The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Potential LPGA Stars Training in Mesquite Nevada

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Three potential LPGA Stars are living and training here in Mesquite, Nevada. Many in the local golf community already know these young golf prodigies as they are fixtures at the Oasis Golf Club from November through March every year. The Mulhalls are the quintessential golf family. Dad, Chris, is a PGA Pro at Rolling Green Country Club in Green River, Wyoming, where he also teaches when he’s not traveling with, coaching, and caddying for his girls in their events. Mom, Heather, is also an avid golfer. She home schools their three girls during the prime golf season, and travels with what she calls her “party of five,” supporting their golf dreams. The remaining three Mulhalls are the couple’s darling daughters Ali, 11; Molli, 8; and Palmer, 4. Notice their first initials in order? C-H-A-M-P: an unplanned, but perfect acronym for this family of golf lovers.

IMG_0942 IMG_0937Ali and Molli play on tour already. The US Kids Golf Tour, that is. At just 11 years old, Ali has already won over 170 (out of about 200) tournaments around the country in her blossoming career, plus several Player of the Year awards in multiple states. She already has two holes in one, and her personal best score for 18 holes is 65, which set the women’s course record at White Mountain Golf Course when she was only 10 years old. Ali plays a Titleist ProV1X golf ball customized with that number (65) and her personal “Aligator” logo. She drives the ball consistently around 215 yards, sometimes out to 240. She and Molli cherish their extraordinarily special putters, which were given to Ali personally by Scotty Cameron, who is now her personal putting coach. When she was just eight years old, Ali was the youngest player ever to be invited to the Scotty Cameron Tour Studio, beating out Michelle Wie, who was the previous youngest to go at 10. You may know that PGA and LPGA Tour players use the “circle T” putter IMG_0972IMG_0974IMG_0969 IMG_0970by Scotty. Rarer than those are the coveted “circle L” putters, which were originally given to Scotty’s personal friends as a joke, with the L signifying “Loser.” He gave Ali a Circle L and changed it to “Lucky.” It sure seems to be lucky for her so far. Her favorite golfers are Lydia Ko, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth – all record setting dominant winners with intense focus. She also favors Natalie Gulbis, who is known to come to Mesquite on occasion, and the two have met several times. Natalie even invited Ali to her LPGA event in Phoenix, where she walked inside the ropes with her. Ali also had the privilege of putting for Natalie in the pro-am there.

IMG_0950Ali’s goal is to be playing on the LPGA Tour by age 16. Her father told me she is the most dedicated person he knows.  I believe him and can certainly see that in not only her swing, but in her demeanor. I don’t see anything stopping her from achieving that goal, nor do I see her ego ever catching up to her ability. She’s humble, extremely poised, and charming, and will make a great addition to the Tour when her time comes. If you’re a gambling person, putting money on seeing Ali on the big stage in five years would probably be a safe bet.

Next in line is Molli Tee Mulhall (is this a golf family or what?), who has eight years to achieve the same goal and IMG_0957compared to Ali at the same age, she’s got a head start. She’s already won 50 of her 74 tournaments played. With a Barbie logo on her Titlelist ProV1X(number 8 – for her age), she drives the ball around 140 yards. Molli also has some Player of the Year honors and was the youngest ever to qualify for the US Kids World Championships when she was only six. Ali and Molli both work hard all year to get to the World Championships at Pinehurst in North Carolina. Outside of their home course at Oasis Palmer, Pinehurst #8 is their favorite golf course because of its immaculate condition.

 

The littlest Mulhall, Palmer (you know where that name originated), doesn’t quite have competition fever yet at age four, but you bet she’s out there swinging IMG_0960andputting and touring with the family. As you can see by their matching outfits, all three girls are fond of the color pink so naturally they’re fans of Paula Creamer as well.

Ali and Molli are also budding entrepreneurs. They are looking to start their own line of golf clothes for kids. They talked to me about how they have to order clothes online and how there doesn’t seem to be much representation in retail shops (and especially pro shops) for the youth market. Their mom, Heather, and I, told them about how that used to be the same way for women in general and that it has improved, but better to start now than later.

The girls are also trying to bring a US Kids Golf Tour event to Mesquite, and have already initiated talks with the tour and with The Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort to try to make it happen. It seems like it would be a perfect fit for Rising Star, great for Mesquite, and great for the tour to have an event here. If you’d like to see it happen, maybe make a call or send an email to either of the interested parties to express that.

As amateurs, the girls can’t take on official sponsors, so they operate several fundraisers on local courses during the season to raise money for their travel, if you’re interested in contributing. Meanwhile, you can follow them on Instagram @golf.champ and watch their progress and results on tour at USKidsGolf.com.

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Dead Solid Perfect. In Loving Memory of Doug Lesko.

Doug Lesko | 1963 – 2017 | Rest in peace, my love.

IMG_20131002_153301_375 Doug swingThe love of my life. My forever. Fatally flawed with a heart of gold, Doug Lesko is my best friend, my favorite person, the golfer of my dreams, my past, my present, and my future. Yes, I’m going to speak about him in the present tense as well as past, because he’s still and always with me. He passed away on January 18, 2017. He will be with me forever (just as planned). In my heart, in my mind, and in my soul. I talk to him like he can hear me as if he’s physically right next to me, just like I did when he was in a coma at the end, because I know he hears me, somewhere, somehow.

God I love to watch Doug swing a golf club. So effortless, but with such purpose. And when it’s dead solid perfect, we just know. That sound, and that look. He made me swoon in many ways, but there was nothing that got me quite like his golf swing. I don’t think it was two days after he passed that I panicked, wondering if I had his swing on video, because I want to always be able to see it. Thankfully, I do. Just like the voice mails I kept from him with good mornings, goodnights, I love yous, and more, that I listen to frequently, I don’t plan to share any of that with anyone. Those are ours and ours alone.IMG_20131107_154841_501 Doug conestoga

Doug is smart, sharp, and funny. His dry humor sometimes eluded me, especially after things at home got more serious. But he’d give me that look or say something else that made me laugh and then laugh again at myself for not getting it.  Doug wrote for this website, and his posts can be found under the category protipsgolf. I miss his humor and style even when we just sit around watching TV. The things we enjoyed together are so difficult now, but I’m trying to experience the joy in them along with/instead of the pain.  We shared a lot of the same opinions on PGA Tour players, and sometimes disagreed on the ones we liked and why, who we wanted to win (or not), and their fashion choices. I love how much he loves to watch the LPGA tournaments and watch the ladies play, and how he appreciates their skills and personalities. He didn’t give me too much in the way of “coaching,” but since I didn’t break 80 until we were together, I’ve got to give him some credit for that as well, if only for the influence he has on my comfort and confidence on the course, including updating my equipment and getting me to trust it. He really believes in me, and may be nearly as much of a fan of me as I am of him.

Doug is caring and thoughtful – he shows it every day in the way he cares about me more than I do. For example, as his hospital rooms went from comfortable to critical, and he was in more and more distress, he apologized because the chairs I had to stay with him were “getting worse and worse.” At home, he’d try to do more than his doctors advised because he wanted to help me out as much as possible while I was working and caring for him.

Doug loves music – it’s a love we shared that brought us together almost as much as golf. We shared many musical interests, and some that differed, but he was so much more open to experiencing the stuff I liked that he had never been interested in than I was of his. He loved to read, and watch films, and appreciate art in general. This appreciation tells me a lot about a person, and is indicative of someone with a depth you want to get to know.

Doug is easy to like – people who knew him even casually (not many people had the privilege of knowing him well) tell me that. My family and true friends embraced him not only because they cared about me and I loved him, but because he was a downright good human being.

IMG_0251 Doug and the beanHe came to me a damaged man, but you wouldn’t have known it (and I didn’t). All I saw was what a loving, kind, gentle soul he is. I knew he was a good man. I fell in love with that man completely, and without hesitation or doubt. I trusted him. We only found each other recently (2013) and the instant we came together we planned to spend the rest of our lives by each other’s sides. Neither of us knew that his would end so soon or how limited our time together in these bodies would be.

At the beginning of this post I used the phrase “fatally flawed.” We are all fatally flawed and have our own circumstances in life to overcome. Let’s just remember what a good man Doug really was, and that his life ended way too soon. We had so much more to do together.  Some of us are fortunate enough that our flaws aren’t fatal until much later in life. So be grateful for what you have and love the people around you as much as you can for as long as you get to. I would give anything for just one more moment with him, whether that moment lasted one second, one year, or a lifetime. I’m lucky to have had him in my life and honored to have been loved by him in spite of my own flaws.

Doug is Dead Solid Perfect – which is the title of his favorite golf movie, and one of our first movie dates while we were 3000 miles apart, watching it “together.” Yes, he’s dead. Yes, he’s solid. And, yes, he’s perfect – to me.

Overjoyed, by Matchbox 20IMG_1088

Feeling my hands start shaking
Hearing your voice I’m overjoyed
I’m sorry but I have no choice, you’re only getting better
Maybe you have your reasons
Maybe you’re scared, you’re feeling down
Are you crying when there’s no one around?

Oh then maybe, maybe if you hold me baby
Let me come over I would tell you secrets nobody knows
I can not overstate it, I will be overjoyed

That smile on your face like a summer
The way that your hand keeps touching mine
Let me be the one to make it right

And maybe, maybe let me hold you baby
Let me come over I would tell you secrets nobody knows
I can not overstate it, I will be overjoyed

And if you want, we’ll share this life
Anytime you need a friend, I’m gonna be by your side
When nobody understands you, well I do

So maybe maybe, let me hold you baby
Let me come over I would tell you secrets God only knows
I can not over state it, I will be overjoyed
Baby let me come over I would tell you secrets nobody knows
I can not over state it, I will be overjoyed
Yeah I will be overjoyed,
Oh I will be overjoyed.

 

Five Things To Practice To Improve Your Mental Game

I get a lot of requests to submit content for this site. They usually want to buy the space somehow, whether it’s a paid post or just links within a post. I always turn them down because of my policy to keep this site authentic and unpaid. The only advertising I offer is in the sidebars, and clearly marked as such. Recently I was contacted by Paul Bradshaw, a South African golf professional, who offered to write exclusive content for The Golf Chick, and offered a number of topics for me to choose from.

As someone who struggled to break 80, and a big proponent of the mental game being critical to playing better golf, I jumped on the chance to share his thoughts on the topic (unpaid). So I’m publishing this rare guest post in the hopes it will help someone else crack whatever milestone they’re trying to reach. There’s a lot to learn in this post, and I hope you enjoy it.  And, for the record, the 5th tip in this post is what I believe tipped the scale for me when I finally broke 80.  :)

Five Things To Practice To Improve Your Mental Game

by Paul Bradshaw

  1. Embrace Tough Conditions

You arrive at the golf course and it’s freezing cold outside. Basically snowing. And miserable. All you want to do is stay inside the clubhouse and sip on a hot cup of coffee and keep warm! Well unfortunately (or fortunately) for you play has not been suspended and you have no choice. You’re going out.

This is your opportunity to get ahead of the game and your opposition. As Jack Nicklaus said “In torrid conditions half the field has already given up – so you’re actually only up against the other half”. You have to realize that scores are not going to be great in these conditions and par is your friend.

Play sensibly and don’t go for risky aggressive shots that you might usually do in calm conditions. You have a blow out on a hole and then you’re going to be playing catch up all day long.

Your aim is to churn out the pars and if a birdie comes along at any point then grab it with both hands as you’ve just beaten the field by a shot and a half on that particular hole.

  1. Be Clear Cut In Terms Of Shot Ahead

This is where most amateurs and players in general are not top drawer. Too many of us get over the golf ball and almost forget about what their target or distance is when hitting their shot. This causes indirect doubt and doesn’t allow your body to put a confident swing on the ball.

Visualize this scenario. You’re playing a par 5 with a wide creek running through the fairway at 120 yards from the green. You’ve got 300 yards left to the hole. You realize that taking out a fairway wood and trying to clear the water is risky as if you don’t catch it you’ll be penalized. You need to take the correct club in order to fully commit to the shot, but still end up short of the water. If you were to take a long iron you’re going to subconsciously doubt yourself and whether it’s too much club so you bail out of it and strike it poorly. You leave yourself a lot further away now and having to work harder than you would ideally like. And on top of this your mind is also now thinking about how poorly you did strike that last shot.

Establish yardage, establish target and establish wind direction and strength. And then commit yourself to the shot knowing it’s the correct club in hand.

  1. Change From Result To Process Driven

This is so difficult to master, but you need to start trying to! We all want the best results possible for each and every shot and let’s face it. That’s just not going to happen. There are outside influences beyond your control that will also affect your golf shot. You have to accept that before you’ve struck the golf ball otherwise you’re going to fighting with yourself mentally all round long.

Create small mental goals/targets for yourself before the round and perhaps remind yourself of these along the way. Say things like “I will consistently execute my pre-shot routine each and every time,” and  “I will execute each golf shot as best as I can,” and “Each and every club I get my hands on today I will love.” Things like that.

You keep doing the right mental things and those process goals will turn into successful results. Don’t put a time frame on that either and start putting pressure on yourself unnecessarily.

  1. Visualize Each And Every Shot

Jason Day is a perfect example here. He stands behind every golf shot, holds his club and the end of his glove together and closes his eyes for roughly 5 – 10 seconds depending on the shot at hand.

He is visualizing the shot he ideally wants to play. Right from impact he visualizes the strike, the launch, the trajectory, the shot shape and finally the ball descending toward the target and coming to a stop.

I can’t tell you how often I’ve done this when I really needed to hit a quality shot in a pressure situation and my actual shot was basically a repeat of my visualization. And that feels so good! It gets your mind into the correct state when addressing the ball rather than still doubting certain things and not being sure if you want to draw it or cut it for example.

Implement this as soon as possible and build it into something that just happens rather than you consciously thinking about doing it.

  1. Rather ‘Under Care’ Than ‘Over Care’

Now I’m not saying hit the ball on the walk or finish off your putts from 20 feet while your partners take their time over their shots. What I’m saying is that the outcome really isn’t the end of the world. If you notch up a high number one round and almost embarrassed yourself – don’t care so much!

Come back the following round with a character building low one and set the record straight. If you post another poor one – then keep reminding yourself it’s just a game. You’ve got to have fun more importantly than anything else. When you do that you’re going to start performing better as well.

By not phasing yourself too much with outcomes you’ve also got to stay in the present. Don’t even think one shot ahead and that is TOUGH! But it is so important.

If you get to a tee box and think to yourself “Man this is definitely a birdie hole”…you’ve already jumped the gun. You’re way ahead of yourself – slow down!


 

So there you have it! I hope you found this guest post useful. Thanks, Paul! You can find out more about Paul Bradshaw on his website: www.golfassessor.com.

Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort Sponsors Muttigans Charity Golf Tournament

RisingStar_logo_BlueRedI’m excited to announce that the Muttigans charity golf tournament to benefit We Care for Animals in Mesquite, Nevada has a new event sponsor – The Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort. This is an all new property in Mesquite, scheduled to open in October 2016, and with the tournament happening on October 21, it is a perfect match. The resort is owned by the same family who owns the Eureka Casino Resort in Mesquite, which regularly gives back to the community and is known for their generous spirit and love of animals.  I have much gratitude for their ongoing commitment to the community, and huge appreciation for this specific donation for our local rescue animals.  So, thank you, Lee family and the Rising Star, for your support of this event!

Muttigans purple

The tournament is now less than two months away and players and sponsors are jumping on board. If you haven’t registered yet, do so soon to ensure your spot! Players and sponsors can register and pay online at muttigans.com, or download the form you need from the site and mail it in with your donation.

Muttigans Charity Golf Tournament

Muttigans purple

If you’ve ever taken a mulligan, won’t you help the animals get a second chance too?

I’m excited to announce this new project. If you’ve read this blog for long (or at all, really), you should know I’m a huge dog lover. Here in Mesquite, NV, there are so many great golf courses and charity tournaments at those courses, but I’ve never seen one to benefit animals. So, I decided that needed to change. I created Muttigans to help charitable organizations that help animals organize fundraising golf tournaments.

Our local foster-based rescue is We Care for Animals, and has never had a golf fundraiser. They do such a great job with fostering animals, finding them quality forever homes, and running free and low-cost spay and neuter programs, and they need our support! Let’s show them how the golf community appreciates what they do and make this first Muttigans event a great one!

The tournament will be at Falcon Ridge Golf Course on October 21, 2016. 

The goal is to have a full field of golfers (144) play in the event and raise as much sponsor money for the charity as possible. So please register early to ensure your spot, and lock down your sponsorship as soon as you can. Visit muttigans.com to do both. If it looks like we’re going to have several out-of-towners signing up to play, I’m sure I can get a good group rate at a local hotel, so don’t be shy if you’re not from here! It’s a great course in a wonderful little golf town. If you haven’t been here yet, what better reason to plan your first trip?

We need sponsors at all levels, so please check out the opportunities on the site. Personal and business donations are welcome in any amount, and all payments go directly into the WCFA account to fund their programs. We Care for Animals is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so all donations are tax deductible.

I will be posting appreciation for sponsors and promoting the event here on TheGolfChick as well as on muttigans.com. Please join us as a player, sponsor, money or prize donor, and please help us spread the word. For the love of animals. :)

Can’t Go to The Masters? Make Your Own Pimento Cheese Sandwiches.

Written by thegolfchick.com contributor, Mary, a.k.a. Breadchick, a portion of this post was first published in View on Mesquite Magazine. I’m posting it here in its entirety because, well, The Masters. I love The Masters – and Mary! I intend to make the pimento cheese recipe for my own CBS viewing pleasure. Thanks, Mary!

What Egg Salad and Pimento Cheese Taught Me about Golf and Life

When you grow up in a golf family in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan you learn three things very fast about the golf season: you have four maybe five months, May until September, to make pars and birdies; yellow balls show up the best in the snow you will play in the first part of May and the last part of September; and in April, when you heard Pat Summerall welcome you to the Masters, you could go drag your golf clubs out from behind the winter coats and skis where you put them at the beginning of October.

I remember exactly where I was in 1978 when Gary Player came back from seven down to defeat the golfing hero of my youth, Tom Watson, to win the Masters.  I was sprawled out on the cowboy themed couch in the den of my parent’s house, watching the black and white TV, munching on an egg salad sandwich. I was hoping against hopes that Watson, who scorched the back nine with torrid run of birdies and eagles, would somehow pull a rabbit out of his hat on the 18th after he put the ball in the only place he couldn’t put it.  He didn’t and the rest of that egg salad sandwich went untouched.

Grandmother’s Egg Salad, Memories, and Life Getting in the Way of Golf

Egg salad sandwiches were a staple in our house but particularly on the golf course. My maternal grandmother made the best egg salad. On Monday afternoon she egg slicerwould make a batch to take to the course for Tuesday’s Ladies Day at the club where she and my grandfather were members.  If I was visiting, I’d help by peeling the eggs and using the egg slicer to cut the eggs one way then the other to create perfectly diced pieces.  She would take the diced eggs and put them in a big white Tupperware container and then using a spatula combine them with a big dollop of mayonnaise, a squeeze of yellow mustard, a dash of salt and pepper.   She would slice a loaf of bread paper thin, place each slice between a piece of waxed paper and re-wrap the loaf so it would be easy to make sandwiches in the ladies lounge after the round.  

On the weekend, she would make egg salad and pickled bologna sandwiches for my dad and grandfather to share on the golf course during their round.  If one of my brothers or I was going with them, she would make a special sandwich for us by using one of her cookie cutters to make shapes and tuck them into a wax paper envelope. It was torture to wait until we could eat those sandwiches.

Some of my fondest memories of playing golf with my dad and grandfather as a child and pre-teen was making the turn at the clubhouse and sitting on the small brick wall eating my sandwich and listening to my grandfather explain why golf was like life. You get out of golf and life what you put into it. Golf is a game of manners and rules. In life, if you have bad manners or break rules you will not have an easy time of it.  You treat the staff in the caddie shack and the bag room the same as you treat your best friend. They are working hard for their money and deserve your respect.

Somewhere along the way between fifteen and thirty, I stopped playing golf. I became busy with school, my music and with what would eventually become my career, engineering and professional audio. I would occasionally play when I went home to northern Michigan or at a corporate outing but for the most part golf disappeared from my life.  It wasn’t until I married into an even more serious golfing family than my own that my love for the game of golf was rekindled.

Golf is Back! Enter In-Laws, and Pimento Cheese 

pimento cheese dip, crackers, score cardsMy father in law was a teaching pro at a country club in eastern Tennessee and my mother in law was a very accomplished golfer in her own right, holding the lady club champion well into her 60s.  My husband grew up in the bag room and caddie shack and his brother was my father in law’s assistant pro.  The very first time I met my future in laws was at the golf course less than 30 minutes after getting off the airplane from Boston, where my husband and I resided.   After what was a less than spectacular round on my part, my future father in law took me to the range and helped me start back towards the game I had loved as girl while my future husband and mother in law retired to the member grille. When we came in from hitting a bucket of balls, we sat and had cocktails and pimento cheese dip on crackers and got to know each other. As a “Yankee”, this was my first exposure to pimento cheese and it was love at first taste.

That visit was the first of many my husband and I made to his childhood home. Those trips always included a round of golf with my in-laws and a trip to the member grille to relive the best shots of the round over pimento cheese dip and gin and tonics. After my father in law and husband both passed away within a year of each other, my mother in law and I would still go out to club to share memories and funny stories over that creamy mixture spread on Ritz crackers, even if we didn’t play golf.  She passed away three years ago and every time I eat pimento cheese, I can’t help but think of those afternoons in the member grille at their club and laughing over the stupid shots in our rounds and sharing our love for the game of golf.

Pimento cheese is a staple in the South.  And, of course, the Masters wouldn’t be the Masters without pimento cheese and egg salad sandwiches made fresh daily and wrapped in wax paper.  There are several different recipes for both but I’m going to share twists on my grandmother’s egg salad and my mother in law’s pimento cheese recipes.  

The Recipes

Both of these recipes call for full fat mayonnaise but if you want to lighten it up a bit, using low fat mayonnaise won’t sacrifice taste. However, don’t go for the fat free variety. You will find the taste and consistency to be lacking.  For the pimento cheese spread, don’t use anything but regular cheese, no 2% milk or fat free, it just won’t taste right.

Pimento Cheese Dip/Spread
pimento cheese dippimento cheese mixture

1pimentos ½ cup of mayonnaise

1 jar (4 oz.) of pimentos (drained) look for them where the pickles are or in the Italian food section

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 ¼ cup fine shredded mild cheddar cheese

1 ¼ cup fine shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Dash of cayenne pepper

Dash of cumin

Combine all the ingredients in a large covered bowl. Refrigerate for at least six hours but overnight is best.  This lets the taste of the pimentos spread through the mixture.   Serve on crackers or thick slices of white bread.  

pimento and egg salad sandwich and golf tees

 

Egg Saladegg salad on cracker

6 large eggs, hard boiled and chopped

1 ½ cup of mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. of yellow mustard

1 ½ Tbsp. of sweet pickle relish

Dash of pepper

Dash of tarragon

Dash of thyme

Combine all the ingredients in a large covered bowl. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Serve on thin sliced bread or crackers.

pimento cheese sandwich and golf items

 

New Year’s Resolutions You Can Keep

Happy New Year! This article about New Year’s golf resolutions was originally published in View on Mesquite Magazine Jan/Feb 2016 issue. If you’re here to follow Doug’s progress, please keep checking back. Unfortunately, he had a medical setback that has delayed his resolutions so they could not begin January 1. But he’s determined to make a big comeback and get going on these ASAP!

Please join in and share your own resolutions or your thoughts/progress with those listed here.

golf ball 2016

New Year’s Resolutions You Can Keep

by Doug Lesko

 

It’s 2016 – Is this your year? Is this the year you stop smoking? Stop drinking? Lose 30 pounds? If you put your mind to it I have no doubt you could. Doesn’t sound like much fun to me though. I’m choosing to focus on golf in 2016; I want to take five shots off my game. By June I want to be a +2 handicap. It doesn’t matter what your goal is – breaking 100 or breaking 70 – a desire to get better is all you need. I’ll give you eight easy things everyone can do to make golf more fun.

 

  1. Stay hydrated.

This one is so easy and so important to playing good golf, especially in the desert. Staying hydrated is a daily requirement; your body needs water, and a lot of it. Drink a glass first thing in the morning, have a glass with every meal, and have 2 glasses between each meal. You’ll feel fuller and eat less.

 

  1. Eat healthy (most of the time).

I like food, most of it not very healthy. I like pizza, wings, mashed potatoes, cake, and bacon. To say I’ll stop eating the foods I love is unrealistic and sets me up for failure. I’ve found I also like salmon, tuna, chicken, sweet potatoes, salad, and many types of fruits and vegetables. If we can just eat healthy five or six days a week, a cheat day or two is acceptable.

 

  1. Stretch.

As we get older, our muscles start to shrink. We need to stretch every day, even if it’s just bending to touch our toes. Stretch your back, your arms, your shoulders, your legs, and your neck.

 

  1. Swing a club 100 times everyday.

Start with slow easy swings, make a full swing and proper weight shift. Lay another club on the ground and pay close attention to your alignment. You can use any club but switch it up from day to day. On the seventh day swing two clubs at once.

  1. Practice your putting.

You can do this anywhere – at the course or in your living room. Work on five to ten foot putts. Proper techniques are the first priority: straight back and straight through using your shoulders and keeping your hands still.

 

  1. Commit to at least one day a week at the range.

Go through odd number clubs one week, even the next. Always use alignment sticks or a club to make sure you are aligned square to the target. Hit the driver on each trip. Range balls do not fly as far as your normal ball, so don’t worry about distance. Focus on hitting the sweet spot on every shot. Technology has made the sweet spot bigger but it’s still very important to hit the center of the club for consistency. Finish with full swing wedges; again, make good contact and control the ball flight.

 

  1. Find a club you can chip with consistently.

Just because Jordan Spieth uses a 60° wedge doesn’t mean you have to. I prefer my 50°, while you might find an 8-iron to be your best fit. Whatever works for you, spend at least 20 minutes practicing chipping to inside a three foot circle.

 

  1. Get fit.

Playing with clubs that are too short, too long, too upright, too flat, or don’t have the proper shafts can cost you several strokes. Bring your clubs to Ready Golf and Gear and have them fit you for your swing. You might be playing the right clubs; you may just need your clubs bent to fit you. You may decide to get new clubs, but playing the right clubs fit for you is the only way to play your best golf.

 

I will be implementing these resolutions personally and blogging about it at thegolfchick.com. Feel free to follow along and share your process and progress with me.

 

Make 2016 your best golf year ever – go play!

Coyote Springs Golf Course – How They Keep it So Nice

Here in Mesquite, Nevada, the Oasis Canyons golf course re-opened today after overseeding, and will be cart path only for the coming weeks while the grass continues to grow. (We live on this course and it’s looking good!) The rest of the courses are still in the overseeding process and closed.

Meanwhile, you can still take a short drive up to Coyote Springs, which remains open and in beautiful condition without going through any of that! How do they do that? I asked Karl Larcom, PGA, Director of Golf Operations, about their magic formula to keeping the course so beautiful year round. He was kind enough to share and allow me to share it with you – thanks Karl! Here is what he told me:

It is a combination of 3 things.

1. We have our own water. While we have restrictions and try to be environmentally sensitive, we are able to do more than some courses because our water expense is less.

2. Our owners are committed to having a Top 100 quality golf course. With that being said, our fertilizer budget is probably a little higher than your average course.

3. Winter rye (our tees & fairways) is naturally a cooler season grass. So it works awesome from late September to late May. Our Super just has to take extra care in the Summer. The same can be said about our greens. They are a hearty breed of bent grass called A-4 that reacts great 9 months of the year and just needs the extra care during the Summer. That is why we run our greens slower in the Summer to insure their health so they require a little less water.

We do aerify our fairways and greens in the Spring (early May next year). In the Fall we spike the fairways (no plugs) and verticut the greens. There will be occasional years where we aerify in the Fall as well.

So there you have it! If you’re a Mesquite local, head on up to get your golf fix on the nicest course in the area. If you’re from out of town, put this course on your travel itinerary and you won’t regret it! See our Mesquite Golf Page for links to earlier reviews of this incredible golf course as well as the overseeding schedule for the local courses.

Play soon and often. ~ May they all roll true.

 

coyote springs

Photo from CoyoteSprings.com

 

Say No to Five Hour Rounds!

I can’t understand why everyone doesn’t play golf, but even more than that I don’t understand why some people that do play have no idea how to navigate a golf course. I don’t like five hour rounds. Correction – I hate five hour rounds. I’ve never heard anyone say “That round was way too fast. We need to slow down next time.”

All too often while waiting on the tee I see two carts sitting side by side up ahead. Three of the guys are sitting in the carts, one is on his phone, and one is telling the other guy about the birdie he made on this hole in ‘96 or ‘97. The 4th guy is standing next to his drive doing his best Tiger Woods grass toss, trying to figure out how this 2mph wind is going to affect his upcoming bladed 5 iron. Having decided it’s a two club, wind he pulls the 7. Now the fun begins: practice swing, practice swing, practice swing… no, wait. He’s only 210 out, 2mph downwind. It’s got to be the 8 – he saw Bubba hit this exact shot last week. The fact that he just ripped his driver 190 never enters his mind. Four more practice swings, this time with the 8, then pures it 70 yards. Still not out of our landing area, but on to player #2 where the show begins again then again and one more time. Unless the 2 players in one of the carts are women. Most women hit it then hit it again until they get to the green where they are lining up their putts while watching their husbands toss grass in the air.

Golf is hard, playing golf doesn’t have to be. Golf is a game where you police yourself and call penalties on yourself. Only you can speed up play – unless you are scared of those 90 year old volunteer rangers that most courses use now.

Here are a few easy things that everyone can do to make golf more enjoyable for everybody.

1. Play the right tees. Most scorecards have recommended tees based on handicaps. A better way may be to look at the holes on the card. You should be able to comfortably hit a 6 iron or less to most of the par 3’s and 4’s.

2. Practice on the range, play golf on the course. The only time I take practice swings on the course is when I’m trying to stay loose because I’m waiting, I have a difficult stance or lie, on chips to get a feel for the lie, or if I’m trying to hit a big draw or fade. Three or four practice swings on every shot just wastes time and wears you out.

3. If you’re the longer hitter in your cart, walk to your ball and get ready to hit while your partner is getting ready. Take a couple clubs with you; twenty seconds after your partner hits you should be pulling the trigger. Even if you grabbed the wrong clubs he can drive over and you’re ready to go.

4. Unless you’re playing in a tournament, play ready golf. Common decency tells you an eagle or birdie has honors, but any other time, hit at will. Same goes for around the green. If you have a 50+ foot putt and no one has made it to the flag to tend it, putt it if you’re ready. Chances are it’s not going in. If it does and you’re playing a friendly round, nobody’s going to make you take that penalty.

5. Be aware of your surroundings. Park the cart on the path at the back of the green. If you brought a club with you to chip, lay it at the back of the green after your chip so you can pick it up on your walk back to the cart. Start lining up your putt and fixing ball marks while others are putting as long as you can stay out of their line.

6. Write the scores down on the way to the next tee. No eagles or birdies? Grab your club and swing away.

*This post is a section taken from my “bio page” which is here.

Editor’s note: I had a discussion with some people on twitter yesterday after a 5+ hour round. Here are some ideas we threw around:

Golf courses – offer green fee discounts to people who play in less than 4 hours. Perhaps in rebate form, or in discount on their next round.

Public/private courses with members who don’t pay green fees? Maybe a discount on monthly minimums. Or, how about a rewards program/points card. Every time they play in less than four hours they get points towards money to spend in the pro shop.

Any course – Use your marshals to move people along! Also, implement a “wall of shame,” on which you display photos of players who take more than 5 hours a round.

But, since golf courses are like highways and one slow group causes a traffic jam, only penalize the first group that fell behind. This one’s tricky because you’d need a marshal out there to identify the offenders. And if he’s out there and didn’t speed them up – he’s the one who should be penalized! Offer a drink or something to the groups whose rounds were miserable behind them.

Other ideas? Please share in the comments! :) – Kristen @thegolfchick

 

Train Your Aim – Putting Gadget Review

Review of the Train Your Aim putting aid by @protipsgolf 

train your aim 

I’ve never been a big gadget guy – I use tour stix and chalk lines. Train your Aim works on the same principle as chalk lines but is much easier to set up. I recommend drawing a line on the ball even if you don’t normally.

I started as the easy to follow directions instructed – by hitting putts of 18 inches then moved to 3 feet then to 5. I stopped when I got to 8 feet. Obviously you can’t use this during play; the idea is to train or eyes to know what a perfect setup looks like.

Practice with this, start and end your pregame warmup with Train your Aim and you’ll be surprised at how many putts you make. Commit to an hour a week even if it’s at home on a rug. You will become a better putter. The plastic seems durable but I would like to see a pro version maybe made of aluminum and more adjustable so you can customize it for your putter.

Bottom line: for a price less than a sleeve of ProV1’s you can easily take 3 or 4 shots off your score. The Train your Aim will still be in your bag long after those 3 ProV1’s have moved on to their new home in the desert.
Log onto www.trainyouraim.com and order yours today!

 

train your aim batmantrain your aim blade

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