The Road to 40: Week 1 Update

I’ve officially kicked off The Road to 40 challenge. As the week began, I quickly realized I didn’t have a clear plan in place to achieve this goal. I spent some time trying to outline specific weekly objectives, but nothing really came together.

Since I spend a lot of time using AI at work, I decided to see what it could offer for a personal goal—specifically, improving my golf game. Enter Microsoft Copilot.

My first question was, “What’s the best way to lower my handicap in five months, considering I work Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.?” Copilot responded with a thoughtful plan that broke down the key areas of my game to focus on and how to allocate my practice time. I took it a step further and asked for a week‑by‑week plan with specific practice goals and in‑round focus points. Finally, I asked for a simple checklist I could keep in my scorecard holder as a reminder during each round. For the first time, I felt like I had a clear, actionable plan—and that was incredibly motivating.

Another priority for me is taking care of my body. As I get older, staying healthy and mobile is essential if I want to reach this goal. I found an affordable Golf Forever program that uses resistance bands to emphasize flexibility, mobility, and overall durability, while also helping me build a bit of swing speed.

I’m also paying closer attention to recovery to make sure my body can handle consistent practice and workouts. After seeing a promotion in a YouTube video, I decided to try a month of ForWellness. I picked up their Blueberry gummies for hydration—which is especially important living in the desert—and the Good Stuff Mocha flavor to help with focus.

I didn’t have much time to practice over the weekend, so I kicked off the week’s work on Monday. Over the past few months, while trying to add more spin to my shots and keep the ball on the greens, I’d developed a habit of leaving the club face open at impact and aiming left to compensate. It became clear that I needed to focus on getting the club face square. The practice session was challenging and included plenty of frustrating shots, but that’s to be expected when making a swing change.

I play in a golf league most Tuesday evenings to make sure I’m consistently getting out on the course, and this past Tuesday was a tough round. I was still concentrating on squaring the club face at impact, but the added focus led to too many swing thoughts, which negatively affected my ball striking. My chipping, which is usually a strength, was especially inconsistent. The bright spot was my putting—I rolled the ball well—but it wasn’t enough to make up for the rest of the round. Over nine holes, I finished eight over par, including a triple bogey on a short par four. On the positive side, I made a conscious effort not to dwell on the bad shots and felt I handled that well. Overall, the round helped clearly identify a few areas to prioritize in practice this week.

During my Wednesday practice session, I focused specifically on shots from 100 yards and in. I spent about 45 minutes working through distances of 25, 35, 45, 50, 70, 80, 90, and 100 yards. Having access to a SkyTrak launch monitor, along with a mat and net in my backyard, made it easy to track how I was performing at each yardage. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the session went, especially after Tuesday’s round. I realized I had been dipping my back shoulder on chip shots, which was causing me to chunk them. By focusing on getting my weight forward and making solid contact, things quickly improved. All in all, it was a very productive and encouraging practice session.

I’m getting ready to attend a short game clinic focused on chipping, pitching, and bunker play, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never taken a dedicated short game lesson before, so I’m hoping to pick up some helpful tips and new perspectives on how to hit certain shots. I’ll be interested to see how it translates to my practice and play moving forward.

Overall, week one was about building a foundation: creating a plan, committing to it, and setting myself up to stay consistent moving forward.

Until next week. Fairways and greens y'all.