Not a bad start

I finally played my first 9 holes this morning. It was a beautiful morning in Colorado. My only qualm outside of my inconsistent putting was the greens were being aerated, meaning the greens were very bumpy and sandy, so I would like to think I would have putt better on a nicer surface. Here is the number of putts for each hole (3, 4, 2, 3, 3, 1, 2, 3, 2). A lot of 3 putts in there. I also tried a new putting grip on the first 4 holes, a reverse putting grip that was supposed to reduce the amount of mishits. I hated it, so went back to my old grip. Overall, the day was pretty good though, I hit 4 fairways off the tee and had three greens in regulation and already had my first birdie of the year! A 312 yard uphill par 4. I'll take it. The new scoring system I am using (www.freegolfinfo.com) tracks my stats but won't give me a handicap until I have ten rounds of golf in. So I also entered my score into the yahoo golf handicap tracker which had scores dating back to my time in California. By multiplying my score by 2 to get an 18 hole equivalent, my handicap stands at 26.5 according to yahoo. I could have eliminated 6 strokes with better putting (or 12 strokes for 18 holes!)

First Things First

Now that the weather is encouraging and the grass green at the local courses, I have to ask myself, what first? There are so many aspects of the game I need to improve upon, and I know I can't do it all at once. Tiger Woods suggests improving from the green backwards and I have seen some statistics showing that more than half of golf strokes in a round are using the putter. I realize that eventually I am going to need some lessons to correct flaws in my swing. But that will have to wait for now, I am going to focus on my putting. After a little research I have broken putting down to four very basic skills:

1. See the line
2. See the distance
3. Hit the line
4. Hit the distance

Sounds easy doesn't it? But you all know how frustrating a 3 putt can be. So to begin the season (which I hope will be this week) I will research some drills to improve each of these skills for the goal of significantly decreasing the number of 3 putts. I am also toying with the idea of a new putter... not sure if its worth the money yet.

False Start

About once a month I have to travel for a day or two for business. The locations vary from Des Moines to D.C. A few weeks ago, I had the rare opportunity to travel somewhere exotic, Maui. I really tried to find a way to get Stephanie to come with me, but the logistics just wouldn't work. Naturally, one of the first things I thought of was to look up what Maui had to offer for golf. I found that Kapalua, the home of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, the opening tournament of the PGA was on Maui. I would be arriving in Maui on a Monday around 2pm. The fee to play a normal round at Kapalua is $295 or about half of my yearly budget! But they offer a twilight, nine hole rate for $75. It was a rare opportunity, so I made a tee-time for 4:30, knowing it would take an hour to drive there from the airport. Plenty of time right? Not if the airline loses your clubs! By the time I realized my clubs weren't coming out of the baggage carousal, and filling out a claim ticket it was 3:30. The airline offered to pay for rental clubs, but I hadn't even gotten my car yet. As it turns out, Aloha Airlines discontinued just about all of their flights as of this week, so maybe I would have never seen that money. It took 30 minutes to get my car, and by that time, it was just too late. Nuts. I called and canceled my tee time, and the course was kind enough to waive the $25 cancellation fee in light of the circumstances. I had a little extra time after getting my work done while down there, but not enough to get to Kapalua. The airline did get my clubs to me the next day. Thanks a lot.

Daly Exercise?

No I didn't forget the "i". I am not entirely convinced physical fitness is a requirement for a good golf game. If my goal were to improve in any other sport, my first item of business would be to improve my physical fitness. I am not so sure with golf. Take John Daly for example, although wildly inconsistent, he is still a professional golfer...and look at him! John Kruk and Cecil Fielder aside, could this happen in any other sport? Most golf books, including How I Play Golf by Tiger Woods suggests flexibility and physical fitness are important aspects of the game. But what about the Senior PGA? I mean, come on.. these guys are well into retirement and are playing at a level I can only dream of achieving. But maybe these guys are just freaks of nature, or a more politically correct term would be "naturals". I can buy the notion that the golf swing is an athletic motion and the seniors have kept themselves physically fit and flexible. So then maybe John Daly has just been blessed with an uncanny ability to avoid his belly when swinging. How he manages to walk 18 holes without requiring CPR is beyond me. Considering his extremely unhealthy habits off the course, I am inclined to lean toward the freak of nature theory for him. Tiger on the other hand has got it figured out. It is obvious he has natural ability. But so do the other professional golfers. He has taken his game to another level and he claims the building blocks of improvement is physical fitness. Him I will believe. Working out is generally good practice anyway and at the very worst, couldn't hurt my game. Just like my golf game, I am very inconsistent in working out as well. So I'll start with improving the consistency of my workouts. I found a pretty good site that explains how physical fitness can improve a golf swing. I haven't followed the workouts at this site, I believe a simple program that involves a mix of cardio and core/balance strength training is good enough. If anyone really cares, let me know and I'll send you my workout plan.

Putting for Eagle

I have been a casual golfer for about 7 years. The game has put me through some serious ups and downs (more downs really). I take issue with how much it costs to play an entire round, both in time and money. At the end of each season the frustrations of my inconsistent game lead me to vow to either cut back or not play at all in the future. "What a waste of time and money" I say. But every spring I am inevitably drawn back. It could be a number of things that bring me back; friends, being outdoors, or the renewed prospect of playing a little better than last year. My guess is its probably a combination. This year though, my goal is to stop the cycle of frustration. Spending more time or money on the game doesn't make very much sense to me and to be honest there are a lot more important things than golf. But I believe, and which I hope to chronicle in this blog, is that a regular hack like myself can improve to become a respectable golfer if not good, on a modest budget and with minimal time away from the family or other commitments. My goal is to become 5 handicap golfer on $600/year. For those of you that have played with me before, I will give you a few minutes to stop laughing........
..............................................................
Now that everyone is back with us, I can get down to the nitty gritty. I don't expect this to happen over night. In fact I don't even expect to come close to this for at least 5 years. The $600 will cover all greens fees, equipment, range balls, cart fees, etc., etc. I will play mostly early morning rounds of 9 holes to minimize perceived time at the course. My plan is simple, focus on one aspect of my game at a time, searching for the most inexpensive and effective way to improve, really so I can have more fun on the course. I hope this blog can become a forum for suggestions, keeping in touch, and maybe, just maybe, can provide a little encouragement to other hackers out there who just want to have fun, get better at the game and still have money for lunch.

Some Thoughts on the Game

It's amazing to me to think how popular the game of golf has become. We pay anywhere from $15 to $500 to walk around a nice looking lawn for more than 4 hours trying to put a little ball in a little hole. But let's face it, golf is a lot of fun. I don't know if its the social aspect of the game (how many of you have played alone?), the prospect of bettering our game every time we play, the aesthetic beauty of a well maintained course (few things are more appealing to me than the contrast of a green course to a rough landscape like the mountains, ocean or desert), or maybe in today's media frenzied world of entertainment, its the nostalgia of being outdoors and active. Its probably some combination. But I have 2 problems with golf... time and money. I consider myself a family man and losing 4 or more hours on a Saturday does not sit well with me and more importantly my wife and kids. And again, let's face the facts, golf is expensive. Golfers spend on average about $1,000/year according to NGF! Avid golfers spend on average close to $2,500/year! Both are too much for me, so much so that I have considered on a few occasions just giving up the game completely. But every spring, without fail, I am drawn back. My solution then? That is part of my quest, to keep both time and money down. I really enjoy an early 9 holes of golf. It's cheap and if you tee off at 6 am can be done by 8:30 very easily. There has got to be some kind of balance that allows us hackers to better our game, maybe even get good at the game without spending our kids' college funds and probably more importantly without spending our free time that is also rightfully theirs. That is my quest.

The History of My Game

As anyone who knows me can attest, I have a terrible memory. Not selective like some, just porous, I forget the good with the bad. Having said that, the earliest I remember playing an actual round of golf was as a sophomore in high school in Littleton, CO. I had a good friend who was already into golf, thanks to his dad. I started off hitting golf balls out of his backyard into some "woods". Looking back, this probably wasn't the smartest idea as the "woods" were mearly trees that provided a buffer zone between the backyards, a small canal and then some commercial buildings; and probably not more than 200 yards away from my friends yard, a very busy street. (Broadway for anyone familiar with Littleton) Luckily for the oncoming traffic, we were only using a 7 or 8 iron and rarely got the ball over his fence. I eventually picked up some used clubs at a garage sale and my friend and I would frequent the municipal course at the Littleton Golf and Tennis Club. I can't begin to imagine how many of my tee shots were swallowed by the small lake to the right of the fairway on the first tee. I survived off finding errant range balls and lost golf balls throughout the course.

Not long after getting my first set of clubs I recognized the need for additional practice on my own. My two younger brothers remember me taking them to the local park and having them retrieve my golf balls while I practiced. Ahh the joys of being the older brother. Keep in mind during this tenure of my game, I wasn't even good enough to keep score...let's put it that way.

After high school I left for a year of college and then to serve a mission, all the while my mother was selling my golf clubs at a garage sale. I didn't pick the game up again until I became seriously involved with Stephanie and found out all of her brothers played. After we were married, I picked up my second set of golf clubs at a used sports equipment store. I played off and on at Nelson family gatherings. My move to sunny Tucson, AZ found more opportunities to play with some friends and it is probably here that I really started keeping and paying attention to my scores. I won't mention what they were out of self preservation! I played some great courses here, including the #1 on my all time favorites, Starr Pass.

Moving to California is were it really started. Firstly, the job that took me there was to work as part of the Golf Group at PWC. We valued golf courses for a living. I traveled the country inspecting and analyzing golf courses. The guys I worked with all played, and I played often with them. This is where I really started becoming self conscious of my game as they were all much better than I. In fact this is where I started leaving my driver in my bag and even on one occation teed off with my 7 iron the entire round. (My driver didn't reimurge until only very recently) This was also the time of my first real job and my first real paycheck. I had a little discretionary income to play with, and I did, mostly with my good friend Aaron who would come play an early 9 holes on a Saturday morning with me often. Just prior to moving from California to Colorado I was probably playing my best golf. It was at that time that I recorded my best round, albeit 9 holes, but a 38! (I've never come close since).

In Colorado I have found several friends to play with and which brings me to my current standing in golf. An estimated 35 handicap and other than my wedges, a bag full of used clubs. Not that I am complaining, I like my clubs just fine, you just need to know what I am working with here.