Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s
Golf Bucket List
Another golf season has come and gone without a hole-in-one, the top item on my bucket list. This year I really came close, hitting the pin on the fly with the ball careening away a couple feet for a gimme birdie. It made quite a racket and surprised the guys about to tee off on the next tee. At least I wasn’t as unlucky as this golfer!
After over 50 years of golfing, I have witnessed only one hole-in-one as described in a
previous blogpost.
Another feat on my bucket list is to shoot my age, which I came close to accomplishing this summer, missing by 2 shots. Shooting one's age is a death-defying race between your bodily aging process and chronological age. On my 69th birthday a few years ago, I did shoot a 69, but it was on a par 60 course in Florida, so that has an asterisk by the score. Literally, there is an asterisk as I’ve kept a hole-by-hole spreadsheet account of all my rounds since retiring over 20 years ago. At the time, my handicap was 16, so with the extra time to improve my game, I took a lesson every fall for several years in a row. In previous golf lessons, the instructor always tried to change too many things with my swing, resulting in no sustainable improvement. Fortunately, the pro who helped me after my retirement only tweaked one or two aspects of my swing which were then ingrained by hitting balls in a nearby indoor dome over the winter.
By spring, the new swing was grooved for another season, to be repeated again the next fall, eventually bringing my handicap to a low of 5 as shown on the above chart from the spreadsheet. I’m now a 7, improving over the last year from an 11 after working with a physical trainer to build up my swing speed. It had dropped to 81 mph, compared to ideally 90 mph for someone my age. The PGA tour pros have swing speeds of around 125 mph! Getting to a single digit handicap was on my bucket list at one point; now the challenge is staying there as these charts delineate.
Every aspect of my game got better as indicated on the chart below thanks to those fall lessons and winter practice sessions in the dome. Wintering in Florida also kept my swing in the groove year long. Driving accuracy, iron play, short game and putting all improved. My habitual slice disappeared allowing me to find fairways, so gradually it became easier to hit greens in regulation, while my chipping and sand shot accuracy allowed me to make par much more frequently when missing the green. Three putts also dropped dramatically thanks to a new putting grip suggested by an attendant at a golf store in Florida. The latest golf equipment technology has also helped; however, at 2x the cost, as my wife and I have an arrangement where she can spend as much shopping as I do on golf!
This past weekend, I was all set to play in my last golf event of the year nicknamed the HAIG, meaning Hard As It Gets, a scramble format with the course set up from the very back tees and with the pins placed at the most difficult putting location on each green. The weather usually sucks as well, making for difficult but fun play because of the challenge. I could not play because my clubs are being shipped along with our vehicle to Florida for the winter. At least my wife is happy and I’ll forget all about missing the HAIG once in Florida!
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