British Open

The British Open seems always to be good. I liked the weather when it was more British Isles like with the wind and rain. Neat course, not as well manicured as the courses in the United States, but I like them. Airports and Railroad tracks, big ugly fences, great history to these courses.

 Oh, two last thought, I love the castles of Scotland and the hot weather is good for old guys like me and their golf games. 

My British Open Impersonation on a course closed for 50+ years

 

Golf at Age 66

Weather is getting better, played three times this week and three last. I am hitting the ball pretty well for 66. I am still doing my stretches and quite a bit of walking.

Looks like my distances will be the same this year as last.

PW-105
9 Iron-115
8 Iron-125 and so on  -   Now hitting my five wood 190-195 and
 3 wood, 205-210.
 This leaves my driver in the 230 range. About right

These are pretty true distances for me, I occasionally hit a drive over 250 but the 225-235 range is about right.

I have some new Irons, haven't tried them yet, Adams V4, can't wait to hit them but waiting for the course to soften up. I also have a new Ping Putter, now I will putt like Bubba.

New Clubs Time of Year

Are your clubs more than five years old? If they are you are likely missing out on the best of new technology. Now is a great time to buy new clubs. There are some great deals on end of the year clubs, new clubs are coming soon. If you buy the 2013 there are many, maybe too many, reviews of what you will get. Buy 2014 and you might be taking a bigger chance. Right now E-bay and Amazon have dozens of sellers hawking last year’s latest technology.

Not in the market for new clubs, did you know that you should change your grips every year. Some of mine are five years old and I play a lot of golf, 200 plus rounds per year. But I am not going to take my advice on grips; instead I am going to order new irons. I bought new Calloway woods last year, and love them. I bought a new putter two years ago and will probably buy a new one this year. I have been looking at some new Adams hybrid irons and Ping putters so believe that is the way I will go.

-Laugh for the day-

A golfer, playing a round by himself, is about to tee off, a non athletic looking salesman runs up to him, and yells, "Wait! Before you tee off, I have something really amazing to show you!"

The golfer, annoyed, says, "What is it?"

"It's a special golf ball," says the salesman. "You can never lose it!"

"Whattaya mean," laughs the golfer, "you can never lose it? What if I hit it into the water?"

"Not a problem," says the salesman. "It floats, and it detects where the shore is, and spins towards it."

"Well, what if I hit it into the woods?"

"Easy," says the salesman. "It emits a beeping sound, and you can find it with your eyes closed."

"Okay," says the golfer, impressed. "But what if my round goes late and it gets dark?"

"No problem, sir, this golf ball glows in the dark! I'm telling you, you can never lose this golf ball!"

The golfer buys it at once. "Just one question," he says to the salesman. "Where did you get it?"

"I found it."

Indoor Winter Practice

And old golf adage say’s most golfers practice too much, too little or just plain wrong. If you are not sure what to practice, start at about three feet and move out from there. A majority of all shots in a round are from 100 yards and in, practice hard from three feet to 100 yards and you will get better.

Best thing about this you can work on your putting stroke indoors, watching football. But make sure it is repeated and repeated, same setup, same takeaway and same smooth stroke.

Anyone else watching architects week on the golf channel, good stuff?

Golf In Turkey and Veterans Day

You can tell it is getting toward the end of the golf season when the big tourney of the week is in Turkey. Most Americans are thinking about Turkey, but as in Thanksgiving, not golf. The tournament was fun to watch and the course was beautiful.

Today is Veterans Day, if you are one, thanks for serving, today less golf and a little about Veterans Day.

World War I ended, June 28, 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. The fighting had ended seven months earlier with the armistice, signed on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Armistice Day, as November 11 became known, officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday in 1938. On June 1, 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day, honoring all U.S. veterans.

In 1968, new legislation changing four holidays, including Veterans Day, to Mondays, creating three-day government weekends. Veterans Day was to be celebrated on the fourth Monday of October. It soon became obvious that America was not buying the change and not about to change Veterans Day because November 11 was a date of historic significance to so many Americans. Because of this the government backed off the change and in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional day.

Fed-X Cup Race

Well at least golf is still important, until Thursday night when the NFL starts, then we will have college and pro football and golf may not seem as important to sports viewers.

Three unmarried men were waiting to tee off when the starter walked up to them and said, "You see that beautiful blonde practicing her putting?"

"Her? Wow, she is beautiful," they all said.

"She's a good golfer," he continued, "and would like to hook up with a group. None of the other groups will play with a woman. Can she play with you? She won't hold you up, I promise." They looked at each other and said, "Sure! She can join us." Just as the starter said, the woman played well and kept up. Plus, they kept noticing, she was very attractive.

When they reached the 18th hole, she said that if she sank her 18-footer, she'd break 80 for the first time. "Guys, I'm so excited about breaking 80 that I have to tell you something. I had a great time playing with you. I can tell you all really love golf. I want you to know that I'm single and want to marry a man who loves golf as much as I do. If one of you guys can read this putt correctly and I make it, I'll marry whichever of you was right!"

All three jumped at the opportunity. The first one looked over the putt and said, "I see it breaking 10 inches left to right." The second looked it over from all sides and said, "No, I see it breaking eight inches right to left."

The third man looked at the woman, looked at the ball, and said, "Pick it up. It's good!"

The British Open

The British Open is underway, great looking course, but maybe a little tricked up. Not all the players were complimentary of the setup. I believe when the course is purposely dried to an almost dead state, the games committee may have gone a little too far.

Last week I walked the course in Omaha with the U. S. Senior open players, as a spectator not a player, and am just now recovering, and some of those old guys are playing in the British Open, they are tougher, and in much better shape than this old guy. But I did shoot 85 today.

 

 

Old Golf Pro Secret

The real reason your pro tells you to keep your head down?

So you can't see him laughing at you.

 

 

Played Today

I am starting to feel better, finally, after a month of the worst sinus problems in all my 65 years. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear (my wife says it was even worse than my normal selective hearing), tough time sleeping and got little or no work done. Hope to be back blogging in a few days, the nice weather here in eastern Wyoming is helping. See you in a week or so.

Neil

I did make it out to the course today, hit the ball OK. Not up to walking but my cart was fine, enjoyed the sunshine and the fresh air.

Ball Flight

Help the ball doesn’t go where I am aiming! We have all heard someone (never ourselves) say something like this. Here is what the ball will tell you after you hit it.

·        Club head speed determines how far the ball will go – this can be a problem for older golfers, stay fit, work on swing balance and swing the clubs, or at least one every day.

·        Where the clubface points the ball will go – more armatures are prone to closing the face, especially on Irons and opening the face (slice) with the driver  (pulling irons and bending the driver into the right side woods)

·        The path the club travels tells the golf ball where to start out. The club face angle will tell it where to continue.

·        The angle the club takes to approach the ball determines the trajectory (high or low) of the shot.

“What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive.”  Arnold Palmer

 

Tee It Forward

The tee it forward movement is a great idea and one I hope more courses find the time and place to let people tee it forward. Of course I am an old guy that doesn’t like hitting a three wood second shot into a par four. 

According to the tee it forward people if your average drive is only about 220 you should be playing courses around 6,000 yards or less. I think it would help if the forward tees would keep par threes at 165 yards or less also. It is really no fun to hit three or five wood on a par 3.

Also seems to be a men only idea, I see many women, maybe past their golf prime, who would love to tee it forward.

It’s still a great idea but there are problems, like the following example. This example would be someone like me playing a par five with a (20 or 30 something) single digit handicapper. He will be hitting from the members tees and some old guy, like me, will play it forward.

The hole we play will be - Par 5 - 520 yards

His tee - 520 yards – drive 300 – distance to green 220 yards, a hard 4 hybrid

My tee - 450 yards – drive 220 – distance to green 230 yards, can’t reach with anything

See the problem? We are in approximately the same place after shot #1, but shot number two is still too long, but even this old golfer does not want to play par 5s that are 390 yards long  (my 220 drive and  a 170 yard 4 hybrid). So tee it forward, just not too far.

*Special note - I can still hit it 250 on occasion, and hit my three wood 215.  On the above example I would have about 50-90 yards left with my third shot to hit the green in regulation. (Not Bad)

Down wind, downhill, hard fairways, I can reach about 500 in two. Not bad for a 65 year old 12 handicap.