I'm Back

Dear Followers,
       I apologize for my lack of communication within the last 5 months. I am now a junior concluding my first semester and I am excited to share my plan for my second semester, with you.

       Concluding my sophomore year of high school golf I was really struggling to put up good scores in tournaments and couldn't figure out why all the sudden I had gotten worse. I had mild pain in my back periodically when I practiced, but just thought that it would go away eventually with periodic visits to the physical therapist and chiropractor; so I just continued to practice. The first week of summer I played 27 holes with my friends, then went fishing afterwards. I could barely walk back to my car when finished. The next week, I got an MRI because of the pain, and it was discovered that I had a bilateral stress fracture in my L4 vertebrae.  After a months worth of doctors and diagnostic appointments, the neurosurgeon ordered me into a hard, fitted back brace for three and a half months. I was then restricted to no physical activity, including golf. This was devastating because I had to cancel all of my summer plans and tournaments.

      About a month ago, I got out of the brace and my back had not healed. Although it didn't heal, and after following a physical therapy exercise program for 6 weeks, I have been cleared to play golf again and resume back to full activity. So far, I haven't experienced any pain which has been great relief to me. I have gotten back onto the course and back in the gym to build my game back up, and I continue to work on getting better. With losing so much critical time, I have been privileged by my parents to live in Florida my second semester of my junior year and complete my studies online while attending the Tom Burnett golf academy.

       I'm excited for the opportunity to work on my game in Florida next semester to achieve my goal of playing college golf and I look forward to keeping you up to date on my progress and success. 

Thanks,
JD Dulin

Up to Par

     Coming up on sophomore year tryouts I was ecstatic to get back on the course with my teammates from school. I couldn't wait for all of the school tournaments and practicing that I had so much fun participating in the year before. It all came to a panic one week before tryouts when I had crazy pain in my lower back and hips while swinging the gold club. On a scale of one to ten I was at about an eight when swinging. We had X-rays taken and nothing popped up to be too alarming so I just went to the chiropractor and thought that everything was being taken care of being the pain was going down. After tryouts ended I was placed on the JV roster. This was disappointing for me when I was planning on being on the varsity roster all year long. The season went on and I never really got back into my "groove." I continued to put up descent scores here and there but for the most part my game wasn't quite like it was in fall and winter individual tournaments.
     After completing my sophomore season I came home one day to a 10 out of 10 on the pain scale. I drove to my chiropractor's office barely able to walk in more pain than I have ever been in before. We worked together for about 2 weeks then he recommended that I go get an MRI because he just isn't seeing enough positive results out of our sessions. After receiving the results from the MRI we have concluded that I have a hairline fracture in my L4 vertebrae. I go to see a spine doctor and specialist on Friday to discuss my healing process.
     When sitting down with my parents the other night we were brainstorming how I managed to progressively get worse and my scores continue to get worse when my practice schedule or habits didn't change. Adding a hairline fracture in my vertebrae is believed to have somewhat solved my puzzle. My parents believe that the fracture in my spine could have possibly created so much pain in my back that I subconsciously compensated for this pain in my swing and that was causing my golf scores to not be "up to par."

PSAT

Currently injured my back this summer so I have been working on the other aspects of my life to continue in my goal to play college golf. I received my results for the PSAT and scored an 1180 out of 1420 which is the 91st percentile in the nation. I am studying the questions that I missed in preparation for the SAT this upcoming junior year. Hope all your summers are going well.

Carmel Dance Marathon 2016

The most exciting day of the school year; Carmel Dance Marathon. An event that 1/4 of a school that has 5000+ students attend. I set myself to a high goal this year of raising $10,000 individually for the kids at St. Vincent Children's Hospital. Starting 80 days before the event I started collecting donations. I wanted to be the largest donor of the event this year so I wanted to give myself the best shot by starting early. Unfortunately I came up a couple $1000 short of my goal. I raised over $8000 for the kids and was called up on stage during the event to be crowned as the "king" of dance marathon. This is an event that I really enjoy and look forward to every year and I can't wait to do it again!

March 5-6 Tournament

Super excited for this weekends tournament in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. My dad and I are headed to the Old Fort Golf Club for a Golfweek Junior Tour tournament. I am eager to utilize this tournament as preparation for my high school golf season that starts in two weeks.

Feb. 13-14 Tournament

Aside from my actual scores from this weekend, it was a great learning experience. Coming down to Florida with my family was very fun. This weekend I shot 81 the first day and 84 the second day. Hitting in a net all winter I learned when I came down here that I had lost a lot of my touch on and around the greens. This was new for me with spin patterns, reading greens, and distance control. This is where I really struggled this weekend. But, with hitting ball after ball constantly at the same net I didn't really lose my swing, I was consistently down the middle and on or barely off of the green because of distance. After working out more than I usually do during the golf season at home, along with growing, I gained quite a bit of distance which was new for me. I turned my typical 240 yard drive into 280 yard drives and 145 yard seven irons into 165 yard seven irons, it was a totally new game. With my extra distance now I felt as if I couldn't get stuck anywhere on the course, that I was able to recover from any unplanned shot. All in all I was a new player on the course. I am very excited for the high school season and my upcoming summer tournaments. When I get home I plan on getting right back to work with practicing my touch around the greens and becoming comfortable with my new distances. It has started to warm up a little at home so I hope to be able to get out a little on the course even though they have temporary greens. Until the greens open back up my dad and I plan on looking for as many tournaments in driving distance before tryouts so I can get used to my new game. 

Headshot

Mastering Golf's Mental Game

Mastering Golf’s Mental Game is a book about how to create and maintain a positive attitude involving the mind in the game of golf. In this book the main point I pulled from it was the was a golfer puts failure or a bad thought behind them so that they can continue to succeed. My favorite part was when Phil talked about how he overcame his loss at the US Open but a few weeks later won the British open. Reading this book led me to remembering a specific quote that my dad always says to me, “don't dwell on your failures, strive toward success.”

Workout

Accomplishing day at the gym; 5 miles on the treadmill, some leg workouts, and ab workouts. 

Preparation for tournament

1. Email each coach that responded to my email making them aware that I will be playing in the tournament- Wednesday 13th

2. Workout 4 times a week

3. Start each hitting session with 10 balls with each wedge. 

a. hit 60* half pitch shot create average carry distance

b. hit 56* half pitch shot create average carry distance

c. hit 52* half pitch shot create average carry distance

d. Work on keeping each swing short

e. video pw, 8i, 6i, 4i, 4h, 3w, dr down the line and FO

f. look at book I made and hit similar shots

g. play course on trackman if they have it

4. Wednesdays 6-8 go with alex and mom to Hamilton Sports Complex to putt at golf 365 while sister has dance.

a. Putting drills

i. 3-6-9

ii. 20-5, 15-10, 10-15

iii. clock drill

iiii. lag putting ladder drill

5. Create a book for the course and post it on blog- Thursday 14th

6. Finish book- Sunday 17th

7. write summary for the book and post on blog- Wednesday 20th

8. start new book-Thursday 21st

9. let my coach know that I’m playing in the tournament- Saturday 16th

 

 

 

JD Dulin

 

Winter Break

Winter break so far has consisted of many good meals and laughs with my family, working out each day to stay in shape, hitting balls under a heater and on trackman indoor, and tons of basketball with friends. Happy New Year!