I am only six weeks away to opening day. This means that I have to start getting ready to swing my golf clubs. First I need to dig them out of storage and dust them off. I am sure my clubs are ready to see the light of day. But before I get ahead of myself, I need to develop a plan that will ensure that I am ready for opening day. I have developed plans in the past with great success, but I am not sure I want to commit the time I need to lower my handicap to a point to make this upcoming season a success. As always, I am still working out the details, but not to worry you will be reading about my plans in the upcoming weeks. For now, I have to set the stage to open the flood gates to my game in order have a fantastic 2023 season!
Continue readingGolf Competitions
Asking For Advice On the Golf Course Is Okay or Is It?
A great deal of business is conducted on the golf course and asking business advice would be completely acceptable. I mean, it is the perfect place to talk shop and I am sure many million dollar deals are closed on the links. However, asking advice about golf while playing is a complete no-no! Yet, most of us still do!
Continue readingHow Often Do You Replace Your Golf Ball?
This is an often talked about subject with no right answer. It struck me as an interesting topic for today because my friend at 36aday is have a Snell Golf Ball give away. Don’t ask me why or how I connected the dots between these two topics, but somehow I did. Anyway, back to the discussion at hand. If I was to answer the question, my answer would be: “that depends”. Continue reading
A Defining Moment in My Golf Game
Golf is the most frustrating, yet rewarding activity known to man! This is a bit of an exaggeration, however if you talk to a golfer, it may be more real than you would expect. But, now and then something special happens and our enthusiasm for golf grows exponentially.
This moment for me came in 1992. It was my second year of making the CFB Borden Base golf team and another chance to play at the Ontario Golf Regional Competition. It was an exciting opportunity to take my game to the next level. But, I did not know how. In walks my old mentor Bob Fortune! Continue reading
Golf Report Card From 2014
Back in April, I reaffirmed a plan for my 2014 golf season. The intent was to improve my overall game to help achieve my goal of being a scratch golfer. My plan was met with varying success; so I thought I would share the goods, bads and uglies with you.
I have four main focus areas that help guide every golf season. With a plan in place, I am usually ready for anything on the links. Here is my plan:
- get fit – focus on exercises designed to improve my golf game;
- research – the drills and techniques required to improve my game;
- practice – dedicate time to practice to improve my game; and
- compete – either formally or informally compete every time I hit the links.
The Grateful Golfer in 2014!
Well I can say that my overall fitness for the golf season was pretty good. I felt strong during most rounds and rarely waned heading down the home stretch. I could have improved on my physical strength, but that is what this off-season is for. I would rate my fitness a B+.
My research on drills and techniques continued all season. I improved my chipping, widened my stance, and found better methods to score low. I have shared these tips and drills through the year in my blog, and they might be worth taking a look at. Interestingly, I improved more in the last two months of the season because I started hitting the ball farther off the tee. I will continue researching better ways to improve this area this winter. I would rate my research as a solid A.
Practicing was up and down this year. I started off extremely strong, but slowed during various times in the season. When I did practice, I felt rushed and unfocused. I write about practicing with intent all the time and should heed my own advice. I would rate my practice as a C+.
I did compete a bit this year, but mostly in fun tournaments. This type of competition is not good for my competitive edge, but it is competition. I played in 2 stroke events and was underwhelming. My competitive edge was not as sharp as in years past, but keep in mind that my criticism is relative to my handicap. I would rate my competitive edge as a B.
So overall, my season was about average for sticking to my plan. It is amazing how quickly the season passed and by not staying focused, I think that I missed some opportunities to improve. However, the most surprising aspect of my entire 2014 golf season is that I dropped my handicap from 4.7 to 2.8!
Wait, before you say not nice things to me, I cannot believe it either. I had a 4 week period where I could do nothing wrong and I actually broke par once. From a pure handicap perspective, 2014 was a fantastic season.
Hopefully, I will build on my successes from this year and achieve my overall goal of being a scratch golfer.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 