Golfing Like a Rock Star

This week is sort of turning out to be celebrity week on the golf course. First I get randomly paired with the chef and bartender of a celebrity restaurant, then today I got paired with the dad of the drummer in a band whose album just made number one on the Billboard rock music chart today. Of course, I have never heard of this band since I am well over the age of 40, but I am sure my college-age nephew knows who they are. Also in my random foursome was a 70-something retired couple who had just picked up golf in their 60s. It was a relaxed round with upbeat strangers, though I only shot a 98. My handicap index is trending toward 20.1 and I am not exactly happy about it. This season, the allergies have kicked in with a vengeance, so I partly blame the constant distraction of an itchy throat and nasal congestion.

In other news, I have started applying to join a ladies league in earnest. I know I've mentioned joining a women's league before, but now I think I am going to jump in and do it. I sent feelers out to four different leagues, and so far the most appealing group seems to be a Tuesday 9-hole league at a nearby course. I really prefer an 18-hole league, but the one I want to join started their season in April so it may be too late. The Tuesday 9-hole league has a spring coffee kick-off meeting at the end of the month and starts their season in May. I'm going to attend the meeting and check out the membership first to see if I'll fit it. I spoke to the league VP on the phone, and she seemed friendly. She has an Irish accent and said she often walks the course, so if she's representative of the group, they could be my kind of gals. We shall see!

Bugging Out

So it was a pretty fun golfy day. Had a 1:58pm tee time but was at the range by 12:45pm. Accidentally bought a medium bucket of range balls instead of a small but took my time and hit almost all of them. I was golfing solo, and when I got to the starter box, there was not another female to be seen. Fortunately, I was paired with two laid-back hipster twentysomethings, who worked as the executive chef and bartender at a certain celebrity farm-to-table diner concept in the city. The chef was a good golfer but the bartender, who had grown up golfing, hadn't picked up a club for 5 years. I told him, "It's just like riding a bicycle," which as everyone knows, it really isn't.

A couple holes in, Bea rode up and joined us. She knew I had an afternoon tee time, and had just finished playing a morning 18 at another course. She played like crap because she hadn't eaten for two days, or so she said. I think Bea tends to exaggerate sometimes.

Anyway, I played like crap too. I was playing long, but pulled drives and 3-putts gave me trouble. Overall, though, it was a fun day of fair-to-mediocre golf. The worst part was once I got home. I went to take a shower and took out my contacts like a usually do, which leaves me practically blind. After the water got running, I stepped in and was just settling into the steam, when I looked down and saw a large fuzzy black spot on the shower floor. I kicked at it and it barely moved, so I leaped out of the shower, grabbed my eyeglasses and looked back down into the shower to see the biggest stinkbug I have ever seen in my life. It must have been at least an inch long. It looked like a miniature baby turtle that had been flipped onto its back and couldn't right itself. I frantically went for the toilet paper but my wet hands made the roll spin in futility like a slot machine wheel that turns up all lemons. Finally I got enough paper off the roll to make a wad, which I used to bundle up that stinkbug like a swaddled baby, which I then unceremoniously tossed into the toilet bowl and flushed. I'm sorry if I offend any insect-lovers or if there's some news channel in a parallel insect world that is breaking news about the latest flushing-an-insect-down-the-toilet scandal, but that is what happened in my bathroom tonight.

Moral of the story: After a long day of golf in nice weather, leave on the contact lenses in the shower!

An All-You-Can-Golf Buffet

So my favorite public course has a special deal going this season. It’s $199 a month for unlimited play on weekday afternoons, with cart, plus discounts if you buy more than a month’s worth at a time. It was an offer I couldn’t resist, so I bought two month’s worth. I’ve played yesterday and today, and if it weren’t for cold and rain in the forecast the rest of this week, I would be playing more. I already have tee times lined up for four out of five days next week. Fortunately, work is slow this year, so I've got plenty of time for golf.

I started scoring, and it's been nothing spectacular (97, 102, 99). But I haven't been trying too hard yet. I'm really enjoying just swinging the club as fast as I can without hurting myself. I think my monster drives are coming back. The other day I pounded a tee shot down the middle of the fairway about 206 yards. My 3-wood has been scooting 170-plus yards in a reliable way. I've been making par 4's in two and par 5's in 3 like you're supposed to. This morning, at the range, I was able to hit my driver so it rolled out to 200 yards. This is the first time I've ever done that in my whole life. 

Of course, my putting is a mess and my sand game needs work, but I'm just getting started. Time to break open a new box of pink balls and let the good times roll!

Whip It Good

I played 27 holes yesterday. I only meant to play 18, but you know how it goes. The first 18 was colder and cloudier and windier than the forecast predicted. I forgot my thick knitted winter hat and had to make due with a fleece headband and a regular baseball hat. I wore two layers of shirts and a down vest, and when the wind kicked up, I threw on the wrinkled polyester windbreaker I keep stuffed in my golf bag. Seri improvised her outfit with a wool overskirt worn over black leggings, plus purple knit legwarmers:

Here's a close-up on the legwarmers:

I thought it was a cute outfit, but I never wore legwarmers when they were in fashion in the '80s, so I can't imagine wearing them now that they're back in fashion. I am definitely not a fashionista. Seri and Bea always manage to add flair to their golf outfits, while I prefer more utilitarian styles.

It was a struggle for us all to keep warm yesterday, but by the end of the round, the sun was beginning to make an appearance. So Bea suggested playing some more at another course. Seri went home but I joined Bea. I played till 6pm, when my hubby gets home from work, and finished 9 holes. Bea went on to finish 18. She's truly a golf nut.

I slept well last night. My swing felt different, somehow better. Maybe it's the excitement of spring, but I felt like I had some whip in my swing. It reminded me of the old days, back when I was just starting to learn golf and I could "swing with abandon." It was also refreshing to be outside all day. Golf is a kind of therapy for me, and since I haven't had it for months, I had been going a little crazy.

I still haven't started scoring yet. But I will soon. For now, it's enough just to let it all go and whip it good.

A Sputtering Start

The first day of spring was five days ago but temps are still sub-40 around here. Winter has definitely overstayed its welcome, but that didn't stop me from trying to play the first round of the year. Seri had made a tee time for this morning, and we were joined by Bea and the husband of one of Seri's church friends. The forecast called for freezing rain, but I checked the radar and the green splotches looked like they'd pass quickly around noon. So off we went, all of us dressed in so many layers of clothing we looked like homeless people.

My first tee shot went dead left into the trees, and it took me more than a few shots to get out and on the green. Bea hit not one but two trees on the first hole, with the ball ricocheting back toward her both times. Seri was the only one who appeared to have ever picked up a club before, and she calmly went about keeping her ball in the fairway like you're supposed to.

The second hole went about the same for me, and since it's after March 15, I dutifully wrote down +3 on my scorecard. It's a good thing I'm not superstitious or those triple bogeys on the first two holes would've spooked me for the rest of the year. Then it started to rain. My card got soaked pretty quickly, along with my gloves. I had an umbrella with me and as soon as I opened it, it turned inside out, just like you see in the cartoons when the comic hero is having a really bad day.

But I was happy to be out, even in the cold drizzly rain. My driver never got going, but I did make some decent iron and chip shots. I also made a couple of good putts, much to my surprise. Because of the cold, my brain sort of froze and I relied on mostly muscle memory to play. After my card got wet, I stopped keeping score, but I recall making at least one par.

I've made some changes to my swing this year, including taking a wider stance and going back to a strong grip, instead of the neutral grip I paid $175 to learn from that club pro in California. Also, I am really trying to keep my arms straight and away from my body to create a wider, more powerful arc when I swing. And I'm trying to engage my abs more. I've been taking pilates for a year now, it's about time I use my core.

This morning, we made it through 9 holes and then Seri suggested we stop. The temps were hovering around 39 degrees, and though it had stopped raining, the dampness in our clothes lingered. So we stopped and got rain checks from the pro shop. The forecast promises sunny weather in the high 50s next week, so I'm sure we'll get out there again soon.

Snow, Snow on the Range...

This is a picture of the 9th hole at my favorite local golf course. It was taken on March 7, about two weeks ago. As you can see, the course was snow-covered, but I was meeting Seri for pre-season coffee at the clubhouse. Surprisingly, we were not the only ones there. Even with the frigid cold winter we had, there were some diehards who played through the season. I recognized a white-haired senior player with a handlebar moustache, and he sat with me and Seri, telling us about frozen putting greens that played hard as glass, and other details from his winter golf rounds. Mr. Moustache knew the Defectress and asked if we'd seen her. I told him we hadn't seen her since November. I didn't tell him the truth, which was that I really didn't want to see her. Late in the season, I finally got tired of her smug arrogance and the noisy wheels of her electric cart just started to annoy me. So, I won't be calling the Defectress to play any time soon. But that was decided last year. This is now, and time to think positive.

Walking back to the parking lot from the clubhouse, I discovered something new about the local golf course: it is open for cross-country skiing in the winter. I had cross-county skied once in my life, years ago. It was a great workout. Maybe next year, I will try it again. Here's a picture of a cross-country skier gliding past the snack shop at the turn:

Another thing I discovered is that the range is open even when there's snow on the ground.

I'd always thought they closed the range on snow-covered days. I mean, isn't it hard to find white practice balls buried in white snow? But apparently, golfers are allowed to swing away and staffers are sent out to collect the balls on foot. So, of course, I bought myself a small bucket and flailed away.

Today, all the snow has melted and the course is open for play. I've hit the range twice in the past two weeks, but haven't gotten my nerve up to make a tee time. One more range session and I think I'll be ready.

But ready or not, I will play.

Golf Resolutions for 2015

Happy New Year! Time to review last year's golf goals and set new ones for the upcoming year. It's always cold this time of year, but the thought of golf warms me up.

First, how did I do on last year's resolutions?

Resolution #1: Stop obsessing about getting longer. I did, sort of. Despite a temporary breakthrough with 200-plus-yard drives, I really didn't do much worrying about my driver distance. (I still want to get longer though.)
Resolution #2: Enter a hole-in-one million-dollar shootout contest. I didn't come across one this year, although I didn't look too hard to find one.
Resolution #3: Break 80 (or at least break 90 again). I didn't break 80 but I did break 90. Five times, in fact. So I consider this resolution achieved. It was mostly over the spring, which is what inspired me to finally get an official handicap.
Resolution #4: Make new golf buddies. Another resolution I achieved, thanks to Seri introducing me to a couple of her golf regulars. I also hope to reconnect with some former golf pals. Golf buddies may be fair-weather friends, but they also tend to be forever friends. If you've played golf with someone a couple of times, months or even years could go by and you could run into them somewhere and say, "Hey, we should go golfing sometime."
Resolution #5: Play another bucket list course. Did it, if you consider Streamsong a bucket list course. I think it is, since it has gotten a ton of buzz since opening in 2013. While hubby and I took a couple of different golf trips this year, Streamsong tops the list as this past year's bucket-list outing.

Okay, so in 2014 I achieved 4 out of 5 resolutions. Either I'm getting better at golf, or I'm getting better at crafting realistic resolutions. Now what are my resolutions for 2015?

Resolution #1: Lower my handicap. When I first registered for an official handicap in the spring, I logged in at 16.9. By the end of the season, it went up to 19. This year, I would like to get that number down. Lower than a 12 would be nice, but I will settle for a 15.
Resolution #2: Learn to enjoy playing competitively. Hubby and I played in a mixed couples tournament this past year, and I have to say I would have enjoyed it far more if we'd won. I think part of me never got in the game to begin with because my nature is to shrink from competition. The one time I'd won a charity tournament in the past, it was just from playing my usual game and then being surprised to find out I fared better than other women players in the end. I would like to learn how to play in a tournament, both to win and have fun at the same time.
Resolution #3: Become a more consistent putter. When I think about my golf swing, it usually involves an iron or driver. I really need to focus on developing a better, more consistent putting stroke too. In golf, putting is kind of important, ya know?
Resolution #4: Break 80 (or maybe just 85). This goes hand in hand with Resolution #1, but I would really like to score in the mid-80s at some point this year.
Resolution #5: Play another bucket list course. Hubby and I ain't getting any younger, and life is short. I think Bandon Dunes and Pinehurst are on our radar. Maybe we can even do both.

Now I want to get out and golf. Tomorrow is supposed to be 45 and partly sunny. Hubby said we could go out and hit balls, but I'm still trying to convince him to play a round. We shall see!