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About this blog

The occasional random golf-related thoughts pop into my head. The blog efforts of several other TST members has inspired me to give it a try again. No one should anticipate a cohesive series of blog entries.  I go where the mental winds blow.  ;-)

The photo was taken at Carnoustie as I and my fellow golfers/caddies walk down the fairway. I am on the far left.

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Entries in this blog

Attitude

Ball Hawker

I am a former golf ball “hawker.” You know the guy; their 15th club is a ball retriever. They are often found lurking around ponds and the heavily forested right side of fairways. It is hard for me to recall when I became obsessed with finding golf balls. Maybe I should blame my parents! They moved to Florida after my father retired in 1988. Their home was on the 15th hole at the TPC Prestancia in Sarasota. The 15th is a dogleg left par 5 that curves around a large pond. The green is locate
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bkuehn1952 in Attitude

7

Golf Balls

The “2017 Snell PGA Championship Prediction Contest” got me thinking about golf balls.  When I first starting playing golf, I pretty much paid no attention to the brand or model.  A golf ball was a golf ball as long as it wasn’t damaged. The only brand/model that I can recall from my youth was the “Wilson K28.”  Someone (perhaps the club pro?) told us that the “Wilson K28” was a good golf ball so every Father’s Day for several years we bought my father a dozen.  He was never much of a golfe
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7

Anticipation

We probably all have personal markers that tell us the golf season is approaching.  Our anticipation grows as we tick off the events at foreshadow our return to the course.  Even those lucky players who reside in more temperate climes likely have a seasonal timeline (e.g. if the course is being over-seeded with rye it must be November; if the tourists are arriving, it must be January; if the rye is dying, it must be April).   The pre-season’s kick-off in our little corner of the Mitten is t
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6

Playing in the Icebox

I have always stopped playing golf when low temperatures turn the course into a solid block of ice.  For me, it isn’t fun to watch my ball carom off the green like an errant shot hit into a parking lot.  I don’t mind cold weather but playing on a concrete-like course is not my idea of golf.  So, why was I standing on the first tee at Whitmore Lake Golf Links last Friday?  One of my regular golf partners, Mack, is a confirmed cart rider.  To my knowledge, he has not walked 18 holes in at le
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Head Covers

With the advent of metal-headed drivers, some golfers dispensed with head covers for their “woods.”  The thinking is the head is no longer wood and any damage is limited.  I admit the clanging of metal heads hitting together is a bit of a bother to me but not so for the irons clacking.  So I use head covers on just my “woods” both as a noise dampening method as well as a tip of the cap to traditionalism.  A golf bag just does not look complete without a couple of head covers. Many people u
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Health

Dark Thoughts and A Ray of Sunshine

My recovery from brain surgery is just about complete.  The medical team has begun the process of weaning me off the anti-seizure medication. Yes, I have two ½ inch diameter holes on the top of my head but my hair covers them nicely. I am just about as good as I am going to be.  I feel good.  I wish I could say the same about my golf game.  There have been some weeks where I contemplated permanently putting the clubs in the basement and pulling out the fishing gear.  I have never been a go
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bkuehn1952 in Health

6
Fitting

Dragged Into the 21st Century

My stepson and I went to two fitting sessions recently. The first was irons, and the second was driver/3-wood/hybrid. Each was two hours. I hit somewhere around 125-150 balls each time. I have never been a range rat and hitting 100+ balls was a chore.  Fortunately for me, the fitter had to swap shafts and heads which allowed me rest periods. Being a low-tech senior citizen, I had never hit balls in a simulator or been measured by a Trackman. Frankly, I did not want to know how slow my swing
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bkuehn1952 in Fitting

6

Indoor Golf Course - Michigan Style

The other day I drove past a large inflatable dome on the side of the highway.  I thought to myself, “Gee, I didn’t realize that they had built a golf dome there.”  As I thought some more, it may actually have been an indoor soccer venue or tennis facility.  Golf domes seem to be going away as more driving ranges build shelters and install heaters.  Also, simulators are big business and take up a lot less room. All this got me thinking about the indoor golf course they built in Michigan bac
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TST Michigan

The first TST-Michigan outing is in the books.  We exceeded our target with a total of seven TST’ers meeting up in Okemos, MI.  A few observations: It was interesting meeting the people behind the user names and avatars.  My plan was to get to the course a bit early to put out a small “TST” sign to attract the members as we wandered in.  Before setting out the sign, I passed a gentleman a couple times and I strongly suspected he was part of our outing. Why?  No idea other than he seemed a
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Learning "Clutch"

I imagine some people are just born with the ability to perform when the game is on the line.  These are the guys who tee off and putt last in scrambles and are avoided as opponents in match play.  For the rest of us, performing under pressure is a learned skill, if we ever acquire the talent at all. A golf buddy, “Bob”, helped me a bit over the past couple years with performance pressure.  He is a gambler and always likes to have something on the line, nothing too big, more of a bragging r
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5

Great Starts and Great Finishes

A recent round reminded me that the game of golf consists of 18 holes.  A great start rarely ensures a satisfactory final result.  I started out with 2 birdies and managed to make the turn at +1, only to fall on my face on the back nine.   Some years ago I started a round with an unusual string of “3, 3, 3” on a course that began par-5, par-4 and then par-3.  I don’t think I broke 40 on the front side or 80 for the round. Of course, I don’t toss away all rounds when I make a fast s
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5

Golf Bags

My first golf bag wasn’t even really my bag; the bag was shared with my sister and brother.  It was a jaunty red, black & white tartan patterned “Sunday” bag and held our 7 or 8 slightly undersized clubs along with a supply of golf balls and tees in a single zippered pocket.  The bag eventually was consigned to the basement when we graduated to a standard set of clubs.  I remember occasionally sighting it stowed away under the basement stairs.  I imagine it got tossed when my parents moved t
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5

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall – Creating a V-Log

For a number of years I have been consciously avoiding viewing my golf swing on video.  My swing is flawed but at 64+ years old, I am not sure I want to start a reclamation project.  Playing golf is a lot of fun and if my results are not particularly good, I am okay with that. The first time I saw my swing on video dates back to the 1980’s when my wife and I went to “golf camp.”  The pro had a series of stop action photos of professional golfers and he would stop my swing video at various
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5
Playing

Confessions of a "Carry Snob"

For 60 years, when I walked, I carried my golf bag. Initially, there were no such thing as a “pushcart.” One either carried or one pulled a 3-wheel cart. I owned a 3-wheeler, but I rarely used it. I felt I could get around the course a lot faster walking across greens and taking short cuts through the heather or woodlands. I was a “carry snob.” No cart for this guy, I was a real player, I carried my bag. As I aged, it became more important to have a light load. My stand bags always had “hyp
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bkuehn1952 in Playing

5
Playing

Shooting Your Age

As I approached the age of 70, my thoughts turned toward shooting my age. It sort of becomes a race against time and the erosion of one’s golf skills. At age 70, I managed a 1-under par 71. Close but no cigar. Early this year I was standing on the 17th tee when it dawned on me that I was 1-under on a par 72 layout. “Hey, I can shoot my age!!!” Two bogies later I had a 73 and another failed attempt at shooting my age. Today did not seem like the moment I might achieve one of my goals. I had
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bkuehn1952 in Playing

5

Random Friday Thoughts

Disappointment – For me the most disappointing result in golf is when I hit a green in regulation and then 3-putt.  Yes, a “5” on a par 4 is a bogey no matter how one achieved that result.  Still, having a GIR and then throwing it away with my putter stings a bit more.  I am going to make a fair amount of mistakes and poor shots during a round and they often lead to bogey (or worse!).  When I manage to put together a decent drive and a well struck approach shot, I really need to make par (or bet
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4
Attitude

The Season's Last Round

It seemed like my off season was going to start early when we had a cold snap and snow in early November. Fortunately, 2022-2023 is an El Nino year for the Mitten and we had a very temperate December with very little snow. I managed to play four rounds in December, including New Year’s Eve. My 2023 year started early with a round at Lake Forest GC (Ann Arbor) on January 3. The round in January was a real lifesaver. My previous attempt at golf on the last day of December had been a mess. I c
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bkuehn1952 in Attitude

4

The WHS

I recently attended a USGA sponsored seminar on the new World Handicap System (WHS).  Our Club needed to have one member certified by the USGA and as handicap chairman, I was the logical choice. As a member of TST and from reading material on the WHS, I was familiar with the general outline of the changes and new procedures.  My hope was that the seminar would fill in a lot of the details.  It did. Two items on the agenda were most interesting to me. Playing Conditions Calculation
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3

Golf Marathon

I received a call from a business acquaintance last December. Over the years we had played golf together numerous times even with his living in Iowa and me in Michigan.  Despite our age difference (I the elder by close to 30 years) and golf ability gap (his index around 1.0 and mine hovering near 10.0), our shared passion for golf made our friendship natural. He wanted to know if I was interested in joining him and his father on a golf trip to Reunion Resort near Orlando, FL. They had a gro
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3

My Day on the Red Tees – My Tee It Forward Experiment

One day last week it was relatively cold (50 degrees F), with overcast skies and a chilly 15 mph wind.  Add to that the fact that the course had been completely aerated and we had a soaking rain the day prior; it was going to be a long day.  It seemed like a good time to experiment with the “Tee It Forward” idea.  While I ordinarily play a set of tees measuring 6,560 yards (par 71, 71.6/120), today it was going to be 5,606 yards (67.1/111). A few years back another site had held a “Tee It F
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3
Driving

Measuring Sticks

Most of us have the need to occasionally talk about our accomplishments playing golf. When I have a particularly good round, I like to make a quick post to the “What Did You Shoot” thread. I dedicated a blog post to my triumph at a small golf tournament last year. I understand the need to toot one’s own horn now and then. On another golf site a member sort of sucked me in recently with a title to his thread of “What’s Better than a 5 Hour Round?” The question sort of intrigued me and I chec
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bkuehn1952 in Driving

3

Winter Golf

When I use the term “winter golf” I am not talking about trudging through snow drifts and playing orange golf balls.  There are certainly people who engage in that sort of activity and enjoy it.  Hitting out of a snow drift to a rock hard green, however, isn’t close enough to golf for me.  I played in one “Chilly Open” and while it was fun there was no need to repeat that experience. “Winter golf” to me is the time period in SE Michigan that starts around Thanksgiving and ends when snow bla
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2

COVID Golf

My first round of post lockdown golf was scheduled for 7:00am on Tuesday, April 28, 2020.  In the Mitten we are currently limited to walking only.  I was planning on going solo since my two regular golf buddies had bailed.  One friend has a bad back and can’t walk a course.  The other has decided to skip golf until the “virus thing” has worked itself out. As instructed, I used the online system to book my solo round.  I was lucky and got the first scheduled tee time of the day.  The course
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2

Bugs

I enjoy the occasional brush with nature while on the golf course, as I am sure many others do also.  I came upon several antlion "nests" recently.  I always thought the insect was "ant lion" but Wikipedia told me it is antlion.  The larvae of the antlion build a funnel shaped trap in loose soil or sand.  Insects, typically ants, blunder into the cone and slide down to the bottom and meet their fate.  The things one sees while searching for that darn golf ball!
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Solo

There are not a lot of games one can play solo.  Solitaire in cards, I suppose.  Video/online games where one doesn’t need a human or computer-based opponent.  One can run or ride a bicycle to beat one’s best time but I wouldn’t think most of us would consider those types of activities as a game.  Most games need an opponent in order to create a contest.  So golf and bowling are somewhat unique in that one’s opponent is not a person but a standard, par in the case of golf and “300” for bow
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