How is it today?

This morning I went out to practice for a few hours just to keep some feel going. I was hitting balls beside a man who was obviously a good athlete, but seemed to be struggling with his back. He would hit a couple of shots, step back and start stretching. He kept going through this process, looked over at me and said, "I did a bunch of swimming in my pool yesterday, and my upper back is so tight and sore, that I feel like I have a new golf swing."
It was driving him crazy.
Anyone, that has played golf for a long time, or who plays lots of different sports can relate to this experience. When I played on the golf team at BYU, Johnny Miller invited the team to his house for a few days of golf. Johnny is a BYU alumnus, and his son Andy was on the team at the time.
The first day we got there, we went swimming, and had a blast. We were having a contest to see who could dunk each other the most times. The next day, we drove to Carmel and played at Pebble Beach. My neck was so sore, that I felt like I couldn't move.
Pebble was amazing!
We had perfect weather, and Johnny Miller spent the whole day hanging out with us. If I had felt like I could move properly, I would have really enjoyed it! It was brutal, and I knew that playing around in the pool the day before was a big mistake.
I have learned two great lessons in regard to this subject. The first lesson is to plan out when you are going to be playing and think ahead. If I just spend a little time thinking about that, I can map out a pretty good formula for being physically ready to play. I bet you can too.
The second thing applies to people who do not play enough plan out their golfing day. They just want to play. Each day our bodies are a little different. So, the best thing to do, is get over it.
That sounds a little harsh huh?
Well, the problem really comes when we try to force our golf swing in to some mold that is not there on that particular day. The best thing to do is pay real close attention to what you have going on in the warm up, and go play with it. Look at it objectively, don't judge it for right or wrong, and go use what you have on the course.
In fact, you can do this every day. This is also the first key to getting in the zone...no judgement!