In Part 1 of this posting, I focused I on the things that you needed to do in order to secure a tee time reservations. Technically, I would have shared the FREE Golf Planning Resource Sheet within that first post, but here’s the link for you to download your copy right now. Think about this as not so much a continuation of the same post but an additional phase of preparation when we talk about tips for planning your next golf round. With the rise of swift changes to many course policies and practices due to the widespread pandemic, being prepared is going to take you a long way and limit the amount of frustration that you may have to endure upon arriving at the golf course.
Check Your Equipment
You cannot show up for a round of golf and you haven’t checked your equipment since your last round or visit to the driving range. Like Winston Churchill said in his famous address to the House of Commons in 1916,”You have to succeed in doing what’s necessary.” Take the time to simply do a brief equipment check and ready yourself for your upcoming round of golf.
EQUIPMENT CHECKLIST
Golf Bag (overall function) If it has a stand, is it still popping out and stable?Plan on walking, do you need all of those clubs and balls in your bag?
Clubs Check to make sure that your golf clubs are in order and clean. Wipe them down the night before as you get into the right mental state to head to the course for your next round of golf.
Additional Equipment Do you carry your bag or use a walking cart? What condition is the cart in right now? Have you checked your inventory of golf tees and golf balls? Make sure to ensure that you a divot tool and ball marker, even if it’s a lucky dime.
Golf Gear & Clothing This includes everything from what you wear and what extras you carry. Rainy weather might require a rain poncho and an umbrella. Golf shoes always seem to be a good asset, especially when playing some of these less-maintained municipal courses.
I would suggest yoga or some deep stretching exercises that involve engaging your core and your lower back. Use an early morning warm-up of full-body exercises such jumping jacks and squats topped off with planks. Look into golf fitness programs and regimens that might fit your style.
Rise up early the day of your round. Get your cup of coffee or tea. Stretch your muscles and open your eyes with some early morning of CNN, Fox Business or BBC News Worldwide. Or, you could always read an article or a blog post on tips for planning your next round of golf to see if you have done everything as planned.
Arrive at the Course Early
Provide yourself enough time to check in and conduct whatever pre-round ritual you need to do in order to get into a good head space before teeing off for your round. If you use the range or putting surface, allow time for it and whatever pandemic changes that might have transpired since your last golf outing.
If you are organizing a foursome or group for golf that day, be sure to text and call your fellow players to ensure that all parties arrive early, check in and are in the ready position for when the start calls your group name over the intercom system. Nothing worst than that late-comer member of your foursome running to catch up with your group at the first tee out of breath and barefoot on one foot with his other golf shoe and sock in hand. That makes for a good impression regarding that golf etiquette.
Have Fun and Keep Swinging
The great thing about golf is being out there. You hit the fairway and feel at one with the environment. Whether you enjoy just a good time with some friends and a few brews or you truly embrace the challenge of competing against the course, golf is the type of thing that can consume four hours of your day with one round and leave you feeling like you truly got to know the other person in the cart (well, at least pre-pandemic) and you learned something new about yourself and your golf game or at least about the golf course and its layout and design.
Just be sure to have you some fun out there after all of the planning that you did for your next golf round and keep swinging.
While playing golf can be fun, I have to admit that it takes some planning to get onto the course. For those whimsical and impulsive folks who like to just pop up, show up and do things on the fly, a golf outing might either require a high degree of patience mixed with free time or a load of luck. For the rest of us, a well-planned golf outing is based on some simple tips on how to plan for a round of golf.
I broke this into a 2-part posting because I wanted to make sure that you grasp the tips offered here on how to plan and prepare for your next round of golf. Although these are not an end-all of tips available on preparation for a round of golf, these tips on how to plan for your next round of golf are a look into my own process as well as ideas on how to save money and eliminate frustration when trying to prepare for a round of golf in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
I am a planner. I like to plan my practice days and I like to plan my playing days. That just works for me and it helps me with my schedule and calendar. I tend to start my planning with 3 major factors in mind:
Time: How much time do I have available to play and when is that available time (morning or afternoon)?
Distance: How far am I willing to travel to play? Am I staying nearby at a local municipal course in my area? Or, am I thinking of hitting the road and bracing traffic for something beyond my immediate 10-20 mile radius?
Budget: How much am I willing to spend for a round? Is there FREE or discounted replay?
I might not write it all down, but I have it all in mind. I use this as my starting point to know what I am looking for versus what is not on my radar for this particular golf outing. This keeps my frustration level low when it comes to identifying available tee times and particular courses in my area.
Time Window for Play
When it comes to winter vacation, spring break or even a summer vacation, I find that I can play more weekdays at a cheaper rate than my regular weekend golf rounds. So, for someone like me, my planning might look different at different times of the year, but I try to stick to the same process most of the time.
You might have more free time on the weekends, for instance, but that leaves you at the mercy of the pro shop’s higher rates. You may prefer the early to mid-morning tee times, but those tend to come at a premium price compared to playing later in the day during what is called twilight. Twilight rates come a discount and leave you in a hurried pace of play to finish before the sun goes down. Based upon your available time to play, you can identify a window of time that both fits your schedule and your budget for your next golf outing.
Travel Distance
During my extended periods of time off like winter break, I like to mix in a few course that I might not travel to on the weekends. I feel free to hit the road and go beyond my immediate circuit of regular golf course selections in my area. During this winter break, I have already spied out some deals for play at Pala Mesa Resort on a weekday soon and I potentially want to play at Oceanside Golf Course when I visit the Linksoul Lab in the same area. Otherwise, I manage to keep my travel distance down to about 20 miles maximum to play local courses not far from my home and with no stress on my gas tank.
Golf Budget
No matter how you slice it, playing golf can be considered expensive by many outsiders. For the frugal golfer, I am always putting out some tips and how-to information as it comes my way. You can enjoy the sport without having to pay wildly high prices as if you only had country club and resort course options. If you do not approach your planning with a budget, you might need some assistance picking your jaw up off the ground for how much a single round comes out to at a luxury golf resort and spa. (They always have a spa as if that justifies the additional hike in tee time rates.)
Please note that I would approach planning a destination golf trip or stay-and-play golf weekend a whole different way than just the above-mentioned factors. Lengthy trips include a lot more considerations than just an afternoon outing to a local course. When you involve travel beyond a single day, you need to expand or enhance your criteria as well as engage others in the process if you are planning for a small group and overnight accommodations.
Now that you ae armed with your preliminary planning items like available time and budget, you can start searching for for open tee times and deals. You save a lot of time using online resources rather than calling pro shops. (You’ll be lucky if you get any on the phone when it’s great weather = they’re busy checking in other golfers!)
My Golf Now profile page
Get on the Email List (Worth It!)
If you haven’t done so already, definitely sign up for emails from Golf Advisor and GolfNow even TeeOff. A recent newbie for me has been Rockbottom Golf. For me, these tend to be my go-to sites for comparison pricing on tee times. There are others such as Golfzing and even sites like JC Golf that have memberships tied to specific courses of play. I think American Golf used to be my favorite back in the day, but changes in ownership, management and course offerings and packages just left me at the point where I let that go.
Search by Your Criteria (Based on Your 3 Major Factors)
Don’t waste your time. That can get frustrating or take you down a rabbit hole. Focus on your goal of finding a tee time that fits for you and how you want to play. Most sites like Golf Now and Tee Off have filters that allow you to set everything from numbers of players, cart or walking, price range, distance from your location, and of course, time window. They will spit out some tee times and locations for you to browse and select from as you review the available deals and rates.
Be aware that there are always some Hot Deals as Golf Now likes to call them and featured courses. These may not match your criteria specifically or entirely, but occasionally they’re worth a look and the possibility of altering your plans slightly. Keep in mind that every deal is not a fit for you. Take it like shopping for anything: just because it is on sale doesn’t mean that you have to buy it.
Review & Research the Courses
Know what is under the hood per se. Get to know a little something about the course, especially if you have not played that specific course since the pandemic hit the nation. Keep in mind that local health guidelines impact golf course facilities and their procedures and policies like many other businesses. Beyond face coverings and social distancing, you might be required to ride in separate carts and that could impact fees and rates. This is all part of planning for your next round out golf.
GET TO KNOW THE LAYOUT
Is this the course where your buddy talked about that severe dogleg or the tee shot over the canyon?
Are there areas where there is water in play?
Do you see a trend of sand surrounding the greens?
What in the devil was the designer thinking when he laid this out?
Will this provide a fund, challenging time on the course?
READ THE REVIEWS
Numerous golfers have cited course changes in policies and procedures, but also some course layouts and maintenance has been altered. When the grounds crew feels the need to move the entire green to the fairway and you can hardly tell the moss of the fringe from that stuff that is growing near the newly-identified hole, you might want to have some advance notice, especially when they’re hitting you up at premium rates. Get some insights from course reviews on sites like Supreme Golf or Greenskeeper. Even course reviews by golf pros and golf instructors can provide some gems. Taking the time to take in the reviews of potential golf courses on your list will give you an idea of what to expect when you arrive at a new course and what has or hasn’t changed at an old familiar course. Your planning for your next round of golf should involve taking the time to read some of the latest reviews.
Supreme Golf Course Review
READ & REVIEW THE SCORECARD
This might seem like a given, but the first tee is no place for surprises as you discover that there are four different tee boxes, not including the ladies box, and that the course has the traditional black, blue, and white tees along with gold and green. So, where are we hitting from?
You need to spend some time ahead of your time at the course getting to know the course that you have your game up against. In essence, this helps you prepare for a better outing. If you are facing a series of narrow, tree-lined fairways with little to no forgiveness and you have been hooking and slicing those fairway woods since you got them for Father’s Day, then you you might want to leave them at home or in the trunk and show up with your best iron game off the tee if that’s your selected course of play. Like they say on social media: #IJS.
BOOK YOUR TEE TIME
What I like about using sites like Golf Now or Tee Off is that you can book and secure your tee time online. Oftentimes, you can do this with little to no money down, depending the course and its relationship with the site. I find that convenient when I am booking a tee time 3 to 4 days in advance, especially when I am hitting the road or its between paydays between today and then. I am not the type of guy to use the funds that I might have used for a bag of groceries on a round of golf. (Well, at least not any longer since quite a long time ago) Needless to say, the setup with these online tee time reservations is simple, easy and convenient. And, as part of the new normal, contactless.
Once you have this under way, your next move will be to contact your foursome or playing buddies if you are not playing as a single. Otherwise, I always like the added convenience of adding the event to my calendar, in particular my personal Google Calendar. That allows me to set alerts and keeps me focused as I schedule my days ahead. By doing this, I keep myself organized and balanced when it comes to managing my time and preparing for my next round of golf.
Next in Part 2: We get to preparation for your next golf round
I was hesitant about golfing with the lockdown looming in California. We go all in on quarantine, with curfews blown and non-essential everything else up for grabs based on interpretation. Nevertheless, I have managed to get into a driving range routine over the last two weeks in preparation for my golf foray while on hiatus from Zoom meetings and remotely working from home due to COVID-19.
Swing Mechanics and the Mental Game of Golf
I look at Brian Penn‘s post on Getting Too Mechanical and I know that there is a kindred spirit alive and well out there. As golfers, we think about the swing too much. We let the golf game get all in our head and we try to recall every aspect of what the hips and the torso should be doing in tandem or synchronicity. Throw in the grip and body alignment, and then you have the recipe for a self-induced migraine all within the confines of your own psyche and head.
A lot of this game is simply about getting out of your own head space. We clutter our minds with swing mechanics and every little thing we have red in tons of golf books as well as what we’ve ear hustled through the dense fog of cigar smoke from the golfers who just finished a round or two at the 19th hole and their reflections on the day’s outing. We need to simply clear some space and set our minds on putting our focus and energy towards just a few things that can really get us started on the right pathway. Too much is just too much.
Much like I read about Anirban Lahiri, it’s just great to get back to swinging on the course again. As I move forward with embarking on a whirlwind of golfing over the next 2 weeks, I wanted to take a closer look at my swing and what I could do differently as well as recognize what I am doing right. I want to acknowledge where I have made some progress as well as where I still struggle.
My grounds for my analysis and evaluation of my swing sequence takes into account that I have an average of 2 days per week at the range over the past month. My trusty GoPro Hero Black 8 and my Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ have been my main documenting resources for posting to Instagram and YouTube with pics and videos on my practice sessions. The feedback and comments that I received both here and via social media have allowed me to set a baseline for where I was starting out and what I needed to alter and adjust in order to make some marked improvement in my swing. By no stretch of the imagination am I saying that I am totally on top of my game. I do not see that coming about until maybe a good run in the spring or even summer. Am I ready to play and replay a few rounds this coming week and next? You better believe it!
Cannabis oil seems to be all the rage these days. Sports have seen a surge in the advancement of its promotion and advertising as legalization of cannabis and similar products have increased in recent years. For the average golfer, the usage of CDB whether oil or other formats can provide legitimate benefits to user.
CBD Product Overview
GLT Golf gives a pretty basic overview of CBD oils and their usage for numerous benefits, especially on the course and after a grueling round. Let’s face it. If you are left with some aches and pains after the back nine, then you might be a prime candidate for some form of recovery. I know that I have had my own issues with lower back pain entering into my 50s, so I can only imagine what it is like for a more seasoned golfer or one who has suffered from long term injuries that flare up every now and then.
The GLT Golf article points out how CBD oil has benefits related to numerous conditions. Some of these conditions include but are not limited to pain, arthritis, diabetes, inflammation, depression and anxiety. Pro golfer Billy Horschel is said to stand out as both an advocate for and an investor in CBD products, noting the CBD products as a contributing factor to his recent “return to top form” on the PGA tour. Other advocates on the pro tour include Bubba Watson and Scott McCarron.
Tim Reilly has given some key reasons for golfers using CBD products, citing the CBD craze as “one of the fastest-growing sectors in the golf space.” Among his 5 reasons for going all in on CBD, Reilly points out the obvious with the relief from aches and pains as well as the “calming effect” elicited from CBD product usage. However, what makes this particular to tour pros as opposed to the weekend golfer would be Reilly’s reference to what he calls “travel balance.” The recovery effect and increased focus are additional benefits that any golfer could use when facing tee shots across streams of water and putting surfaces that seem to have meticulous cuts designed with frustrating golfers in mind.
Golfers have a lot of options when it comes to CBD products. My first encounter with CBD products tailored with the golfer in mind came through a set of samples from Enveed Golf via a golf subscription box. It is actually a local company in San Diego but I had never heard of it until I got that subscription box.
You could follow the advice MyGolfSpy via their buyer’s guide for CBD products or you can follow the advice of Luke Kerr-Dineen on his 5 favorite CBD products at a deep discount. You can get CBD products in all sorts of forms including extract oil and roll-on. With CBD products, you are not limited. You could even dabble with some of the gummies if you felt like a chewy alternative. The long list of CBD options is only limited by the advances in product development within the legalized cannabis industry.
The CBD Buzz and Debate Continue to Rage On
Golf performance and game improvement are debatable when it comes to CBD products. GLT Golf states that cannabidiol can offer some genuine golf performance benefits such as “allowing a golfer to maintain a full range of movement in the swing despite injury pain.” According to Tim Gavrich, Senior Writer for Golf Advisor, “The proliferation of CBD products in the golf industry is part of greater efforts to market and sell CBD products.” With the emergence of more CBD products, the full spectrum of the CBD influence has yet to be seen.
CBD products might pack a load of benefits for sports performance, but the official stance on them is still out there. Are these controlled substances? Do these qualify as performance enhancing drugs? Are gummies really drugs? Or, are they more like candy? No matter where you stand on the issue, the CBD industry is not backing off into a corner any time soon. If anything, the producers of CBD products are up or generating a buzz about all of the benefits of cannabidiol.
California is suffering right now. Santana winds are doing their normal seasonal thing and threatening wild fires across the Southland. Winter mornings are getting more chilly, but the days seem to continue with seemingly summer-like temperatures. But then again there’s COVID-19.
COVID-19 has California trying to figure out how to handle a global health pandemic on a statewide scale. It has the San Francisco Forty-Niners practicing and playing outside of the state. It has the governor and the mayor of L.A., along with a number of other state and local officials, receiving death threats and other types of hate mail due to the calls for curfews and limited holiday celebrations.
But it has not completely wiped out and shut down golf courses.
So What’s a Golfer to Do?
For me, I am all in. Like I said in previous posts, I got some extended time off coming up and aligns perfectly with the potential lift of this lockdown in mid to late December. I am readying myself for that time with a consistent practice schedule weekend by weekend. Whether it is my iron play and woods or my short game, I keep my focus on bringing my game up to a place where I can expect a skills transition from the driving range to golf course.
Bonita Golf Course
I am seeking input and feedback on my swing techniques and mechanics. Hey! Yeah, I know that the belly fat isn’t helping me gain any torque, but I got a plan for that. But I am open to feedback like what I got from Brian Penn from All About Golf and some others like the Grateful Golfer. I tried engaging my core more, but I know that it needs work especially with a baseball background. With muscle memory, I am somehow always drifting back to my roots as a long ball hitter at the plate not the tee. In fact, I am really digging Cathy McPherson’s pointers about pre-shot routine and other aspects. The LPGA perspective helps a common golfer like me because the focus is not on long drives and wild recovery shots like the PGA Tour. Following the LPGA and Senior Tour lets us focus on fundamentals and shot selection as opposed to muscling up off the tee snapping a second shot to get back into play like some PGA pros. I am doing all of this while I got the time.
What I am Working on for the Next 2 Weeks
My primary focus for the next 2 weeks is all about fitness and health. In fact, I am starting a 10-Day Detox Challenge tomorrow. The prep for my mind, body and spirit has been revealing. When it comes to golf, I will continue to the consistent practice and even start out with walking a par 3 once I go on break. But I definitely have my eyes on overall health and wellness along with diet and nutrition as it relates to golf performance. I mean look at DeChambeau’s daily diet and what it entails.
I will continue with a focus on fitness for two weeks and end up swinging for fun on the course again before I even know it. I am not even ready for the 90 Day Challenge to go scratch. That ain’t even me yet. I am sort of working on my game and my physique simultaneously. Remember, y’all, I am just trying break 90 and do so consistently. No lockdown is going to shut that down, but it has definitely caused me to be a little more cautious with what I do and when I do it. After all, I am still learning how to break free of that wide angle slice that looks like a drone gone wild in flight. If I can get that done in the next month, I see my scores leveling out by spring.
Think about it like this. Last week I had just posted on my driving range session prior to my play at a local charity golf tournament. I have visited the range multiple times since that session and tournament, but the feedback and support that I got both here and on YouTube, even Twitter, have helped reshape my approach to the range for my next session tomorrow. Brian Penn with All About Golf gave me some spot on pointers that have me engaging my core more than just swinging my shoulders and arms.
I see the shutdown orders as another thing that will simply force me to do what many golfers dread and some others simply geek out about to no end. I am going to be forced to plan my play.
Plan Your Play
Working in the school system means that I get those extended breaks for winter and summer, even those week’ for Thanksgiving and Spring Break. Hey, I will take them all day long.
And this usually causes me to engage in planning my play. Scheduling includes which days I will make a run up to Oceanside and visit the LinkSoul shop for my Make Par Not War gear and play Pala Mesa Resort. Or, it might even entail my own personal version of two-a-days where I might play a par 3 course in the morning hours and work in a full 18 on a course like Cottonwood or Chula Vista which isn’t too long or drastic like Barona Creek or Eastlake Golf Course. Courses like Sycuan offer multiple hole layouts so you could replay and have the feel of a totally different course. Regardless of how I format it, such extended periods of time afford me the opportunity to plan my play much like the Grateful Golfer shared.
Outdoor recreation will adjust again. We will have to remain contactless and maintain social distancing with face coverings of course. It is in effect for 3 weeks, so that will put us right into the middle of my winter break. I could jam in a handful of rounds weather permitting… Oh, who am I kidding! It’s Southern California. Any bad weather is a welcome added challenge for the course.
In all honesty, I look forward to having to plan out my play. I got a few folks I need to try to catch up with on the course. It will give me a good target to take aim at as I do my indoor workouts daily in preparation for my next outing.
Tomorrow’s driving range session will be another chance for me to get the GoPro working and capture myself in full swing mode after all of that quality advice and feedback alongside the golf tips and videos that I researched and reviewed. I think it will be a bittersweet session since I have only played in a tournament since COVID-19 struck us with its massive effects on our daily lives. All I know is that next time, I am jumping out there and getting on the links when this thing opens up again (as long as the cases go down like the governor hopes).
The driving range offers you an opportunity to bring your best and see how well it measures up. It is never as menacing as the course itself, but it does have its own way of showing you where you might have some issues with your swing. Whether it be a matter of trying to address that major hook that was supposed to simply be a line drive or adjusting your body and stance at address to establish better alignment, you can learn a lot about your swing on the range.
My overall focus is getting back to regular play. That most probably will not occur to winter break. Even with school’s going to distance learning, those of us who work with the kids in the school system still need to show up and remain attentive. After all, I can wait until a few weeks to make golf a regular feature in my coronavirus-impacted life right now. My goal of breaking 90 regularly will have to hold on until then and i will take to range more often to prepare myself for that time.
And the driving range reveals where you have swing issues. Like an old school basketball coach told me long ago, your practice reveals where you got problems. Address your problems while you got time to practice.
Beyond stretching and adding yoga, I want to address my overall health. Golf is just a part of that practice. I want to add more cross-training. I need to bike, hike and run, even dance, more day by day. I might even consider incorporating Gary Player’s 60/40 Rule. But I definitely will be running and walking more regularly.
By addressing just a few of these issues over the next couple of weeks, I think that I can get back into the low 90s by mid-December. Increased flexibility would help with both my golf game and my overall workout regimen of taking on fitness activities for at least 3 to 4 days per week. This will really help as I seek to walk the course more in 2021 than I have ever walked in my past.
There are numerous strategies to fix your flaws, especially your posture and golf swing. For me, I know that I need to add more self-talk as I address the ball where it lies. We all have our own thing, but mine seems to be not taking enough time in my setup. I need to slow down and spend a moment simply talking myself through the next steps that lead to a successful golf swing for the moment.
I need to do so with course awareness and heightened sensitivity to the overall conditions. I do not mean to stand there and measure the wind projections. I mean to simply talk myself into refraining from hitting a lofted club into the windy air and settling for a hooded seven iron with a half swing to keep it low. I need more self-talk like that to keep me from self-cursing when I have to search for lost Callaways or Pinnacles in thorn bushes and amid cacti.
Practice Reveals Problems: Whether You Fix Them or Not
Brian Penn nails this down on an All About Golf post related to proactive or reactive. It’s called game improvement because inherently most folks want to improve their game, their scores and overall play at golf. I welcome more advice, tips and comments on my swing as I focus on getting the rust off and increasing my flexibility. Drop them in the comments of this blog and offer your feedback. Just try to keep it helpful. After all, I am going for game improvement and trying to maintain some positive Zen if at all possible.
I got back into the swing of things by participating in the Escondido Chamber of Commerce’s annual golf tournament at Woods Valley. It was a sunny day in Valley Center just east of Escondido, California, as I checked in and made a hasty attempt at stretching for the delayed tee times. I used to love the shotgun starts, but we got new rules and regulations for the new normal. I was ready to get going and get out there to get swinging.
Undoubtedly, I had a great time being teamed up with some extraordinary folks within North County. I truly enjoyed the special ball launcher advantage early on where my foursome easily birdied. I mean what else could be expected with that canon at work and playing best ball?
I loved the time spent with my friends from the Chamber office and made plans to get together “once this COVID thing died down.” Altogether, I got some good advice from one of fellow players, opened up my stance and laid out some promising drives that sailed down the fairway. That was a far cry from that initial set of drives that all drifted and faded like crows diving from the sky.
Jersey Mike’s and IPAs at the Turn for Lunch
Hello! I mean it was all cool that I did not win the raffle prizes… ANY of them at all! I just could not believe that one dude in my foursome won 3 raffle prizes. I mean for real? Needless to say, we didn’t win the tourney either. But we did manage to square away a solid scorecard and come in 5 under on a fairly challenging course.
What I did learn was that my putter stroke was still smooth and i dropped a few crucial ones when we were in a pickle. I did not have to use my Mulligans so i shared the wealth with my foursome. I also felt pretty good about my approach shots with the hybrids. The long irons above 6 are almost obsolete. Plus, it requires a lot of adjustment for guys like me to angle that shaft and clubhead after whacking balls with drivers and hybrids. The accuracy is still under construction with the long irons 6 and above. Heck, they hardly offer full club sets with 3 irons anymore and the ones with 4 irons are gradually being replaced with mini hybrid clubs.
Play your best and make it work. Keep swinging and have fun.
I wanted to get a bicoastal competitive vibe going with my guys back East Golf Rookies 704. That might have to wait given the conditions these days. California has gone COVID crazy!
Now that this COVID thing is NOT going away any time soon, I am not sure on the new regulations and restrictions. I have to see what my holiday week off looks like. I f I can get one or two rounds in, I am golden. Otherwise, I am down to hold on for another lockdown period. I waitied this long.
But that one day got me jonesing for more for sure.
A few years ago I read a book on the Grateful Dead by Phil Lesh, a long-time member of the band. Lesh described the band in terms of a gathering of musical souls in search of that ultimate high of jam sessions with other musicians, searching for kindred spirits as they got into rhythm. It was entitled Searching for the Sound, and I loved reading it.
Returning to golf is like that search. You keep trying to find that rhythm. You keep trying to get your mind in synch with your body, whether it is the setup with your feet aligned to the target or gauging if your approach shot requires a 6 or 7 iron given the current course conditions and potential hazards. You struggle at first, then you strike that Callaway or Titleist on the sweet spot and its a mystery unveiled.
Barona Creek Golf Course
I returned to the driving range and accepted the changes. You know it’s a totally different place when you have to read 2 to 3 pages of health ordinances just to walk into the pro shop. You know things are different when you not only have to speak through a face covering and staff has to do the same while a plexiglass barrier separates the two of you. And surely must be different if the pro shop doesn’t do cash, just credit or debit.
My game was in need of some tweaking in prep for this golf tourney. Listen here. There is no shame in showing up rusty. Nope, not one bit at all. But you can’t show up that day and not have even touched your clubs other than to just load them into the trunk or cargo section of your vehicle that morning. That is an outright no-no. I had to get back out there again and find some kind of rhythm and feel.
Trying to find that rhythm once again.
I took along my GoPro and caught myself on video and a few photos. I am being totally transparent. Two days before I turn 50 years old, I plan on facing my first par 72 golf course in nearly a year. I welcomed the chance to test my skills on Barona’s links styled driving range with plenty of dirt and few trees.
In a word, I was satisfied. I worked on a laddered sequence of irons leading to the making of a pyramid. First, I went with the odd irons by warming up with a 7 iron and following that up with 5 iron and back to my 7 iron, then varied stances and swing lengths with my 9 iron. I topped off the pyramid with hybrid and driver swinging, feeling that driver meet the ball and send it sailing airborne further and higher than expected on the first time back. I worked my way down again from the 5 iron down to the 9 iron, then I tossed in the gap wedge, pitch wedge and the lob wedge.
After that session, I hit the putting surface and practiced some drills that test my eye and feel. My eye was off, but the good thing was that I could see it. Approximately 80% of my putts curled towards the hole as they lost gas to go any further. I knew I was on track.
Wait to see what happens when I get out there again today.
Do less, better. Because most of what we do or say is not essential.
Marcus Aurelius
If I am honest about it, I have not played golf in ages. I can honestly say that I miss it.
I miss that feeling of the soft leather glove gripping the driver and taking the club head back slowly at the first tee and letting it rip on the downswing. I miss the green grass fairways and the oddly cut greens that leave your putts short and absorb a Callaway Super Softlike Cookie Monster on a chocolate chip cookie. I just miss the game.
Almost daily, I walk by multiple sets of clubs in my garage over and over again, agonizing over the pandemic precautions and the restricted movements of our society. Sadly, the truth of the matter is that many have suffered and died due to this COVID-19 pandemic. I truly have been stuck with where to begin again with my golf journey to breaking 90 on a consistent basis.
Then I got an email about an upcoming golf tournament for a good cause. The Escondido Chamber of Commerce will host its annual Chamber Challenge Golf Tournament November 2nd at Woods Valley Golf Club. A good cause plus a good price usually equals a good time.
What better way to work my way back into the game?
The last tournament I played in tested out my latest driver and fairway woods. This one will give me a chance to shed some rust from the coronavirus closure. It would mark my first foray back onto the fairway.
Am I ready?
Can we ever say that we are really ready? I doubt it. I probably will regret not buying a few Mulligans. I probably will have a few of those yippy putts where I regret not practicing my short game on the bedroom or hallway carpet just to maintain my feel. But I bet I will have some of that old luster come out, too. You know that one drive where you say that’s why you came out in the first place. I could imagine feeling myself get into the swing of things by the back nine, depending on where I start with the scramble rather than shotgun start.
I think I can get in about 3 or 4 trips to the range and maybe 2 solid golf rounds before the tournament. That way I can at least make a decent showing before I tee off with my fellas from the Escondido Chamber.
At the least I should get a pretty cool golf face covering in the goodie bag with some free tees.
MyBreaking90 