Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. It’s been two weeks since my last post. (Come on, that’s hardly pulling a Jam-Boy.) I have let several topics pile up, so this post could get long-winded. Where to start?

Well, unemployment is really keeping me busy. Over the last couple weeks I spent some time down in Dana Point visiting my family and hosted my best friend as a houseguest over the long Memorial Day weekend. I’ve been dreaming up and researching business ventures for my future, planning a vacation with Greg, and of course, I’ve been playing some golf.

Golfing with the folks

While visiting my parents, I managed to get them both to agree to play golf with me! Dad plays occasionally (probably once or twice a year) but he’s a natural athlete. He used to play a lot, so he’s definitely got me beat on experience. Mom was inspired by me to take up golf and has had a whopping two lessons. Her second lesson really turned her off but I was thankful she still wanted to get out and play with us. We went out one afternoon, and since they’re not addicts like me, we set out to just play nine holes at San Juan Hills. Dad gave away his golf clubs a couple years back, so they both had to rent sets. I played from the white tees with dad and mom played the reds. They rode in a cart together and I really enjoyed the way they communicated and watching my dad coach my mom through the process. It was so cute! I hope they start playing golf together.

Dad and I were pretty evenly matched, at least that day. I didn’t exactly have my “A” game with me and it was kind of hard to get in a rhythm, but the day wasn’t about playing my best, I guess. Mom commented on how similar our swings are – big and smooth. I out-drove him once or twice (of course, he refused to use his driver, opting instead for the 3-wood for better control) which pissed him off in his jovial way. Heehee. I only beat him by one stroke, which pissed me off in my hidden way.

Mom was a real trooper, literally, clocking around 7000 steps on her pedometer. She didn’t hit it far, but she hit it straight and she really has focus. There is so much to learn at that stage. Trying to actually hit the golf ball while learning rules and etiquette can be overwhelming on your first outing. I hope she keeps at it, not just so I can play with her more but because I think she’d really enjoy it and could be quite good. Overall, it was a great afternoon. They want to come up here and play with me and Greg, and I hope they do that soon.

Golfing with Ariana

My best and longest-time friend, Ariana, came down from the Bay Area to visit me over the long weekend. Last time she came down, I got her out to my local par-3 nine-hole course and she really enjoyed her experience there. She’s not a natural athlete or even sportily coordinated at all, but she has a great sense of adventure and understands the lure of the sport. Plus, she has her own growing business now and recognizes how playing golf can be an asset in that regard. She has a very competitive nature (as do I – you should see us at dice or cards!), so it will be interesting to see if she applies that to golf as she learns and gets better. She has signed up for a six-week muni lesson plan and even though that hadn’t begun before her visit, she was eager to get back out there and play, so we went back to that same course. Her goal was double par, and even though it was only her second attempt at the game, she nearly reached that goal, missing it by only a couple strokes! Another fun afternoon and another golf recruit successfully signed up.

On Memorial Day, we went to a fun little gathering at a friend’s house. Good barbecue, great company, and the fiercest, most aggressive game of croquet I’ve ever seen!

Defending my title

Our golf club plays tournaments once a month, and after a couple months of stroke play qualifiers, May was our first round in the bracket match-play eliminations toward club championship. As reigning club champ, I automatically qualified first and this year, my handicap index just barely has me playing in A-flight. Since I’m at the higher end of it, my first opponent still had to give me eight strokes.

**Explanation of match and stroke play for beginners – skip it if you know**
In tournament play, your handicap index is translated to a course handicap depending on the difficulty of the course and each set of tees has its own rating. It’s all formula based and very mathematical. In stroke play, everyone just “gets” that number of strokes and it is subtracted from your total gross score for a net score, and best net score wins. In match play, you’re only playing against one opponent, so whichever person has the higher course handicap gets the difference of the two numbers. You play to win each hole rather than a better overall score. Each hole is assigned a handicap rating (1-18) based on difficulty of the hole. So, if I get 8 strokes, I get them on the eight hardest holes. This means on any of those holes, I can bogey and he can par and we still tie that hole. In match play, putts and holes can be conceded. For example, if your opponent reaches the green in two with an easy two-putt and you hacked around and got on in five with a long putt in front of you, you can concede the hole rather than play it out. In our club, we play a simultaneous stroke play tournament, so we play out every hole.

I won my match handily, beating my opponent 7 and 6 (beginners: that means I was up by 7 holes with only six to play so the match was over at that point) and played out the rest of the round well enough to take second place in the stroke play event.

My next match is against one of the best golfers in the club. He’s consistently on top of the birdie club, usually wins at least one closest to the pin in every tournament, wins an occasional long drive and places in the top three in most stroke play events. His attitude appears to me to indicate that he is among the dissenters in the club when it comes to women joining, but I don’t know that for sure. He’s going to be a tough customer and I better bring that “A” game I mentioned earlier. I’m pretty nervous about it, but it would be quite satisfying if I can take him down. Greg also won his first match, and if we both win two more, we will be facing each other for the A-flight championship. Wouldn’t that be interesting? This month is our away tournament, a fun weekend event at Primm (Nevada-California Stateline) so our next match play tournament isn’t until July. Time to practice!

New putter, same golfer, new drive

I’m still not happy with my game overall. I don’t feel as confident and solid as I think I should and know I can be. I believe I mentioned something about a “not unplayable slice” I have developed with my driver in my last post. That slice has grown and in a round I played yesterday, it was decidedly unplayable. So frustrating! My drive used to be the most reliable shot of the hole for me. This is the area I will really be working on in the coming weeks.

Out of desperation over my lack of putting skills, I got a new putter. It’s a Titleist Scotty Cameron Studio Newport 2.5. I like the red grip and the festive colored dots, but I can’t stand the silly Cameron lettering on the grip. I’ll admit I was looking for a panacea out of this new putter, even though I know it’s still me doing the putting. I’ve only used it a few times, so I’m still getting used to it, but I will say I really like the feel of it. Results have been similar to how I putted with my TaylorMade Monza – some rounds better than others – what a shock! Psychologically, I think the new twist has helped and over time I’ll get better with it than I was with my old one. Truthfully, I’ve been so wrapped up in my terrible drives that my focus has shifted. New toys are fun, though! Since I started golfing, this is the first club I have replaced. I can see how people get a renewed excitement when they get a new driver or some other club. Sure, it’s still ultimately the same golfer with the same swing, but any change you make in golf brings that spark of opportunity to better your game. I’ve never enjoyed the process of shopping, but I do enjoy getting new things! Combining that with my golf addiction could be dangerous – like that first taste of crack.Next post.

Weird: I haven’t felt much like golfing lately. I think I’ll go today just because I can and it’s a beautiful day and see if that fires me back up about it.

Update: I went out and hit some balls at the range and the results caused me not to “waste” my money on a round. It felt so odd! I was hitting my woods & driver solidly, but out of nowhere I had this enormous slice. And my irons? Yikes, they felt so awkward in my hands, as if I’d never held a golf club before. What was going on? Sometimes when things feel wrong, I hit some punch shots to set myself straight, and I couldn’t even do that. Bizarre… I hope it magically goes away next time I go out – probably tomorrow.

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The day after “The dullest round EVER” I played the same course – Simi Hills – with friends. I even played from the forward tees with another female golfer – for money! Now that’s golfing. We had a great time and will be playing together more often.
**Side note: some of those pollywogs in the lake on 14 looked like they were already sprouting legs… watch out!**

I also played on Sunday at a course I hadn’t played before called “De Bell” in Burbank. It’s a short but treacherous course. I played as a guest in another club’s tournament, so I wasn’t eligible for prize money. Good thing, I guess, because I wouldn’t have won if I was. I had nine good holes – one birdie, six pars and two bogies. The rest were total disasters and I shot a 108! My highest round in recent memory. I even took a 12 on a par 4 – I don’t remember the last time I took double digits on a hole. Blech. It turned out there were very few people who DIDN’T take a double digit somewhere on that course. It was still really fun and I might have eased up on the beer and taken it more seriously if I were competing.

I still won two out of two closest-to-the-pins, with one coming on a blind shot over a hill. On this par 3, you have to wait for the group in front of you to ring “de bell” before teeing off because you really can’t see the green. I stuck my shot about 5 feet from the pin and my ball mark was about two feet closer than that. That felt good!

I’ll be playing Tuesday in another charity tournament. I think it’s probably a scramble, which can be really fun. We’ve got an enjoyable foursome and I’m looking forward to it.

I could have muttered a few times about hating golf during my 12, but I LOVE PLAYING GOLF.

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Yesterday I played in Tumbleweed Tom’s Elks Lodge charity tournament at Sunset Hills. I heard that compared to previous years, the turnout was quite low, but there must have still been over 100 people playing in the event. It was a scramble/best ball type thing and Greg and I were paired with a couple fun characters. Our handicaps ranged from 15-41, so we didn’t stand a chance against the teams that assemble themselves to win. They gave us 8 strokes, and they didn’t take away strokes from the scratch players. We were just out there to have fun anyway.

Our first hole was 17, a 200-yard, tough-to-hit par 3. I was last to hit and no one had hit the green. I landed mine 16’7″ from the hole (we measured for the KP) and we made par there. My closie didn’t hold, as one guy stuck it in to 12’4″ to win the $75. Darn!

The greens had recently been punched, so putting was unpredictable. Balls were bouncing all over and no two putts from the same spot went in the same direction. There was a lot of muttering about it back at the lodge. We felt like we did well for our skill levels and got out of the round with a gross score of 1-under. It turned out to be around 10th place.

Unbeknownst to me, there were three foursomes of just ladies (I was playing with three men) who were competing in the “ladies division.” Three foursomes with first, second and third place trophies. They all won! However, I did sneak in there and claim the ladies long drive contest.

It was on the 14th hole and we were the second to last group to play that hole and there were only men behind us. I saw the ladies long drive marker in the fairway only about 120 yards out! I have to admit, for a moment I considered just sticking an 8-iron out in the middle to ensure my victory. But we were a team and we could use a nice drive to get a good score on this hole. It was into the wind and I risked missing the fairway, but I nailed a solid drive over the bunker on the right and out into the fairway to just past the 150 marker. So it was only about 220 yards, but it was way more than I needed to win the trophy, plus we used my drive and worked out a par there.

Here she is. Same style trophy, but bigger, and gold-ish. More like an Oscar. 🙂

Since I haven’t been playing so well lately, I’ll take what I can get. My drives and fairways hit percentage is the only thing that’s staying relatively solid and reliable. Actually, I got us on a lot of greens yesterday, too. From the tee on par 3’s and with my irons from the fairways. Hard to say how I’d have done on my own overall, especially considering that nightmarish putting surface. Ah, but we all had a fun day!Next post.

Someone e-mailed me wondering if I got to 100 posts and quit blogging. I guess I just haven’t been inspired lately, but I do have one tidbit to share. I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I love golf is because there’s always something new to experience – always another “first.”

Well, during my last round I experienced another one. It was a short par-4 (271) and I was playing with a couple brand new golfers. I guess they felt intimidated because they kept wanting me to go first. The people ahead of us were just chipping onto the green but I decided to wait until they got up there in case I got a hold of one. Boy, did I get a hold of it. Ripped it right up there and drove the green to about 12 feet from the pin, I did. Of course, I followed it up with my usual crap and turned a potential eagle into a par with a three-putt. The old couple who were on the green were very nice when I apologized for hitting into them.

My drives seem to average more around the 225 range and even though I tend to hit one or two around 260-270 per round, I never expect to, especially when there’s the potential for reaching the green. Because when I try to drive it, I get too juiced up and over-swing. Sound familiar?

The rest of the round was typical of my play lately. I posted a dismal 92 on an easy course for a whopping 22.5 differential. Ugh… I sure don’t like watching that index shoot up. I guess that counts as another first – my first slump. I have to work on those greens in regulation and putting. I only hit 3 other greens in reg that round and had 6 three-putts. By the way, does driving the green even count as a green in regulation or is that some other statistic?

Anyway, another first under my belt. 🙂

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Last weekend was our monthly tournament with the Treehouse club. Rain was predicted and we all thought it would be rained out. I seriously did NOT expect to be playing golf that day.

It was cold, but it wasn’t raining at our start time so the course was open for business! Greg and I had a little too much fun the night before (figuring we weren’t going to play, of course) and so we were scrambling when we heard it was on. We got to the course moments before our tee time and hustled to the tees. It was “show up and play” like I’ve never done before. Who needs to warm up or putt a few anyway? Evidently I do.

I’ve been in quite a slump lately, breaking 100 the wrong way my last several times out. I played a “practice” round on this course — Los Robles Greens — a few days before the tournament. It was really just so I’d get some golf in before the rain, but I shot a 95. Not good, but at least I was back on the right side of 100.

We got soaked with rain/sleet for a few holes late in the round and my butt didn’t thaw out for about an hour after we were finished and waiting inside for the rest of the field to come in. It wasn’t just the tournament that got rained on, though. So did my parade. What parade? Well, up until then, I had won something in every tournament I played. Now I’m just another golfer. Hmph. Gotta work on my game! I shot the exact same score as my practice round for the tournament, and even though my index is below 17 which is the cutoff mark for A-flight, my course handicap was 18 (plus 4 strokes for the course rating difference in the tees) so I played in B-flight for the day. Net 73 was not enough to place.

Greg, on the other hand, shot a stellar round (81) and he got 15 strokes so he netted 66 to finish first place in A-flight. That’s really how he should be playing. It was nice to see him back to form, and I hope he continues the trend. I was starting to worry that it was my presence that had his index ballooning, so it’s good to know he can play well with me there. 🙂
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I never knew it, but I have a tendency to stand on the outside of my feet. It’s not that I’m bow-legged or anything, I guess I’m just funny that way.

Anyway, one thing my con-man instructor actually did for me way back when (about a year ago) was to point that out. In my stance, I was putting most of my weight on the outer edge of my feet, especially my right foot. He noticed it and literally put a wedge under the outside of my right foot and had me swing the club that way to feel what it “should” feel like. What a difference such a small change can make.

Ever since then, when I set up to the ball, I consciously put most of my weight on the inside of my right foot and more balanced on my left. It really feels like a more athletic stance and allows me to push off with more power and it has definitely had an impact on my ball striking and distance. It keeps me more balanced throughout the swing and helps with a full finish.

Does your stance feel athletic?

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I already wrote about one of my coolest golf experiences, when a little girl watched me at the range. Since she was there with golfers, I can only think she would have tried her hand at the game anyway, but maybe I helped a little with the inspiration.

However, that is not the generation I’m writing about today. In the latest turn of events, I found out that my mom and aunt are now all fired up and want to get into golf! How cool is that? They’re best friends and live about a block away from each other. My mom played some in the past, but that was “a lifetime ago.” Things were different then, too. They had caddies and didn’t have to worry about a thing. Just hit the ball (the caddie will find it) and take a walk, chatting all the way. Oh, the life.

They are taking lessons together and eventually want to start playing, starting with 9-holes and working their way up to 18, I guess. I really don’t think it would have crossed her mind to do it except for all the fun I’ve been having since I started golfing. She likes to walk for exercise anyway, and we all know this will make some of those walks more interesting.

She wants to play with me some day, and I can’t wait! I think it’ll be fantastic. I also hope my dad will get back out there more (he plays occasionally) and they can have a nice way to spend a few hours together. Greg and I really enjoy it.

Go, Mom! I look forward to playing with you.

For more on how cool my mom is, check out this post. My aunt is pretty terrific, too. (Hi Meme!)

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