Palm Desert Learn to Golf

30 Day Golf Challenge

I have a challenge for you.

But first please let me explain how I created this challenge and the guidelines. Recently I set myself a goal to play golf for 30 days straight. My goal was to fast track my game to automatic again and get back to at least a scratch within those 30 days.

Having been busy coaching and creating a custom program for high level golfer's since moving back here from my coaching role at TPC Sawgrass. My game had gotten a little rusty and it was going to take this effort to break free of the rust. I knew that I needed a solid goal to regain some good practice habits and I must admit my first week back focusing on my own game was less than stellar and required that I remain patient and take what I got as far as scores.

Once I began to see the improvement from my new commitment it turned into a marathon, as I felt the urge to keep my run of days going and see how far I could go. The result was that finished up doing 101 days straight. The best results however, came quickly into the Challenge.

Although I was again shooting some nice professional level scores after a couple of weeks it seemed that around 60 days straight was the point of diminishing returns. As I had to find better ways to stretch and click my body back together after each day. My younger years of football, tennis, dirt biking and kickboxing have given me some wear and tear. Add to that the millions of golf balls hit as a competitive golfer. Thanks to Adrienne's 30 days of yoga on YouTube and a living room full of stretching and back care equipment I made the marathon and learnt a valuable lesson in peaking performance.

The best performance was at the 30-day mark when I shot my lowest score since moving back to California from my coaching position at TPC Sawgrass. Shooting five under par 66 off the black tees at Dove Canyon. It almost felt like when I was playing Professional events in my 20s again. Well worth the effort and very encouraging for a 45-year-old Pro. My body was still feeling limber and not yet sore from the dynamic repetition of the golf swing.

Therefor 30 Days of preparation was the mark that I would now set aside to compete again.

This Challenge at least for myself showed the need for rest days after the 30-day mark. However, the first 30 days were very achievable with massive leaps in performance and it was even fun. Of course, you should see your healthcare professional before you commence this challenge and if you do get any chronic aches or pains you may need to build up to it.

Through this I have gained a lot of respect for the senior tour players as playing golf everyday does require that the body withstands many dynamic repetitions. The challenge is long enough that we will learn something about our commitment, body and motivations.

We are all different however, I would strongly recommend keeping moving forward at least one day off per week for recovery after the initial 30. This may be more depending on age and activity levels. But the 30 days of commitment kick started the game back on track.

30 Day Golf Challenge Steps:

1) Grab a sheet of paper write down your average score for your last 5 rounds and todays date on a sheet of paper.

2) Write 1 through 30 on a sheet of paper so you can check off your days after completed

3) Leave yourself a little room to scribble a few notes of work to do, or best scores and you are ready to start!

Criteria and guidelines of my 30-Day Challenge:

Minimum two hours per day practice or play.

You can do a makeup day (but you must do at least half an hour on the day before to keep days flowing) by adding one and a half hours to your next day’s two hours.

You must do three and a half hours on the next day in that case

You can do 4 - 8 hours of practice each day however, additional hours do not carry over

There are no days off, for the first 30.

If you take the challenge please let me know as I will log all participants and love to hear your feedback and results. pro@golfacademyonline.com

Also, if have questions or need help I would love to hear from you.

Be About it!

Geoff Murtha

Australian P.G.A. Professional is the Director of The Specialized Golf Coaching Program at Dove Canyon Golf Club in Orange County California. www.golfacademyonline.com

Geoff Murtha is an Australian P.G.A. Master Professional. With over 25 years of elite level golf coaching experience at high end facilities around the world, including 2 years coaching at the home of the P.G.A. Tour, TPC Sawgrass. His unique golf coaching methods are designed to test, upgrade and monitor for advanced competitive skills. Geoff specializes in coaching elite level tournament players. His instinctive and individualized mechanical upgrades are verified by state of the art technology.

A better Golf Swing is just part of a the big picture.

The shot making skills for lower scores includes: Full swing mechanics, long drives, distance control, pitching, putting, chipping, bunkers, lobs and more. These are just some of the ingredients that make up a great golf game. Combine this with physical attributes, club fitting and mental skills including stress reactions, course management, concentration and motivation. We start to see that all of these strands interrelated may resemble a complex bowl of spaghetti.

We also begin to understand why many linear one size fits all methods may only be effective for a small percentage of golfers. The stringent parameters often lack flexibility and true understanding of your individual requirements.

Furthermore, I would also assess your level of requirement for each aspect of improvement, placing all the variables of the golfer's pie chart on a sliding scale allowing for individual tendencies. Some clients need more short game work, the next client needs better course management.

Performance of certain skills may also be effected by the situation, physical abilities, emotions and comfort levels. Therefore, we take the time to understand your strengths, weaknesses and tendencies.

Which pieces of the pie do you need most?

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