A Great Day On The Links

I always enjoy playing golf, good or bad, as the old saying goes – it beats working. Today was one of my, turn back time, days. Not the double, double and bogey start, but the rest of the round. After going five over on the first three holes, I preceded to shoot 79, including four birdies the rest of the way. First of all, four birdies are my norm for about eight or ten rounds, not one.

Keep Rolling

What else? I drove two short par 4s. A bit of a tailwind but not much, maybe all that stretching is finally paying off. As I said, short, 270 yards and 290, but come on, I am less than two years from starting my seventh decade of life and driving a par 4 is fun. Some days I can only average about 210-215 off the tee. On my best days, I might average closer to 225-230. On occasion I hit one 250 but wow! What a day.

Cannot wait to get back to the course.

A Little Practice With My Grandson

On another note, my murder mystery, that will be my ninth book should be out around the first of the year. I am about 40% in, and so far, I really like it. By the way – My working title is - Murder On The First Tee.

Interested in any of my other books? Take a look here, and thanks.

Book 6 Coming in Two Weeks

Big Money Golf Stuff

I’m looking for a new set of irons after just ordering a Callaway driver and three wood. Prices are getting a little much for this old retired golfer. Thought it might be interesting to see how much someone might pay if they had all the money they ever needed. How about these prices?

I probably will not go for the $32,000 set of irons. Each of the 14 clubs is made of platinum and gold. Reported owners include well know golfers Donald Trump and Jack Nicholson. By the way, I think I can beat both of those guys.

Need some golf balls? Dixon Golf Balls can be as high as $74.95 a dozen although they do have some cheaper. I also noticed that Titleist suggested retail for 2013 is $62.00 a dozen – OUCH!

I tried a few of the Wilson Staff balls last summer, liked them a lot and loved the price.

How about a nice round?  - Try, Shadow Creek Golf Course, Las Vegas, NV $500 to play 18. A top 100 course, but come on, $500, they really don’t want guys like me; it is indeed a high roller course.

If you need a new putter you cannot go wrong with a Scotty Cameron, but they are pricey. I must be turning into my James Joyce like, stream of consciousness thinking, started wondering about Scotty Cameron the man.
Well he is still around, just turned 50 – come on now how many of you thought he had been dead for 50 years?

Cameron turned a basement business into one of the most known names in all of golf. In early career he worked for, Ray Cook, Maxfli, Cleveland, Founders and Mizuno before selling his name and designs to Titleist.

My designs never did quite so well!

-Great Pro Golf this week from Pebble Beach and the seniors in Florida-

 

Best Golf Ball For Senior Golfers

If you type in ,“best ball for senior golfers or best golf ball,” you will get hundreds maybe even thousands of hits. The reason? Everyone wants to hit it far and straight and no one wants to practice. So the best ball is—

Find one that feels soft but not so soft that you feel like you need to swing harder.

I personally like three piece balls because I hit them for decent distance and they will spin and stop. I also will play a two piece ball if it is soft, almost everyone is making one now, but I really like the Wilson Staff 50/50.

The short game is still where most of the scoring takes place but when you become a senior type citizen, we still would like to drive it past the ladies tee. So in my pursuit of hitting it farther I have the following suggestions—

1.    Find a softer ball

2.   Make sure your swing speed matches your driver shaft

3.   Stretch at home—30 seconds of stretching before you tee up on #1 is not enough

4.   Increase your swing speed—50 or more hard swings with a full length driver every day in the off season, and during the season for that matter, swing faster each swing for the first dozen, for the rest maintain the fast swing. Take your time between swings, make sure you finish with weight on your front foot and chest to target.

5.   I also have found that playing in the off-off season when there is no water on the course and the fairways are frozen really helps my distance off the tee—maybe I should give up summer golf and concentrate on winter golf, but not in the south.

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