A new day dawns.  OK, it’s technically a new year that I’m talking about, but you get my drift.

I never like New Year’s resolutions, because usually they’re empty and if you’re going to resolve to improve your life, there’s no good reason to wait until the beginning of a new year.  Do it now!

In my case, I had a two week vacation over the Christmas holiday with nothing planned except normal family stuff.  It gave me a lot of time to think about what I want to accomplish this year.

After reflecting on the past couple of years, it became clear that I need to improve upon what I’m doing because I’m not making the progress that I’d like (though I have made progress).

First off, I need a plan for each area of my life I’m going to improve.  A look at my to-do list and some nudging by The Happy Rock tells me that I neglected creation of a diet plan for quite a while.  I have come to realize that this is my number one key to my success.

In the past, I tried logging my food intake and tried dieting without a solid plan.  It works fine for a while but when it becomes tedious and overly complex, then I start to drift, leaving me where I started.

I thought long and hard about how to construct a plan that would be simple enough to keep me from being overwhelmed while still doing the job.  When I say long and hard, I’m not exaggerating.  It took a lot of thought.

The first thing I did was write down all the stuff I normally like to eat, eliminating all the stuff I know is not good for me.  I was left with a pretty good representation of what I already like to eat when I’m on a good track.  Then, I took those things,  and calculated the calories for each item, adding together components in the case of a sandwich or something of that sort.  I was careful to consider portion size, knowing that in some cases, I’d eat more than what the label considers a “serving”.

Then, I simply used those things to lay out a seven-day menu with three meals and two snacks per day.  In the end, it came out to pretty much what I do anyway, with all the garbage eliminated and an accounting of calories for the day.

So as to not be too rigid, I left some buffer calories in each day, that I can use freely on healthy snacks or extra portions.  Plus, I left dinner on Saturday to be completely open to whatever I want to have, assuming I follow the plan each day that week.

The benefit I see in this plan is that I don’t need to go through the tedious, time consuming accounting over everything I eat each and every day.  I laid it out once and so long as I stick to the plan and make sure daily wildcard calories don’t exceed the planned goal, then there’s nothing more to do.

When I grow tired of something in the plan, I’ll simply make a copy and modify it with something new in place of something old and follow it.  Then, that becomes the new plan.  After I have a few different plans, I can rotate them or whatever I feel like doing.

I feel like I’ve spent enough time up front to make things easy to follow, now determination will need to take over.  Without further ado, you can check out my simple plan here.  You may notice a separate sheet there.  That’s the sheet I used to list everything I typically like to eat, along with the calories.

That’s the most important part of my “off-season”, but close behind are workout and practice plans.  I’m going to attack those in the near future, as well.  I need to strive for the same degree of simplicity in those, especially my fitness plan.  The current plan became difficult to follow because it was too rigid and extensive.  With certain things tied to certain days, if I had to work late or needed rest one day, it threw everything off and became difficult to follow.

I think what I may do is break down the major muscle groups (e.g. arms, legs, back, etc.) and schedule weight lifting and stretching sessions without a specific day attached.  That will give me the flexibility I need, while allowing me to know that I need to do cardio 4 times per week, or work my arms once a week, and so on.  There will be no guilt about missing a session and when I do, I’ll know that I have the flexibility to stay on plan.

The practice plan I’m going to have to give more thought to, but the same principles will have to apply.  Simplicity is paramount for me.  I think I’ve proven that in the last 20 months.

After a lot of planning talk, I can say a little about current events.  I got a good weather day over the Christmas holiday that allowed me to get out for some driving range practice.  I hit the ball surprisingly well, given that the weather keeps me off the course most weeks during the winter.

After a good practice session, I walked three holes to see how my knee would hold up.  I played well enough and my knee seemed to hold up, but was quite sore.  I’ll be paying close attention to knee strength and flexibility in my workouts over the winter.

Other than that, it’s back to my day job tomorrow.  I hope you all had a nice holiday and have a great 2009.

I’ve been eagerly watching the poll that I currently have going in the sidebar asking you what your most dreaded golf shots are.  It’s early, but as results have been trickling in, many of you have voted that your most dreaded are tee shots on tight driving holes.

We’ve all been there.  You stand on the tee and the hole you’re faced with looks about ten yards wide.  There is trouble on both sides.  Maybe it’s water, woods, out of bounds, or some combination of the three.  There are deep fairway bunkers and the green looks so far away.

You stand over the ball and all that trouble is swirling around in your mind.  You’re thinking about penalty shots, water splashing, double- and triple-bogeys.  It’s not a pretty picture.

The most important thing to do on a tight driving hole is to get on the short grass.  You need to eliminate the trouble to give yourself a chance to score well on the hole.

Let’s see if we can get you on the right track.

Rule Number One

To conquer your tight tee shot nemesis hole, you first need to improve your mental outlook.

If you’re standing on the tee with all the stuff I outlined above swirling in your head, then your mental game needs serious work.  You need to pick up a stack of Dr. Bob Rotella’s books and get reading.

The biggest improvement you can make in that area is to train yourself to not be results oriented.  Know that you’re going to plan your shot, commit to it, hit your shot, accept the result - whatever it may be, then hit it again.  That’s all you have to do.  If you hit in the water, you’re going to drop a new ball, assess a penalty stroke and hit it again.  You’re not going to be mauled by a lion.  In the grand scheme of life, it’s only one shot and should be treated accordingly.

This is a boiled-down look at solid mental game of golf so you may want to read more.  You can start with my mental game category, but all roads lead to the books of Dr. Bob Rotella for me.

Getting It in the Fairway

Obviously, a sound mental approach isn’t enough if your course management plan is lacking.  If you’re going to stand on that tight driving hole and grab your driver and hit a banana ball out of bounds, then it doesn’t much matter that you have a solid mental outlook.

As I said above, every choice you make should be about getting the ball in the fairway.  Nothing else matters when you stand on the tee.

Let’s look at some things you can do in that area, as well as some tips to help you get the ball in the fairway.

Shorten the Driver

This is something I’ve been experimenting with for months.  If you decide that driver is the club to hit on the hole, then don’t be afraid to choke down an inch or two.  If you read the post linked a couple of sentences back, you’ll see that Tour pros use shorter drivers than we do because of the added control.  In my own experiment, choking down on my driver 1.5-2 inches has given me a lot more control.

I have given myself more confidence on the tee, especially on tight driving holes.  If you’re a regular reader, then you know I’m struggling with my long irons.  I’ve gained so much confidence with my driver that it has become a better option for me on a narrow hole than long irons.

Check the Macho Attitude

Sometimes it’s tough to reach for something other than driver when standing on the tee.  I guarantee, though, that every time you hit driver on that dreaded hole and your ball splashes down in the water, you wish you had selected a different club.

As I said earlier, your number one priority should be getting on the short grass.

I was once given a tip by an assistant pro at the course I worked at during college.  He told me that on a hole where I’m not confident in my driver, I should club down until I get to something I’m sure I can put in the fairway.  That’s one of the most important pieces of golf advice I’ve ever gotten.

What’s your go-to club?  3-wood? 5-iron?  7-iron?  Don’t be afraid to hit it.  Hit the longest club that you’re positive that you can get in the fairway.

Bogey Can Be Like Par

That brings me to the other thing that I was taught along with the tip about clubbing down.  He also taught me that sometimes it’s alright to plan for bogey.

Look at it this way.  You’re on the tight driving hole.  It’s about 400 yards to the flag.  You hit driver and end up out of bounds.  Now you’re on the tee hitting your third shot.  What do you do?  At best, if you hit driver again and get in the fairway, you’re probably still looking at a double bogey.

Say you have to go all the way down to your 7-iron before you have a club in your hands that you know you can hit in the fairway.  And let’s also say you hit your 7-iron 150 yards, for the sake of argument.

If you hit your 7-iron off the tee, then hit it again, you’ll be left with 100 yards.  A wedge and two putts and you’re looking at an almost certain bogey.

It might feel wrong, but not as wrong as the double-, triple-, or even quadruple-bogey will.

Choose Sides Carefully

Do you walk onto the tee and plop your ball down on any old patch of turf and swing away?  Or, do you use the tee box to your advantage?  If your typical miss is a hook or a slice, then you can usually minimize the damage by setting up on one side of the tee or the other.

If you slice the ball, then you’ll want to set up to the right side of the tee.  If you do, you will naturally aim diagonally left across the hole.  That will give your boomerang ball a lot more room to move right before trouble comes into play.  If you do the unthinkable and actually hit it straight, then you’ll be on the left side of the fairway.  Either way, you’ll have a much better chance of being in good shape off the tee.

If you tend to hook the ball, then the same principles apply, but you’ll want to tee off on the left side of the teeing area.

Not a Technical Swing Challenge

In the end, hitting tee shots on tight driving holes is not about practicing with your driver at the range or getting lessons to banish your slice. Those things are important, but once you step on the tee, the only things you have to rely on are course management and mental game.

You have to live with the swing you brought to the course that day.  To make the most of your game, you need to be willing to commit to a sensible course management plan.  Of the tips I mentioned above, the only one that requires any sort of work is improvement of your mental game.  The rest comes down to forcing yourself to make logical, realistic choices.

Before you set foot on the course for your next round, resolve to create a course management plan.  Planning for the whole round is preferrable, but planning for your dreaded tight driving hole is a start.  Make the tough choices about club selection ahead of time and don’t waiver when you step onto the tee.

Work on these things and you won’t dread a tight tee shot any longer.

I got to thinking the other day that golf presents a lot of challenges that can cause some anxiety, fear, nervousness, dread, and any other negative emotion that might apply.

Certainly, a good mental approach is to train our minds to not be results-oriented and to play one shot at a time and to stay in the moment and all that.  Let’s be realistic, though.  If we amateurs were good at that, we’d play a lot better than we do.

Every player has individual strengths and weaknesses.  Better players have fewer weaknesses and the weaknesses that they do have are not as severe. Less skilled players might have huge holes in their games to the degree that they simply cannot play certain shots.

I’m fascinated to know what your most dreaded shot is.  In fact, I’ve changed up the poll in the sidebar so I can get a tabulation.  If you don’t see your most dreaded shot listed, then leave a comment here or e-mail me and I’ll add it to the poll.

I know for me, right now, my most dreaded shot is anything with my 2-iron.  Everyone tells me to get a hybrid because amateurs can’t hit long irons.  Well, this amateur can hit long irons.  I didn’t have this problem before I started monkeying with my swing.

My 2-iron was like a precision instrument.  I could easily hit it 240 yards, sometimes more.  I could turn it either direction or hit it straight as a laser beam.  I could hit it nice and high.  I could hit it with confidence on a tight driving hole.

Now, half the time I either smother it or top it.  The other half of the time, I clunk it forward somewhere, usually way, way short of what I used to hit it.  I barely pull it out of my bag anymore and when I do, I find it difficult to suppress the dread that I feel.

When I start working with my pro again in the spring, I’m going to make it a priority.  I might switch to a hybrid this year, but not before I can hit that two iron again.  Does that make sense?  No.  But it’s the principle of it.

So which shot do you dread the most?  Again, take the poll in the sidebar and if your dreaded shot isn’t there, let me know and I’ll add it.

I really have a disdain for cold weather golf anymore.  It’s hard to make any real improvement when I can’t get on the course or the driving range with any regularity.  The conditions are more difficult to play in.  The cold keeps my muscles stiff.

Nonetheless, I was able to get out for nine holes today for the first time in weeks.  I wouldn’t say I played well, but I did better than I expected.  I’d say my ball striking was much better than I figured it would be, but naturally everything was just a little off.  I wasn’t holing any putts and my short game was imprecise.

I have to keep reminding myself that the weather and course conditions play a part in all that.  In 44-degree weather, I need to remind myself to club up.  When I hit a short drive, I need to remind myself that the fairways are saturated and there’s a 1 or 2 club wind in my face.  The greens are fairly bumpy during this time of year.

I’m still confident that when I’m able to practice with regularity and get in the repetitions that I need, I’ll be making serious progress.  I made a number of swing discoveries (most with the help of my pro) this year that will help me make real improvement in the coming months.

I’m still having good success with choking down on my driver.  I hit one poor drive (the first of the day), and after that, the rest of my drives were respectable and I felt like I was really in control.

One thing I need to be doing is making better use of the winter (and what’s left of the fall) in terms of working out.  I’ve been keeping extraordinarily busy and workout time is suffering.  I need to start organizing my time a little better and make workouts a priority.  This is another downside to winter.  It’s so easy to slip out of the frame of mind of what I’m trying to accomplish, especially when late-fall and winter weather make golf seem so far away.

I’m hoping for some mild weather this winter, but maybe it’s time to think about relocating to a place with more winter golfing opportunities.  To be truthful, I’ve already been thinking about it, so saying it’s time to start thinking about it isn’t really accurate.  I don’t know what the future holds, so stay tuned.

A while back, I put a poll in the sidebar meant to gauge your overall winter golf habits. It was an interesting exercise.

As of today, here’s how you responded to the question, “Which best describes your winter golf habits?“:

• I play when I can in winter, if the temperature is above a certain level (38%, 54 Votes)
• If the course is open, I play, no matter how cold it is (28%, 40 Votes)
• I live in a warm/mild climate so winter is not a factor (11%, 16 Votes)
• When cold weather comes, I’m done until spring (11%, 16 Votes)
• Snow comes early and stays around so I can’t play even if I want to (11%, 15 Votes)
• It’s not the cold so much, but the wind will keep me off the course (1%, 1 Votes)

At first, I was surprised as the results took shape, but as I thought about it more, I came to the conclusion that it all makes perfect sense.  I half expected to find that most players hang up the clubs in winter and go into golf hibernation until spring.  But, I later realized that if you’re reading this, you’re very likely as hard-core a golfer as I am, so you’re not going to let a little cold weather keep you off the course.

It used to be that I’d play in any weather where the course was open.  Once, I played on a day where the temperature was 22 degrees, the winds were gusting, and the ground was frozen solid.  What an experience that was.

As I hit the age where my brain actually started functioning correctly, I decided that I needed to set a practical limit.  Currently, that limit is temperatures in the 40’s or better.  Too much colder than that and it’s just not as much fun anymore.

I’m impressed with the group of people that said they play no matter how cold it gets.  I can’t help but wonder what the weather is like in winter for those of you in that category.  I’d love to hear from you on that.  If you’re playing in 20 degree temperatures (or worse), then you have my respect.

I was also surprised when I was contacted by a reader from Sweden who pointed out that it’s not the cold, but the wind in winter that keeps him off the course.  That was something I didn’t anticipate when I crafted the poll.

For those of you who are like me and try to play in the winter (or simply refuse to be kept off the course), then there are a few considerations to be aware of to be able to play your best.  I previously did a post about how golf balls react in the cold weather.  For those of you who hang up the clubs until spring, I did a post giving you seven ways to improve over the winter.

I’m going to let the poll run for a while longer to see if the trends hold up.  In the meantime, stay warm out there!