Running Out of Time

10,000 hours of golf is a long time.  Come to think of it, 10,000 hours of anything is a long time.   For me, at 35 years old, it's beginning to feel like an eternity.  Why the sudden discouragement?

Well, standing at 542 hours and crawling, life seems more and more to be pushing my golfing aspirations further and further down the list of priorities.  When the pursuit began, I realized this feat would be realistically close to impossible.  Actually, I shouldn't say 10,000 hours of practice was impossible; rather accomplishing this goal in an adequate period leaving any hopes of a professional stint was the impossible part.  10,000 hours of golf will happen.  That I'm certain about.  I'm only hoping it's before my kids qualify for the Senior Tour.

Since The Golf Blog began in September of 2009, I've managed to accumulate 242 hours in almost 20 months.  In other words, I've put in a little over 12 hours a month.  For the average golfer I'd say that's pretty good. But want to know the sobering truth?  If this pace continues, and I expect to reach Malcolm Gladwell's bench mark for perfection, 9,458 hours remain and I'll need 788 months to attain them.  In human years (oh how I wish it were dog years), it would take another 65 years to get there!

Basically, something's gotta give.

The obvious solution would be more hours a month.  But a vague goal setting won't get us there.  No.  We need a specific attack to avoid being an even 100 years old when Malcolm and I reach our destiny.

There are two approaches to take.  One, I figure an average of five hours is spent on a round of golf.  If I can manage to get two rounds a month in during the Northeast's peak (April-October), coupled with a minimum of two 3 hour range sessions a month, then bumping the range time up to three 5 hour sessions during off peak months, this would give me around 187 hours a year.   Are you ready for this? This plan would knock the journey's finish time down to 50 years! (Is there a maximum age limit for the Senior Tour?)

The alternative, and I think the better option, would be more concentrated golf - literally.  Perhaps I can prove Gladwell's theory wrong?  Maybe all I need are 8,000 hours or even 5,000.  Respectively, it would take me 39 or 23 years to reach the top of the mountain. (If I increased my work load as described above.)

The real reality is that 35 years have gone by and I only have 542 hours of golf to show for it.  Unfortunately, what's in the past cannot be changed and what's yet to come might be out-of-reach.  But this does not mean it cannot be dreamt.

Regardless of whether 10,000 hours is ever reached, one thing is for sure: to paraphrase Winston Churchill - I'll never, never, never give up!

And neither should you.

Hours of practice: 542