Tger and Phil -- Back to Back

Tiger, #75 and Phil, #41, back to back, if you are a PGA fan, it doesn’t get any better kicking off the new season.

-My two favorite golf quotes of the week-

Lee Westwood referring to Vijay and the Antler spray big deal. “You have to be careful about what you take. I try not to take anything now, really, other than Corona and Vodka.”

Rory Mcllroy said about his new deal with Nike, “Golf needs a younger, more athletic image, and Nike has always had that. I’m young enough. I’m not sure I’m athletic enough. But I’ll try!”

This week the PGA goes to Pebble and the champion’s Tour has their first full field tourney with the Allianz in Boca Raton. Great golf TV if you live in a cold state and can’t play yet!

 

Looks like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are both playing for Nike now. That gives Nike the number one and two players in the world as Tiger just moved from three to two. I did a quick, what’s in the bag, check on Rory and it is all Nike, ball, clothes, everything. I see where the two have already done their first commercial for Nike together.

Myself, I will keep playing whatever I can get on e-bay and some cheap stuff from Wal-Mart.

Still waiting on a deal from one of the biggies-got the handicap down to 12-could be soon.

Is this a Bad Sign?

Too much wind to play golf in Hawaii-too bad. I see where one famous teacher said playing in conditions like that could ruin a golfer’s swing.

I now feel much better about my ruined swing, playing here in Wyoming, with a lot of wind that must be what happened.

Hope they do get the tourney going, feel like watching some golf later today. The first pro tournament does tell me that warm weather is getting closer, not farther away.

 

Remember- There are two ways a golf ball bounces: unfair bounces, and bounces just the way you meant to play it.*

*Not sure where I saw this first but always thought it was appropriate

The Great Golf Ball Test --2013 soon

I bought ten dozen (at least) new golf balls, (OK, so sometimes I get a little carried away on E-Bay) can’t wait for spring and a chance to use them. I will let you know what I find out after using at least a sleeve of each. I am still on the quest to find a mid or low priced ball that fits seniors who are still serious about their game. But like me, seniors on a fixed income that makes the top balls a little out of reach, or we would have to give up food or alcohol or some other meaningless wants we have to buy them.

I will be testing three Wilson Staff Balls, two Taylor Made balls and one Calloway and one Bridgestone to start.

Wish me luck, gonna be tough having to play all those rounds, oh the sacrifices I make in the name of good golf.

“Golf is golf. You hit the ball, you go find it. Then you hit it again.” ~Lon Hinkle

No Golf Today

Jan 1, 2013 – Going on official record – “I love the New Year and I love New Year’s Resolutions.”   "And I will play more Golf in 2013"

6:00 a.m. - Eight hours of sleep, healthy, balanced breakfast, went for a walk, did my stretching and lifting workout, spent some hobby time, did some putting away and picking up in my workshop.

8:00 a.m. - New Years are great-reinvigorating, life anew - and soon more golf

9:00 a.m. - Feel like I need a nap, have a bit of an upset stomach, my shoulders, hips and feet ache.

10:00 a.m. – Doing much better now, reclining on the couch, watching first of many New Year’s Day Bowl Games, still resting after my workout, and dreaming about the next year.

11:00 a.m. - Very soar, dull pain starting on top of my head and ending on the bottom of my feet, not feeling well at all, will take a handful of pain killers and continue resting on couch.

I really do not like New Year’s—except for the Football

Noon – Drinking soda, eating chips and peanuts, still resting on couch, feeling some better, game has reached halftime, watching shootout on the Western Channel until second half starts. Golf is all reruns.

“Maybe Next Year, never have liked New Years stuff, too much hype, just another day for this ol’ cowboy”

-Happy New Year-

New Glasses = Better Golf

Got a new pair of sunglasses, just to play in, and guess what--the game got better. The perscription has just the far vision (what ever that is) but it makes a difference. I now feel like the course is in HD and it sure helps. Three lowest scores in the last 4 years all in the past ten days. Or maybe it's the clean livin' and stretching?????

When birthdays start with a 6 any score under 100 is great.

Viewer Call In Golf

So here we go again a viewer calls in a violation and Camilo Villegas is gone from the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Villegas was chipping up a steep slope to the 15th green and twice the ball rolled back toward him. The second time, Villegas walked over and casually swatted (Craig Stadler and John Daly style) away some loose pieces of grass in front of the divot while the ball was still rolling down the side hill.

That is a violation of Rule 23-1, "When a ball is in motion, a loose impediment that might influence the movement of the ball must not be removed." The penalty was two shots. Villegas had already signed his card which disqualified him for signing what was now an incorrect score card.

Well, all is not lost, Camilo still got $50,000 plus for his day of golf.

Ever wonder what would happen if we started calling in basketball, football and baseball rules violations the officials missed? Sometimes the penalty seems a bit harsh for the violation. But that’s just me speaking.

-Enjoy the golf-

How Do You Spell Graeme Anyway?

Graeme McDowell has been voted player of the year by the Golf Writers Association of America. Not sure I will ever learn to spell his name. I am good with the spelling of Tiger or Phil just in case they rise again next year.

Merry Christmas from the Old Golf Guy

From time to time I will be posting some of my favorite quotes and jokes from the world of golf. This is one of my favorites.

The proper score for a businessman golfer is 90. If he is better than that he is neglecting his business. If he's worse, he's neglecting his golf.
~ St Andrews Rotary Club Member



Merry Christmas and hope you get a bunch of great golf stuff from Santa this year.

Giving Golf for Christmas

This is a bit tricky. If you know exactly what is wanted, golf stuff can be a great gift. If you guess, giving golf for Christmas can and likely will be a disaster. I give my kids (all grown-up) golf balls every year. But I know what is good, what they like and what they play. Not sure anyone should pick out a bag, clubs or balls for Christmas, stick with shirts, sweats, bad ties, books and food items. This stuff they can re-gift—now that I think of it bad golf gifts could be re-gifted for bad golfers.

The Old Guy Talking About the Weather

Maybe there is something to global warming. We had a great fall and we have not had a single temperature below zero this winter—very unusual here. But we have had 25 inches of snow and double that up on the ski area. Not even the first of the year yet and I am already hoping for an early spring.

Strange things in the night

Strange things are about. We left our back sliding door open a few inches to let air circulate through the house last night. It’s finally warm here. Our back yard is fenced and gated and we thought impenetrable to intruders and large puppies, but we found out differently. We were awakened in the middle of the night, okay it was five AM but it was Saturday and we like to sleep in on Saturday. A large black dog (we do not own one or know anyone with one) was drinking noisily from the toilet. (YUM) He was scared and only too happy to be led outside. I opened the back gate and he was off. Within a minute he was around to our back yard again trying to jump through the opening in our fence where our garbage cans set. I moved the cans a little closer together and he could not or would not jump in again. He made some rather deep tracks through my raised bed garden but no other damage. Looked like a very young, maybe only a few months, Newfoundland Retriever. Sure was a good looking pup, someone must have paid a bunch for him.

Spring

Spring is here, finally. Four months since it reached fifty degrees—and it was 52 today—yippee!
Weather man says high of 24 and snow Friday. I just can’t seem to get it right.

New Health Plan

Just thinking about health care and all the time congress is spending on it—and all the money. After much sitting and thinking I believe I have the answer. I am sure that many members of congress read my blog postings and this blog will make it easy for them. Here they are- 4 things we need to do for American health care.
1. Give all Americans dual citizenship with Canada—we can all go there and stand in line for care.
2. All- meds half price on Tuesdays at Wall-Mart. Didn’t someone once say,” Heal thyself?” If no one ever said it, I just did, and I like it and I like the half price meds.
3. Every Friday all businesses will close from noon until three and all Americans will walk two or more miles. Some might even start to like it.
4. Tell China we are out of money, cancel our debt and give everyone the same health insurance as members of congress get.

-N-

Winter Olympics--I think I can do that!

Like most people in America I have been watching the Winter Olympics the past few days. I like most of it, don’t like Luge (too fast to see) and most of the pairs skating (Dancing With The Stars On Ice) Seems like I did most of these events as a kid growing up in Nebraska and later living in Wyoming. Here is a list of the Winter Games events I have almost tried at one time.
1. Sledding—Lots of it as a kid this meets my requirement for Luge and Bobsled
2. Ice Skating—fell a lot but in Jr. High and High School I did some of it—I do remember I may have done some of those triple something-n-a-rather jumps, they are now doing in the Olympics—mine were all unintended.
3. Skiing—when we moved to Wyoming and had a mountain, skied for eight or ten years—not continuously, hardly skied at all in the summer. (hey I used two adverbs in a row in that sentence)
4. Ski Jumping—On occasion and always by accident
5. Ice Dancing—Prom Only!
6. Cross Country Skiing—Often I skied out of control and walked back carrying my skies –I believe that should count for something
7. Hooky—I did a lot of that as a kid played a lot of hooky. OH Sorry, Hockey played some, we didn’t really know all the rules but we fell down a lot, got really cold and had great fun. Also played a summer version on the tennis courts with a tennis ball—not sure if I should count that one or not.
8. Biathlon—The one where they ski and shoot –did both, never at the same time
9. Pole Vault –Opps—summer games
I never got a medal but I did get cold—I do like watching these events on TV. I know nothing about any of them and every four years I turn into an expert, scoring figure skating and ski jumping from my recliner—go figure.
-N-

Small Business--Help I need a Bailout

I still have not been bailed out by the government. I’m waiting. Looks like some of the big wall-street boys will get their big bonuses again. Never could figure out why anyone needs that much money.
I find these government bailouts interesting—we have owned a small business and struggled in the down turn, no not this one. We took our losses, closed down and went on with our lives. Not one time did we think someone else should pay us for not making it. Took four years to dig out from our hole, but we did it.
READ MY STORY HERE >> http://www.helium.com/users/357802/show_articles

Short Western Story

I could see a body less than a hundred feet away. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get closer or farther away. I decided on closer but was going to be darn sure that this was a dead body, not a live one.
Fort Laramie had been abandoned for three years and I hadn’t been there in fifteen, I thought I might meet up with a few ghosts from my past, hadn’t expected a fresh one with a body attached. I dismounted and pulled my Winchester from the saddle scabbard and started toward the body. It was gone.


There you have it a complete western story in 99 words. This is also over on my western's site--but I wrote it because I got to thinking and . . . . . . .

Too Much Snow

Is it really only the middle of November? Here in the high country of Wyoming I have already scooped 30 inches of snow. Okay, I lied, I used my snow blower, sorry extremely green people but I am getting too old to shovel snow.
So—this begs the question, don’t you love it when someone says, “this begs the question?” Why do we still live here---Answer, because the rest of the year, it is fabulous.
So—how do I cope? Easy, I wear shorts and sandals year round.
* I turn up the thermostat to 80 degrees.
*I mow the grass even when it is covered with snow.
* I turn the heat on high or ultra high if I can find it, and drive the pickup around town with my windows down.
* I build snowmen and put sunglasses on them so they look cool and summery. Is summery really a word?
*And last of all (note how I cleverly did not say, last but not least) I go to Wyoming football games, set in the student section, take off my shirt, paint WYO on my chest and pretend like it is not cold.
No-Forget the last one—it was a lie.

H1Old1 flu and other lies

Getting old is usually looked at as all bad. Now, finally, some good news for those of us born before most people, nineteen fifty, that is. We cannot get the H1N1 flu. Wow finally something good about being old. Today I am not feeling so good. Think I may have the H1Old1 virus.

Snow and Green Grass

Well—it’s October and that means snow in Wyoming and green grass underneath. I really hate this time of year, the constant scooping of snow from the lawn and garden so that I can mow and weed. Then more snow, more scooping and more mowing and weeding. I tried something a little different this year I duct taped (or is it duck taped—you know the gray silvery stuff) anyway, as I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself. I taped with that gray shinny tape my snow blower to the front of my lawn mower, looks a bit funny when I do the driveway but works like a charm on the lawn.
Despite the snow (three times so far for a total of a foot of snow) my garden still looks pretty good. Why do the weather people on TV and radio now refer to snow storms as snow events? Despite three separate snow events my garden still looks pretty good. Of course most of it (tomatoes and onions) is in the garage. I pulled some carrots today and they were quite tasty, thank you. The rest of the garden really does not look so good, its mostly dead beans, dead peas, dead radishes, dead strawberries, dead herbs of all kinds (don’t like most of them anyway) and lots of dead flowers. And so as I started—Well –it’s October and so much for gardening this year.