Avalanche

Three questions: 1) How many guys on the PGA tour are world class athletes in any other sport (e.g., make it to the Olympics), or could become professional athletes in another sport? Not many. 2) By contrast, how many NFL players are world class athletes in any other sport (e.g., make it to the Olympics), or could become professional athletes in another sport? Quite a few. 3) How good of a golfer would Bobby Jones have been if he had the mental outlook of, say, Babe Ruth? Point: Sure the physical side is important than golf. But top golfers in general don't have the type of athletic ability that carries over to other sports. The mental side may be more important in golf than in other traditional sports like football, baseball, hockey, track and field, etc.

Ha ha! Yeah, a guy on my league team a couple years back was left handed. He'd pull up four or five feet left of the ball out of habit--because that's where he'd pull up to his own ball. But that's right where I'd be standing. Used to drive me crazy.

My everyday irons are Bridgestone J40s that were made five or six years ago. I bought them used two years ago (in like-new condition). I also have a set of MacGregor Tourney PMB muscle backs that are around twenty years old. I love to get them out and hit them once in a while. I think they're the beautiful golf clubs ever made. But, like most of the beautiful women I've known in my lifetime, they can be very unforgiving if you don't contact just the right spot. If you know what I mean.

Another way to look at it is that Michael Jordan was #1 in basketball. In baseball he was probably in the top 1,000 or so (guessing). In golf his 1.9 index puts him at around 25,000th among the 700,000 USGA members. (Probably in the top 0.5% or so among all golfers, including non-USGA.) So despite his world class athletic ability, Michael Jordan is a mere mortal on the golf course.

Playing as a single I got in a group one time with a guy who had an unusual way of cleaning his ball. He would stick his tongue out and run the ball down his tongue, then wipe the ball off on his pants. Grossest thing ever. I mean, think of all the things that get on a golf ball. Goose shit, mud, pesticides, and who knows what? First time I saw him do it I thought I must have seen it wrong. But he proceeded to clean his ball that way at least a half dozen times during the round.

The club where I play is four blocks from my house. So I swing by quite often on my way to/from work for 15 or 20 minutes of practice. We have two practice greens, and more often than not there's no one at the big practice green farthest away from the club house. The practice green has nine holes with a lot of tricky pin positions. My practice game is that I "play" the nine holes at the practice green with two balls. My goal is to get all the way around without three putting. (It's hard for me to do. I'm usually 2 to 4 over putting nine holes with two balls. lol)

I saw Jamie Sadlowski play in a charity even in my town a couple years back. There were several PGA players there. Sadlowski's tee shots just sounded different--both the whoosh of the club and the impact. Here's a pretty good article on him:

Tend the flag, or pull it, if you're the first one on the green or have the longest putt. Stand by to replace the flag if you're the first one done putting. (I'm a bit surprised we're three pages into this thread with no mention of the flag. lol) Don't park the cart too close to the other guy's ball. Golf courses are big. Give him 12 or 15 feet, off to the side.

http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Avalanche/round/1865398 Had a decent nine going--for a bogey golfer, that is. Then the wheels fell off the wagon at around hole #5. Suffered an avalanche of strokes on hole 7. (Hence the username.) Game is still a work in progress. And probly always will be. btw, I missed all of August with a pulled hamstring. Been playing some in Sept.

I walk most of the time--especially playing nine. If I'm playing 18 I'll ride about half the time, because I play on a hilly course and that bag gets pretty heavy the last few holes. I think I score a little better walking, as compared to riding. I have more time to think about my next shot as I'm walking up to the ball. Also, if I hit an errant shot it's a lot easier to find walking as compared to riding. I know about how far I hit my clubs, and distance is easier to judge walking than driving a cart.

No need to practice anymore. I can par every hole! Woo hoo!

Since camaraderie and making sure everyone plays together are the goals, maybe you should mix the teams up a couple times during the round. Say, every three holes each team could pick a guy off the other team to play for three holes, then send him back after three holes and pick another--can't pick the same guy twice. Maybe do this after holes 3, 6, 9 &12. Then after hole 15 you'd go back to the original teams to finish the round. You could coordinate the trades by cell phone. Just an idea..

I heard someone compare JD to Babe Ruth. And there seems to be some truth to it. I mean, both have an extraordinary amount of native talent. And both pack an extraordinary amount of alcohol fueled fun into each day. John Daly would be in my dream foursome. Can you imagine anyone who would be more fun to play a round with?

5 minutes daily practice. (I did post last Sunday's at 2:00am last Monday. But my Sunday "day" hadn't ended yet, and I wasn't online until then.)

Sometimes the GG software is just crazy. Looking over my last round, it had added several strokes on to hole #2. Apparently, I forgot to tag my 5i in the tee box of hole #3. So GG showed me putting twice on hole #2 with my second putt flying all the way down the fairway to the fringe of hole #3, a 187 yard par 3. Then, still tracking hole #2, it showed me pitch up onto #3, and putt twice. But it showed my second putt flying all the way back down the fairway, and into hole #2. Crazy.

Stanford didn't always sport that look. (This is about 21 or 22 years ago.)

Or just one club. For golf, and for herding sheep. Baaaa!

Played nine today, walking: http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Avalanche/round/862429 Seems like I really struggled today. To make matters worse I missed several makable putts from 4' to 12'. But I did sink a 25+ footer on the last hole, after flubbing the short pitch shot. lol

Second practice for the day: It cleared off after lunch so I squeezed in a quick nine, walking. Played some ugly golf. LOL. I played by myself with no one behind me, so on most holes I dropped a second ball and also played that "practice" ball in. In every single instance I scored better with my practice ball by at least a stroke. Two strokes better on a couple holes. Why is that?? (Probly 30 minutes of practice in total.)

This hole favors someone with a nice draw off the tee box. Looks fun!

I didn't know about that feature. Thanks for pointing it out. The "select tee box" will be useful for me, although I'm guessing it will be an avg tee box location much like the middle of the green flag location. I voted "I edit each hole to make sure everything is as accurate as possible." I go back and look at each hole, making changes as necessary for accuracy. I adjust the pin position on nearly every hole. It's usually pretty easy to get the right pin position since I play the same home course, and I generally remember where I played my shots from in relation to trees and landmarks, and the putt that I holed out on each hole (e.g., 1 footer from behind the hole, etc.) I seldom change the location of a shot on the course unless I know the GPS is off a bit. It usually looks pretty close to me. My biggest dig with GG is that I often use a club for other than it's intended distance, and sometimes it's counted in the stats for that club. For example, I often use my 7i or 9i for chipping around the greens, and my 5i or sometimes my 3W to punch out from under trees. The short chip shots don't seem to show up in the club stats. But sometimes a punchout will. It pains me to see a 5i shot listed as 75 yds in my club stats. But, whatever. Also, I wish there was a notes section where I could type in thoughts about my round that would be kept private.

Rainy and wet out this AM. 5 minutes stretching and back exercises. 5 minutes indoor putting.

Played 7 holes after worktoday. Got dark and couldn't finish: http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Avalanche/round/859822 Birdies on #1 and #2 a few days ago. Only time I've birdied two holes in a row. Evar. lol http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Avalanche/round/852514

WTF, Smylie? -4 yesterday and today +9? You give me nothing to smyle about.

Went out on the course again this morning before anyone on the course to practice tee shots for half an hour with my retooled swing (from yesterday's lesson).