Holy Crap, look who's back...

Well it's been a loooong time. Still playing and playing a lot better. I pretty much gave up on the blog and have been going through the motions in golf, but this is a brand new year. I've had a little bit of success and I'm back full steam. I've opened up a Twitter account (@PaperHogan) and you can follow me via the link on the right hand side of the blog as well. Along with continuing to post detailed results of my competitive rounds and overall progress, I'll also be live tweeting rounds as they occur (not every shot of course). If nothing else, maybe I'll be able to read back on the posts and see just exactly what my tendencies are as I play.

My next 2 posts will cover my latest mini tour round on the Championship Players Tour (www.championshipplayerstour.com) where I tied for 6th and my pre-qualifier attempt for the Waste Management Phoenix Open, both held at LoneTree. Notice how I didn't talk about where I placed in the pre-qual? I wasn't last by a long shot, but I also didn't make it to the Monday qualifier by a long shot. My next mini tour event is tentatively the 24th of this month and I just picked up a new putter, so we'll have some time to get it worked into the bag. Which brings me to an equipment update:

• Driver - Titleist 913 D3 8.5 degree (set to 9.25), Aldila RIP Alpha X 
• 3 Wood - Taylor Made RBZ 15 degree, Aldila RIP Alpha X 
• 2 Hybrid - Taylor Made R11 17 degree, Aldila RIP Alpha S 
• 3-PW - Ping I20, Dynamic Gold X100 
• Wedges - Titleist Vokey SM4, 54 and 60 degree, DG Wedge 
• Putter - Scotty Cameron Studio Select Newport 

I'm waiting for the USGA to post qualifying site information for this years US Open as well. Going to be a fun year, let's go get some...

The Melee at Staley this weekend!!!!

My friend Dan's father runs a golf course in Kansas City named Staley Farms. He and I are flying up there Friday to play a 36 hole Ryder Cup type of deal against him and the #1 local women's college player. Supposedly they have taken on all comers and are undefeated. We've played a lot of matches against the old man in years gone by, so this will be a good time again. We haven't played for years. She's playing the whites, his dad is playing the blue's and Dan and I are playing the blacks. 7,018 yards from the tips, so a pretty appealing yardage compared with where we've been practicing for this event. We've been playing a course named Southern Dunes here in AZ that is 7,600 yards from the tips, with a rating of 76.1. It's the toughest golf course I've ever played.

Been playing pretty well as of late, shot 77 at Southern Dunes last week, which is great considering the rating and the fact that I was on my 3rd string putter. The Spider is back from getting re-shafted and I've shot even and 1 under in the last 2 other rounds I've played. Hoping the putter turns it up a notch!

Dan's brother Jack will be out there hanging out for Father's Day so they setup a Twitter page and he will be providing updates all through the event. Check in this weekend 7/20 and 7/21 to follow along or just catch up if you get a chance. We'll be playing the competitive events at around 2PM CST Saturday and Sunday, practice rounds in the morning.

http://twitter.com/meleeatstaley - Sign up to follow the feed, we're trying to get to 50 people following the event, tell all your friends!!!

Sick of waiting, done waiting...

I practiced for about an hour today, absolutely no pain. I have lessons scheduled the 6th, 13th, 20th and 29th. I think I have pretty much abandoned Dr’s orders and I’m 100% back into it. Here’s my reasoning, he says I can hit wedge through 7 iron off a tee starting 12/19. Ok, well doc you do realize that wedge through 7 iron are the clubs most likely to dig down into the dirt, transferring that impact energy back up into my shoulder right? And as far as off a tee doc, since you don’t play golf I’ll explain this one to you, you see after striking the ball perched on said tee, the club head continues down into the ground, taking said divot, regardless of where the ball happened to be when the swing started. So off a tee really doesn’t minimize any impact stress at all. Besides, when in Physical Therapy and I’m curling 25lb dumbbells, going through full upward rowing motions with 50lbs on the cable and doing ball walks and pushups supporting my full weight, I think I’m throwing more stress on the shoulder than in a frickin wedge shot. So doc, I’ll see you on the range.

Range of motion is great, basically 100%. Pretty much all of the tightness is gone except for in the most extreme of stretching positions. My last day at the PT was today! I go to their other facility 2 times a week for 2 weeks starting Monday to work with a guy who specializes in golf programs, but supervised PT for the shoulder is complete. I won't be able to practice at all until my lesson Saturday, but the way I hit the ball today, that's a blessing. It's amazing how much I can forget in 13 weeks, it's like I've never held a club before. Nothing crazy, just no ooomph. No compression of the ball at contact, and everything is really high. Now that I know what the golf swing is supposed to feel like, just swatting it out there like I did today is not acceptable. The comeback is on...

Another progress update...

Well I'm still going to physical therapy twice a week, last night when I was there one of the PT's who hadn't seen me in 2 weeks was amazed at the additional range of motion that I had obtained in such a short period of time. Overall he feels I'm missing about 20%, but that is focused on 3 key areas, let's see if I can explain this...Laying down on your back, right arm 90 degrees from your body, then bent at the elbow straight up to the ceiling. Moving the arm as far forward as possible from the elbow and as far back as possible, I'm still tight on both of those movements. Then standing up, take your left hand and scratch up behind your back as high as you can go, I can get almost to my neck. Then with the right hand, I can only get it to the middle of my back, a LOT of tightness in the shoulder there. Problem is, that's the part that tucks in neatly into your ribs on your backswing, so I still have a bit of a chicken wing going on there.

Ahem, you know...if I was to actually swing a golf club, which I don't because my doctor hasn't approved that yet. (cough, bullshit, cough). Anyway, the first 10 or so wedges I've hit have been blocks, not a surprise since that's about 2 months early and I'm kind of tentative. But this weekend when I was out putting (oh, and chipping and hitting 40 yard pitch shots, haha) I took 4 more swings with a SW and stone cold nutted them, dead straight, no block, nice divots, ah that felt great!

So I met with the Dr. Monday for my 10 week follow up (was actually 9 1/2 weeks). So here's the prescription:

* 12 weeks - chipping and pitching ok up to 30 yards (11/28/2008)
* 15 weeks - 7 iron through wedges off a tee (12/19/2008)

I see the Dr. again on 1/14/2009, which will be right at 18 1/2, almost 19 weeks. He stated we should be VERY close to full release at that point. So starting at week 15, he told me the plan is to hit up to 7 irons off a tee and start working up from there through the 2 iron off a tee. I'm supposed to gauge my own progress there and the precaution is to watch soreness, if I get sore I have to stop for a day, two, three, whatever until the soreness goes away, then start up again. Once I get through to a session where I can go through the irons off a tee and have no soreness the next day, we can start hitting off the turf and gauge the ability to hit 3 wood and driver.

Truth be told, I don't think he's too keen on me hitting driver, but realistically, wouldn't it be more damaging to be hitting bunker shots than free wheeling a driver off a tee? Makes sense to me anyway. He contradicted himself when I asked him about being able to hit a golf course up North over Thanksgiving that is closed, planning on driving around and hitting pitch shots into greens and trying to get up and down 18 times, since nobody will be around, it would be a great time to do so and the golf course is ok with it too, win / win! He said that's ok, which is actually a full day ahead of schedule! Anyway, the point is he didn't yell at me for hitting some wedges already, reminded me to be careful, which I will. It's not a science, just take it as it comes, you can do this much starting here, but if it hurts you have to stop. Ok, well shit doc I can keep track of that, what am I paying you for?

"Get Aggressive"

Had my 6 week checkup with the surgeon today to chart the progress of the shoulder surgery and recovery. I have some really good motion and can almost raise my arm straight up and down, side to side is well past parallel. He put me on the table and move my arm up and my forearm down and YOW, that's some pain! I point blank asked him if I'm ahead or behind from a recovery standpoint and he gave me the middle of the road "you're right where I want you to be at 6 weeks." Great, thanks for that doc.

I brought a putter and wedge with me to show him the motions of each and he instantly signed off on me putting, so we start tomorrow! I hadn't even turned around to grab my wedge and he said "but no chipping". Jerk. Even after I showed him the motion and told him how it was built by Stan Utley (through books anyway), he wasn't biting. He then told me that we're going to shoot for full range of motion at 10 weeks, and then I can start chipping. From what I'm seeing that's 2 weeks ahead on range of motion and 4 weeks ahead on hitting balls of any kind. He then updated the chart that goes back to the physical therapist and wrote in big letters "GET AGGRESSIVE" and circled it. He moved my next visit from 6 weeks to 4 weeks and said he expects full range of motion out of me by then.

It's been pure hell not touching a golf club for the past 6 weeks, but like I said I would do, I stayed true to my word and listened to the treatment plan. Hopefully we'll continue to progress ahead of schedule. Tomorrow's going to be a great day!

Wow am I bored

I'm 12 days away from being able to putt with the official ok from the doctor and physical therapist. Just got the ok to run on the elliptical and have been doing some core exercise during the therapy sessions. I can't even watch golf on tv any more. I've still got Round 6 of Q School from last year on the DVR, just can't stomach watching it right now. I'm so bored I started going through video that I've got archived of various practice sessions and have started uploading them to the YouTube site (What? You haven't seen my YouTube site? For shame...www.youtube.com/paperhogan). Now I've got the serious urge to chip and putt after seeing myself before I had shoulder problems.

On the plus side, I've been punishing the squeezeball the doctor gave me like a rented mule, my forearms are starting to bulge out. I feel like Popeye. You know, if Popeye was a laid up aspiring professional golfer cast into Purgatory awaiting 4-5 months of slow, check that, extremely slow recovery.

Want to see a video of my shoulder surgery?

Well, not MINE, but the same surgery that I had done. I was doing some research and came across this tonight. I'm not one for being queasy, but when the doctor starts hammering the anchor into the tissue / bone / whatever, I pretty much got dizzy. Surely my doctor was more careful than this guy right? Yeah, probably not.


Find more videos like this on VuMedi

Surgery recap and physical therapy update

Ok, so I'm typing with both hands now, what a relief. The first week was brutal as I felt pretty helpless doing everything with just my left hand. Went in for the surgery 2 weeks ago tomorrow, they actually gave me a nerve block so my right arm was basically limp for 24 hours. This really helped with the pain they said, the downside was that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move my fingers until Saturday which was uncomfortable to say the least, and I got two pretty good 1 inch long blood blisters between my thumb and index finger from the strap in the sling as it was way too tight. I didn't notice obviously until it was too late, so I haven't used that strap since.

The day after the surgery I got the hiccups, BAD. 2 1/2 hours straight, really started to get annoying. The nurse called to check on me and said it was a side effect of the nerve block. She also said if they continued through to Sunday that they could give me a prescription for them, never heard of medicine for hiccups, but ok. So I had 2 more 2+ hour hiccup sessions Saturday, then they seemed to go away, until Tuesday when they came back and brought their older brother Francis, who everyone calls "Psycho" (Stripes reference in case you missed it). Man, 4 2+ hour sessions of the deepest most uncomfortable hiccups you've ever felt, I was miserable. But as of today they are completely gone, knock wood.

I've been to 5 physical therapy sessions so far, the first one was basically electrical stimulus and squeezing the right arm against a rolled up towel then ice. Day 2 they put me on a pulley, basically a rope and 2 handles, I pulled my right arm up with my left, just freeing up range of motion. The first pull netted me a whopping 3 inches of ROM, wow that's scary. After about 10 minutes I actually got my hand above my head. As of my last session on Wednesday I can do it pretty easily up to 90 degrees, which is the extent of the ROM that I'm allowed at this point. I can go much farther but they won't let you push at all in the first 2 weeks. This last session I also got to use basically what amounts to a bicycle for your arms. Same deal, right arm was just along for the ride and I moved very slowly, but it felt very good to extend and contract my arm like that. I ran that thing for 15 minutes and I could definitely feel the soreness this morning.

Now apart from the soreness, I really haven't experienced any pain at all. I was given Hydrocodone and told to take 1-2 pills every 4-6 hours. I started with 1 pill every 4 hours and weaned myself off after that. The last pill I took was Sunday morning at 1AM which was after back to back 12 hour differentials, and I'm completely good pain wise, so pretty excited there. I find myself reaching for doorknobs, helping when putting my shirt on, etc. when I don't have on the sling / brace contraption that keeps my right arm immobilized. Good and bad I suppose.

The PT and I set a schedule of 8 weeks from date of surgery to resume putting. Now I'd be lying if I said I hadn't tried the motion a few time sans putter, and there's really no shoulder movement during the stroke obviously, just rocking back and forth, however the act of the pre-shot routine, picking balls out of the hole (you know, cause they ALWAYS go in the hole baby) could certainly cause me pain. Again, I'm sticking to whatever we feel is acceptable schedule wise, so if it's 8 weeks, then it's 8. I'm going to push him for 6, 4, whatever but he has to agree or I won't do it. I know you'll be shocked to hear that my line of thinking is if I can accelerate the putting, then I might be able to accelerate to chipping and fuller shots that much sooner as well. Hey, you try sitting on your couch every weekend and tell me you'd stick to 8 weeks yourself. Liar.

That's it for now, going to hook up the electrodes on the bicep to keep blood flowing there as well, not moving your arm at all can wreak havoc on your muscle structure, I can literally see the difference in my right and left arm already. No clearance to start on the eliptical, running, etc. just yet, but the minute we get that it's go time again. The PT works with a bunch of professional rodeo guys, BMX kids, etc. so he understands the plan isn't to get me back to playing bingo, it's a little more aggressive than that, but being on this side it's never fast enough. If you don't have plans already, go play golf this weekend you lucky bastard. I'll be the guy sitting on my couch watching it on tv scratching off one more day on the calendar.

He's alive!

One handed typing is hard. I'm out, no complications and I see the physical therapist tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to prop up my arm and type normally after that. More to come as I can type!

Shoulder surgery tomorrow - 9/5/2008

I hit my last golf ball for the next 4-5 months today, a high towering draw 7 iron, just pured it, man that felt good. Pretty depressed when I got back to the office though. Just cleaned up my clubs and shoes and put them in the basement on the rack with my other golf stuff. Surgery is tomorrow, can't eat or drink anything after midnight and I'm expected to be at the hospital for a total of 6 hours before being able to go home. A long weekend of rest and recovery and I'll be back at work on Tuesday.

I'm not sure what the physical therapy regimen will end up being, but I'm going to stick to it like glue. Rather than risking full recovery to come back early, I'm going to push the recovery process so I can come back at 110% at the specified date. I'm going to use this as a means to implement a pretty serious exercise regimen and hopefully come back better than ever.

Wish me luck, I'll see you (one handed) after the surgery!

Shoulder tear - ain't this a bitch...

So guess what, I have what looks to be a torn labrum in my right shoulder. Just went for my 2nd MRI yesterday. This all started with the dog, we had to put him down just over a month ago, he was at the emergency vet for 4 days, then we took him home. His legs didn't work and every 30 minutes he would basically freak out and try to get up, bark at the walls, etc. The only way to calm him down was to pick him up, carry him outside and lay him down in the grass for 5 minutes or so, then back inside for another 30 minutes. I did this for 2 days straight. At about 3AM the 2nd morning my right arm felt like it was going to fall out of it's socket, really sharp shooting pain from my elbow, up the outside of my shoulder and over my shoulder blade.

I tried hitting balls a few days after we put the dog down and I got through about 25 shots before I felt like passing out. Tried to play the following day and quit after 5 holes. Saw a physical therapist a couple of times and he did some electro therapy, shot a laser in the shoulder to reduce the swelling, etc. I thought I was good and went to San Francisco with some friends, played in Napa and got through about 14 holes before it flared up again. We played Harding Park (site of the 2009 President's Cup) and quit in the middle of the fairway on 14 as the pain was too unbearable. On the advice of my instructor Jeff, I went to see the guys at All Star Health and they worked on my shoulder with a thing called Active Release Technique, basically really really really deep tissue work. It freed up the nerve and I could play pretty much pain free.

Just before that trip I had an MRI done and scheduled an appt. with an orthopedic surgeon, so we stuck with that. Went and saw that Dr. and he says he's 95% sure I have a torn labrum in my right shoulder. To prove his point, he pushed and pulled on my right arm and then BINGO, my right arm bone moved what felt like 3/4". Wow, what a freaking weird feeling that is! I said "What the hell was that?!" He stated that movement is the result of the tear. He scheduled me for a 2nd MRI utilizing some dye injected into the shoulder, which is called an Arthrogram. Basically a really long needle stuck really really really deep into your shoulder socket where they inject dye so they can see the cartilage better. We're doing this so we are 100% sure that it's torn before we fix this.

So here's the problem, fixing it is surgery. It's arthroscopic, so I won't have a big scar, but I'll be in a sling for 6 weeks and then PT. And the kicker...no hitting golf balls for 4-5 months. Are you fucking kidding me? I was scheduled to play Talking Rock in Prescott this past Sunday, so I asked him if I could play, to which he suggested that I not hit driver, not swing too hard, etc. I told him that wasn't happening, so maybe he could just level with me and tell me if I can play or not. So he caved and said "Sure, why not, it's not like you're going to tear it!". Good advice. So I played Sunday, a fair amount of pain crept in on the back 9, but nothing like when the nerve was firing. After starting out 5 over through 4 I shot one under the remaining 14 holes to shoot 76. I guess not bad on a course I'd never seen with a torn shoulder.

I have a follow up appointment on the 25th to get the results of the MRI and to figure out what to do regarding surgery and the like. As can be expected, I'm pretty depressed and feel like someone kicked me in the gut. But, I personally know people who have gone through worse both themselves and with family, and the bottom line is that after some therapy, I'll be back 100%. It sucks pretty bad, and I'm not happy about it, but I've spent some long nights thinking this over and I'm coming to grips with it. I'm hoping I can start chipping and putting after 1-2 months, which I'll ask the Dr. specifically about. It was suggested to me that I could carve out the worlds greatest short game with that time, to which I replied "well, maybe I can get to average anyway". Who says I don't have a sense of humor dammit.

I'll post results of the follow up appointment and lay out a recovery plan here. This blog looks like it's now going to turn into a documentary of the road to recovery. I don't know if that's as exciting, but at least it might motivate me and maybe some of you. Maybe we can create a short game plan together.

Major dose of reality

So today I received my official paperwork for the US Open Qualifier for next Wednesday. It's nice to feel official, however after looking at my pairings, I started to wonder about one of the names. Sure enough, I'm playing with Roger Tambellini, current Nationwide Tour player, ranked 557th in the world, 45th on the Nationwide Tour moneylist, former PGA Tour player, etc. That was like a shot in the arm. I immediately went downstairs and worked out, now I'm going to the backyard putting green for an hour or so. It didn't feel real until today, I'm not ashamed, I'm freaking nervous.

I also just signed up for another Golf Channel Amateur Tour event, this Sunday back at The Duke. It's a very nice golf course, and I should do a bit better than my last showing (no, we won't relive it shot by shot). I took Monday and Tuesday off of work in preperation for Wednesday's qualifier, so we're going to treat this upcoming week like a full immersion. We're pretending we have no job, and all we're doing is focusing on practicing and playing starting Friday afternoon.

My mom and stepfather are coming to stay the night at the house Friday as they are in town this week, so that should be a good time. We're going to cook some steaks on the grill and talk about how nervous I am before they head back home Saturday morning. I'll then go play Saturday afternoon, GCAT tournament Sunday, then practice rounds Monday and Tuesday, before the qualifier Wednesday. This should be an exciting week! Wish me luck!

Company Founder passed away today

Today, the founder of the company I work for Kurt X (name removed to keep business seperated from personal), passed away after a long bout with cancer. I'd known Kurt for about 6 years, played golf with him several times before going to work for him at my company. Approximately 30 seconds after the notification went out to the company about him, the office went completely silent, it was eerie, all the background noise just stopped. It's just complete bullshit that the good guys get dealt bad hands.

Here's the text from the email that went out from our CEO today:

Good afternoon everyone,

It is with extreme sadness that I write this email.

Kurt X, our good friend, company founder, and all around phenomenal person passed away about an hour ago at his home in Phoenix. As most of you have known for some time, Kurt fought a courageous one and a half year battle with brain cancer. He was 49 years old. His mother, father, daughters, and brother were at his side when he passed. I’m confident he was at peace to have those he loved with him as he entered into Heaven. Like all of you, I am really going to miss Kurt. Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts today.

Services to say goodbye to Kurt are being formulated and I will pass on the information when available.

Respectfully,

Gene

Godspeed my friend, you will be missed.

PaperHogan goes to the FBR Open...

As a spectator. Ha, admit it, you thought for a second "How did that chop get into the FBR Open?" It's ok, I don't hate you. I'll make you eat your words someday, but I don't hate you.

So we walk in and walk down 18 from the green back to the tee as the company I work for has a tent on 17, so we have to go get some free food and check in, rub elbows, etc. So Jason Day and two other guys are finishing up their practice round. All 3 of them are 160 - 175 yards out. Jason Day hits it to 6 feet, next guy hits it short right in the fringe, third guy hits it to 4 feet. Just effortless too. We make our way around the tee and a single is coming through, don't know who it was. He busts a driver right down the pipe, frozen rope, leaving about 150 yards. Again, just effortless. We later saw Paul Azinger, JB Holmes, Kenny Perry and some "other guy" hit tee shots off 18. Paul, JB (frickin BOMBED it) and Kenny all hit stellar, effortless tee shots. The "other guy" hit 3 wood, literally in the heel, a low little cutter, maybe 250 yards. Hell yeah, I can do that too. I should be playing this week!

We finally find our tent, settle in with some food and watch a few groups go through 17. Nobody hit it on the green, not even JB Holmes. Got to see lots of pitch shots from 40 yards though, to the back right and left pin positions too. A couple of guys hit it not so good, a couple of guys just stoney. One skinny little European fellow hit it in from 40 yards on his 3rd ball, that was kind of cool to see, especially since his first 2 were no more than 4 feet away as well. About that time we decide to head to the practice facility, where I spent the rest of the day. Not a lot of action when we first got there, say 2PM. But by 4PM it was hopping.

Let's just establish this, these guys all hit it differently. Some guys (Stuart Appleby) hit it almost thin it seems, I mean it really sounds like garbage coming off his irons. Other guys (Joe Durant, yes THAT Joe Durant) hit it so pure, it almost makes you wet your pants just hearing it. As Tom Coyne said in his book Paper Tiger "These guys are good. How good? You have no fucking idea." Joe Durant = the best ballstriker I've ever seen in person, it was absolutely amazing watching him. Wedges, mid irons, long irons, 3 wood, literally all landing within feet of each other. Not 3 or 4 balls, more like 10-15 balls in a row, all the same line, different trajectories, like he was just playing around. And as good as Jason Day hit it on 18, the sound of the ball off the face of his irons on the range, and his body motion, really made it look like he wasn't striking it well. By then the sun was almost straight into us, so I couldn't see ball flight, just judging body language.

Made our way to the short game area, here's where it gets really interesting. Trevor Immelman hitting 5 footers in between telling jokes and laughing with a few guys, barely paying attention. Out of 20 putts, I think he missed two. Robert Allenby in the bunker, just sick. High, low, runners, spinners, just insane control over the ball. Hit the stick and made countless others. Joe Ogilvie, don't ever get into a chipping contest with this guy. Just for kicks, he made 3 in a row, lipped out the 4th. Turns around with the same club and hits a low skipper to a pin about 20 yards away without any time sizing it up, left it about 3 inches short. Remember Joe Durant, when he first got there, I could have taken lots of money from him on bunker shots, literally nearly thinned one into his caddies head as he was clearing balls off the green. Then, the clouds parted, Angels sang down from the heavens and what I believe to be none other than Stan Utley appeared in the bunker with Joe (Stan works with Joe, natural conclusion). Talked to Joe for about 30 seconds on his approach to bunker shots of swinging "narrow" (if you don't know what that means, do yourself a favor and buy Stan Utley's "The Art of the Short Game" book). One swing to ingrain it, and Joe Durant is now hitting it great out of the bunker. Unreal, 30 seconds? Stan Utley is good (I know of one person who will hate to hear me say that!).

To top it all off, I got to see my main man Steve Stricker. He walked about 5 feet in front of us, that guy got big over the last few years. It's been 4-5 years since I've been to the FBR, so I hadn't seen him in a while. Joe Durant said hi to Steve and congratulated him "on everything". It's official, Joe Durant is now an honorary member of the PaperHogan Fan Club, along with Steve Stricker and Stan Utley. An honor I'm sure they all cherish very much. It's my pleasure guys, no need to shower me with thanks.