What? Now I am Penalized for my Mark

I have decided to assess myself -  a 9,000 stroke penalty for all the times, in 60 years of golf, that I may have misplaced my marked ball.

In other news the LPGA has decided to do away with rules officials, this will not only save money but allow viewers to be part of the tour, as all viewers will now become official, officials.

Sad, but a sport just now gaining a few new fans may now lose some of them. 

Meanwhile, the weather is getting better each week and I have played two or three times each week for the past month.

Nothing in the world better than playing with the grandkids

No December Golf

I often play golf all winter long, at least four or five times a month. Seems we always have a bit of mild weather each month. Looks like this month is going to be the first in a couple o years that I will not play. 

Number 8 on my local course yesterday

But sledding has been great with the grandkids so guess I will live with that - pretty fun.

Winter Golf

Well, no golf today. Bit too much snow.

But that's not all bad, I am warm and watching the Players Championship on TV.

U.S. Open and Another Very Old Course

I love U.S. Open week. This year looks especially good with the new remake of Pinehurst. Sounds like the course will look and play a lot more like an old fashioned golf course, should be fun.

Maybe not this old - but I love this photo

 

I would like to see Phil win this one, but not sure he is going to. I don’t think an upstart newcomer will win, look for one of the old familiar faces to get this one.

What do you think? I am going with the young kid from Northern Ireland, you know, the recent called off wedding guy. He is now 100% concentrating on golf, I will go with him this week. Rory McIlroy !
But I still wish Phil would pull it off.

Hitting a few balls on course abandoned 60 years ago - very cool

 

How To Find Lost Golf Balls

Americans lose 300 million golf balls a year.

The reconditioning and reselling of those used balls has become a hundreds of million dollars a year industry. The Internet and large retailers like Wal-Mart sell thousands of dozen each week. In the old days the only place you could find these ‘water balls’ was in the golf shop. Why don’t we find a few ourselves and cut out the middlemen.

So where do you look to pick up a few of the millions of lost golf balls.

When looking for balls try the out of bounds to the right 170 to 180 yards off the tee.

For the expensive balls try about 220 yards but still the right side.

Most golfers that should be looking in the 170 area look in the 200 yard area and most that should be looking in the 220 range look in the 250-260 area.

If you can’t find your own ball walk back, you likely didn’t hit it that far.

Better balls are often found left and behind longer holes.

When looking along water, more balls are found on the tee side than the green side.

Check out new tree wells, the edges of paths and any grass boarders that need a weed eater.

And lastly, if you find one, there is a good chance another is hiding nearby, make a circle around where you found yours.

Please don’t stop and look while playing, but there is always a chance to walk by some of these ball happy areas. Remember if you hit it here someone else probably did too.

Stretch Your Way to Better Golf

People, usually older people, might ask, “when is a senior citizen a senior?” and the best answer, should be “when they think they are senior.” Don’t let it happen, fight it off, head to the golf course or your favorite walking or biking path forget about the easy chair and TV, save that for later in the day.

Keep the senior tag away by staying active. And if you are active you need to stay fit. Playing golf is a great way to stay fit, but once a week will not be enough. Fitness is ongoing and something that needs to become a daily habit for seniors, just like it was when we were little kids.  If you only play once a week, swing a club for a few minutes on the off days, walk, bike, stretch, twist and turn, stay ready to play again.

One of the keys to fitness is to stretch daily. Yes, daily! It will take you only a few minutes to get them done, but the improvement in your fitness and to your golf game can be fast and you might be surprised at how much better you feel. The time invested (usually not more than 15-20 min a day will be well worth it.

Stretching exercises alone will energize even the stiffest joints and muscles. And will help you body and soul.  Stretching does not have to hurt burn or be difficult, in fact it should be kind of easy. If the stretching exercises are difficult, they are not correct!

Google some stretches today- try, golf stretching, or stretching for senior citizens, for a start and you will find some very good and easy, workouts, What are you waiting for golf is just around the corner, get started.

 

Bill Murray Warm up

Bill Murray Warm up

Golf announcers know some things but they don’t know it all, and they proved it with their comments last weekend on Bill Murray’s baseball swing warm-up before hitting driver. This is not a bad thought process warm up; the baseball swing is a great reminder of weight shift.  Getting weight forward becomes increasingly difficult for senior golfers. Although it may look unusual the move is good. Back foot weight to front foot is important to distance with the clubs. If you would like to use this warm-up it might be a good example to make it look half baseball and half golf. That way the playing partners will not ask what you are doing.

In that same vein, teachers now are saying to do away with the weighted club swing as a way to increase swing speed. Maybe, but it is still a good stretch exercise for senior golfers. I would not suggest that you use it on the course, better to use in the off season. I even swing mine like a baseball bat, you got it, working on weight shift.