A Half-dozen Long-Stem Sticks

Bought myself some brand-new G20 irons for my birthday, thanks to yet another price drop from Ping. If only I wasn't a winter baby, I'd be swinging those sticks by now. But this winter season has lived up to the usual stereotype of being cloudy and cold. And not the kind of cold that can be fought off with a thick fleece hat and a cashmere sweater, but the kind of cold that hurts to breathe and chills to the bone. Until the deep freeze lifts, my bouquet of fresh-picked, half a dozen red-stemmed G20s are staying indoors. Maybe I should just stick them in a vase.

Sweet Potato Putts

First round of the new year today. It was supposed to be sunny, in the mid-50s, but there was frost on the cars in the morning, so I knew it might take awhile to warm up. I had a 10:20am tee time with Bea and Seri. At 10am, Bea called me to tell me she just woke up. (She says she has a sleeping problem, but she probably just stayed up late watching Korean soap operas again.) I told her not to worry. I already called the pro shop to confirm that there was a frost delay, so our tee time would be running 30 minutes late. Seri was at the golf course early, of course, diligently practicing her putting. None of us had played for about 3 weeks, and it showed. But no matter, we were all giddy with the excitement of another year of golf stretched before us, starting right here, right now, with this round.

After nine holes, the skies turned grey and drizzly, and we contemplated stopping play. But we forged on like good golf girls. The high point of today's round, aside from the mere fact of being outdoors swinging clubs again, was that Seri brought a bag full of boiled sweet potatoes as a snack. It wasn't the first time she'd brought them, and if I haven't blogged about them before, it's because I have been silently appreciating their utter awesomeness as a golf snack.

Today, Seri doled out the sweet potatoes at the 10th hole, and for awhile everyone was very distracted eating them, in all their sweet, starchy wholesomeness. We had a fourth person along, a stranger who we'd actually played with once before but who I didn't remember at first. He totally dug the sweet potatoes, and after eating one, he kept crediting everyone's good shots to the sweet potato "carbo boost." After he made a good putt, he said, "That's a sweet potato putt!" It was a little annoying that he complimented himself on his own putt, but if I'd made any good putts, I would have called them sweet potato putts, too.

Anyway, below is Seri's recipe for boiled sweet potatoes. It requires plastic bags made specifically for microwaving. I am usually wary of plastics used for cooking, but even Seri, who buys only organic everything, says they are safe to use.

Seri's Sweet Potatoes (Known to Encourage Good Putting)

1. Cut up some sweet potatoes into 2-inch slices.
2. Put them into a microwaveable plastic bag.
3. Microwave on high for 10 minutes.
4. Let cool.
5. Bring to the golf course, and enjoy!

Golf Resolutions for 2013

About a year ago, I started this blog by announcing my golf resolutions for the year 2012. Here it is a year later, so it's time to take a look at how well I did.

Resolution #1: Get longer. Did it. I have achieved above-average driving distance with regularity. I credit better technique and better equipment to getting longer. From the Teddy Bear drill to my new Ping G20 driver, it was a year-long obsession, but Big Bopper is here to stay.
Resolution #2: Enter a hole-in-one million-dollar shootout contest. I totally forgot to do this. Usually, my email in-box is littered with announcements on the local million-dollar shoot-out, but somehow, I managed to miss them. Or maybe the local million-dollar shoot-out contest decided to omit me 'cause they knew I'd win. ;)
Resolution #3: Break 90. Did it. I broke 90 and shot an 87 back in October.
Resolution #4: Join a women’s league. I was still to chicken to sign up for an official women's league, due to my unpredictable work schedule and horror stories about one of the local women's leagues demanding new golfers to "audition" for a spot. However, I did form a league of my own, of sorts, consisting of Seri and Bea and me as a regular threesome, with a field of various players stepping in as the fourth.
Resolution #5: Play another charity tournament. Did it. In fact, I played several charity tournaments this past year. Didn't win any trophies, but I did win prizes for closest-to-the-pin and longest drive.

Okay, so 3 out of 5 ain't bad. How about this year? Here's my new list of resolutions for 2013:

Resolution #1: Get longer. Last year I gained about 30-50 yards in driving distance, with an average drive of 180 and a maximum drive of 230 yards. This year, I want to gain another 10-20. I want to average 200 and achieve a maximum drive of 250 or more. 
Resolution #2: Enter a hole-in-one million-dollar shootout contest. I still want to do this, if I can remember. One of the local golf courses usually sponsors one in July. But please email me if you hear of one.
Resolution #3: Break 80. I hope I can do this, or at least score in the low 90s all the time.
Resolution #4: Join a women’s league. This will have to wait till spring, most likely, as most of the golfy women around here pack the clubs away when the temps fall below 50 degrees. 
Resolution #5: Play another bucket list course. Last year, hubby and I played TPC Sawgrass. It was an awesome experience. This year, some of the possibilities include Torrey Pines and Bandon Dunes. I'm not quite ready for Scotland yet. Maybe in another year.

Now if only the temperature would climb back into the 40s, I could start on my resolutions. So far, 2013 has started with a cold, cloudy winter. But the forecast says a warming trend is in the near future. In the meantime, Ping gifted golfers with another price drop, so I will keep myself busy by trying out those new G20 irons. I'll keep you posted...

Two Thumbs Down on the Four-Wheel Cart

Finally bought a new push-cart of the four-wheel kind. Costco was having a deal on a $99 model that looked just like the Sun Mountain one that hubby and I have been eyeing all year. At 15 pounds, it is relatively lightweight, and it does open and close like a breeze. But I tried it out on the course today, and I must give it two thumbs down. Here's why:

1) The wheels only roll straight, so to roll the cart on a curve, you have to lift the front two wheels by pushing down on the handle. After doing this all round long, my triceps are actually sore. My old two-wheeler was much easier to maneuver since I just had to steer with the handle and it would go wherever I pulled or pushed it.

2) You need to kick on the brake to make sure the cart doesn't roll away. My old two-wheeler had a brake that I never had to use since the plate where the bag rests effectively served as a brake by resting on the ground whenever you stop the cart and let go of the handle. Having to step on a brake is yet another repetitive motion that annoyed me.

3) Because it's heavier and harder to maneuver, I couldn't take the four-wheeler all the way up to the collar of the green like I can with my trusty two-wheeler.

4) Worst of all, you have to push the cart. Pulling it is doable, but awkward. The thing I like about pulling my two-wheeler is that it gives me a good stretch in the arm and chest muscles, which are essential to driving the ball long and keeping the arms straight and relaxed. With the push-cart, I felt like my arms were always bent and all my upper body muscles were constantly tensed in the pushing motion. I already spend too much time hunched over a computer, and the last thing I want to do is feel like my back is hunched over a push-cart.

So, it's back to the two-wheel push-cart for me. Maybe I'll try a three-wheeler, though I have a feeling I'd end up with all the same problems as a four-wheeler. Or maybe I will just have to save up some dough for the remote control golf cart.

You Might Even Say It Glows

One thing about being of a certain age is that you get to see fashion trends come and go, and come around again. Take neon, for example. It was back in the ‘80s when neon colors like day-glo pink and fluorescent yellow were first deemed appropriate for use as apparel, as opposed to just highlighter pens. Now, thirty years later, neon is back. It probably came back last year. I am not quite sure, since I don’t really follow fashion. I just seemed to notice a lot of neon colors in stores as I walk around town these days.

Chalk it up to the power of suggestion, but lately I am finding this vibrant neon pink color appealing, so I bought a shirt in that color and wore it with a bright green vest out on the golf course the other day. Even though it’s winter already, the temps were supposed to peak in the 60s. Plus, I was golfing with my hubby and it felt like a date, so I wanted to look even more chipper than usual.

As I strolled up to the clubhouse with my hubby next to me, we heard a golf cart screech to a halt nearby. We turned to look, and the man in the cart leaned out and said, “Well, the good news is, if it snows, you’ll be able to find her!”

I looked down at my bright pink shirt and laughed. Yup, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer ain’t got nothin’ on me.

Golf Gifts for the Gal Who Has Everything

I was browsing on Etsy the other day, wondering what they had in the way of golf gifts, and I came across these hand-painted wooden tees from a shop called WyomingCreative out in the cowboy state. The shop also makes hand-stamped ball markers with encouraging sayings like, "Just tap it in." Pretty nifty, aren't they:

Another shop called JudyCootieCreations makes hand-painted tees with whimsical little pictures of ladybugs, flowers, sailboats, and fish, which are sure to lift your spirits just before you top them with a ball and whack the crap out it.

Seriously, though, these tees are too cute to actually use, but they would certainly add a little flair to a Christmas stocking!

The Driver Wedge Game

I've always dreamed of playing a driver-wedge game, just like the pros do. That means they hit driver so long that there's only a wedge shot left to get on the green in regulation. Last week, I had a taste of this. I was playing a course that I affectionately call "the Mindf*ck Course," otherwise known as The Woodlands. It shares the same clubhouse with Diamond Ridge, where the girls and I have been playing a lot lately. I kind of dislike the 20-minute drive out there, though, because it's always just after morning rush hour, when all the big trucks are on the highway, menacing those of us in little sedans. Also, driving on the highway to get to a golf course makes me feel like I'm commuting to work or something.

But on December 1, the county golf courses dropped to winter rates, and the normally pricey Woodlands suddenly became affordable. So Bea set up a tee time there. The last time I played there was last winter with Seri, when we were matched up with a former pro lacrosse player who actually thought we were good golfers. Somehow I had parred the first two holes, and did okay till the turn, when it all went to pot.

This time, I played like crap from the get go. I've had loads of work lately, so it felt weird to be standing up instead of sitting at a desk in front of a computer. While my driver was magnificent, everything else was crazytown. Let me explain. The Woodlands is a short course, yardage-wise, but just about every tee shot is blind, so you have no idea where that ball is supposed to land once it gets over that hill in front of you. Plus, the fairways are narrow and either concave or convex, leaving you with really awkward stances and almost impossible lies from the rough. Because of this driving-into-the-unknown business, I lost 3 balls on the front nine alone.

On the up side, the course has some short par 4s that I drove to within 20 or 30 yards of the green. And it's on these holes that my wedge became very important. But my $16 wedge failed me miserably. I skulled it on almost every shot. It was so frustrating to get close enough to birdie on a par 4 and then ruin my chances with a skulled shot 30 yards over the green. Seri, who has a flawless short game, tried to explain what I was doing wrong, something about using all arms and no body turn, but I just couldn't get it. I tried to remember what I'd learned from that one golf lesson I took where Mike explained how to hit a wedge shot. But that was before I actually owned a real wedge club.

My husband thinks it's my cheap wedge. I think it's partly that, but it's mainly my technique. But I don't want to complain. I know my wedges need work. And it looks like I've got my work cut out for me.