GolfStinks

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Is Golf Still Fun When it’s Freezing Out?

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An early end to the golf season this year?
An early end to the golf season this year?

So it’s Halloween and as I pen this post, there’s 3 inches of snow outside. As some of you may know, the Northeast got hit with a pretty big snow storm Saturday (where I live, the snow drifts reached a whopping 5 inches)!

OK, so I realize that’s not a lot of snow for Connecticut. But for October, it’s a tremendous amount of snow. In fact, I don’t ever remember this much snow prior to Halloween…ever. Temps are supposed to rise a bit this week and my guess is the snow will be melted by tomorrow, but that’s too little too late for me.

If you follow this blog regularly, you’ll know (well, first that this is Stinky Golfer Chris’ day to post, but he’s still in the dark after major power outages swept the area due to the storm)…but you’ll also know my golf has been limited this season.

That being said, I actually had plans to play this weekend (albeit only 9-holes, but plans nonetheless). Needless-to-say those plans were squashed by the inclement weather. But all this snow got me thinking about golfing when it’s cold. I’ve always held the position that if I can’t get by with a Polo shirt over a thermal, then it’s too cold. In other words, if I have to wear some sort of coat (which may hinder my swing), then the game is no longer fun.

Stinky Golfer Chris takes it a step further – he flat out states he won’t play golf when the temp drops below 50 degrees (10 celsius). But don’t tell any of this to golf retailers. You see, it seems they think we can (and should) be playing till the temps sink below freezing!

Why else would I have received a Golf Galaxy mailer pushing winter garb for the course? Golf Galaxy is dead serious. So, apparently, is Footjoy, who is providing the WinterSof gloves on the guy at the far right. But at what point is all this pointless? Isn’t your game going to suffer with all the extra layers? How about our friends up north in Canada – are they even still playing when the temps are hovering around freezing? Or is this all a ploy to get golfers to spend more money?

Perhaps.

But perhaps I’m thinking about this all wrong. Maybe it doesn’t matter all that much if your score goes up. Maybe, if you’re playing on a brisk winter day, you shouldn’t even keep score. Maybe you should just enjoy the fact that you’re outdoors and playing the game you love. Canadians, am I right?

Wow – this is exciting! I believe my golf season just got longer! Now, if they only gave out those gloves tonight instead of candy…

Happy New Year Golfers! Here’s 50 Bucks…

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From time to time throughout the year, we here at the Golf Stinks blog will take a moment to thank our fans for all their support – and this is another such occasion.

This time around, we’d like to express our gratitude by running a $50/$50 New Year’s Eve giveaway through our Facebook page! Here’s how it works:

On New Year’s Eve at 11:59 PM, we will pick one NEW fan (anyone who became a Golfstinks Facebook fan since 12/1/10) to win a $50 gift card to Golf Galaxy!

But what about all of you who were fans before December? Well, that’s where the 50/50 part comes in! Whoever referred the first winner will ALSO win a $50 gift card to Golf Galaxy!

That’s right, we’re giving away TWO $50 gift cards! We thought this would be a great way to welcome new fans while rewarding our long-time fans! So start telling your golfing buddies to “like” the Golfstinks Facebook page ASAP – the more friends you refer, the greater your chances of winning! But hurry, we’ll be posting the winners on our Facebook page on December 31, 2010 at 11:59 PM EST!

Click HERE to become a new fan (hit “like”) or start referring your friends (hit “suggest to friends”)!

Thanks again, good luck and Happy New Year!
-Golfstinks Team

Why Did You Take Up Golf? – Tell us and WIN!*

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Perhaps the more appropriate question would be “Why would you take up golf?” Anyone who has been golfing for more than a year (and hasn’t given it up yet) knows this is a game of mixed emotions.

On the one hand, there’s excitement, jubilation and self appreciation when you make great shot or have a milestone round. On the other hand, there’s frustration, anger and self depreciation when you whiff on the first tee, or have matched the course record…by the 9th hole.

I’ve been golfing for over 20 years and I have had my share of all these emotions (mentally, the good shots and rounds tend to outweigh the bad, which is a plus since I personally know there have been a ton more bad). Anyway, back to my original question – Why did you take up golf? For me, it was either golf or tennis.

I was 14 years old and was about to begin that all-important summer between my freshman and sophomore years in high school. My mother, God love her, I’m sure wanted me out of the house as much as possible for those few months. And since my Babe Ruth baseball league had ended in the middle of June, she decided to give me an option: Golf lessons or tennis lessons.

The thing was, neither of those two options appealed to me very much. I had just completed a rigorous (or what I felt was rigorous at the time) first year of high school and had every intention of slacking off till September. Yes, in my mind, this was going to be a summer of waking up in the early afternoon, riding bikes with my friends and eating junk food as much as possible.

The thought of being confined to a tennis court or a golf course for hours every day was not only uninviting, it was wasting valuable months that I could be doing nothing. Doing nothing. Think about that for a second – At 14, I’d rather be doing nothing than anything at all! How things change when you grow up – now I play golf to avoid doing nothing.

Nevertheless, my mom was adamant – I was going to take either golf lessons or tennis lessons and I was going to like it. A week went by. Then another, and I still hadn’t decided which one I was going to take up. I was stalling of course (the deadline for sign-up was July 1), but she was in no mood to play games. My mother took it upon herself to decide for me: It was golf. Her reasoning? I was an only child (can’t you tell) and with tennis you always need someone else to play, which is not the case with golf (actually pretty decent reasoning).

This did not change the fact that I still didn’t want to go. I tried to logic with her: “But I don’t have any clubs!” A neighbor’s garage sale changed that almost immediately. So being all out of excuses, I reluctantly packed my 1927 clubs in my mom’s trunk and got in the car. We pulled into the course parking lot and I still refused to go. I threatened to not get out of the car (remember, only child). But she gave me that look that only mothers know how to give and I subsequently dragged myself to the clubhouse with as much enthusiasm as a dead man walking.

Thus my golfing career had begun. I went 3 times a week with a group of other similar-aged kids. I was (sort of) enjoying myself. But on the last day, they held a 9-hole tournament for all of us and I came in second (shot a 58). I got a shiny golf trophy (still have it today) and something about this game began to appeal to me. Fast-forward 21 years and here I am, writing a golf blog and rushing out to the course the second I realize I have nothing to do.

*Why did you take up golf? It doesn’t have to be a long story, just post your comment here and we’ll randomly choose one person to win a $25 gift card to Golf Galaxy!

Do you want your Driver? No, he’s not my Type.

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The last time I carried a driver in my golf bag: Bill Clinton was impeached, Titanic was number one at the box office and Seinfeld’s famed last episode had just aired. The year was 1998. I was a young, strapping 23-year-old and my driver was a Taylor Made Bubble Burner (see stock photo to the left).

I remember spending at least $300 on the club. I walked into the local golf store, pulled it off the rack, made sure it was right handed and walked to the checkout line. Hey, everybody knew Taylor Made produced quality clubs – that was all the justification I needed.

When I hit it correctly, I could launch one about 280 straight down the fairway (perhaps 300 with the wind at my back). The problem was, hitting “correctly” calculated out to about one shot in every ten. With those odds, I was losing balls by the boat-load.

After just one season, I sold it to an acquaintance…Come to think of it, I don’t even remember who it was. Anyway, for the next 11 years I teed-off with a myriad of clubs: 3-woods, 5-woods, 2-irons, 3-irons and most recently a 17-degree hybrid.

I’ve probably had the most success with the 5-wood and the hybrid. But both of those clubs left me with a long approach on many par 4’s and getting home in two on par 5’s was completely out of the question. So last season I realized I had enough…I was tired of handicapping myself. Thus, I decided that 2010 would be the year I went back to using a driver off the tee.

Spurred on in part by Stinky Golfer Chris’ custom club fitting, I decided to get fitted for a new driver. Unlike Chris however, I didn’t have a sweet deal to get fitted at a local pro shop gratis. Instead, I was going to take my chances on a major retail chain. But as soon I stepped in the simulator at Golf Galaxy*, the annoyance started. The 20-year-old employee doing swing analysis could care less about helping me – he just wanted me to buy his favorite club. After I hit a few balls at the screen, the kid moved me aside so he could show me HIS swing. Now, why would I care about HIS swing? Was I going to pay HIM to tee-off for me on the course? The fact that he was hitting it 330 down the middle was enticing, but more annoying than anything.

Needless to say, I left there and headed up the street to Dick’s Sporting Goods. That’s where I met Ralph. Ralph’s a PGA Professional and works in the golf department at Dick’s (now Dick’s is not paying me a cent for this, but it was really refreshing to learn there’s a PGA/LPGA Pro in all of their stores). Anyway, Ralph put me in the simulator and watched me hit a few balls. Soon, I was trying two or three different clubs and after about 10 minutes, Ralph prescribed a driver with a stiff-flex shaft and a 10.5 degree loft. And about 10 minutes after that, I had found my club.

Funny. The club I hit the best was a 2009 Taylor Made Tour Burner – I had come full-circle. But would it perform out on the course any better than my old Bubble Burner? Well, since it was last year’s model, it only cost me $150 (50% less than my previous driver), so I’ve got that going for me already.

But the best news is I’ve played about 72 holes with it so far and I’m hitting the damn thing pretty good! I’m in the fairway about 30% of the time and just missing (short rough) about 40% of the time. That means I’m in play about 70% of the time – and that’s saying allot for me! I’ve lost some distance over the years (knocking it out there about 265-275, depending on the wind) but I’ll take accuracy over distance any day.

So after years of saying “no” to my driver, It seems I’ve got a renewed relationship with one. But like all romances, only time will tell if it’s a keeper. Thanks to Ralph over at Dick’s Sporting Goods for the advice and patience – while I still stink at this game, he’s helped me stink just a tad bit less.

*It should be noted that Golf Stinks was once an affiliate of Golf Galaxy. This does not change the fact that we here at Golf Stinks call it like we see it. This one particular employee of this one particular Golf Galaxy store was a complete douche. However, in no way does Stinky Golfer Greg mean to imply that all Golf Galaxy employees are douches.

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