A Golf Blog

Do Over

I realize that Golf Digest is a victim of print deadlines and had to have the artwork for their cover story in well before the news about Tiger broke.

But, you've got to know that they'd like a do over on this one - the last thing the president needs now is advice from Tiger.

The Big Chill

I realize that other parts of the US are getting hammered by the first real winter storm of the year. Here in North Texas, we got the cold and managed to dodge the snow and ice bullets.

We are pretty much able to play year round here but that does present some problems for our maintenance staff. When it gets really cold or is forecast to be for an extended period of time, our super stages tarps for the greens anticipating they’ll need to be covered. In my time here at the ranch, I think that’s only happened once.

What’s more common is for him to run sprinklers on the greens before daylight so when the sun does come up and the temps drop, the ice that’s formed creates a sort of blanket of insulation.

I’m sure he’d much rather run the sprinklers than have his crew wrestle with covering 18 greens and 3 practice greens.

Just think, the coming of winter in 13 days means that in 14 the days will begin to get longer.

A Gift That Keeps on Giving

I got a note from GolfLabels.com a couple of days ago. I bought labels from them when I got my latest set of irons and while I've not needed them as of yet, they do contribute a bit to piece of mind should I leave a club somewhere on the course. I've still got some spares but I'm thinking a set for each of my foresome would be a nice touch for Christmas. Not to worry, it will still be a surprise - I don't think either of the three ever visits the blog.

If you'd like to get me something...this would certainly fit the bill. It's a French Army Knife.

Hat-Tip to Cash @ Bushwood

Job Hunting

In February, Hunter Industries is  partnering with the GCSAA to present a Student/Superintendent Employment Fair. If you are interested in a career in  turf management or enhancing your resume with classes and seminars, you might want to see about getting to San Diego in February.

More here.

Winter Maintenance

We’re not there yet; winter that is. Here in North Texas, we can pretty much play year round but it does get chilly. And the chilly weather brings with it a different course. Except for the over seeded tee boxes, all the turf (> 200 acres of it) is dormant. That means the little white ball rolls like the dickens – a good drive in the summertime could translate to winter time madness because a ball that found the fairway 6 months ago will now roll through the fairway and into the rough, a hazard, or out of bounds.

The cold weather also brings with it a different kind of maintenance. The course mechanic is overhauling equipment and our GCSAA superintendent is doing projects that took a back seat during our peak growing season.

Seems like there are always challenges with drainage; whether it’s puddles in low spots on the cart paths or soft false fronts to some of the greens is always something. Then there’s our ESA (environmentally sensitive areas) that get their once a year cleanout.

One of the initiatives here actually free up some of the hours the staff needs for course set-up. A couple of years ago, we went to rotating cups during the dormant turf season. Each green has 3 hole placements. They are rotated daily (maybe every other day if play is light) and new holes are cut only ever second or third week (again depending on play). The cup plugs aren’t growing so there is zero chance the hole ‘scar’ will heal.

It works pretty well and when the warmer weather returns, the greens bounce back a lot easier.

Precision Putting Training Aid

Every so often, I’ll get an unsolicited email from someone representing a new technology or, perhaps a different bend on an already implemented idea that is advertised to improve your golf scores. There have been a few that have made it past my email in box and this is one of them.

When I took up the game almost 15 years ago, my first teacher’s philosophy was to start at the hole and work your way back to the tee box. Putting was first, then short game, mid irons, and finally, driver. Since putting was the easiest to practice, didn’t require a lot of strength, and accounted for about 50% of the strokes in round, it made sense to me that it was a good place to start.

Back at the end of September, I received a much anticipated package from Putting Technologies; they’d sent me the Precision Putting Trainer and asked that I ‘test drive’ it and if I liked it, maybe write a review.

This is Precision set up on my putter – it comes in two pieces. The first piece clips onto the putter shaft – the yellow bar, when parallel to the putter face, is a good visual aid for alignment. The rocker arm hinges two ways on the yellow bar – one helps with the putter head lie and the other with smoothness of stroke. It also came with easy set up and use instructions, a hard carry case for storage when you’re on the course, and two practice ‘bumperCups’. The larger cup is sized so if your ball even brushes the edge of the bumper, you’ve sunk the putt. The smaller bumper, a smaller target, is for more intense practice and incremental improvements.

My first practice was on our bedroom carpet. With this aid, the hinge on the yellow bar is supposed to align with the middle of the putter face – the sweet spot. So, when you’re standing over the ball, the hinge is between the middle of the back of the ball and the sweet spot of your putter face. At that point, it’s very easy to get your eyes set up directly over the ball. The first thing I noticed was my usual eye alignment was almost 2 inches inside the ball. The hinged rocker arm is red on the lower inside. The red is only visible if the toe or heel of the putter head is too high or too low. Once I corrected being set up 2 inches inside the ball, pushes and pulls were all but eliminated. On the carpet, I got pretty good and could ‘sink’ 8 of 10 putts from 6 to 8 feet. On the course is different but I am seeing a lot more putts within a foot which all but eliminates the dreaded 3 putt. I’ve even dropped a couple of 15 footers for birdie in my last couple of rounds.

So, the bottom line for me is it works. I don’t have to worry about mechanics or line (as long as I practice) – it’s now all about speed.

The weather today is awful and since I’m not really a cold weather player, I can spend time on the carpet and work on putting.

Putting Technologies has a great web site that will answer all your questions.

Remember, stroke it, don’t poke it.

Ball Marks

My regular group is pretty good when it comes to course etiquette but there’s always the occasional memory lapse. Sometimes it’s filling a fairway divot (when doing that, try to find one or two additional ones to fill), unnecessary cart traffic in already worn turf, not being ready and, not fixing ball marks on the green.

I wrote about that almost 2 years ago and I don’t know about where you play, but here at the ranch, ball marks are still a problem. If your greens are dormant or heading in that direction, they still need ball mark attention.

When I first started playing, fixing my ball mark meant that I’d probably hit a green in regulation which meant I had a fair chance for par and with a little luck, and close enough to the flag stick, maybe a birdie. For a beginner, that was pretty neat.

Now, making sure I have a ball mark repair tool in my pocket is a regular part of my pre-round routine. I keep my repair tools in the same pouch in my bag as my ball markers.

Next time I out and about, I think I’ll pick-up 6 to 12 inexpensive repair tools and have them handy when one of my playing partners has one of those memory lapses I mentioned earlier. In case you’re wondering, I use the Green Fix tool – it’s supposed to be more turf and root friendly. I tried getting it adopted as the ‘default tool’ here at the ranch but interest just wasn’t there.

First Tuesday

Today is the first Tuesday of the month in almost 4 years that I have the day off. Over that time, I’ve held several volunteer positions with our Men Golf Association. It feels odd that I’m not participating but it was time I made room for another volunteer.

We transitioned the new board members this past month and feedback, while positive, also included many comments about how involved the new volunteers would be. Yup, there’s a lot to do – welcome aboard.

I’ve already been asked to help ‘consult’ with the 2010 edition of our Member/Guest.