I love seeing all the discussion here. Thank you. And my shoulder feels better even today. I was smart to stop immediately. Probably just a little muscle tear.
My goal is to hit 350' smoothly, accurately and consistently, so that I can belong at tournaments again. If I can hang in there with the better Am 40+ players I will feel good. And if I can get better than that too, I'll take it. I think it would be something to enter Am-1 as an old guy and belong there.
I'm already a good putter for an Am. At putting league two weeks ago I hit 61% from 30 feet. I don't know what 975-rated state level type pros do at 30', but I feel pretty good about that part of my game for who I am. You can watch this putting league on YouTube, by the way, from Crew 42. Search for Kalamazoo Putting League. The night I was there was "Night 2" in the series. I'm the older bearded guy with the green Wild Haven shirt, beige Buc-EE's hat, and Ron Russell-esque fist pumps in the air to clear my mind before concentrating. I didn't get on camera until round 2 (and I missed my first 3 before getting warmed up). I've learned from watching myself on this that I could probably stand to relax a little bit more. I'm a line-drive spin putter guy with the mindset of a baseball closing pitcher. I'm guessing I could make a few more if I wasn't so herky-jerky. My partner was more like 70% from 30 feet lofting his soft, easy hyzers with McPro Aviars, plus was 9 for 10 on the Marksman basket. A putting shark!
Oh, and Andrew Marwede was there the week prior. It's also on YouTube ("night 1" if memory serves). I wasn't there in person. I did re-watch that one and tabulated his results from 30 feet. Just over 80%. He was so smooth and non-nonchalant in comparison to the likes of somebody like me. He even was eating pizza with his non-putting hand during one sequence.
But, yeah, back to driving...what I want out of this journey into scrapping my form is to get 15 more minutes in the sun and be able to hold my head high before I'm too old. If I could get back up to and sustain a 950 rating starting all over at the age of 46, I'd jump for joy.
I'm already at 300' smoothly, fairly accurately and fairly consistently, although I could be better. I do it with flippy drivers too. Lots of Sidewinders and Roadrunners in my bag. Another 50 feet seems reasonable to attain even though I know it will be a lot of work and dedication, but then I'll have the chance to birdie some holes that I currently have to throw in from outside C2 to do it.
Disc Golf is the closest thing I have to religion. I'm all in!