Kalispell Bound.

Well I'm headed out for my yearly trip to Kalispell Montana for a three day golf tournament. The tournament is held at buffalo hills golf course. Great host and great people. This tournament is bringing in 216 players from the US and Canada. This year is the 75th tournament. Crazy to see a tournament that old. Unfortunately this year our group is missing two but There's always next year. u will be missed. Stay tuned for more from this weekend! Gates are closed. Prepared for take off.

That's One!

How many times has this happened?  You address the ball on the tee, make a practice swing or so, nessle your super-sized 460cc driver up cozy to the ball and "doink" you knock the ball off the tee.

And then some jerky in the background goes "That's One"...Mostly likely that's me :)...but oh contraire, the rules say otherwise.

Rule 11-3 Ball Falling off Tee: "If a ball, when not in play, falls off a tee or is knocked off a tee by the player in addressing it, it may be re-teed, without penalty.  However, if a stroke is made at the ball in these circumstances, whether the ball is moving or not, the stroke counts, but there is not penalty."

So there you have it, if someone calls you on it, just tell them "Rule 11-3 buddy".

1 - 1 - 1

That's my match play record this year.  The trend is going up which I am happy to report.  My first match of the year was at Summite Point where I took my partner to the 18th hole, but he won 2&1.  Three weeks ago I was given another opportunity and brought the match back to AS (all square) as I was up most of the round and then fell behind, to come back and tie the match.

Today was the third time in the last 5 events with the Santa Teresa Men's Golf Club...And I finally won!!!!  It ended on a sweet 25 ft birdie putt on the 17th hole to close out my singles match and our team match (shot 76 :)).  I was up most of the day as my competitor gave me the first 4 holes, then I proceeded to give back two as he went on a 4 hole par streak.  On the back nine I got it to 4 up with 5 to play and he pushed me to the 17th where he was dormie with two holes to play.  Sinking the putt was bitter sweet and made me feel like I finally contributed to our Match Play team.  Even though our Team hasn't won a team event this season, our guys show real grit and play hard with sportsmanship.  Wasn't sure if we pulled it off today, but I think we came real close.

The week after next will be our last match of the Season.  I hope the Captain selects me for one more go at it.  I'm playing my best golf of the season right now, and I hope it continues, because I've got to make it last when I drop into Kalispell at the end of the month.

Wish me luck.

Monday Rewind

Monday's on this blog are designated for teaching and trainings.  After a weekend on the links, it's always helpful to learn something new to work on during the week, so you can impress your buds in your next round.

Here's a helpful video to help with wrist hinge in the golf swing and a technique to practice the right wrist action.  Give it a try.  Click on the link below and you'll be directed to the video.  Enjoy and good luck, let me know if this works for you.

http://www.golf.com/video/right-way-hinge

19th Hole Jokester

A golfer was trying everything to beat his personal best at his favorite course, but kept tearing up sod with his tee shots and fairway shots.  Near the end of a round he turned to his caddie and said,

"Man, I'd move heaven and earth to break a hundred on this course."
  The caddie said, "Try heaven. You've already moved most of the earth."

Off The First Tee

"The odds of hitting a duffed shot increase by the square of the number of people watching." - Henry Beard

It couldn't have been said any better by Mr. Beard, that the level of nervousness on the first tee elevates when others are around.  Why is that so?

There is something about the first tee shot which seems to influence the day, the round, the front nine, or at least the first hole.  It is the getting started point which sets the focus and confidence for the next few shots.

Whether in front of a crowd with hundreds of people (not us), or three other friends in a foursome, any player experiences "first tee jitters."  The expectations you as a golfer put on yourself to perform well, along with the desire to impress other people, can make you over compensate for weakness or just plain break down in the swing.  Golfers prepare themselves physically and mentally to conquer the "first tee jitters".  On the practice tee is not where you just hit a few balls.  You should loosen up, stretch, visualize the shots you want to hit and mentally prepare yourself for the first tee.

I find that before I go pound balls on the range, a quick 10 min session of chipping balls in the practice area helps to get the fluids and juices going.  It's not about being precise and trying to chip in every shot or get it close to the pin, but it's about feel and concentration.  Chipping the ball brings in more focus that usual and it works the arms, wrists and hands to loosen up before you head to the range.  Give it a try the next time your preparing for an outing with the fellas.  Good luck off the first tee.

"One of the most fascinating things about golf is how it reflects the cycle of life.  No matter what you shoot - the next day you have to go back to the first tee and begin all over again and make yourself into something." - Peter Jacobsen

I'm Back and Better Than Ever

Hello everyone...I took a hiatus from blogging because I felt that I wasn't really accomplishing what I set out to do in the first place.  It was pretty obvious that I had no direction and what I had to offer had no substance. But after much thought, I think I can craft a platform now that I'm as passionate about as may be you are, and that's Everything Golf.  My intent is to help the everyday hacker with tips, suggestions, personal experiences....jokes, fitness, news, rules and many other subjects.

I  feel like I can speak to the millions of people out there that play golf everyday, because I'm one of you.  Sure, I carry a single digit handicap, but this game is tough, and any help we or I can get is a value in getting better at the game we all love....BTW, it's free...

So I'm going to try this out.  Again, I don't know where this will go and I hope that I can connect with the every day Weekend Hack and help them with their golf game.  Feel free from time to time to let me know what's up.  Feedback is how you get better and that's the whole purpose!

SF Giant love

The alarm clock was way to early this morning but the end result of the day was worth getting up for and dragging two kids up to san francisco . Today was the annual fan fest at AT&T park.  From the early indication on when we showed up, it was going to be a struggle to maneuver around the hoards of people.  And it was was.  The flood of people was massive and continuous.  Good thing the stadium was big.

The lines we crazy as people waited @ three stations on player autographs. Unfortunately we didn't get one signature but maybe another time..  I think the value if a real baseball players autograph is one that u get before a game.  I couldn't stand around for hours waiting to get a signature and when finally getting the opportunity our favorite player want there.

I would say that this might be the last time we do this until the boys are old enough to pay attention and really absorb the true nature of walking out on a real MLB field.  But for now, the face paint, slides and mini baseball field was enough.

For what it was worth the boys and i had fun.  Cause there is nothing like being at the ball park.

Good ole hockey game

Tonight was the first time in a long time that Holli and I have been to an NHL game.  U forget about all the sight and sounds of the game.  The frozen puck hitting the glass, the skaters moving like wind across a lake, and the excitement of when the home team scores a goal.

My roots of hockey started when I was young playing on a frozen creek bottom out our friends the Gilges. Most friday nights during the winter we would fire up the spotlights that were set up in the trees, scrape the snow off the ice and make berms so we wouldn't lose the pucks and play 2 on 2 or more depending on who showed up.  It was our version of Hockey Night in Canada. Living so close to Canada and not having cable growing up, hockey was on every friday night with the colorful Don Cherry!  Those were the days.

So its been a while since our last game, only 7 years ago.  Back in North Carolina, we had the privilege to see the Hurricanes reach the Stanley Cup and that was pretty awesome.  But, actually my first game I ever saw was at Madison Square Garden back in the early 90's when Gretzky and Messier played together for the Rangers.  That was my first love for the game.  I never got to see Jordan play live but I got to see the greatest Hockey player of my generation play twice and I can still remember how flawless The Great One skated. 

Now, tonight we were able to bring our boys to watch and I hope some day that they could look back at tonight like the way I did 20 plus years ago and appreciate the game.

Oops

It's been rather apparent that I only blog on vacation. I'm going to have to change that. Sorry to those that have been following. The last thing that I want to do is lose your interest and quit following. I'll do better.