dad golf (noun) - The act of balancing a golf lifestyle while not interfering with dad duties
I’ve had many lessons where my golf instructor told me that I wasn’t “staying connected” throughout my downswing. I honestly had no idea what this meant. How can I not be connected if my arms are physically connected to my body? What a strange golf term. And when I asked what it meant, I never felt like I got a good explanation. Now, only after 10+ years of playing, I finally know what it means and why it is so important.
I went on a golf trip to Gamble Sands this past week and played both the Gamble Sands and Scarecrow courses. Good times, great scenery, solid food and drinks. Here’s my honest take.First, let me get this out of the way: don’t compare it to Bandon Dunes. I made that mistake and it colored the whole experience. They’re just not in the same league.
During the past 10 weeks, I’ve been on what the kids these days call a “weight loss journey.” It all started back in February when I went to Bandon Dunes.
On day one, we played the Bandon Dunes course — and it was everything I imagined it would be. As you probably know, you have to walk the course there. You can hire a caddy to carry your clubs, but I opted for a pull cart. You’d think that wouldn’t be a big deal, but I wasn’t walking courses back then, and by the end of the round, I was surprisingly tired.
The next morning, I woke up with a stiff lower back. We played Bandon Trails that day, and it took me six holes just to loosen up. By the end of that round, I was completely spent. That’s when I decided: if I’m ever going to do another golf trip like this, I need to do something about my fitness and my back.
Ever since I had been diagnosed with tarsal tunnel syndrome in 2018, I have gone through a long journey of recovery and further injury prevention. A big part of this is in the shoes I wear daily. I started putting insoles for arch support in all of my shoes and I’m very picky about what types of shoes I wear, including in golf. A few months ago I started to walk every round rather than take a cart, which was great for my overall health but it meant I needed to make sure I can find shoes I can play well in, but also be comfortable enough to stand and walk in for several hours. I think if you walk the course, the average 18 hole round is about 6 miles worth of walking. All of that really led me to look for the right golf shoes.
Recently, I signed up with golf instructor Chris Ryan’s golf membership where you can view his videos, lessons, and even get individual lessons from him. I’ve always enjoyed Chris Ryan’s YouTube videos and in fact, his were the only ones that have ever helped my golf game. Whenever you have an issue with your golf swing, it’s tempting to look at videos on YouTube to see how to fix those issues, but more often than not, the videos you will watch will not be applicable to your swing. I think that’s why watching YouTube golf instruction videos can really harm your game. For some reason though, Chris’ videos always seem to be super relevant.