Author: The Grateful Golfer

Another Indication Your Golf Season is Over!

/ The Grateful Golfer / 17 Comments

I am sure many of you have yearly golf traditions. Recently, you read one of mine when I played my final round at Trillium Woods Golf Club. After my last round, my next tradition is to clean my golf ‘stuff’ and put them in a safe, warm place for the winter!

First, I clean out all my pouches. There is nothing worse than finding a half eaten anything in your bag next spring.

I take all my clothes and wash them. This generally includes my rain suit and other outer wear.

I remove my towels and throw them in the wash. I generally carry two towels and replace at least one each year. This year, my beloved Nipissing University Towel will be recycled for greener pastures.

I take all the broken ‘stuff’ and bin them. Then scour the sales to replace what needs replacing. This year I need to find a new pair of brown golf shoes.

I remove all the golf balls that I will not need next year and replace them with Titleist ProV1 and Srixon. I like to prepare for next year by marking them with my TGG logo! (still working on exactly what it looks like, but I am getting close)

I wipe my bag clean.

20151018_101014 20151018_10095320151018_101002Lastly, I clean my clubs. I fill the basement sink with warm soapy water and let my irons soak for about 3 minutes. Then, I take a soft brush, scrub clean, and dry them off. Next, I dip my woods in the water for about 10 seconds, scrub clean, and dry off immediately.

Lastly, I take a wet cloth and wipe off the grips and let air dry. This entire process takes about 30 minutes to an hour. After air drying the grips, I place my clubs in my clean bag and anxiously wait for spring!

Cleaning my clubs is an important yearly tradition. I believe that it is important to take care of my equipment. Most of us have a fair bit of money invested in our sport and this is one way of making my kit last longer.

Do you clean your clubs at the end of each season? Do you have any other tips to make your equipment last?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

 

Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

/ The Grateful Golfer / 4 Comments

As I walked in beautiful surroundings of our favorite path today with my best friend, the feeling of gratitude flowed through my body. As we strolled in the falling leaves breathing the crisp fall air, we both felt at peace. It is during days like this, I take the opportunity to get lost in my thoughts.

During this particular walk, I was counting my blessings and came across this little fella!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

As my wife and I watched him slowly make his way across the path, I was amazed by his unwavering focus and desire to move forward. It took little steps and just kept moving. Each step, he moved closer to his goal or destination. Although, I believe the journey is as important as the destination, this little guy seemed focused on his end goal.

As I thought about my little friend, I thought of my 2015 golf season. I realized that my journey towards scratch is becoming more and more difficult. The reason for my increased difficulty falls in my willingness to make changes, practice difficult shots, and to for my ego to accept short-term poor scores! These and many more challenges face players with a single digit handicap!

I am not sure what the 2016 golf season will bring, but thanks to my new friend I will keep moving towards my goal. Life sometimes throws us curve balls, but keeping our eyes on the prize will help us achieve anything!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

In or Out?

/ The Grateful Golfer / 2 Comments

A couple of days ago, I asked if you thought Mike C’s putt would go in or out! In case you forgot, here is the picture!

In or Out

Well congratulations to Vet and Josh for calling it. Mike C left it pin high on the left! It was quite close, but we decided he choked, but he thought he was robbed!

Frog 2 golf balls

Not the real picture, but Mike C missed on his left. The frog is just for fun!

Thanks to everyone for playing!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

Awesome Instagram Golf Pictures!

/ The Grateful Golfer / 4 Comments

Here are some great pictures I saw on Instagram. I hope you enjoy them.

View this post on Instagram

Life’s not fair.

A post shared by The Open (@theopen) on

 

Have an awesome golf day! I hope you are still hitting the links and enjoying the fall!

I am a grateful golfer!

See you on the links!

 

Teeing The Golf Ball at the Proper Height

/ The Grateful Golfer / 8 Comments

Teeing the ball at the proper height is a common theme in golf. It is a fundamental skill that all amateurs must master to produce those “Rory McIlroy” drives to which they aspire!

The challenge for non-professionals is the contradictory information on the subject! There is a consensus on the height of the tee and where to the ball should make contact with the club face. This is what most analyst agree on:

Teeing too low – This causes lower spin rates and therefore a lower trajectory when striking the ball. Which will combine to seriously decrease the distance you are obtaining when hitting your driver.

Teeing too high – Inversely this will give you too much backspin, and create a launch angle that is steeper and therefore affect the distance with the ball travelling upward rather than forward. (National Club Golfer)

I wrote an article on this subject before and espoused the common themes of teeing height, but now I am not so sure. I struggled with my driver this year. My new Titleist D2 12-degree and I did not get along for much of the season. The new shaft caused a slightly different ‘kick point’ and the 12-degrees was something I am having a hard time adjusting too!

With my new driver, using my normal teeing pattern, my ball would travel too high and I lost about 20 yards off my average drive. As a result, this challenged the rest of my game; sometimes I played well and others times……! This was very frustrating and I struggled to understand why only this part of my game had not immediately improved with my new sticks!

Well after much soul-searching I decided that the normal convention of teeing up the ball may not work for me. I found this video from My and My Golf. The information was not just about tee height, but also about types of swings and their relation to teeing the ball.

Off the range I went; I experimented with the height of ball on the tee and hit some pretty ugly shots. After a medium bucket, about 50 balls, I still did not find the proper height of the ball for my swing. Knowing that any change in my golf swing takes time, I was not discouraged. I went back to the range a couple of days later and still had no real success (still not discouraged). I was closer, but not fully satisfied that I found what I was looking for. My third time to the range, which was about 3 weeks ago, was the charm.

I realized I had several challenges with my swing and teeing the ball was just one of them. Many of those challenges will be discussed in future posts, however the height of the ball on the tee was solved (I think). For me, the ball should just be peeking over the top of my driver. I guess it would be considered low for most, but given my type of swing it works best for me.

One aspect of golf I did learn is that the norm or convention is only a starting point. It generally offers a solution, however it many not offer the exact fix you are looking for in your swing. Take the time to experiment on the range, sometimes you will be astounded by the results!

Unfortunately my golf season is over, so I will have to wait until next spring to see if I actually fixed my challenges with my driver. This will definitely give me something to look forward to! How high do you tee your ball?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!