My Purpose

I have never been good at golf. I have played for years and never really dedicated myself to the game. I have always been a fairly athletic person and thought I knew how to swing a club, but I would always be pretty inconsistent when I would go out and play. Some shots went right, some went left and very few went straight - but those that went straight were a thing of beauty.

I chalked up my inconsistencies to a lack of playing. I truly thought you needed a club in your hand all the time in order to be good. I now have learned that I was wrong. Very wrong. You do not need a club in your hand all the time in order to be good. You need to know how to swing the club correctly in order to be good. That is why you can play with a guy who grew up playing as a kid, was on the golf team in high school, has not played a single round this year and goes out and fires an 84 and beats you by 14 strokes.

I am the guy that loses by 14 strokes.

I usually shoot anywhere from 94 to 100 - sometimes lower and sometimes higher if I am having a long day out there. I have only broken 90 a few times in my life - and only once from the blue tees.

I can hit the ball. I can't always hit the ball straight, but I can hit the ball. I slice my drives 90% of the time. I skull chip shots that leave me farther away from the hole than before my shot. I three putt. I slice, I hook, I hit it fat and thin, I pull and I push. Sometimes I overswing, other times I decelerate.

But sometimes...sometimes...something magical happens. Sometimes I stripe a drive on a Par 5, then hit a long iron that gets on the green in 2. I then give an eagle putt a chance and end up tapping in for birdie. Sometimes I spin a 60 degree wedge from 50 yards out to cozy up next to the pin. There have been the near hole-in-ones, the lipouts from the sand, the truly amazing shots that make you so, so happy. Those are the very moments that make it all worthwhile. Seeing the shot you want to make, going up to the ball and making it happen - just how you pictured it in your mind. Those moments are truly magical. And they don't happen all that often.

I have been playing golf more and more lately and I became overly frustrated by not being able to improve the way I wanted to. I started watching you tube videos, reading magazines and articles on how to hit certain shots. And I finally realized that I did not know the mechanics behind hitting certain types of shots.

So now I have decided to finally learn the mechanics of the golf swing, my golf swing. I want to learn how to hit the fairway with my driver, learn how to get rid of my slice and learn how to hit my 3 iron 'on the screws'. I want to chip it tight and one putt. I want a sand save. I want to give every birdie putt a chance. Hell, I want more birdies.

I am giving myself 80 days to break 80.

Today is June 25 and Day 80 will be September 13 (which oddly enough is my also my Birthday - totally unplanned, so it must be a sign).

I am putting it upon myself to doing whatever it takes to break 80 in 80 days starting today - Day 1.