Friday, October 19/18
Given the time of year it seems kind of odd to talk about golf but I've always marched to a different drummer than most people :)
Additionally, seeing how few posts I've done lately the reader might have expected my newest entry to talk about love, relationships, the recent legalization of marijuana, or the polarization between the left and the right here in Canada. Rest assured, these are still topics near to my heart and sure to result in a post or two down the road.
But for now, let's talk about my 4th favourite thing in life - Golf :-)
Wait, you ask what are numbers 1-3?
Really? you can't figure that one out by yourself......gotta say that makes me wonder.....
Number 1 - Jack, my incredibly awesome grandson who is the pure light in my heart.
Number 2 - my daughter and son, both of whom amaze me every single day with the adults they've developed into over the years. Might now have worked out with they're mother, but man did we make two pretty amazing kids, if I do say so myself, and I do say so!
Number 3 - Moki the Wonder Puppy. I know at 7 years old she isn't really a puppy but she still acts like one and probably will her entire life.
Coming in number 4 is golf, though I do like to tell the kids that sometimes it's Jack and than Golf in my order of preferences lol
So back to golf.........
I got a late start to my game this year due to the health scare, surgery, and complications, didn't really play my first round until early July but did try and make up for it by playing multiple rounds every weekend at my club, Stittsville Golf.
Due to the health issue and corresponding late start I didn't renew my membership and thus ended up playing the majority of my rounds in the afternoon when rates were better.
I think I managed to play around 25 rounds, down substantially from last years +50 rounds all around the Ottawa region. All of my rounds this year were at Stittsville, due to the aforementioned pricing as well as the course being fairly close to home and I know it like the back of my hand.
Now even though I didn't get as many round in this season as last I still consider it one of my best seasons ever!!
What made it so good? A lot of things I guess come into play when I make that statement. First among them was the simple fact that I got to play at all when there was a chance that wouldn't be the case at the start of the year. I think that fact more than anything convinced me to play a couple of rounds back in January when we were down in Mexico for my daughters wedding. As much as I love to play, I'm quite adverse to playing a round with anything other than my own clubs for the simple reason that I know my distances with them, other clubs leave me feeling confused as the distances hit by various clubs can vary by up to 15 yards. Now that might not seem like much but when you are 145 yards out and know you can hit your 7 iron and put the ball on the green it means everything, as if you now find yourself 15 yards short of the green or 15 yards past the green you can find yourself in a bunker or water, should the hole be an island green.
I got lucky in Mexico and with my first round was given a set of Ping G20's, only one version older than my own Pings G30's, and clubs I was familiar with, though there was no Hybrid to hit off the fairways and thus I was forced to actually hit a fairway wood, not something I enjoy. The second round was with a set of Titlelist irons and Callaway woods that included a nice 4 Hyrbid. The Titlelist were really easy to hit and were as nice as my own Pings but mine about $600 cheaper to buy brand newlol
My Mexico rounds were decent, one 89 and one 93, one played with my ex's boyfriend, a decent guy who I enjoyed playing with, and the last round as part of a foursome with some other people from the resort. This round may eventually end up being a separate blog as it was pretty much any single heterosexual males dream group, I'll let you ponder than and come up with your own visions lol.
The other factors that made the season my best ever included getting asked to play in our companies foursome for the annual golf tournament put on by the parent company. The group I joined had finished in 2nd place 3 years running and we managed to win it this year by 1 stroke!!! Not that I was the deciding factor as I had to have some of the shortest drives but my wedge work and putting more than made up for my lack of distance in this best ball format.
The final factor was my traditional birthday round of golf. Now for my birthday every year I treat myself to a round at a course that is usually out of my range price wise. Last year it was The Marshes and the two years prior to that included Loch March and The Canadian.
This year I played my birthday round at Stittsville, not an expensive course but the difference was that my son joined me for a full round of golf, the first time we've played a round together in probably 9 years or so. What made it better was that it was his idea to play a round with me. I had a huge smile when we checked in at the clubhouse and got to introduce him to everyone and saw the look on his face when he realized every single person we interacted with knew me on a first name basis and had something nice to say to me, from the club pro to the women working the refreshment stand to the groundskeeper we ran into on the first tee who let me know pin placements on each hole since they'd switched over to new flags and the colour codes weren't on the scorecards yet.
I didn't play a bad round, shot an even 90, but probably got a bigger kick out of watching my son play so well and hear him tell me at the end that he couldn't wait for our round next year on my birthday.
Golf has been and will continue to be my own versions of yoga and meditation all rolled into one.
Now matter how bad I play, and trust me the bad rounds happen far more often than I'd like, I still come away feeling mentally recharged. I use the time on the course to think over the things going on in my life, talking to myself as I play the round, reminding myself of the little things I need to focus on, and reminding myself that each day is like a clean slate, to be filled with the words and actions that I want without influence from yesterday or tomorrow.
Now here is the odd thing about my golf season this year........it ended back in early September when I put my clubs away even though there was still probably about a month of golf left for 2018.
Why did I put them away so early you are probably wondering.........the answer is simple to me but probably not simple enough for anyone else to understand.
It was simply the right time for me to stop playing. My season had more good rounds than bad and I wanted to end it on a high note, so with the tournament win and my birthday round in August, followed up with two rounds in the mid to high 80's the time was right to put the sticks away for another year.
Every year I seem to make one big purchase that fills a gap in my golf bag. 2015 saw the new Ping G30 irons added courtesy of Corinne, 2016 was a new Nike Vapour Driver, 2017 was a new Titlelist Vokey Wedge, and this year was, well nothing really. I replaced my worn out golf shoes but between a $50 gift card from my son from last Christmas and a scratch off ticket at Golf Town that took an additional 25% of the cost I ended up spending something like $26 for new Adidas spikeless golf shoes.
Now 2019 will be another story as I plan on getting a new putter and will go about doing it the right way and get fitted properly, like I did when I got the new Pings in 2015. I've never really invested in a great putter and given it is literally the only club you are 100% going to use on every single hole, unless you manage to hole out a wedge shot, it makes sense to make an investment in a good one.
It's not like I have had bad putters in my bag. My ex gave me a nice Taylor Made Nubbins as a wedding gift back in 2001 but it's kind of gotten a bit long in the tooth, like the guy using it lol, others I've used include another Taylor Made (Ghost), a decent Ping Shea H, and the current Taylor Made (White Smoke). The problem is one is perfectly balanced (White Smoke) but more like a traditional blade putter and other is a semi mallet design (Ping Shea H) that isn't as balanced. I spent this season switching back and forth between the White Smoke and the Shea H but never really felt completely comfortable with either one to fully commit to it.
I'm leaning towards a Titlelist Scotty Cameron but they run between $300-$500 each, kind of steep but still my preference as I know I'll get good use out of it if I can only get the right length and alignment.
Oh, and I have to get my irons regripped but that probably won't be more than $75 or so. I learned the hard way that irons need to be regripped about every 50 rounds or so, I left the grips on my old irons from 2000 to 2014 and could I ever feel the difference when the new grips were installed, like 10 yards of additional distance difference :-)
So that's my post on golf this season. I had some great rounds, a couple I'd like to forget, one tournament win, one father son bonding round, and some things to consider for next season.
My name is Marcus and I'm coming to slowly realize that the odds of my shooting in the low 80's are probably better than the odds of me meeting my one, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up...yet
Today's musical suggestion is Patio Lanterns by Kim Mitchell. A good Canadian artist from the 90's who knew how to turn a lyric.
