Showing posts with label bad golfers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bad golfers. Show all posts

Monday, January 6, 2014

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.

Monday, September 2, 2013

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!"



Monday, August 12, 2013

Another Year in Golf

Well the majors are over for the year. Phil won, Tiger did not. But mark my words, Tiger will win one next year. Jason Dufner might win another also, I don't think he is a flash in the pan. Now back to my own game, still working to get the handicap down to singles.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

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.

Friday, February 8, 2013

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.


Thursday, January 31, 2013

Vijay Singh admits to Using a Banned Substance


Move over Lance Armstrong and Ray Lewis to make room for PGA star Vijay Singh, who admited to using a PGA Tour banned substance.
He said, “While I have used deer antler spray, at no time was I aware that it may contain a substance that is banned under the PGA Tour Anti-Doping Policy,” then went on to say, "I am absolutely shocked that deer antler spray may contain a banned substance and am angry that I have put myself in this position."
Not sure I would like to spray anything in my mouth, several times a day, scrapped from deer antlers in New Zealand. So why did he use it? Deer-antler spray and pills contain a hormone called IGF-1 that is thought to help muscle recovery.

A cofounder of the company, that supplied Vijay, told Sports Illustrated, “Their antlers are the fastest-growing substance on planet Earth . . . because of the high concentration of IGF-1. We've been able to freeze dry that out, extract it, put it in a sublingual spray that you shake for 20 seconds and then spray three [times] under your tongue. . . . This stuff has been around for almost 1,000 years, this is stuff from the Chinese," SWATS (the company) calls their product natural, like a food, but it is banned by the NCAA and every major pro league according to SI.

So what is IGF-1?

IGF-1 is an insulin-like growth factor, a hormone that naturally occurs in the body and circulates in the blood, thus helping the body heal faster. Would it also help a person play better-stay tuned, we will find out soon.

This afternoon the Waste Management, Phoenix Open starts and as of this morning, Vijay has decided not to play.


 

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Friday, January 25, 2013

10 Things To Remember On The Course This Year


As we all start, at least trying, to think about golf. Yes it will warm up and turn green sometime in the future.

Here are my things to remember for this year.


1.    Do not try to hit through a tree—all that stuff about trees being 80% air cannot be true

2.    If you are not sure, go around instead of over—remember trying to hit that lob wedge over a 60 foot tree 20 feet in front of you?

3.    Club up or down and hit your 70 or 80% shot from uneven lies

4.    Light rough still hit one more club

5.    Heavy rough – see #3 above

6.    Remember, direction is more important than distance

7.    Find out your distance with each club – average distance, not best distance

8.    Find a swing for the 75 yard shot – sand wedge, half sand wedge, half gap, whatever it takes

9.     A found golf ball is a good golf ball - tee it up
 
10. Remember the other nine
 
Happy Golfin'

 

 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Hey Phil-"You Want to Trade-and John Daly Too


The Farmers Insurance Open tees it up this week. Looks like a pretty strong field. Tiger has won this one six times, I guess we will see if he can make another run at it. Any tourney at Torrey Pines will have some drama and make for good TV.

Rory is home working on his game but, call me crazy, if Tiger and John Daly are there it will be fun. And Bubba and Phil will play, hope Phil doesn’t catch too much flack over his comments on taxes. Although he deserves at least one—“HEY PHIL YA WANNA TRADE ME SALARIE”- along with the usual, “atta boy and you da man.”

I have always been a fan of Big John Daly, I know he has fought off some demons, I just like the guy. He is who he is. I hate it when our athletic heroes let us down, John has just always been John, doesn’t try to hide his problems. And I like his game, if he can get over his one bad round every tournament, maybe he will content again.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

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.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Golf Season - Yeepee It's Here


Looks like the golf channel turns 18 tomorrow, happy birthday. I watch a lot of it; love it in the winter when I cannot play here in the Wyoming high country.

Golf season is rolling now, the first full field tournament last week and this week two big ones. It will be great TV, especially if your Football team has checked it in for the season. Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, with the world’s number one and two and now best friends playing. We will see about this best friend stuff when one or the other starts dominating his new best friend.

Sorry Rory, but I think this may be Tiger’s year- now that you are both playing with the almost good enough equipment and balls - the field had leveled.

The other tournament this week – The Humana challenge, should be a birdie filled, fun to watch event. Look for a score of -25 or better to win. And the winner is---

Matt Kuchar, Pat Perez, Brandt Snedeker or the guy we will say, “who dat guy.”

Until next time, Happy Golfin’

Monday, January 14, 2013


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.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Three Million-Come on Man


 Looks like Tiger Woods will not be playing in the Qatar Masters, this year. Woods three million dollar appearance fee was too steep for the tournament that has a total purse of about two and a half million.  I like Tiger, always have, love to watch him play, great, fierce competitor. But like the NFL folks say, “Come on man,” three million is a little steep for the world’s number three.

Let’s see if the average American lives on about $50,000 dollars a year it would take 60 years to make the three million that Tiger needed for less than a week of work-good deal if you can get it, but even Tiger couldn’t pull this one off.
 
 
I still think a quarter a hole is a big deal match! And maybe a beer a side.

Friday, January 4, 2013

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

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Golf The Times They Are A Changing


I’m more than a little surprised that the Long Putter will be illegal soon. I have played for a long time and seems like the only other ban I have seen was when the USGA came down against Sam Sneed and the crochet style putting.

Here is my list of ten changes I have seen in 50+ years of playing golf that might have been banned but were not.

1.       Metal heads for woods

2.       Metal shafts

3.       Graphite shafts

4.       Oversized heads for drivers

5.       Cavity back clubs

6.       Cut proof balls

7.       Cavity back (open back) putters

8.       Giant weird looking putter heads

9.       Hybrid irons

10.   Lob wedges

11.   Dozens of design changes to golf balls (this one should be 10 ¼ )

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Golf In the Heat - Hey, It's 100 Degrees


Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad.

 ~A.A. Milne

Gotta be past 60 to enjoy golf when it is 100 degrees out, seems like everything works better when it is warm. Have to tell myself to face the target (turn) in my swing, warm weather helps.

Seems as I get older I have had to narrow my stance, too wide restricts the chance for the hips to help you finish the swing.



Best thing about playing golf past 60 – I never feel bad about riding, no walking for me, well maybe if it’s flat and I play just 9, and it’s not too long. Oh-forget it I am gonna ride.

Enjoy the Fourth-and be safe.







Friday, November 4, 2011

Winter Golf and Snow

Can't play at 7,200 feet this time of the year. Good news is I will retire in June so next fall and winter I may go south a way's and play. Love fall, love football hate the golf weather. We have had 2 nights where we were -16 and -12 and so far 23 inches of snow--nothing like dreaming of warm weather and good golf.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Golf and Snow

Here in Wyoming at 7200 feet looks like golf is over for a few months. We are expecting a foot or so of the white stuff in the next 20 hours. So to keep all my readers happy (most of you don’t need this because it is still warm and green where you live) here is the best golf joke I have heard lately.
I love golf. I live golf. I dream golf. If only I could play golf!

Monday, July 11, 2011

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.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

These Guys Are Good

Phil Michelson has Bones pull the stick on 18, just in case. When I am hitting a ball in from more than a hundred yards out, I just hope to get it close enough to avoid a four putt.
The Farmers tournament was really good this year and with no football, unless you call the pro bowl later, football, I hope the ratings were good.
Good to see David Duval, Tiger and John Daly hitting a few good shots and staying around for the weekend.
Nice to see Bubba Watson win again, remember the famous quote, when a very young Jack Nicklaus won the 1965 Master's? Golf legend Bobby Jones said he “was playing a game with which I am not familiar.” That is the game Bubba plays, but he seems like a great guy and is fun to watch.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas and Sledding

Christmas is over and I am sitting in my recliner playing with my brand new Kindle. All four kids and all seven grandkids made it. BUT as always there had to be a mishap and this one was a dozy. Our four year old granddaughter broke her leg sledding. It was our second day on the hill (yesterday) she is a tough little kid but when she said she needed to go to the doctor we knew it was hurting. Now it is all cast up (hip to foot) and in about eight weeks she will be as good as new. Thank God for grandkids, good doctors and quick healing for four year olds.