#diverseydrivingrange

[heyahsan]

I don know why … these golden moments always take my breath away with highly saturated greenery, long tree shadows , golden shimmering sun rays, chirping birds and my casual stool to home … one of my favorite thing :) #DiverseyDrivingRange #Sunshine #Nature #Trees #Evening #GoldenMoments #Sunrays #EveningWalk #LovelyEvening #ChirpingBirds #SpringTimes #Colors #Freshness #DiverseyMiniatureGolf #LincolnPark #HappySaturday #April2017 #Spring2017 #EveningMoments #LakeshoreDrive #DiverseyAndLakeShoreDr #Chicago #HappyWeekend #BeautifulEvening (at Diversey Golf Driving Range)

[ladydriver-blog]

Thinking about myself

I'm a Spinning instructor so people are always asking me for tips and advice on their own fitness endeavors.  The other day a friend called to release nerves about attending her first Spinning class, wondering if people would 'know' it was her first class and judge her, concerned about looking stupid.  My reply was that the good news is that people are just thinking about themselves, and they probably won't even notice you.

This is what my boyfriend says when we go to the driving range together and I either hit a great shot and exclaim, "Wow!  Did you see that!?"  He'll say, "No, Sweetie, I wasn't paying attention."  Gratefully, he's not paying attention the eight bajillion times I whiff it, either.

So how freeing the last time he took me and I did indeed whiff a few, no doubt.  But I also experienced a brand new phenomenon ... for the first time in my golfing career (a year) I didn't get frustrated with myself.  And, it turns out, I actually started to really enjoy experimenting with different ways to twist in my core, different techniques to focus, different amounts of grip.  I had fun.

I had fun.

I can count on one hand the number of times learning a new sport has produced a feeling of fun.  I'm so competitive, so fiercely independent, so fearful I'll look bad ... or worse, stupid, that I come across to everybody as a know-it-all.  It's part of the reason I prefer individual sports like running or activities performed in the dark like Spinning - because that way I can be in charge of a repetitive movement I can perform perfectly.  

Golf ... even for the most skilled players, it seems, is so far out of my comfort zone considering my preferred paradigm.  So for me to sit here and admit that even though I performed way less than perfectly, I enjoyed myself, relaxed and considered the activity fun?  Well, that's a miracle.

So I was inspired to hit the city driving range myself and not only was that fun too, but I would consider myself performing really well.  Out of a large bucket of balls, I whiffed very few.  I deliberately focused on the less angled clubs, my 'baby drivers' and my 7 wedge.  My boyfriend laughs at my terms for these clubs but I don't care, I called them these terms and he called them hybrids but then went on to explain they're not really hybrids and I don't know enough to counter so I just make up my own names.  The point is that I stood there hitting balls for a good 45 minutes ... I'll admit I had one eye on my phone the whole time hoping my boyfriend would text or call, but that's no different than any other day.  So, sue me, I like spending time with him.  The thrust of the matter is that for 45 minutes I enjoyed myself doing something I don't do perfectly but it seems that the act of enjoyment might have made me better than if I'd been punishing and shaming with myself about it.

We also played Golden Tee the other night and for the first time I made par on two holes.  I still have trouble picking a club without engaging the swing so I probably could have done better there.  And there is some nuance about putting I've yet to master.  My boyfriend thinks that putting failure will and does translate to the golf course but I totally disagree.  My ineptitude as a Golden Tee player is because I'm a girl and don't like/enjoy video games.  It's a good instructional tool to help me feel more familiar with my clubs and golfing in general, though.  

Excited to watch Tiger Woods kill it at the Open this weekend!

[ladydriver-blog]

All By Myself

I picked up my phone last night when my boyfriend checked in with his nightly call, something I'll never take for granted especially since we don't see each other every day.  I'm fiercely independent but also love the incoming communication.  It makes me feel special.  He was driving home and making a pit stop into the ATM when he called, and said he'd call for a more substantive conversation in a second but needed to get cash.  

I said, "Well, I'm walking into the driving range."

He said, "You're kidding me."

I said, "No, I'm not, and they're about to have last call to sell balls so I'm going to hit it."

He kind of huffed out a surprised, bemused laugh and said, "Um, well, then.  You call me when you're done with that!"

That's right, at 9:30 pm on a Tuesday night, I headed into the driving range with my #3, my #6 and my #7.  I am so lucky to live down the street from the Diversey Driving Range, a park district facility where a bucket of 50 balls costs $10, where they're open year-round, with hours accommodating to a busy brain that ramps up just shy of midnight.

I selected those clubs given my two most recent driving range experiences.  I'm confused as to which clubs to call hybrids because from what I understand, technically they're all hybrids.  So I refer to the clubs as my driver, the junior drivers, the baby drivers and the wedges.  And since I experienced the most awkward trouble once I got off the tee, onto the green, handling the baby drivers and the wedges, I felt we needed to become better friends.

I validated my selection of clubs based on the other urbanites milling in and out of the facility, all about my same age, carrying three clubs of a similar assortment.  

This was a very successful trip in that I learned about lessons I can take for $150 for 6 weeks from the Chicagoland Golf Academy, a price which might be a little steep for my not-for-profit salary but it's something I'm definitely considering.  I learned if I loosen my grip I'm less compelled to use my arms and more prone to power from my core.  I produced about 30 very successful clicking sounds with nice pretty arcs.  

Hitting the balls took half an hour and that, plus the 40 minute round-trip walk through the park was an incredibly well-spent effort.  I picked up a copy of Golf Chicago Magazine and I plan to leaf through it at the pool this afternoon while I plot out when I am headed to the range next.