruin a day for me like a bad round...except maybe a stupid loss by the Buckeye football team. So, those five years passed, and here I am now. I have finally found my love for the game again and couldn't be happier about it. I am working my tail off to get my game back in full, and I am determined to deal with the bumps and bruises along the way. I had to do this before when I first picked a club up, I can do it again...this time around I am more well educated on golf as a whole and the mechanics of the golf swing, mine in specific.

I'll be honest, I regret not taking the career path of golf when I could have...in hind sight, it sure would be nice to spend my days at work at the course. However, I do have some old dreams I have not let go of. These dreams are why I am back in love. They are: 1) Qualify for the US Amateur by the time I turn 30. I set this one when I was much younger, and it is what I am working towards now. It is the means of my drive in the world of golf nowadays. I plan to create a thread tracking my progress towards this soon, and hope I can gain some moral support from the great people here at THP. 2) Make a name for myself in the Columbus and Ohio amateur scene, another goal I set when I was younger. I miss tournaments. I miss mentally planning an entire 18 holes in my head the night before a big tournament. I miss feeling like I might puke on the first tee, and I miss feeling like every shot was the most important one I'd ever hit. I miss the heat of knowing I was in it coming down the stretch, and having to grind. I miss making a solid swing and shot under pressure. I WILL accomplish these goals, I have no doubt, I just need to put in the work necessary to realize them...I am working on it currently (and have been for the past couple months), but I know I need to work harder and more often.

This is my first "golf season" back (damn Ohio weather, giving me "golf seasons" instead of "year round golf"). I plan to use this year to get things back in line, next year is when I will be entering back into amateur tournaments around Ohio, and Columbus, in specific. I feel this time is necessary to get my game back to where it needs to be, before I rush into things. I will enter in the US Open, US Amateur, and US Amateur Pub Links qualifiers next year as well. I will open a thread in the future to document this, maybe some of you will find interest in my quest.

If you have read this novel in full, I commend you. Most of all, I am glad to be a member at THP and really love this place. I hope I can make a positive impact here. If you have any questions, please ask away. Thanks for reading, and here is an official "hello" to you all.

My first day back after 5 years, at the indoor dome here in Columbus. My swing felt very foreign to me this day, 7 iron in video:



Yesterday, a couple of months in...but not with as much practice time in as I would've liked. Driver:



Again yesterday, with my Tour Striker Pro 7 iron:



I had good success with a workout forum log in the past, where it helped to motivate me, and I hope this will help to motivate me even more than I already am. As a result of my working out (which I haven't done since October of 2011 due to a wrist injury) I have lost a lot of flexibility, which I notice in my swing analysis videos...I am not getting a huge shoulder turn like I used to have. Still, I am getting great distance...hopefully I'll be even longer once I get the flexibility back. I plan to begin working out again now that my wrist is healthy, and doing a lot of stretching and yoga to help get me back to being as flexible as I once was.

If anyone decides to "follow" the thread, please feel free to throw out suggestions for what you would like to see. Thanks for reading.