End of the Year Blues

The season is over...it snow's at my house now almost every day...the clubs are out of the car and into the den. I still pick one up every once in a while...check my grip...make sure the V's are pointing in the right direction...think about that perfect drive...the chip shot that lands just right and rolls into the hole for a birdie...

What shall I do now?

Oh, yeah...the silly season starts on TV.

Nah...

Slow Play

We played a little Resort Golf on Cape Cod yesterday. We've played at some other resorts in the past and enjoyed them all, but there's something about this place that we've never run into before, and I just don't understand it.

Mandatory golf carts that must remain on the cart path.

This course was recently redesigned by Jack Nicklaus, and as we sat in the bar after our round trying to figure out why it took over 5 hours to play 18 holes, the only reason I could come with for the cart rules was that they're afraid the course hasn't grown in enough.

If they were afraid that the carts would damage the new turf they should let us walk.

I know that living in the Berkshires we get a little spoiled. We don't have the crowds that slow down play here on the east coast, but the bottom line is that we can walk the course in 4 hours or less and not damage their golf course. I don't even care if they charge me the same price! As much as I love golf, I don't want to spend the entire day driving a cart from shot to shot, taking 3 clubs out of my bag before I walk 40 yards or so to get to my ball, and even then find that I don't have the club I want 7-8 times in the course of the round. During this almost 5 1/2 hour round there was no one in front of us and no one behind us. It's just a complete waste of time.

They charge in excess of $100 to play this course...mandatory carts...5 plus hours to play. If they let you drive the carts on the course it would take 4 hours to play, roughly the same time (probably less) if you could walk. This would probably translate into an extra tee time per hour - $400 per group - somewhere around $3000-$4000 per day. Wouldn't this pay for any damage done by the carts?

I don't really think that's the reason, though. Resort golf is about people on vacation that don't play a lot of golf, and they want to ride. It just really ruins the experience when you're on a great course, but it's taking so long to play that you never get into any kind of rhythm, and the day just drag's on too long.

I enjoyed the course...but I don't think I'll go back.

Well...maybe next year

Club Championship

Three weeks ago I won the Men's Division in the Club Championship at my local club. This was not the Championship Division...just the Men's Division, but still, it was the first time I won anything in Club Championship after finishing second once or twice in the past. So I should have been thrilled, right? I guess so...but for some reason I wasn't. It might have been one of my competitors who congratulated me for winning "the Hackers Division", or it might have been that even though I had a large lead going into the final round, I lost a few of those shots and so was a little disappointed in my performance. I don't really know what it was...but I didn't get overly excited about it.



This all made me remember David Duval. He won the Open Championship a number of years ago, and then almost immediately his game fell apart. When questioned about it he said that winning the Open had been his lifelong dream, that he thought that when he won it a whole new world would open up, and he would feel like he had really accomplished something in his life. I'm paraphrasing here, but you get the general idea.



Then when he won it...it was a let down. Nothing changed. He got some extra attention for a while, but the life-affirming feeling that he had finally arrived at the pinnacle of his career, was, basically, a huge letdown. His game suffered. There was no reason to practice anymore. He had gotten what he'd worked for all his life. And in the end...it didn't mean that much.



Now, I don't mean to compare myself to David Duval, but the night before I won this division I was lying in bed hardly able to sleep. I had a 5 shot lead going into the final round. I had slept on the lead once before and blown it on Sunday, so I tried to convince myself that it wouldn't happen again. "Don't be afraid to win" I told myself. I'd heard that somewhere before, and it sounded like a good thing to tell myself now. "Just relax...play your game..." all that stuff.



When I got to the course I was nervous. Double bogey on the first hole. But I gathered myself together, and as we made the turn the lead over my closest opponent was 6. He made birdie on 10, but I still felt confident. I got one back on 12, but, then he made birdie on 13 and 14 while I bogeyed both holes and suddenly, I had a three shot lead. I was beginning to get nervous again. On the 15th (par 3) he missed the green left and I was about 12 feet right of the stick. He chipped poorly, made bogey, and I drained the 12 footer for birdie and I was back to 5 up with three holes to play.

That's the way it ended.

I thought when I finished that I would be elated...or something. The truth was that it was nice to recieve the congratulations of my opponents and other friends and members at the club, but all in all it was kind of a let down. I just wasn't that excited about it.

What does that say about me? Is golf just not that important in the end? Am I simply a recreational golfer? Not a competitor?

I just don't know...

Meme-d

I got tagged. And by someone I care very deeply for, too. I don't know what it all means, but apparently I'm suppose to write down 6 things about myself that no one else knows. I'm not sure that's a good idea.

I'm also suppose to "tag" six other peoples blogs...kind of like a chain letter or something. I'm against that as well, and seeing that I don't know 6 other blogs...other than the ones already involved in this shindig...it's likely that my branch of the tree will die right here.

I'll think about it, and get back to you.

Dazed and Confused

I know...someone used it for a movie title ( I didn't see it) but it completely describes my mindset after the Singles Championship at BHCC this weekend.

I went into the weekend, as I said in my last post, expecting to struggle a little on the first day, and then improve on Saturday and Sunday. That's how it has worked every year that I have played in this event. But that's not how it went this year...

This year I started off badly and continued to get worse as the weekend went on. By the time it was over I had finished 18th in a field of 21, and the DFL guy didn't show up on Sunday after shooting 90 something on Friday and 1-0-something on Saturday.

How did this happen? I have no idea... The triple-bogie I made to start the day on Saturday certainly didn't help. And the Snowman I made on the 11th hole Sunday, followed by a two stroke penalty - 8, I made on the 14th, kind of made for a long weekend.

And that was the whole problem. Most of the time I didn't play too badly. I should have been 2 over after six holes on Friday, and started off with three pars on Sunday. I just started having these ridiculous holes every once in a while, where I would make double or triple for no apparent reason. Here's what the front side looked like on Friday: par- bogey-par-double(lost ball off the tee)-par-bogey-double-double-par. Did you see the "double-double" thing? On the back side I made three more doubles and finished with three straight pars for a sizzling 89. Two triples on the front side Saturday for a 91 and the aforementioned disasters on Sunday for a 93.

Then last night I went out to play a nice, quiet nine holes with my wife. Left the driver in the bag and used a 4 wood off the tee. I shot 38.

Dazed and confused.

Stepping out this weekend

It's been quite a while since I've posted here, and I'd like to say that I have a good excuse. Unfortunately, I don't. The truth is that I have not been in the hospital, have not been locked up or otherwise incarcerated, and have not forgotten my passwords. I simply have not taken the time to sit down and try to put my thoughts on paper. Or in this case...the blogosphere.

This weekend, however, will be different. This weekend is "The Singles Tournament" at Berkshire Hills Country Club in Pittsfield, MA, and once again I am cleaning up the irons and buying a new sleeve of Pro V's, and trying my luck at this three day tournament.

I've been playing in this tournament for the last 5 years, and though I've never placed near the top of my division, I keep coming back because it's a real test of my ability to control my game and my emotions. The first few years I finished near the bottom; always blowing up badly the first day, scoring somewhere around 90, and then playing better each successive day; giving myself the belief that if I could just eliminate that bad start that I could play with these guys. The last couple of years I've done better, finishing in the middle of the pack. This year my goal is to place somewhere in the top third.

We'll see how it goes.

I'm feeling good about my game right now. Struggling a bit with the driver (aren't we all?), but I'm hitting my irons well and chipping it about as well as I'm capable. So, if I can keep it in the low 80's for the weekend, or possibly, something in the high 70's (which I have never done at BHCC) I should reach my goal...finish out of the money...but in the top third...and have a great time doing it.

I should acknowledge here that my lovely wife, who I absolutely adore, is encouraging me in this adventure, even though it starts on our 16th anniversary! A golf widow on our anniversary...maybe she's giving me a not-so-subtle message. Ya think?

Stay tuned...I'll let you know how it goes.

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.