shootinthebreeze

2009 – A Golf Oddity

thebreeze — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:00:31 +0000

Hello:

I know it has been a while. 2009 – a golf oddity is here. Our company’s golf league has changed courses from Thorn Apple to Raymond Memorial. 3 weeks in and I am still shooting in the 60′s. There is a lot of things to talk about but mnot enough time right now.

2008 — An Ugly Season

thebreeze — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:51:06 +0000

Hello Again:

2008 was an ugly season for the most part. The first week in the 2008 league was really pretty good — a 55. After that, it was terrible. I shot in the 60′s every single week. Looking back on it, there were some very interesting things that happened that season. First, there were the new clubs I got for Christmas 2007. Wilson prostaffs. Then there was the 20 lbs weight loss. For some reason, that really affected my swing mechanics and I could not get it figured out. I did make one good change about the end of the year. I had the driver shortened to 43 inches and that seemed to help. Well, 2009 has to be better.

See ya on the back nine.

55 the first week and other musings

thebreeze — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:41:00 +0000

Hello Folks:

I shot a 55 on the front nine at Thornapple. The course was wet and played rather long. I had one par on the day. The forecast is calling for rain tomorrow.

This week is Masters week. Tiger is of course the favorite this week. Reports from Augusta National is the course is wet and playing long.

See ya on the back nine!

Golf League opens today!

thebreeze — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:25:57 +0000

Hello Folks:
The 1st week of the golf league is today. Weather looks good. I am ready. At least, as ready as I can be. See ya on the back nine!

Gearing up for April 2nd.

thebreeze — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:12:24 +0000

Hello once again fellow golf nuts: 3 major things to write about in this installment — the golf league starts on April 2nd, a new golf teacher for me, and improved physical fitness. As you know, every year for the past 3 years, the company I work for has an 18 week golf league. It is that time again. Wednesday April 2, 2008 is the first week on the 2008 league. It looks like the first two weeks will be used to establish our handicaps again. It looks like we are going to have 4 new golfers this year. As usual, what we don’t know is the format we will be using in the league after we establish our handicaps. We are still playing at Thornapple and will again be playing nine holes each week. We will alternate between the front and back nine also.The next thing is I have to find a new teacher. After working with Todd Nemenez at the local Golf Galaxy Store for the past 18 months, Todd will be moving into the retail management end of things. Unfortunately, this means he will no longer be giving lessons. They have brought in a new instructor who teaches at the Easton store and it looks like I will be transitioning to her this saturday. This saddens me because Todd and I made tremendous strides in my game lopping of about 28 strokes per 18 in the time we worked together. I was really eager to see what this year brought about in light of the new clubs and my improved physical condition. This leads me to the last thing in this installment.As you all know, I have started at the gym and using a personal trainer. The company I work for is paying for the entire deal as part of a contest. In addition to losing about 21 lbs, I have reduced my BMI, waist size, and am eating healthier. While there is not a lot of detail I will go into at this time, what is will say is this. What is suppossed to be getting smaller is getting smaller and what is supposed to be getting bigger is getting bigger. I am stronger and more flexible and this will lead to an improvement in scores and distance. See y’all on the back nine!

April 2, 2008 The league begins — Again

thebreeze — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:05:22 +0000

Hello Gang:

For those of you who are not golfers, this may come as a suprise but the golf league begins on April 2, 2008 if the weather cooperates. We will return to Thornaplle Country Club for the 3rd year for what I like to call the “Tour”. Each week we will play 9 holes rotating from the front nine to the back nine on alternate weeks. We don’t know at this time what the format will be as far as competition goes, but Brad will be letting us know shortly.

Another Update for 2008

thebreeze — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:32:47 +0000

Hello Again:

This will be short and sweet. New belt and new pants both a size smaller. A thinner me — about 15 lbs at this time. A better swing. Next lesson in March.

See ya on the back nine!

An update for 2008!

thebreeze — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:52:37 +0000

Hello again:

I have lost a total of 11.3 lbs. My color looks better, my face looks thinner, and folks can tell I am getting results. Another thing I noticed was I can pinch about 1/2 inch gap between my waist and pants to make them fit the way I like. I think that means I will be needing new pants at a smaller size soon. My belt is at the smallest hole and I can move the belt past that.Another thing I have noticed is I have more endurance. The first time I was on the exercise bike, I struggled to get 16 minutes on level 1. On monday I rode for 40 minutes with 36 of them on level 5 and 4 on level 4. I have more flexibility than ever before. See ya on the back nine!

Looking forward to a great 2008

thebreeze — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:34:11 +0000

Hello Again everyone. It is time for the first post of 2008. The company started its biggest loser progran and contest. At the beginning, I weighed 235.5 lbs and had a 47.1 BMI. After a week I am down 7.1 lbs and have increased my aerobic exercise time from 16 minutes on the bike to 22 minutes. I feel much better. I am eating much better and things are looking up.A few days ago, we had some really unseasonably warm weather in Ohio for January. It was almost 70 degrees. I went to the driving range at Mentel and hit a large bucket of balls with my new Wilson Pro Staff clubs. They felt good and I seemed to be hitting them pretty well.

In addition I got some golf lessons for Christmass as well as some new golfing clothes. I have a lesson on 1/12/2008 with Todd and am looking forward to it. I did take a lesson in October, November, and December so I have one left in that group of four and I got a group of 4 for Christmas.

I am also looking forward to the Golf league and outing this year. I am also looking forward to going down to Myrtle in May and playing in a tourney down there.

See ya on the back nine!

Update for 2008!

thebreeze — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:03:12 +0000

Hello Again! Well, 2007 is just about in the books and I haven’t written anything in nearly 2 months. So, I decided an update is in order for a number of reasons. For those who know me, I have often said that a $500.00 driver will not fix a 20 cent swing. That is why I took lessons in 2007. As I said earlier I took 6 lessons earlier in the year and those lessons along with the hard work I put in caused a good amount of improvement — 25 stokes to be exact. With the goals I set in the last post, I knew I needed to do more work.;

Golf Galaxy lowered its prices on lessons. This is great as money does not grow on trees. The reduction allowed me to take some more lessons. I signed up for a four pack from Todd who is my instructor. I took one in October. I also took one in November and about 5 days ago I took lesson number 3. We are still working on the release. This is working fine and feels normal now. We just started working on stretches and things to get a bigger shoulder turn. This will result in more clubhead speed with the same amount of effort.

As you also know, I have been looking to update my equipment and have done so as money allowed. At the end of 2006, I added Ram FX 60 and 64 degree wedges. In 2007, I replaced my Dunlop driver with a Ram FX Driver. I replaced my Cougar II metal 5 wood with a Ram FX 5 wood. I wanted to replace the Cougar II 3 wood with a Ram FX 3 wood. However, it seems Ram stopped making the FX clubs. So, I had to change my plans. I play a hodge-podge of irons with most of them being the Palmer tru-matic perimiter weighted irons that have a rather bladed appearence. So, I needed to get my irons replaced with a set made by the same company. So, about September I began to look at what was available. I tried a lot of clubs. Some of them I really liked. Some of them I really didn’t like. However, it came down to 4 options. They were custom made clubs by Ralph Maltby, Distance Master — Also made by Maltby–, Adams Golf Tight Lies, and Wilson Pro Staff clubs. I was going to get a Christmas bonus and would be able to use some of that to get the new clubs. After hitting some demo clubs by Maltby, I decided not to go that route. The available components for left handers were not all that thrilling and it would have been a lot of work.

The Distance Masters were nice and I did get some good results with them. I usually hit a 6 iron 140 yards and did get 1 shot that travelled 160. I did like the Driver. Another plus is the set I had picked also had a gap wedge in it.

The Adams Tight Lies was also pretty good. However, the driver did not send me over the edge and when I hit them on the final cut they were the worst performing clubs. Therefore, they were cut from final consideration;The last set was Wilson Pro Staff. My very first set of clubs was a set of Wilson Pro Staff clubs and I really liked the driver and 3 wood on that set. When I hit the 6 iron on this set, the distance and direction results were fine. An added bonus was that the standard Wilson grips seemed to be a bit smaller and fit my hands so there would be no need to replace the grips.

After the final test, it came down to 2 sets — the Distance Master and the Wilson Pro Staff. I hit both sets well. The price was the same and the Distance Master did have the gap wedge. Wilson did not make a gap wedge. The Distance Master did not have a 5 wood. I liked the graphite shafts on the Wilsons better. I hit the Wilsons more consistantly. I chose the Wilson Pro Staff set. Then, to my suprise they were actually $50.00 cheaper than the Distance Masters. So, when the 2008 season opens. here is what will be in the bag:;Wilson Pro Staff 1,3,and 5 woods with Graphite Shafts Wilson 3 and 4 Pro Staff Hybrids with Graphite shaftsWilson 5 – 9 Irons and pitching wedge

Dunlop 56 degree Sand wedge

Ram FX 60 and 64 degree lob wedges.

PGA putter

Nike Dura Feel Golf glove

Foot Joy Golf shoes

Nike ball

There will also be a new body because my employer decided ti sponsor a fitness program where we get a 6 month gym membership and 2 personal trainer sessions per week at company expense. More about that later.See ya on the back nine!