To all my loyal - and extremely patient readers - I am sure you have sensed for some time that the end of this site was near. Unfortunately, I am no longer a student in law school who seemed to have an endless amount of time to think about golf. Now, I am a practicing lawyer who spends most of my day reviewing documents, drafting motions, or communicating with clients. At home, I have a new house where it seems like I have an endless amount of work that needs to be done in preparation for my first child - due October 8, 2011. So, while I fought the idea for some time, I finally came to the realization there simply is not enough time to manage this site.
I could have just kept the site as is. I thought about doing that but the problem is that the site - like my golf swing - was a work in progress. It had numerous posts that said "coming soon" or implied that I would be coming back to the page to make it perfect. Without the time to address these problems, I did not want to leave people with those huge gaps. Instead, I decided to strip the site down to the basics. Gone are all the posts related to my own swing. Gone are the tour player analysis posts. Gone are the swing fault index posts. The only two aspects of the site I have left - and may periodically edit or add to - are the fundamentals and strength training pages. I stand by the content within those pages and, if people have questions, would be willing to answer questions so long as people understand it may be a bit before I respond.
My Game
If you have been a loyal reader, you know that through my work with some incredible trainers my back pain was subsiding and may have actually been in better condition than it was before my injury in 2001. My swing speed was back up to about 115 mph and shooting par was finally becoming an easy number to break again. Bad days weren't so bad and good days were starting to remind me of my days before I injured my back in 2001. Simply stated, golf was pretty fun again.
Unfortunately, I came to the realization after I hurt my back in 2001 that playing on tour would no longer be my final destination. Come June, right after my golf game was getting to be pretty strong again, it was finally time for me to focus on the Maryland Bar Exam. I thought at first I could practice for a couple of hours a day and then spend the remainder studying but after a couple of weeks I saw I needed to abandon my golf game and spend the entire day studying if I wanted to guarantee I would pass. I started working less than a month after the bar exam. From August to October, I made it to the range between 10 and 15 times and made it out to the course only once. My game was shoddy at best. To make matters worse, I had no indoor range to practice in during the winter so I didn't even touch my clubs until April - six months later.
Now, like the website, my game is in shambles. I may be able to get my game back but I seriously doubt I'll be threatening the 300 yard marker or even scaring par anytime soon. Still, I am going to focus on rehabbing my back for the next month or so while I try to recapture the swing speed I lost. Odds are, this is going to take a little more time than it did last year. If I can regain any of that old magic I once had, I may give a qualifier or two a try just to see how I do.
Conclusion
Before I sign off, I want thank all the people that took the time out of their busy day to read the site, send me emails, or even send me comments one more time. You truly made writing the site a lot of fun. If you ever have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Thomas O'Connell
