Do you really need a GPS?

Here’s an all too common scenario, tell me if I’m right.

Four golf buddies, their handicaps are all about 20, (I’ll call them Bill, Bob, Steve, & Sam) tee off @ 8:00 on a Wednesday morning. In the first fairway, they are about 150 yards out from the green and Bill says, “hey, let me check my new GPS”. All golf has now ceased and everybody is standing around Bill’s cart looking at the GPS.

Sam says “well, it shows I have 147 yards to the pin, so I should probably hit my 7 iron”. Just then a big gust of wind comes up and Sam is now confused. He decides on a 6 iron. He steps up, hits the shot and fly’s his ball over the green out of bounds.

Now Bill, Bob, & Steve all pull out 7 irons. They each hit their shots short of the green. The scores on the hole end up 5, 6, 6, 7.

While all this is happening, the 8:10 group on the first tee is looking at an 8:16 tee off time.

The group that is ahead of our golf buddies, is putting out on #2, almost a hole ahead of them after just two holes.

This madness continues through hole 5 and finally the marshal drives up and says “you guys are out of position, you are 2 ½ holes behind, you need to pick it up”. The buddies put it into high gear and all hit bad shots.

By the end of their 5 hour round, the buddies are the most hated golfers on the planet. They have held up the entire golf course and the Pro is answering to everybody why tee times are now 30 minutes behind.

So, how close am I to the truth about this scenario? You know I just stiffed it.

If your handicap isn’t 10 or less, why do you need a GPS? Do you know how far your 7 iron goes? I doubt it, what you need to do is go to the range and practice. You need to find out how far you actually hit your clubs. If you think back about 10 years, most every golf course posted a sign that said “your round of golf should take 4 hours”, today that same round of golf is supposed to take 4 ½ hours.
WHY ??

Technology is better, balls fly farther, clubs are hotter, so why does it take longer to play?
TECHNOLOGY !!

Technology that every golf magazine and golf channel commercial preaches to you to get a GPS to play like the Pro’s. That’s a bunch of crap. (Spend that $300 on an annual range pass, not a GPS) What will make you play better golf is to practice, practice, and practice. That hasn’t changed in hundreds of years. Do you think Angus McDoogle used a GPS? No, he practiced, played, and had fun. 5 hour rounds of golf are NOT fun. Put the fun back into your game; practice, get better, beat your buddies, and head to the 19th hole in 4 hours.

Where were you @ 90

That’s a pretty hard question to answer considering most everybody reading this has a long way to go to get to age 90.

Once a week there is a golf group that plays down at Turquoise Valley, they call themselves “The Geriatric Group”. The oldest player is Chuck, who is 90 years young, Jonesy is 76, and Tom is 71
(I think). The 4th player rotates between 3 or 4 locals who get to enjoy this great group from time to time. This week it was my turn to enjoy.

The Geriatric Group is just like any other group of golfers that plays together frequently. If you think because they’re older, they go through their round without having any fun, you are sadly mistaken. The bantering starts before they even get to the first tee. On the putting green they are getting in their digs on each other. By the time they get to the first tee, they are in full blown trash talking mode. It is hilarious, and it doesn’t stop, even after the round when we were enjoying a cold one. They have so much fun, everybody that plays this great game could take a lesson on how to have this much fun on the course with your buddies. Sure we all want to play as good as we can each time we go out, actually we want to play better than that. Our expectations are that if we made par on a hole anytime in the past 20 years, we should be able to do it every time we play. Get real !! Golf is such a head game it’s a miracle we can even make it through a round without a total mental meltdown.

On the first tee, everybody hears the bet and handicaps. It’s a standard bet of $.10 per skin, no carryovers. If you think this is a silly bet, you haven’t seen how hard you have to work to beat Chuck who gets 2 strokes per hole, except on par 3s. He hits the ball about 180 yards off the tee, and hardly ever misses the fairway. Today, Chuck got 2 skins and he was talking smack about winning those dimes off the younger guys all the way to the bar. Plus the big winner has to buy a round. Today that worked out to me winning $.50 and the round of drinks cost me $12.00. It was well worth it.

Getting a chance to play with Chuck and the guys every once in a while is inspiring. If you can’t be inspired by them, you must have some serious issues. We all should spend some time with people from “The Greatest Generation”, they won’t be here forever. They know how to have fun and they can tell some stories that you just won’t believe.

Lately I’ve been stressed over my golf game. I know, it’s dumb, but when you used to have some game, and you lose it, it gets to ya. But, as of today, I’m not gonna let that happen anymore.
Think about it, Chuck is 90 years young and normally plays twice a week. When and if I ever get to 90, I just hope I can walk down the hall to the bathroom. That’s if my wife doesn’t push my wheelchair into a corner as she has threatened to do when I get to “that” age.

The next time you’re feeling down, or sorry for yourself, or you’re having a bad round, think about being inspired by The Geriatric Group. Inspired to wake up every morning and spend time with friends, and live, love and laugh. Thanks Guys…..

Cancer Sucks - Give a Little

The new Brad Paisley song talks about how you can't say the word "Cancer" in a song. Well, I disagree. The word "Cancer" should be talked about in songs, poems, raps, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and anywhere else we can put it out there so that we can help to find a cure.

Cancer death statistics vary from where you get the information, but it is estimated that roughly 7.2 million people worldwide die from cancer each year. In the United States alone where cancer death statistics are highly monitored each year has seen a steady death rate of 550,000 to 600,000 people year after year, or roughly 1,500 people per day. That is ridiculous, why can't we find a cure for this damned disease?

Personally, I have had several family members and close friends who have had or died from cancer. So, three years ago after one of my best friends Mark "Shu" Schuler passed away from cancer, my wife Julie suggested we do a golf fund raiser in Shu's name to raise some money for cancer research. In the first 3 years, we've donated over $2,000 to cancer research in Shu's name.
This year's tournament is a 4 person scramble @ Silverbell Golf Course in Tucson, AZ, on Saturday, May 7, 2011. We are looking for players and sponsors both.

If you want to participate in the 2011 Mark Schuler Memorial Golf Outing, just drop me an e-mail or check out the Facebook page.

Even if you don't play golf, you can donate by visiting Shu's Cancer Kickers

I know times are tough and money is tight, but we really need to find a cure for "Cancer", because "CANCER SUCKS". Please give a little.

Have a great day, and please pass this post along to everybody you know.

Spring Forward

Well, unless you live in Arizona, Hawaii, or parts of Indiana. Living in Arizona, we get so much sunshine, we really don't need to change our clocks. Heck, if we did, we would be playing even more golf. Is that possible?

So, here we are at the beginning of the golf season, and if the snow around your course hasn't quite melted, it will soon (I hope). Have you thought about getting those clubs out of the garage? Or were they really bad last weekend and they are still standing in the corner being punished? No matter what, you need to get ready for the season and ready to play better golf.

Do you have a practice routine? Lot's of people consider practicing to take 5 old balls from their bag prior to the round and run over to the range with a driver and whack them as hard as they can. That's a recipe for serious disaster, not to mention back problems.

Why not get to the course 30 minutes earlier and hit a small bucket of balls to really warm up? Or better yet, why not head to the range one night a week on your way home from work and spend an hour? Either way, you will probably play better golf and hopefully keep your back from getting sore as the season begins.

If you've never had a real practice routine, make this your best season and start one. I bet you'll play better golf and who knows maybe you can win an adult beverage from your buddies.

Have a great golf day.

Weekly Swing Reminder - Wide Stance

I noticed the last few days that those old fall winds are starting to blow down here in Southern Arizona. It's just one of the conditions we have to live with in order to have great playing conditions nearly year round.

To help you play better in the wind, try widening your stance. Normally, your stance should be about shoulder width apart. But, when that wind blows, it can help to widen your stance a little. This will give you a more stable base to swing. This will also allow you to get a great turn back and through the ball. The other benefit to a wider stance in the wind is it helps your body to not sway. By this I mean it helps you to turn your body and not sway backwards.

I hope this helps you play better golf. For more Swing Reminders, visit the Swing Reminders website

Have a great golf day.