A Scare from Last Week; Ready to Go Again

In addition to a fairly solid round of 68 in the second round of last week's Carolinas Pro Tour event, there was a much bigger story from last Thursday that I did not tell on here. To make a long story short, I was dangling my foot outside of the golf cart (The Carolinas Tour uses carts for its events) as I sped from the fourteenth green to the fifteenth tee and got my foot caught against a rock as I looked excitedly toward the tee of the approaching par 5. It was evident that I had done some serious damage to my foot, but I was instantly encouraged by the fact that I could still put some weight on the foot and half-ways make a golf swing. I painfully finished the four holes of the tournament and got a bag of ice for my three-hour drive home. When I arrived home, I could only hobble. My physical therapist, Dr. Laura Malnati, is a darn good one, and we talked extensively over the phone about what I felt and the motions that I could and could not make with my foot, toes, and ankle. She confidently diagnosed that no bones were broken and that I had just really aggravated and overstretched some of the muscles in my foot. She prescribed me to try my best to keep the foot in motion but cautioned against overdoing it. It would heal itself she assured, but it would take some time before the muscles calmed back down and the pain subsided. I have been a good patient, and, despite not being able to walk the first two mornings after it happened, I am now walking with very little pain and even walked a full nine holes this (Monday) afternoon. I am very relieved to see that this injury is nothing severe, and I feel very lucky. From now on, I will be following that stupid warning written in all golf carts to "keep arms and legs inside the cart at all times while in motion." :)

I vowed three weeks ago that I would finish my process goals every week until I am all the way through Q-school. Given that I hadn't made much progress on them last week before suffering my injury, I didn't like my odds of keeping that promise. I am really pumped up to say, however, that with a lot of work on the putting green and some very quality time spent working on my chipping, I was able to finish all of my practice goals on a bum foot over the weekend. Even more exciting is the fact that I was able to have a good workout on Saturday and then substituted my final run of the week with a 17-mile bike ride on Sunday. The bike ride was something new for me, but I have a family of experts in that area. Though my butt hurts from the ride, my body feels awesome and I am proud to say that I did complete every single one of my process goals last week. It was a good feeling, and I really do feel like I made great progress while I was hobbling over the weekend. 

I felt so good on Sunday that I decided I was going to play this week on the Carolinas Tour again. I was leaning towards withdrawing on Saturday and still felt that way until late in the day on Sunday, but as I hit some long bunker shots towards the end of the day, I noticed that I was getting to my left side fine on my injured foot. I hit just one full shot on Sunday, but it felt good, and I knew that I was good to go. I practiced in Dandridge on Monday morning, had another great bike ride over the lunch hour, and hit the road for Charlotte, NC, in the early afternoon. I arrived in time to play a quick nine holes before dark at a course called Northstone, and both my foot and my game felt good! 

This week's Carolinas Tour event is at a course called Cabarrus Country Club. It is Tuesday and Wednesday, and I am ready for it! Though I didn't play a practice round at the course, I know it decently well and am confident that I can play it well. Most of all, I'm just excited to be playing. It should be a great tournament with another strong field. Keep it here to follow the action. Thank you for keeping up with me!