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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

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

Random “Hump Day” Thoughts & Observations

Birdies - For me, a golf round never seems very satisfying unless it includes a birdie.  My 8-10 handicap certainly attests to the fact that I am no birdie machine but somewhere around 2/3’s of my rounds have an under-par hole.  When I am headed to a mediocre score, a birdie at least gives me one hole where I can say I managed to get things right.  When I pitch a shutout, it hurts a little. Birds - Speaking of birds, parrots and parakeets often escape from their owners.  In Florida, they ac
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2
Health

To the Brink and Back

If you are looking for a golf story, time to move on. Last year we had a dead tree taken down. I asked the tree guys to cut the trunk into moveable chunks.  I subsequently chain-sawed them into log-size pieces.  In early December I started splitting the large pieces into usable logs for our fireplace with a wedge and 10-pound sledgehammer. After a few days of intermittent wood-splitting I noticed I had a persistent headache and/or a stiff & sore neck.  I began popping 2 ibuprofens every
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bkuehn1952 in Health

14

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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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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I Wish That Poster Would ...

We often hear, “that is a 1st World problem,” when we complain about many of the trivial irritants we encounter during the day.  The following list clearly falls into that category.  In my defense, there is not a lot of golf being played here in the Frozen Mitten right now and that likely explains my irritable mood.  Also, I know at some point I have been guilty of a number of items on the list and likely a lot more!  Still, sometimes it feels good to just vent. ·         Very long posts. 
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The Life & Death of Golf Forums

Many people start golf blogs or forums with good intentions of maintaining the site for an infinite period of time.  The sad truth is most rarely make it for more than a year or two.   I first became acquainted with the idea of a golf blog/forum when a site called “Last Minute Golfer (LMG)” existed.  Really, the forum was just an afterthought.  The main reason for LMG was to sell spots 24-48 hours prior to the tee time.  They must have done reasonably well because eventually GolfNow swallow
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7
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

The Irritable Golfer

Well, the snow is gone and I have had a chance to wander out to the course a few times. While a casual round is a time to relax for most of us, often all I do is work on my ulcers thinking about the myriad ways course owners and green keepers do a number on me.  To be sure, not every course is guilty of these transgressions but they are common enough that most of us are familiar with a few of these issues. Tee Markers – One is allowed to tee the ball in a rectangular area defined by the mar
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10

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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Rules

I enjoy Rules discussions.  One learns a few things and also experiences another’s perspective.  I started playing competitive golf late in life (35 or so) but I made it a point to learn the Rules well before I ever entered a tournament.  Frankly, I see no point in playing any game without a clear understanding of the Rules.  Collecting double the rent on an unimproved Monopoly or “castling” in chess are details and one can play either game without knowing the rule.  One is likely, however, to s
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Seasonal Sandbagging

Our state association recently announced that the handicap reporting season has been extended to November 15.  This came after they opened the reporting season early with a March 15 opening rather than the traditional April 1st date. I am all for reporting as many scores as possible but extending the handicap reporting season, on both ends, seems like a bad idea.  Certainly most courses in Southeast Michigan become playable by mid-March and remain so until mid-November.  There is a big di
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9

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
Blogging

The Slow Death of a Blog

I was thinking about the impending start of my 2023 golf season. Hmmm, it seemed like a decent topic for my “Blog.” Nope, I already blabbed on that subject a while ago. Then I noticed how rarely I am moved to write a blog entry. My blogging on TST began in 2016.  My blog entries have slowly dwindled: 2016       27 2017       10 2018         2 2019         6 2020         5 2021         2 2022         3 2023         ? Undoubtedly there was much celebrat
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bkuehn1952 in Blogging

11

On the Hot Seat

I have been silent for a bit on this blog.  Time to start blathering again. A new tournament season is rapidly approaching for our club-without-real estate.  2018 will be my first season as Handicap Chairman after serving a few years on the committee.  We play a 15-event net tournament season so the Handicap Chairman is a somewhat thankless job.  There is always a vocal group that believes every winner is a sandbagger and successful players yap about the downward handicap adjustments we dol
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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

Last

Recently a local course was closed and is now in the process of being turned into a subdivision.  I was trying to recall the most recent time I had played there.  I think it was with my former golf buddy, Dave, just prior to his moving out of state.  Neither of us realized it but that round was the last time, the last time we would be at that course and the last time we would play golf together.  Over the course of one’s golf life, there are going to be a number of “last times” somewhere or with
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7

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

The End of Sandbagging - Part II

This somewhat continues a blog posting from 2016.  If anyone is interested (Anyone?... Anyone?... Bueller), here is a link: https://thesandtrap.com/blogs/entry/91-the-end-to-sand-bagging/ Fast forward 4+ years and I now occupy the highly sought-after position of Handicap Chairman.  We modified the Knuth Tournament Point System for our club.  Members accumulate points over the course of the season but, rather than roll the points over to the next year, we start fresh.  One of the biggest dra
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7

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

Golfer Memory

There is a thread in the “Forums” where the total number of courses played has been discussed.  I have undoubtedly played more courses than the average golfer but certainly not as many as some of the more prolific players have stated.  One point that interested me was a comment someone made about not remembering every course without the aid of an actual written list.  I suspect that many of us could list every course we have played from memory and give some story or incident that occurred.  We m
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7

End of the Season

My last round of the year was played Wednesday, 12/7/2016.  It wasn’t exactly perfect weather with a high of 37˚ (f) and a 14 mph breeze.  Still, it was sunny and I have played in much worse conditions.  I tend to tell myself that if we had this weather in January or February, we would all be out running around in shorts. It was definitely chilly at the outset but after walking the first three or four holes it was very comfortable.   Living in the north central part of the USA tends to infl
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11

Birthday Golf Tradition

For over 20 years one of my birthday traditions has been collecting a free round of golf at one of the local Huron-Clinton Metro Park golf courses.  My birthday falls in September so I get to enjoy a taste of Autumn with my round.  Those with birthdays that fall between November 1 and March 31 get to celebrate a ½ birthday 6 months after their real date.  There are four Metro Park courses within a ½ hour drive and I have joked about hoping that my birthday would be a rainy washout so I could dri
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2

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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Buddy Trips

I love golf buddy trips so the announcement of the 2017 Newport Cup has started my golfing juices flowing.  A well-organized golf buddy trip is a great experience.  Considering the people planning the event, I suspect that the 2017 Newport Cup will be singular experience.  I am doing my best to temper my excitement at possibly participating with the knowledge that there are many better players ahead of me in line. Still, it is a welcome distraction while the snow levels ebb & flow this winte
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