When the Rough Gets Growing

It was my first play day with the women’s league yesterday. I signed up for the second year, and hopefully I’ll stay fit enough to last throughout the season. I’m limiting myself to no more than 2 rounds a week, once on Wednesdays with the league, and once on the weekend with hubby.

Yesterday, the league played at the same course where I shot an 88 a month and a half ago. Back then, the fairways were hard from the cold, and the rough grass was still thin. Plus, the greens had just been aerated, so balls landed squarely and putts rolled without much break. By now, the rough has grown as thick as a scrub brush and the greens were firm and fast, so balls landing on them had a tendency to roll like a marble out of a frying pan. 

In the end, I shot a pitiful 107. About 5 of those shots were from chunking my wedges into the thick rough. Another 5 strokes were from bunker shots that didn’t quite make it onto the green, resulting in crappy wedge shots out of the rough. I also lost a ball in the water, and another in a red stake hazard, after overhitting a ball past the green.

Thank goodness handicaps only include the 10 best of the last 20 rounds played, and I have enough decent rounds banked for the 107 to be inconsequential. But clearly, I need to practice my wedges. So it’s off to the golf course practice area. Or, since it'll be raining the next couple days, maybe I could just practice hitting balls off a bristle brush at home.

Mansplaining at the Range

I am seething with rage right now. Just got back from the range. I was practicing with my two brand-new Cleveland wedges with ladies graphite shafts. (I recently decided to switch from using my husband's old Cleveland wedges with the stiff iron shafts.) Anyway, I was at the range which has special targets just for practicing short wedge shots. I was almost done with my bucket when some old short, skinny white guy comes up to me and says, "Have you ever watched the LPGA?"
   Having no idea why he was asking me this question, I said, "Yeah, why?"
   "You should watch the ladies on the LPGA," he said. "I noticed your arm, it's like this--" he makes a motion of bending his arm.
   "You mean I bend my arm on the backswing?" I said.
   "Yeah. You need to keep your left arm straight," he said.
   "Have you been watching me this whole time?" I said, accusingly.
   "Well, a couple times," he said, sheepishly, looking away. "Your arm bends on the backswing."
   "I know it does," I said. "I've asked a lot of golf teachers and they all say it doesn't matter. What's more important is what happens at impact."
   "Well, that's true," he said.
   "Have you ever seen John Daly? Jordan Spieth?" I said. "The straight left arm thing is a myth. But why are you telling me this? Do you feel free to come up and comment on my swing just because I'm a woman?" I looked around, noticing there weren't any other women around. I began to get quite angry. "Would you do that to any of these guys around here?"
   The man kept trying to mansplain the golf swing to me. He had no clue that "keep your left arm straight" is overly simplistic advice, just like the commonly heard admonishment to "keep your head down." This douche bag just kept insisting, "If you watch the ladies on the LPGA, some of them are small like you, and they keep their left arm straight."
   "Oh really? Well, they're a lot younger and have been golfing since they were young. You have no idea what kind of physical limitations I might have. And how dare you criticize me! Who do you think you are, my husband?"
   Finally, the man started to back away.
   "Thanks a lot for ruining my day!" I said sharply.

   Later it occurred to me that this asshole might have assumed that I couldn't hit the ball very far, not even noticing that I am practicing my short game with wedges. But at the time, I was so angry I could have punched the guy in the nose.
   This wasn't the first time I'd been approached at a driving range, but in the past it was usually some random dude trying to start a harmless conversation. This time was different. This time, I almost felt sexually harrassed. Golf is a sport that is overwhelmingly dominated by men, but in this day and age, women on the range or on the course should not be considered an anomaly.
   I'm thinking about writing a letter of complaint to the range. Maybe I should demand that they put signs up at each stall, reminding people that it's rude to stare and comment on other people's swings. And if you're a man, keep your damn mouth shut around the women!

Zig-Zag Golf

This may look like modern art, but this is just an illustration to show how I've been playing so far this spring. On the left was a par 4 where I teed off into the trees, then punched out and hit an amazingly perfect 3-wood shot to land within a few feet of the hole. On the right was a par 4 where I teed off into another fairway, then hit a risky hook shot into the right rough, followed by a well-executed wedge onto the green.

On the first hole, I made the putt for par. On the second hole, I made a double-bogey (but only because of poor putting.) Net score for both holes was a 2. Which just goes to show, sometimes a short distance between two points doesn't have to be a straight line.