Duffs to Darts: My Final Project Recap

Duffs To Darts – Final Recap

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41 Weeks ago, I started my journey to becoming a better player. For the first time ever, I was going to dedicate myself as much as I possibly could to becoming a better player. I started playing the game at 18 but it wasn’t until I hit my late 20’s that I truly became obsessed with it.

As much as I love this game, resources and time are limited for me. I work an hour away from my home, so I lose a minimum of two hours a day just traveling to and from work. After working a full day and traveling home I have two young children (5 and 7) that need attention. Help my wife get dinner ready for our family to eat and daily chores to complete that are part of every day life.

Before I know it, another day has gone by, daylight is gone and I’m heading off to bed to start this rat race all over again. All of that probably sounds familiar to you as it’s the life so many of us lead. I decided that this season would be different. I was going to make it a point to find time to practice and play as much as possible. Maybe, just maybe if I worked hard enough, I could lower my scores and my index in ten months. I set some rules for myself and formed a plan.

Duffs to Darts on a Dime- kickoff

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That first check in video you can kind of tell how apprehensive I was about staring this project. I wanted to get better but to put yourself out there every single week was nerve-racking to start. I wanted to get down between 10 to a 12 index in ten months, on a budget, on a dime. I started off this project by getting fit for a new set of clubs.

That’s not saying that you need to get brand new sticks but the clubs I had where over 10 years old and fit to me when I had a different swing. The only club in my bag prior to this season that was fit to me was my driver. After my Sub 70 fitting I was fit from Driver all the way down to most of my wedges. The only clubs not fit to me are my putter, Gap wedge and lob wedge. That’s something in the future that will change but for this year it wasn’t in the cards. Because Sub 70 is a direct to consumer brand I was able to upgrade my clubs for around $1000.

Week after week I would track my practice habits. I started doing the weekly vlogs in my living room with my kids running around and as the weather improved a few months later I moved to the balcony of our apartment complex. Because we currently live in a condo my space is limited.

I don’t have a basement to mess around in or a garage to put up a net so I can strike balls. Everything at home is limited due to small children and light fixtures I’d rather not break. On the rare occasion I was at home un supervised I would clear out the couches and setup a net. Tall ceilings mean I could swing 7 iron through PW with minimal risk (I did shank a ball into a door once).

Condo Golf Practice With My SC200

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By the time the spring hit I was ready to hit the course. I was confident in all the inside work I had been doing. In Chicago land this had to wait as we had the rainiest spring ever that caused courses to flood and even hit us with some snow in April that made playing next to impossible. When I finally did get out it was more of what I was used to. 9 holes would result in a minimum of 9 balls lost off the tee. Golf is an expensive game as it is, but nothing makes you more frustrated than 9 penalty shots on 9 holes of golf. My first round of 18 wasn’t much better as that came with topped balls and shanks.

By the time I finished my first round of 18 I wanted to give up this entire project and take up frisbee golf instead. Clearly, I didn’t do that. I kept pressing on and with the weather warming up for the season, I began to log more rounds. Don’t get me wrong, I was not playing 3-4 times a week. If I got to play at all it was just 9 holes, once a week. Most of the time we have jammed packed weekends so sneaking off for 4-5 hours isn’t in the cards for me.

By the middle of the summer I was averaging one round a week and that’s when the improvement really started to show. Those double and triple bogeys started to turn into single bogeys and pars. I wasn’t losing as many balls off the tee. I went from shooting 15-18 over par on 9 holes (I told you I had a bunch of penalties) to 9 or less above par.

So What Changed?

I started giving myself an opportunity to score by changing one main thing in my swing. STOP OVER SWINGING! I’m not a tour pro, I’m never going to be so why the hell am I trying to crush the ball 300 yards down the fairway? I’ve been lucky to hit that distance a few times but most of my drives ended up so far out of play it didn’t matter how far I could hit it.

I shortened my back swing and really focused on slowing down my swing. Those 275-290 drives dropped down to around 250 but I could actually find my ball and have a chance to score. Coming to this acceptance and realization was really the turning point in my season. I hit it between 240 to 260 off the tee now and I’m completely fine with that. I have always been a strong putter so that part of my game only got better with daily practice.

Yes, I really did putt pretty much every single night since January. Night after night using the PuttOut meant that anytime I was inside 6 feet those butterflies went away. I have so much confidence in my putting I look forward to any shot on the green because I know I have a legitimate chance to make it. Even if it’s a putt from over 30 feet away.

How Did it Finish?

I had tracked my scores all year in the 18 Birdies app. I noticed going into the last month of this project that my handicap wasn’t adjusting. When I noticed this, I downloaded The Grint app on my phone. I plugged in all of my scores from this season and I saw that I had dropped down to 13.2 index going into the end of October.

This meant that I needed to shoot in the mid to low 80’s on my last round of the year and I would be down to my goal. I had set my last round of the year up to play with the owner of Sub 70 Golf at his local club. It was a beautiful fall day an I learned quickly that the last round of the year wasn’t going to a cake walk. The fairways played like a links style course and the speed of the greens where the fastest I have played the entire year.

With all that being said and some missed opportunities while playing I ended up shooting 10 over on the front, 10 over on the back to shoot 20 over par. The course was a par 70. This score bumped me up to the 14 range on my index. I ended up giving my self one last chance to knock the index down by playing another new course. Heading into the back 9 I was on the 11^th hole I was 9 over par. I was playing well, despite the windy, cold wet conditions. I

approached a par three with water to the right. Formed a game plan and sadly, I didn’t execute. Put a ball in the water, then missed the green on my penalty shot from the tee. This was the start of three bad holes that resulted in a completely destroyed round. I was very frustrated because I knew that I was out of time on this project. The opportunity was lost, and I wouldn’t have a chance to make it right. I took a deep breath and played the rest of my round strangely relaxed. I didn’t have the added pressure of a score anymore, so I just let myself enjoy this game that I love so much.

I ended up finishing that round at with a final score of 96. This came with a quad, a 10 and another double bogey on consecutive holes. If not for that one stretch of holes I would have had a real shot of hitting this goal.

Success in Failure

Even though I didn’t reach my goal of being in the 10-12 handicap range at the end of this project I can’t say that I completely failed. I ended up shooting my lowest 18-hole score of 86 this year and my lowest 9 hole round of just 2 over par. I maintained a 2 putt average over the course of the year and thanks to Shot scope I know exactly what needs to get better for next year.

I improved my accuracy off the tee along with playing more rounds of golf in one season that I ever have. I played just 23 times all year over the course of ten months. I met some amazing people along the way. I played with several members of the Golficity Army along the way as well. With the dedication I had in this project I made it a point to put a club in my hand virtually every single day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by ed_ditusa (Duffs to Darts) (@ed_ditusa) on Nov 5, 2019 at 5:46am PST

I was lucky enough to play 8 new courses that I have never stepped foot on. I discovered the joys of course architecture while pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. I truly believe that if I played every single week, twice a week and at just one course I would have hit my goal.

For me and my personal life, that’s just not possible. I have plans on how to keep working towards this goal for next year, and hopefully surpassing it. I will be joining my local country club in the spring. This comes with a full practice facility, grass driving range, short game area and multiple practice putting greens. The flexibility to go out and play or practice on a course will be a key to getting better in 2020.

Duffs to Darts may have fallen short of the ultimate goal, but what I have learned about myself, others and the game of golf this year I still feel like I won. If you have followed along throughout this journey, I want to thank you for your support. If this inspired you to work on your game, I hope you have better results than I did. DM’s are open so if you want to play a round next season don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time…Keep Grinding!