The Scratch Dad Project

Honest scoreboard first: the number didn’t move. Index is still 17.6, unchanged from my last update — and it couldn’t have moved, because I didn’t post a single round this week. It rained. The handicap only responds to real rounds on the card, and there weren’t any. No rounds, no movement.

So this isn’t a scoreboard story. It’s a what’s-happening-under-the-hood story — but I have to be careful about which hood. My strokes-gained profile tracks across my most recent posted rounds, which span the last several weeks, not the seven days I just lived. Two caveats before the numbers so I don’t fool myself: this is a rolling five-round window measured against my eight-round June baseline — different sample sizes, different rounds — and none of it reflects this week specifically.

With that said, here’s the trend against baseline:

• Driving: −3.6 (was −4.9)
• Approach: −4.3 (was −7.3)
• Short game: −3.6 (was −3.3)
• Putting: −5.2 (was −2.0)
• Scoring average 90.3, flagged slipping

Across those recent rounds, the shape is clear enough: my ball-striking has improved against the baseline while my putting has regressed. Arccos flags approach as improving and putting as slipping. The Quant’s read is that the striking gains and the putting losses are roughly offsetting, which is why the scoring average isn’t falling even as I hit it better.

I’m deliberately not saying the putter is causing the higher scores. The Touch talked me down from that: I practiced putting six of seven days this week, so this isn’t a volume problem, and five rounds is a small, high-variance sample. Putting is flagged to investigate, not to rebuild around. Next step is breaking the misses down — three-putts, the five-to-eight footers, or green reads — before I draw any conclusion.

As for the week I actually just had: with no golf to post, it was simulator sessions and a strength day. The habit stack mostly held — skill, putting, mental, and meditation all landed five-to-six of seven — but the Doc flagged the one that didn’t: mobility, two of seven. That’s the foundation the swing sits on and the gate on the speed work I’m adding, so it’s the miss that matters most.

The part I can’t spin: zero posted rounds. Rain’s a fair reason, but the July 2027 deadline doesn’t care about reasons. The uncomfortable pattern is that I nailed every rep that lives at my desk and missed the two hardest, highest-leverage ones — getting on the floor, and getting to a course.

The Professor’s frame: process over outcome. The process is working where I’m running it. Next week is about running it where it’s uncomfortable.

Next week: fix the mobility anchor, pull the putting breakdown, and build a wet-week plan so rain stops zeroing my round volume.