GolfStinks

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Golf & Poison Ivy…Oy Vey!

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Being the nice neighbor I am, I figured I would lend a hand and help cut down a couple half-dead intrusive limbs from an old oak tree. Mistake #1. I get all up in the branch, which was maybe 20 feet long. Mistake #2. I then proceed to grab the branch and pull it down not paying attention to the massive vines of ivy wrapped through out the motherf***er. Mistake #3.

Needless to say, 300mg of prednisone, a bottle of calamine lotion, a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a week and a half of misery later…I missed my golf outing. Nothing intensifies missing something you’re looking forward to more than stupidity. I saw the ivy on the tree and it still didn’t register until too late! And who get’s poison ivy on the palm of their hands? I do.

This reminds me of when I was younger and played fall golf for half price at nicer courses. Fall golf is kind of like the off season in the south. A buddy and I would look in the woods bordering the fairways for golf balls and find a ton of expensive balls, mostly Pro V1’s!  After a summer of financially stable golfers stocking the lumberyard with balls, autumn really was our harvest. This is how we stocked up for the next season. Along with cashing in on the good balls, I usually wound up with a little poison ivy too.

So, what do you do if you come in contact with poison ivy on the course and can’t get to a faucet quick enough to wash it off? Well, you can carry some poison ivy wipes (which I recommend) or look to mother nature for the answer. Jewelweed! Jewelweed can be very effective with fighting poison ivy. Crush up some leaves and stems and rub the infected area immediately after contact.

Native Americans used to use jewelweed to combat poison ivy exposure as well as a lot of nature lovers whom also concur. And you’re in luck, it grows almost next to poison ivy. Here’s a pic of one type of jewelweed:


Whichever way you decide please be careful and educate yourself. A little research can keep you poison ivy free…trust me it’s worth it.

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

Golf Requires Teamwork…Sometimes.

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Once again it’s come down to that time of year when the U.S. battles it out with Europe for the Ryder Cup. Although I’m not a huge fan of watching golf tourneys, this one is a little different. Why? Because it involves teamwork, more than just golfer-caddy. In fact, I might even check the Ryder Cup odds and throw down a few bucks on it.

I don’t see anything wrong with wagering on your team. It’s like the Super Bowl for golf except the golfers don’t get paid. I guess it is more of a privilege to be there. An important thing to note about the Ryder Cup is that a good chunk of their profit goes back into helping develop the game.

Supposedly (do we ever really know), the monies earned are split amongst different organizations that promote golf to young kids or build and run training centers for the youth etc, etc… Actually, close to 3,000 free golf lessons were provided via Ryder Cup profits in 2011.

In 2004, the Ryder Cup was restructured and an agreement was formed between the PGA and it’s European counterparts to form the Ryder Cup European Development Trust. It pretty much takes a piece of the net profits and through grants, gives it back to grass roots efforts to spread golf through Europe.

Some of the key areas effected by this trust are to make golf available at schools, develop and organize a system for junior golf and make the game accessible to all. I have to say, I was not aware the Ryder Cup had this much of an impact. Talk about teamwork!

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

A Little Golf Education.

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We all know the importance of an education. It gives us the opportunity to advance in our careers. It gives us a foundation of knowledge to which we can expand. And as we also know, an education is not always something learned in the classroom. There’s hands-on or on-the job learning, street smarts, self taught and google.

Being in the learning/teaching spirit, I thought I would ask a few golf related questions to my non-golfing fiancé and test her for some basic golf knowledge. Here goes:

Q: What is the main objective of golf?
A: To get the little white ball in the hole…more so, an excuse to get out of doing stuff around the house. hmmmm

Q: Where was golf invented?
A: Scotland. I am impressed.

Q: Name three professional golfers.
A: Tiger Woods, that Mickelson guy and you. 
Q: Me? 
A: With the amount of years and time spent on the course you should be pro…ouch!

Q: What’s a birdie?
A: When you hit the ball in the hole under par and you and your buddies high five each other and jump around like idiots.

Q: Why don’t you play golf?
A: If I wanted to cart stuff around an be pissed for four or five hours I would clean the garage, which by the way isn’t going to clean itself.

Well, I think that concludes this Q & A session. I believe it was quite the learning experience. Her knowledge of golf is pretty good and my knowledge of what’s good for me is much clearer. We can always learn something from one another.

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!! 

Have Clubs – Will Travel.

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An airport such as JFK in New York City can be a bit overwhelming at times. I’m pretty sure most international or large airports can be this way. The more streamlined you are the better. Meaning the less baggage you have the easier it will be to navigate through that urban jungle. Recently, while at JFK waiting for some family to arrive, I noticed a man who was very upset at the condition his golf clubs were in post flight.

I believe this gentleman made two mistakes. The first being he used a soft golf club travel bag instead of a hard case and secondly, he let airline baggage personnel handle his clubs. WRONG! Everyone knows or has a pretty good idea of what happens behind the scenes with luggage at an airport. I always worry that my suitcase will come down the carousel busted open and that I would have to get on the conveyor belt and collect all my stuff as everyone watched and laughed.

Everyone can learn a lesson here. Just look at what happened to Lee Janzen’s clubs a year ago when he was traveling to play the Shriners tournament. His clubs and bag somehow managed to be dragged or who knows what happened. Check out the custom grinding job Delta did to his wedge in the pic above. 

What is the best way to transport golf clubs when tavelling by airplane? Well, let’s check the options. We can do what the first gentleman did and use a cheap soft travel bag. We can splurge on a hard case and hope the latches and hinges hold up. We can use a service like UPS, FedEx or a private forwarder to ship them or we can leave the clubs home and rent a set wherever we go.

In my opinion, it’s always nice to have the clubs you’re comfortable with. You don’t want to be on the course and play even worse than you normally do because of the clubs. Actually, that could be a good excuse especially when you are playing with people you don’t know. “Ah man! If I had my 60 degree I would have been on the green in two…” Heard that crap before. What it comes down to is cost and value. What is the most economical way to bring my clubs with me?

It’s all relative. If you travel and play a lot it is worth the $200-$250 for a good quality hard flight case plus the extra baggage fee the airline hits you with. If you don’t play as often but are travelling to play somewhere there are services that will ship your clubs. For example, it might cost $90 to ship a standard golf bag and clubs roundtrip from the east coast to the west and back. It’s less if you compare it to buying a case and paying the extra baggage fee but if you’re traveling and playing more than 2 or 3 times then this option can get costly but you are also paying for peace of mind. Decisions, decisions.

What do you do when traveling and playing?

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!

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