In a fog

Let's see ... 49 degrees at game time, fog rolling in, light to heavy mist in the air ... yup, it must be time to play golf!


Shot the back nine in the golf league last night and it was probably the most surreal round of golf I've ever played. It had been raining steadily all day and had stopped only a couple of hours before we set out. As we went hole to hole, the fog got worse to the point where the average visibility was about 20 - 30 yards at best. You could hear people yelling all over the course asking from the tee if the green was clear because you just couldn't see a damn thing.

I'd like to think that it was because of the weather that I shot one of the worst rounds I've shot in a long time ... 67. Yes, that's about 7 1/2 shots per hole. The closest I came to a par was double bogey, and I did that a lot. Add to the mix that I lost three balls and it didn't make for a good afternoon.

But, in my defense, I will say that it was very disconcerting teeing up and realizing that you were going to have NO idea where in the hell the ball was going to land. If you really shanked the tee shot, you could kind of see the ball hit the rough or trees, but if the shot went fairly straight, it often took some time to find it on the fairway or in the rough (as was often the case).

So what did I learn this week? That I need to modify my drives better. Once again, I was absolutely crushing the ball and with solid contact, but often I was over-driving the shot and not leaving myself set up for the next shot. Really need to work on that if I want to cut down on strokes.

The (new) final frontier

Believe what you've heard about the new Star Trek movie, folks ... s'all true.

This move ROCKS.

I'm a passive Trek fan at best and don't know much more than the iconic stuff and I've been hearing that the buzz about the movie is that you don't have to know anything about the Star Trek world to like this movie.

This is an amazing movie. Great story, great actors, great special effects.

Kell and I went and she's a kinda sorta sci-fi fan at most and even she thought it was "awesome".

I don't want to give anything away, but I'll just say more than once I thought to myself, "Hmm, didn't see THAT coming." I love when that happens.

Great, great movie. It was so good that I wanted to buy tickets for the next show tonight as we were leaving. Also thought on the way home that I can't wait for it to come out on DVD.

Damn, what a great start to the '09 movie summer season.

Handicapped

Had the golf league yesterday ... a gorgeous late afternoon for shooting nine holes.

Shot 59 on the front nine, which was a stroke less than what I shot on the same holes two weeks ago. So, at this rate, I should be shooting about a 53-ish by league's end. Oh yeah, my partner and I won the round (so we're 2-1 now).

I also found out my handicap ... 28. Yes, I literally laughed out loud sitting in the cart reading that. That means that for every nine holes I play (assuming it's a par 36), I'm expected to shoot 64. Unfortunately, that works out about right. Well, not quite because so far I've shot 60, 59 and 59.

Still, I've got a looooong way to go before I can come in under 20 for my handicap. But, I need to keep reminding myself that this is only the second season I've been playing golf and I have to patient with my game.

So, what did I learn this week? Actually, there were two things. First, I need to trust my instincts. On the last hole, I found myself on the beach (much to my chagrin) and I've read/been told that you really need to put a huge swing on the sand wedge to get out of the bunker. But, as I was standing there, I just felt I had the right touch to pop the rock out instead of swing like Big Papi. But I didn't listen to that inner voice and took a massive cut and sure enough, hit the ball square and absolutely crushed it about 30 yards, thus leading to yet another stroke when I had to drop. If I had listen to my instincts, I probably would've flopped that bad boy right onto the green and would've ended up with a par (or bogey at worst). Instead, I went double bogey. Ye gods.

The other thing I learned was really more of a reaffirmation ... that slowing down in my back swing when I'm teeing off is helping me tremendously. For all nine holes yesterday I was absolutely crushing my drives when I needed to, which was a good feeling because it meant that I was making solid contact (which is the goal every time I go out). Now, that doesn't mean the drives always went straight or had great loft, but I wasn't hooking and slicing, either. If the shot was off, most of the time it was a draw or fade.

Still, I've got to stay on the fairways. Taking drops on holes is killing me.

One last thing ... only lost one ball yesterday. Here's looking forward to the day when I play the same ball for nine holes.

Another nine, another 20 over

Went with a friend of mine, Craig, to Lancaster Golf Center and shot their nine-hole course.

It's a very short, par 3 course (longest hole is 202 yards) for a 27 overall. Did OK, but ended up 20 over ... yeesh. Once again, taking drops killed me on a few holes.

Although I didn't shoot nearly as well as I had hoped, I did make solid contact on every single shot I took (of course, there were some shanks into the woods) but it felt good hitting the ball so solidly and consistently.

What did I learn? I need to think more often about hitting down on the ball to get loft on short shots. It took a few holes, but once I remembered to hit down, I could get some good loft with my pitch and 9 iron.

By the way, did I mention how much I love golf?

The back 9

Had the golf league last night and shot a 59 over the back 9.

Biggest difference I noticed this week was that I consistently made solid contact, especially with the driver. For the first time, I was using these new brush tees and I think it did make a difference because the ball was teed up at the same height every time. I've been trying to develop a method for consistently teeing up the ball with a wooden tee so it was one less thing I'd be thinking of at address, but nothing was really working. So far, these brush tees seem to be working out.

The other thing I'm really trying to work on is not topping the ball with my irons and damn if I didn't do that always at the worst possible times yesterday. On at least two holes I ended up having to take one to two drops because I topped the ball and shanked the shot.

And why do I top the ball? BECAUSE I KEEP PICKING MY HEAD UP! As I told my golf partner, Kell, yesterday, if there's one thing that really super duper aggravates me in golf is topping the ball. Talk about a line of explicatives ... ye gods. The worst part is that I know what I'm doing and still do it. Yeah, I get a little annoyed.

But, over the first three holes, I had a par, bogey, par and the pars felt really good. Nice drives, solid irons and the putting was there, so at least I had that going for me. I only bogeyed the second hole because I mis-read the green and missed it by *that* much.

What I learned this week: To slow down in my back swing on the tee. That's really helped me in making a better drive. Also, I try not to stand at address too long. Like another league member said, "Get up to the tee, address the ball and pull the trigger. Don't stand there thinking." Good advice.

A four letter word

I think my brother-in-law, Paul, put it best: "Why do they call it 'golf'? Because all the other four letter words were taken."

I realized recently that I haven't posted about this before, so here goes.

I love golf ... really, really really love golf.

For the longest time, I've had people ask me if I play and I'd say no, but I've always wanted to.
Then friends of mine needed another player for a foursome last summer and asked if I wanted to join them. I borrowed my brother-in-law's clubs and 18 holes later, I was smitten ... big time.

So I played a number of rounds last year, even going to Connecticut to shoot 18 with my cousin and uncle. Good times, good times.

But, as my cousin pointed out, I really needed to take lessons. So over the past winter I took intro and intermediate lessons and this season I'm seeing improvements already.

And then my friend, Kelly, got me into her golf league ... which means I get to play golf once a week for the next 14 weeks. Sweet.

So, what's in my bag? I bought a set of used PowerBilt clubs (4-9 irons, SW, PW, 3W, 7W and a driver). I like the clubs (they're about 10 years old) and had them re-gripped, but the driver wasn't great, so I bought a '07 TaylorMade Burner driver (on sale at Dick's Sporting Goods for $250). Giddy up.

The league started last week and Kelly and I were paired together. We shoot the front or back nine in a foursome at the Woods at Westminster course.

I don't have a handicap yet (that'll come in a few weeks) but I shot 60 on the front nine last week and parred my first hole.

I'll post weekly how I did in the league. Hoping to get out as much as possible this summer and fall.

New brew

A couple of weeks ago, Kell and I and another couple went to a beer festival at the Higgins Armory Museum in Worcester, MA. There were about two dozen different breweries there (mostly micro brews) which offered samples of their wares.

If you've never been to something like this, here's how it works ... you buy a ticket (in this case, $35 for a drinking ticket, $5 for a designated driver ticket) and you get a 4-ounce "glass" (read: plastic) cup that vendors fill as you try their different beers, ales, stouts, etc. Most vendors had several different brews available so you get to try a real variety of their offerings.

Oh yeah, and there's food, but whatever.

After walking around for an hour and trying most of the vendors, I think I've found my new favorite beer company, the Cape Ann Brewery in Gloucester, MA. Wow, was this stuff good.

They have five main offerings and we sampled the IPA (excellent) but then they had their Fisherman's Tea Party and Fisherman's Greenhorn Double IPA ... ho-lee CRAP. The Greenhorn was amazing, but the Tea Party is hands down one of the best beers I've ever had.

According to brew master, he researched the types of teas that were thrown into the Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party and used those three teas in brewing the beer. It's like drinking iced tea but with a beer flavor. Just amazing.

So, needless to say the four of us are planning a day trip to the brewery for some growlers. Giddy up!