DATE: 06/14/2008 05:22:02 / MOOD: i love golf

Another "Stechschulte Dorf Golf Classic" is in the history books. This year our host was "Deer Valley" golf course in Barneveld, WI. A beautiful course with a lot of elevation changes. The greens played a bit slow and there was plenty of wind. The winning team scored a mere 2 under par. My group finished at 3 over 75. If my team could have learned to hit a putt hard enough to get the ball to the hole we may have had a chance. My hat's off to the Staff at Deer Valley. They had another outting of about 90 players along with our small outting of 5 foursomes and they pulled it off without a hitch. They served us brats and chips at the turn and had had everything set up in the downstairs area for our award ceremony afterwards. And another thing; the severe weather held off until we all had our golf in. The travel home, we were watching the skys because of tornado warnings and severe thunderstorms. Maybe next year, my name will be back on the gopher trophy.

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DATE: 05/05/2008 13:48:07 / MOOD: i love golf

It was a tough 1st couple of holes but I finally finished under 90 for 18 holes. My drives were working but there were a few bugs in my short game to the green. The par 5's were more forgiving than they have been in a long time. God it feels good to have a round that you can feel real good about. For me; they are sporatic. 

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DATE: 03/20/2008 17:04:58 / MOOD: can't wait for it to warm up

My local course is finally thawed out enough for them to let us walkers out on the course. Two of the tee boxes and one of the greens were still unplayable because of ice/snow, but it was great to be out. I went into work for the first couple of hours and nothing major was going on so I took advantage of the chance to get at least one round of golf in before the next wave of snow would take golf out of the picture for at least another week or more. Winter does not want to let go. My game was not all that bad. I'm still rushing my swing with my driver and putting a bit of a fade/slice on it. I am really happy with the "Acclaim 2" sand wedge that I purchased during the off season. I am using it from the fairway and rough from about 65 yards and in. It has a nice feel. It takes the ball up high and lands it soft. I am hoping for a good season. (High or low scores, it will always be a good season)

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DATE: 03/14/2008 13:09:59 / MOOD: can't wait for it to warm up

Still waiting for the fairways and greens to thaw out, I decided it was time to add another tool to my game. I purchased a digital cam recorder. I am a member to "Purepoint Golf" apprentice program and PGA Partners, and others which if you can submit video of your swing, they can help point out areas that a person can improve on as far as their swing. As far as PPG, they have it set up so you can download your swing and view it against one of their pros so you can make your own determination where you are going astray. You can add straight lines on your video for alignment, shoulder tilt, swing plaine, or whatever you feel is important to your swing critique. Hoping it helps but knowing that it won't hurt.

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DATE: 03/02/2008 05:47:21 / MOOD: can't wait for it to warm up

Well, with winter  maybe on the way out in the near future, I have put myself in a spot.  I stepped on the scales the other day and found out that  this indeed has been a long winter. My fault.  So, with spring just around the corner and since I have plenty of information on exersises for golfers, free weights and a tread mill, I figured that I better take the clothes off of the tread mill and start trying to shed a couple of pounds and  find a better shape than round. I just wish that  I would have  had the drive to start  when the season was over last fall so I  wouldn't feel like  I have a whole lot of catching up to do.

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DATE: 12/20/2007 18:25:22 / MOOD: i love golf

I just wanted to drop a little line to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a New Year full of blessings ( and a birdie or two).  Looking back  to 2007, it went fairly well other than My Daughter miscarried when she was 10 weeks along. Maybe it was just someones way of saying that she needed to wait a little longer before having a 3rd child. Who knows? Anyhow, I hope that the season and the new year bring good things to all.

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DATE: 11/17/2007 16:05:36 / MOOD: can't wait for it to warm up

Well it's November and the weather has been fairly tolerable and I am taking every chance I can to get out. I read somewhere that this is the time of year that a person can work on their game without the pressure of expectations. Sorry; I play every round as if it  really matters. Whether I am playing with someone or by myself, I play by the rules and not "winter rules". Heck, I have a hard time  taking a drop from marked "ground under repair". Anyhow; I had two of my best rounds this past weekend. The weather was mild for this time of year but my putter was hot! The driver has been working a little better too. I'm just hoping that this is going to be another year where I will be able to get out and play at least once each month until spring comes back around. Good golfing to everyone.

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DATE: 10/25/2007 12:57:23 / MOOD: throwing clubs

The past week and a half, I had to serve on jury duty which I feel is my civic duty; but the case on which I served on  has left  a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. We as the jury  had to  rule  based on the facts.  We found in favor of the plaintiff but if good buisness practice as far as purchasing property, I feel that the plaintiff may have played the system. We may have the best justice system in the world but there will always be someone out there that will try to take advantage of it.

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DATE: 08/25/2007 08:24:49 / MOOD: can't wait for the sun to come up

Once again, Mother nature has let loose and taken away golf at the municipal course that I have a season pass to; and others in the area by opening the heavens and flooding local rivers. The course I play in Dekalb, IL even made the weather channel. Even though the river is suppose to be going down soon, it will take some time for the fairways and possibly some of the greens to recover. Is this a sign telling me to put the money aside next year and instead of purchasing a pass, have the money to play different courses year round? I like being familar with a course and knowing that my game is better or failing me on certain holes, but I always enjoy the challenge of new courses. It seems that I will have to be travelling to find playable courses for the next few weekends if I am to be able to play at all.

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DATE: 07/13/2007 05:07:21 / MOOD: i love golf

Went out the other Friday to get 18 holes in before leaving on vacation(which has no golf involved), and it started out feeling OK. I was plodding along shooting bogies consistently until the 7th par 3. Double bogey, BUT, followed by 2 pars to finish the front. Talk about feeling good now. So much for a good feeling, I began the back nine which is two par 3s with a double and triple. Tried to put those holes behind me and went back to bogey golf until the 15th which I found another double bogey. Ahh, but the last three holes gave me 3 straight pars. I was starting to think that my game had stalled out around the 100 mark. My rounds would not be going all that bad but I just could not avoid a big number or two during each round. Shooting this 90 has given me new hope (never really lost hope) that I will break 90 this season and maybe start doing it on a somewhat consistant basis. Golf is a lot more fun when the numbers start getting lower.

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DATE: 06/10/2007 17:17:15 / MOOD: i love golf

Well another year has passed today for our family golf outing. Everyone had a blast. My team, even though they had the spirit, just didn't have the game. (We won't talk scores,).Life is cruel. Not really, life  deals what you you play, and our play was so-so. The gopher will not be coming home with me this year but who knows, maybe next year? There were a few holes where I actually played maybe smart golf. Instead of grabing a club that might reach the green, I would take out my hybrid and just get it down the fairway and keep it into play. Can I blame my teammates? No; I don't think so. None of us played spectacular but we all played within our game. (If we played hanicaps we would be in like flint). Did I have fun? YES. Will I put it together again next year? More than likely. Do I get frustrated with my teams game? Don't ask. (mostly my own game). I guess my lucky coffee cup in the morning just wasn't enough. (Like it ever is). I will be hopefully posting some photos soon from the outing. Keep in in the fairways.

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DATE: 06/05/2007 18:39:35 / MOOD: like playing 36 holes

Well the clock is ticking down to our family's annual outing. It's bad enough having the pressure to try and play your best to try to help your team win the covetted "travelling gopher trophy", but several years ago,I stepped up and made sure that there are door prizes for every participant, confirm tee times for our outting, purchase trophies for the individual awards and so on. (They have nicknamed me "The Commish"). I love it, but as the day nears I always take a couple of days off of work so as to not take a chance of being put in a position where I might strain a muscle or worse.(Probably wouldn't happen but why take the chance). I start watching the 10 day forcast dreading what it might show but check it anyway. Now when it comes to "The Day", I'll have to have 1 cup of coffee out of my "golf through the years" cup, a little bit of breakfast and head out plenty early to be able to set up and get everyone signed in and organized. Got to love working under pressure but next week is the local firemans golf outting and all I have to do is show up and have fun. (I'm still going to go through my morning routine and I'll still put the pressure on my self to want to have a good round just because thats what I do.)

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DATE: 06/01/2007 04:46:41 / MOOD: i love golf

I was asked to give a little history behind a photo that I submitted of the "Gopher" trophy" and other awards. My brothers and I started getting together back in 1991 on Farthers Day to play a friendly round of golf just for bragging rights. As the years came and went we would invite more relatives and friends to join us and the competitive juices began to flow and bragging rights just didn't seem like enough of an award, therefore in 2000, my sister-in-law found this singing dancing gopher from Caddi shack. We presented the gopher in the original packaging to the winning foursome that year and wrote their names on the box. A few weeks later, I just couldn't leave the gopher in a box and built the wooden stand on which he stands now. Each year, the winning team gets to take the trophy home with them, sharing the trophy throughout that year. We also add another plaque to the trophy to display the individual names of the winning team and year in which they tasted the sweet taste of victory. We have also added individual awards for longest putt, longest drive, shortest drive and closest to the pin. Also the winning team receives a medal for each of the individuals so they will have something to remember that winning year since the trophy has yet to go to the same team more than one year in a row. Tis year we have 7 foursomes competing for the coveted trophy. I'd like to think that my team has a chance but my son, his cousin, and my son-in-law just don't get out much and my game isn't the most stellar. Thank god it's best ball.

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DATE: 05/25/2007 18:47:04 / MOOD: i love golf

Have you ever started a round and feel like things are working like they should and then end up hitting the wall because in the back of your mind you have already told yourself that this next hole is going to kill you. Well, I am pretty sure that is what I did the other day. I had shot a pretty good front nine and stopped in the clubhouse to pick up a beverage to take out on the back nine. While I was in there, a couple of guys came in before heading out on the front. We had some friendly chit chat where I told them that I was happy with the way I was playing but now I had the 10th hole to get by. (That was the trigger). The 10th has a creek in front of the tee box, along the left side then wraps around the back of the par 3 green. And if that isn't enough, there is a pond off to the right of the green. I have lost balls in just about every part of the bodies of water. Right, left, short, long, you name it.  I have done it on that hole and on that particular day, I line drived my first shot into the far bank. Re-teed and pulled this shot a good distance but pulled it left and into the creek. 2 penelties and still a long way form finishing the hole. Even my chips on that hole were short and choppy. I was glad when that hole was over and I was able to stop the bleeding.The 11th hole is also a par 3 but I put my tee shot within a foot and a 1 putt helped me get back into the proper frame of mind to recover and have a fairly good round overall. Just a reminder. Keep the negative  thoughts out of your game.


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DATE: 05/20/2007 17:05:19 / MOOD: i love golf

Since my rounds this year are not what you would call stellar, I decided that I would track the number of times that I par  individual holes.  I know that I have pared each hole at my home course at least once but to be able to par them during the same round; well. I just finished playing 18 holes with my brother and had some good holes but had 2 holes that just killed my score. One on the front and one on the back. I did however add 2 more par marks to my tabulation. Life is good when you can get out and do what you want, even if the outcome isn't exactly what you would like it to be. Keep them in the fairways and on the greens.


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