Happy New Year Everybody!
03.01.2017 22:03
Now 2016 has come to an end and a new year has begun. I hope 2017 will be a great year, however, the last month of 2016 was a very tough one for me and my family. On December 2nd, my mother lost her father, her mother lost her husband, and we sons lost our grandad. The last couple of weeks before he passed, we all spent very much time with him at the hospital. Most of the family was with him on the night of his passing. It was by far the hardest thing I have ever experienced so far in my life. The last year was very tough for my grandad and my grandma. It has contained multiple hospital visits every week to make different tests and controls. We hoped it would be able for him to regain his health, but his body was slowly shutting down and didn’t respond to the treatment. A little over a week ago, on December 21st, he had his funeral at the same church as I was baptized in. It was very pretty.
My mother saying one last goodbye to her father
My grandad has meant a lot to me and my family. He was a big family man, and he is the reason our family is so close. He has had a huge influence on all of us and he will be extremely missed. He actually played a big part in introducing me to the game of golf. I will always remember him, and he will never leave our hearts. Neither will his three golden rules that he always told me before every golf tournament: “Plan the hole, take one shot at a time, and look at the ball”.
"Ett slag i taget" (one shot at a time)
My golfing inspiration as a kid
Celebrating grandad's birthday in 2015
It has been tough to motivate myself sometimes in the past month, and I have felt like certain things have been more important. However, lately I have started to appreciate playing and practicing again. I actually played my last round of the year as late as December 31st. Me and Ellinor’s father Tomas then played Tjusta Golf Club, a course close to Arlanda airport that actually still was completely open with summer greens. Since it is unusually warm here right now, it was like a round of golf in early spring. I had some trouble with the short-game, but my long-game was really good, especially off the tee. I ended up the season with a round of 71, which I was more than happy with.
Tee shot on hole nine at Tjusta Golf Club on December 31st
A problem has come up though, that concerns my golf practice. I decided not to get a winter membership at an inside golfing facility this winter. Because I like to see the ball fly, I bought a range card at an outside driving range (Årsta Golf) that supposedly was open every day of the year, according to their website. And no one told me any different when I said that I was going to run my winter practice at their facility. There they have heating installed in a few booths, and the range is lighted. However, they closed the business before Christmas and won’t open again until the beginning of February if the conditions allow it. I was very disappointed to discover this as it messes up my plans for how I want to run my winter practice. So now I have contacted the indoor facility in Haninge where I practiced last winter. Hopefully I can work out a deal to practice there for the coming month.
Me and my golfing brother Marcus (who is home for another four days before going back to his University in Daytona Beach) received a Christmas gift from our parents that I think will also lead me in the right direction when it comes to my golfing career. We have been to a sporting lab that has personnel specializing in golf, among other sports. Our instructor there is really knowledgeable in the movements and function of the body, and he has measured our flexibility in different directions, and what body parts the flexibility comes from. Doing this led me to increased knowledge on what I need to work on to keep my body balanced so that all body parts work together. If they don’t work together, some parts will have to do the work for some less flexible body parts, and that could lead to some body parts being overworked and injured. This is likely what has happened to my hip, since we discovered that my hip flexibility was very good, but I was less flexible in my calves and feet. Today I got a workout routine that will fix my flexibility deficiencies step by step. I am really excited about it!
Finally, I would like to wish everybody a happy 2017! This will be a year full of adventures and new experiences. I am looking forward to meet and conquer them all. And keep your eyes open, I might have some exciting news in a few weeks.
