Rites of Spring

Some people think it's Baseball. The sound of the ball on the bat, the Hot Dog guy, the beer guy. Not in my house. For us it's the spring Re-gripping Party.

Ahh...the smell of Solvent...the stickiness of old grip tape stuck on your fingers...the opportunity to cut yourself using the wrong blade to cut off the old grips. These are the things that starts an old man's blood to boiling...when the yard is still covered with snow, but there's one little corner of the yard where the grass is peeking through, and there's a feeling that Spring is actually going to arrive at some point. Sometime during the Florida Swing I pull out the knife, the tape, and the Solvent, light a fire in the fireplace, and while the wind still blows cold in Western New England, I rip off the old grips and put on the new.

This year is no different. I got up this morning, looked out the window on a blustery, but sunny, early March morning (yep, I did remember to set my clock ahead) and it occured to me that today was the day for re-gripping. I loaded up the woodbox with firewood, checked the TV schedule to see what time the Pods Championship was going to start, made sure there was some cold beer in the fridge, and started looking for my re-gripping supplies. I couldn't find my hook-bladed knife anywhere so I started the process with a straight blade. Didn't take long before I sliced one of my fingers and thought I was done for the day, but I found the hook-blade right where I'd organized it, and got back to work.

So while I watched Stewert Cink crash and burn, and young Mr. OHair (will someone please explain to this young man the correct spelling of his name?) hang on for his second victory, I sat on the couch and pulled the grips off both my and my wife's clubs. Three hours later I had 30 clubs lying, gripless on the floor. It's not the grips that take so long, those are easily removed, it's the old grip tape on top of the build up tape that takes forever. When I was done, I put them away. We'll get to the actual re-gripping another day.

After all...if we did everything today...we wouldn't have anything left to do.

It seems that I, like so many other new bloggers, have disappeared from the Blogosphere.

The truth is there just is not much to write about golf in the Berkshire's these days. That may be because I just don't seem to be very inspired. It could be that there just isn't anything interesting to write about.

It's more likely that it's the damn weather and right now I'm just doing my best to get through the days, hoping the snow will melt, and we can get back to what we do best. Which is to complain about the state of our game.

I just heard from my golf buddy...you know...the one who bailed out on this beautiful winter wonderland and absconded to Miami, where the weather is much nicer. Come to find out that he's only played 6 times in the 6 weeks he's been gone! "What the $%$# have you been doing?" I asked him. "Working" he says. OK he's a writer so I guess he can work anywhere, and being a writer he needs to work when he can, but I was disappointed that he wasn't playing six times a week! I was hoping for a few vicarious birdies...or something.

Just basically unhappy all the way around, I guess.

One ray of hope, in the Berkshire's at any rate. I heard the other day that the Golf Scribe has found a buyer for his site and someone will be continuing the wonderful work that Dom has done over the past few years. I know that a number of people are happy that the Player of the Year competition will continue.

So till next time...I'll be the guy with the snow shovel and the pained expression on his face.

I Should Have Stayed in Seattle.


Nice weather we're having in the Great Frozen North. Just think: Two days ago I was in Seattle, it was not raining and the temperature was around 50 degree's. Golf weather if I have ever seen it. For February at least.

But I had to come back to New England, where today my driveway is under 6 inches of snow and the forecast is for freezing rain the rest of the day.


I'm worried about the greens.


My golfing buddy is still in Miami, where it's in the 80's or something, playing golf every day and complaining that the MGA is forcing him to put his scores in for handicap purposes when he hasn't played in 3 month's.

I can't listen to that. I'm sitting here freezing to death, hitting three foot putts on a piece of Astroturf, and listening to him whine about how his game is rusty, and his handicap is going up.

God hates a whiner.

I can put up with them, though.

After all if I didn't, who would put up with me?

Didn't See Me at the Gym?

Things didn't go well at the gym this week.

Starting off with good intentions, I showed up on Monday. I did 45 minutes on the tread mill at Level 16 (out of 20), at 3.6 miles per hour, and burned up just over 600 calories. Pretty steep inclines at level 16, lowest is 6.5 degrees and the highest is 12 in a random pattern, and after taking a few month's to get to this point, I feel like it's a pretty good workout.

I had tried running some time back, and though I got to the point that I could run 5 k's in about a half an hour, the pounding on this overweight 50-something got to be too much.

So a good start to the week went downhill immediately.

Tuesday was the Primary and so I skipped the Gym so I could vote. Yesterday my excuse was that I had to pack for my trip to Seattle this weekend. Tonight we're taking our Niece and her daughter out to celebrate the daughters birthday, so there will be no gym today either. Tomorrow I'm off to Seattle.

And I'm not even bringing my clubs. I never liked to play in the rain anyway, and it is, after all, Seattle.

Lets hope things will go better next week.

100 Putts a Day

Ok Maybe 50

The point is to start working on the things we can work on. Pretty hard to do when you live in the Great Frozen North.

Last year I bought a putting machine. You know, one of those 8 foot long pieces of Astroturf with a hole on one end, and a ball return. I spent last winter putting in the spare bedroom upstairs and I'm convinced it made a difference. The three-putt almost disappeared from my arsenal of "ways to blow up the score", and I made a lot more short putts than I used to.

So this winter I'm thinking that if I can make 50 3-footers a day, and increase the distance every week, by the time Spring shows up I'll be making 50 6-8 footers every day and my confidence will be UNBELIEVABLE!

Either that or it will be completely shattered.

Off to the gym later today. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh yeah...Did you see that Woods fella in Dubai yesterday?

A page from Tigers Book?


Where do we begin.

After long deliberation, I've decided that if I'm going to drop a few shots this year I need to get started. So where do I start?

By dropping a few pounds.

Getting in better shape, losing some weight, and especially, getting stronger is something I can do now, while I wait for better weather. I've been going to the gym off and on (mostly off)for a few years now, but I have decided to get there for an hour or so at least four times a week between now and the start of the season. Once the season starts I intend to get there at least a couple of times a week. If I can drop 10-15 pounds of fat and put on a few pounds of muscle it has to improve my chances. I'm not talking about making the David Duval change, (though I see lately that he looks more like the guy who shot 59 than the guy who couldn't make a cut shortly after) I'm talking about losing a bit of the belly and maybe tightening up what's left behind.

I really hate sit-ups.

Maybe I'll get to like them? Probably not, but when Spring finally gets here and I'm walking down the first fairway with my bag on my shoulder, I'll appreciate the work.

Winter Blues

It's winter now, but it won't always be.

This will be my first summer on the "Senior Circuit" in the Berkshires, and I intend to make the most of it.

This Blog will be the place that I write about, think about, and joke about the state of my game as I once more try to get from a 12 Handicap to something in single digit's.

At the same time I'll be watching and reporting on a friend who will be attempting to get from and 8 to a 4 while trying to qualify for the Mass and US Senior Open's.

Is it possible for a couple of 50-somethings to take 4 shots off their handicap's?

I believe it is.