Delaney Shah
Well, it has been a long journey back post wrist surgery, but I feel as if I have made some really good progress. After the surgery, I did physical therapy for 8 weeks and have worked through most of the scar tissue. With rest and therapy, I have regained mobility and strength, not to where it was, but getting there. Most important, the pain I had has dissipated. I was able to start hitting balls again just before Christmas, and finally got cleared to play. With this good news, I packed up and left for Florida mid-January to begin training and preparing for the 2022 season. I spent the first month and a half in Florida regaining my endurance to play 18 holes again and regaining my technique and touch. I had the opportunity to live with two old teammates. This was a great setup because not only did we play and practice together, but we were able to do other things outside of golf to make our time more fun and less monotonous. We played a lot of different golf courses, went and visited our college team at their tournament, played mini golf, and had lots of movie nights.
My word for the year is grateful. I have started working with a mental coach, and we have talked about how my approach to playing in tournaments is to just be grateful I get to play again post surgery. Whatever happens happens on the golf course, but I get to have another year and chance to play the game I love for a living (hopefully pain free this time).
With the WAPT season starting the second week of March, I wanted to play in an event to gauge where my game was at under the pressure of competition. I signed up for a tournament February 28-March 2 at Lake Jovita CC in Dade City, Florida. It was an East Coast Women's Pro Golf Tour event, a new tour that was started this year and has created big fields with decent purses.
The first day was filled with lots of nerves and excitement, but I was just grateful to be back on the course competing. I started the round off with a bang, making an eagle on the second hole and following it up with a birdie on the next. I made the turn at -2, which exceeded my expectations, but I remained levelheaded knowing the bad shots may come in the round. I ended up shooting 74 (+2), and was sitting in the top 15. Aside from a good round, I had a lot of positives to take away. My wrist felt fine, my confidence was strong, and I was very pleased with how I hit the ball and putted.
The second day definitely was not as easy going as the first. I was plagued with a few 3-putts and just couldn’t get my putter going, missing 5 putts under 4 feet, something very uncharacteristic of me. I carded a 77 (+5). I was disappointed with the score, but I still took a lot of positives from the round. The wrist was good and I had the best ball striking day I can remember in a while, hitting 11 fairways and 15 greens. Feeling confident, I tried to fixate on those good thoughts and chalked up the putting as a fluke.
Going into the final day I knew if I put up a good round I would make a check. I started off the round strong, knocking the hesitant thoughts of my putting right out of my head on the first hole when I made a 3 footer. I had a solid round going, but stumbled a bit on hole 16 with a poor tee shot, a bad wedge shot, and a misread short putt. After this hole, I knew I needed to make at least one birdie in the next two holes if I wanted a chance to make money. Putting the bad hole behind me, I birdied the next hole after sticking my approach shot to a foot, and pared 18 to card another 74.
I ended up T-19 and made a small check, enough to pay for my gas. To be honest, that was just icing on the cake. The main purpose was to see where my game was and if it felt ready to compete in the busy schedule I have planned. There were 2 big unknowns going into this tournament, my wrist and my confidence/nerves. I finished the tournament feeling strong about both of those. The plan is to continue my usual practice and add focus on my putting and wedge game.
I leave for Louisiana on Saturday for two weeks to compete in two WAPT events. My schedule is now posted on my website. Looking at what is ahead, there will be lots of traveling to new places and lots of golf being played. I will post on my blog after each event to keep everyone updated on my journey. As always, I sincerely thank you for your continued support.