Golf season is over.

Admit it.

Take a deep pre-shot routine breath and commit to the truth.

It’s done.

However, maybe, just maybe, that’s not a bad thing. Stick with me here.

Like a grueling 18-holes, your season was filled with ups, downs, and nowhere near enough up-and-downs.

You peaked at one point, sure, with visions of grandeur briefly realized. Perhaps you even made it to the top of Mt. GHIN, screenshotting the site you never expected to see. Yet, we all slide down that mountain eventually, and it sure is embarrassing and expensive to ski downhill on a pair of Vokeys.

For many, that summit wasn’t even reached as work, family or the fear of new heights took precedent. Instead of climbing that mountain you spent days dreadfully staring into blue-bird skies, jealous of those on the green slopes.

However, I ask you this. What is worse? Knowing full well you cannot golf because a sierra of snow has you barred inside? Or, knowing you could golf, but prior obligations are holding you back?

Now, I know what you are thinking. I’m on Instagram all day, feeding through influencers at lush southern courses, I could be playing there!

First, no you can’t, that is why they are an influencer and we are us.

Second, as I’m writing this, some poor slouch in Florida just cold shanked one. An absolute hosel rocket. A shank so jarring they’ll wonder if frostbite might feel better than a numbingly thinned muscleback.

Let this sink in. You hit hundreds of terrible shots this year. Just awful, awful shots. Shots so horrid the wonderful world of fly fishing became appealing.

Yet, for the next 4 months, you will not hit one single, bad, shot. Not one! Every shot will be in your mind, cutting towards the flagstick and zipping back to gimmie range. Consciously tearing up your home course is effortless as you maneuver the ball both ways. The greens are rolling at a smooth 10, and you can’t miss. Painful memories on the golf course melt away, day-by-day, similar to that personal best slipping away on 17.

Remember that slouch in Florida? He is going to play tomorrow, and he is going to hit terrible shots again. He probably even came down with the shanks. Meanwhile, we’re only at risk of coming down with pneumonia.

In the frigid winter, you have an ability to fix everything that went wrong this year and emphasize what went right. Like finishing a round of 18, you are hitting a reset button, learning from your mistakes and learning to love golf all over again.

That guy in Florida? He is stuck in an infinite loop where instead of heading to the bar after 18 to forgive and forget, he’s transported back to one teebox, with multiplying swing thoughts and bad habits the size of Kiradech Aphibarnrat’s vape cloud.

Playing golf, for anyone, can be exhausting. It requires an immense amount of concentration, confidence and notwithstanding, excitement. At moments in the 2019 golf year we all hit golf exhaustion and lost that excitement.

These next four months are your personal 19th hole. Order a cold tasty beverage from the bar, self-deprecate your game, and remind your buddies how close you are to figuring out the tee-ball, without fear of actually hitting one.

Soon enough, your winter blues will turn into summer dues, so I’ve made a quick list to remind you how to enjoy these months.

Get in shape

We can get shredded. Gains. You, me, Bryson DeChambeau. Like the mental exhaustion, the physical exhaustion is real and can take a toll. The winter months are the best time to determine where you lack physically, and getting a head start on the year. Or, you could “heal” and watch a lot of football. Either way.

Get lessons

No better time (re)build that swing. Rome certainly wasn’t built in a day. Start building that foundation in November and you’ll own a first-class plane come April. I seem to recall historians are more fascinated by the fall of Rome however, than the creation. I guess that makes sense.

Get new equipment

Perhaps hitting the gym or hitting balls into a net aren’t your thing. In that case, new clubs are the only remedy for 2020. Even if you don’t purchase, there’s no better way to spend a winter afternoon than wandering around your local shop. If new clubs don’t strike your fancy, perhaps a fancy new look will. Look good, feel good, play good, eventually.

Plan a trip

Sitting on the couch on a blustery day, watching professionals in a tropical location will inspire the most homebody of us. Start a group chat, find the adventurous ones and scour ever destination possible. In the midst of this, you could immerse yourself in the wide world of golf course architecture, and the woke world surrounding it. Learn about the Redan, the Biarittz, and how if the course doesn’t have a Punchbowl, there’s no point of even playing.

Create a workshop

Continue down the path of the golf dork and architect your own clubs. Our own Ryan Barath is a true inspiration on this. We’re all tinkerers here, if there was ever a time to create a regripping station, the time is now. Maybe you can even make a few dollars and convince your friends to upgrade their shedding Winn grips.

Enjoy this time fellow golf addicts, what can be known as the longest stretch of golf confidence you’ll own until about this time next year.