I bought something called “The Key” the other day. I was so distraught after an absolutely horrid day at the range last week, I felt that I simply needed to buy one more golf gadget to make me feel better. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, will it work?

At the range, I hit a bucket of balls… umm.. I didn’t actually hit much other than the ground and pieces of the ball. It was horrible!

I was thinking that golf season may in fact be over this year but just remembered that I’m playing at a CIO.com event in San Diego in November which means I’d better get my swing together quickly!


Here’s a link for more info.

Finally, some pics from the tourney I played in with my 9 year old… we shot a 38, +5 on an executive course and had an absolutely amazing time.

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the last few days down in Charlotte at a Member/Guest tournament - my first multi-day golf event and first member/guest as well. Instead of recapping the entire week, I’ll post here my highlights and lowlights for the record. Enjoy.

Highlights

1. Not being the highest handicapper (in fact, I was 5th from worst!)
2. Winning 2 matches on the final day to pull out 3rd place in our flight
3. Pecan pie
4. Hitting my 3 wood from 195 yards, over water to about 15 feet
5. Hanging out with an old, old friend for the first time in years
6. Big break challenge - I almost busted the glass and instead, plugged a ball right through the wood base
7. Punching out of the woods from inside a gulley about 15 feet down onto the fairway

Lowlights

1. Tapping the ball by accident on the final hole of a match. I needed to make a long putt for a tie, but didn’t even give myself a chance. Humiliating.
2. Losing 2 balls OB while stroking. We lost that hole.
3. Not owning a driver, and feeling lame about that
4. Losing 8-2 in our first match after shooting a net 31 in the practice round

Overall, it was an incredible event and I personally had an amazing time. My partner however, needs to either change his strategy, or find a new partner for next year if he wants to win. We ended up 2-2-1 in match play (we won both matches on the last day!).

One other note for those of you struggling with your golf game… I’m a 19/20 handicapper and had a 23 course handicap for the week. I’ve come to believe that there is simply a limit to how well someone with my skill (or lack of) can play. I made some good shots and some bad shots and probably shot around 99-101 gross each round which isn’t horrible. But in the end, there is just no way that I was going to shave 10 strokes off my game just because it was a tournament. That meant capitalizing when I had a stroke. I managed to do that a few times, but not enough apparently.

I have totally lost my blogging muse and have slacked off completely here at Golf is Hard. That said, I haven’t had much of interest to talk about either lately.

Last weekend, I played in a father/daugther tournament here in CT. She’s 9 and still very much learning the game. That said, she’s got the etiquitte almost down (she’s still restless on the green while someone else is taking their shot) and is a terrific little putter. She nearly dropped 2 20 foot birdie putts and missed a 30 footer for par by about 3 inches. It was way, way too much fun playing in a scramble like that and we plan to do it again.

Meanwhile, I’m headed to Charlotte to play in a member/guest tournament with a very old friend. I’m pretty nervous for two reasons. First, I want to represent well and have this feeling that the course isn’t going to be so easy). Secondly, I haven’t ever played that much golf in such a short time period and I’m worried about my back. I’ll have to add a ton of stretching every day to get ready and hope I’ll hold up well. We’ll see.

I was in Colorado Springs this past week for the CIO 100 event and had a chance to play in the tournament at the Broadmoor Mountain course. In a 4 man scramble, we managed to miss our only 2 real birdie chances and shot an ungodly 8 over.

How do you shoot 8 over in a scramble? Easy, you stink it up and miss putt after putt. That’s how! The winning team shot a 62, beating us by a country mile.

The course itself was gorgeous! Most holes are basically looking up at the mountain, and the views are really spectacular. Here’s a big time tip for playing this course… putt away from the hill no matter what your eyes are telling you!



We had a putt on the 18th hole that looked like a HARD break to the left. But after our first putt, we saw the ball seemingly break upwards, and away from the mountain. Incredible.

This is just simply.. too cool for words.. watch…

I’m finally back from too much business travel and hoping to get some rounds in shortly. My P.O.S. bag by Acuity that I bought about a year ago cracked at the bottom, so I went to buy a new bag tonight at Golf Galaxy. While I was there, I traded in 3 clubs for some fast cash. Gone are my 3 and 4 irons which I never, ever hit along with my lousy driver. RIP TaylorMade R580…

I picked up a stiff shaft TaylorMade R7 fairway wood which is now my default driver. In talking with a club fitter, he is convinced the stiff shaft will make a big difference for me immediately when using this club. Now let’s see how it all works out on the course.

I realize that I’ll eventually need a driver in my bag, but for now, I’m hoping I can hit the new fairway wood about 230-240 yards which would be a perfect compliment to my 3 hybrid which I hit about 200 yards or so.

I am hoping to get up early tomorrow and get 9 holes in before work, so we’ll see soon enough!

Not only is this one of the best golf books I've ever read, it's one of the most useful life books I've come across as well. Check out reviews on Amazon and buy it if you feel so inclined.

(Full disclaimer: I received an e-mail from the publisher asking if I wanted to read and review the book... I'm a sucker for a free read so I said yes).

I'm thrilled to have had an opportunity to read this book and took extra time on this post to make sure I captured some of the more important ideas I'm taking away. At the end of the day, I feel like I get it - I really think golf is a direct reflection of how I live my life and I intend to use it as a tool to keep improving myself and learning to live in each moment fully. I'm far from perfect, but I am getting better at both golf and life, I hope.

If you've seen Randy Paush's "Last Lecture" or read his book, you'll know about head fake learning. That when we think we're learning one thing, but in reality, we're learning something totally different, and perhaps even more important. That's what golf is to me - a life lesson head fake. Learning to play each shot and live in the moment and translating that to the other aspects of my life is why I play and keep on playing. It's why I don't care too much after shooting a 105 or worse.

Learning to live in the moment means taking my game and my life off autopilot and taking the controls. it means I have to trust each decision I make and commit to my choices and decisions large and small. I used to think Baseball was the perfect game, but I was wrong... it's golf all the way.

Darrin Gee's book is really not so much about golf, it's more like a book about how to live life and I really, really enjoyed every page of it.

One practical golf lesson Gee talks about in the book is the importance of rituals. I have the basic parts of a golf ritual (line up, deep breath, practice swing and then  hit it), but after really thinking more about rituals, I think I can do better. I'll be working on a specific breath technique that I'm using in my life off the course as well. I said it earlier but I just have to say it again... I LOVE this book!

I know, I know… pathetic showing of blogging lately. Been busy!

I played 9 holes last weekend and shot 44, dispelling my earlier notion that I’d continue to get better through the summer.

Here’s a great video to tide you over:

Mahan is an up and coming golfer on the PGA tour. His recent interview in Golf Magazine is OK but his answer to one question in particular caught my eye.

Question: Mentally, you have had your struggles on the golf course. Is that a result of your father always demanding perfection?

Hunter’s answer is a signpost (thanks Mr. Tolle) to greater awareness in life. Simple replace "golf" with "life" and add water…

Answer: No, that’s just me. That’s been one of my weaknesses: trying to be perfect. And then I realized golf (life) has nothing to do with perfection. It has to do with getting the ball in the hole in the quickest time possible (add your own life metaphor here). I haven’t seen anyone play perfect yet, and I don’t think I ever will.

Golf continues to amaze me.