Monthly Archives: August 2010

Found the ‘Zone’

On league night Monday, I reached the ‘Zone’ where peace and tranquility result in effortless shots that were bang-on. I shot a 2-under 68 on Goose-Moors at Conestoga. Between 9 on Goose and 5 on Moors, I had 6 consecutive birdies! The final birdie was on the 180yd par 3 on Moors. I struck a 6 iron that tracked to the hole and ended up hanging over the lip….a wind’s breathe short of an Ace.

It’s a shame, but it was by far the easiest birdie of the bunch. Although I was striking the ball so well and hitting a LOT of greens in regulation (12 in total), it was the putter that was HOT. In total I had 27 putts which has gotta be one of my alltime lows. Most of my birdie putts (and par saves) were between 13-20 feet. Sinking several of those will make a big difference.

I saved some really nice pars but in general I didn’t miss the green….which is how I scored low. With my game, my chipping and flops are the weakest part of the game. So if I can avoid them I will score low. Of the 7 holes I missed in reg I managed to bogey only one of them….plus a humbling TRIPLE bogey on the par 3 6th on Goose. At the time I was sitting even par so I can’t chalk the meltdown up to stress. Just lack of focus and also being in an uncomfortable situation: having to do a 30 flop over a bunker to an elevated green. Naturally I placed it into the bunker. A shitty bunker. Mostly because of the sand it took me 3 (yes 3!) to get out of the bunker followed by a 10ft save. I went back afterwards to replay that flop and put it within 3ft. Ouch. That 2 under could have been 4 or even 5 under without that mistake.

But there’s always going to be a blowup hole of sorts unless you shoot 59. Who knows how I would’ve played after that. Since I was now 3-over after 6 it wasn’t looking to be anything special so I loosened up. And that’s when it started to get good. In addition, my partner Rob mentioned a change in his stance that had made him strike the ball cleaner: He opened his back leg slightly which allowed for better rotation and less likelihood of the knee buckling on the downswing. I started to do this with remarkable success (obviously). You can read more about this in the new page I added regarding my swing tips and notes.

The lesson to be learnt in all of this is that in the end it’s about 3 things: Putting, putting and putting. Don’t ever take putting for granted if you want to play well. It’s the least ‘sexy’ thing (yet the most exciting part if you start draining them) about golf but it’s the MOST IMPORTANT part of the game.

But the thing I will remember the most about that round is how easy the swing felt and how I felt I was going to drain every putt when I was standing over it. Now the trick will be to find that zone again. It’s only happened to me a handful of times but let’s hope I can find it sooner this time around.

Rock of Ages

If you’re interested in a fun time, I recommend going to see ‘Rock of Ages’, the new musical playing in Toronto. If you’re an 80’s fan, and in particular the hair bands of the 80s, then you will get a big kick out of this show. I won’t say much around the plot because, well, there really isn’t much of one to speak of. It’s just enough to be able to put some context around the medleys and mashups that the cast sings throughout the show. But who cares? The dancing and the music are fantastic and they make no pretense about the fact there is really any plot. More-over, they often make fun of this throughout the show.

One thing I found most amusing was that it’s billed as a nostalgic trip through the 80s. ‘Reminisce’ about your teenage years. Well, as an indication of how sad my musical tastes are, over half the songs they sang are currently on at least one of my USB sticks that are hanging out in my car. Oh my.

ON a side note: Having your home protected by a security system is nice for the peace of mind. Except when it goes off at 2:00am and you’re 300KM away….AND it’s a false alarm. At the very least it was nice to see the security company follow procedures and follow them very quickly. I’m still puzzled how the alarm was triggered though.

Vacation time

This summer has been one of the hottest that this old man can remember. I think it’s going to be a sad day when I start to feel the chill in the air in the mornings and at nights. It has been so hot during the day that the nights have been awesome. Never a need for a sweater. In fact, we were sitting around the fire at Point Farms last week and when I checked the weather it was still 29C plus humidity at 11:00PM! Needless to say it was very difficult sleeping in the tent that night. Thankfully the next day was cooler (by about 5C) but windy and no humidity. Much better.

But I’m not complaining. I love this heat. And so does my garden. I’ve never seen peppers so abundant and so early in my garden. And the tomato plants are huge and bearing plentifully. The right amount of heat and rain I guess. It may be tough to duplicate this harvest. Well, except for the beans and peas. The bunnies, oh, the bunnies. My chickenwire fence that seemed to have worked for so many years has failed me. For some reason the rabbits are smaller this year and they can easily fit through the tiny holes in the wire fence without even making the fence shudder. I witnessed it and it is incredibly to behold. So, the tender plants have taken the fall for the rest of the garden.

This vacation consisted of cottaging in Tweed and some camping outdoors. But don’t let the away from home fool you, I ate like a king and had some food prepared like never before. Al and Lisa made some exceptional fajitas and I must remember this: Instead of marinating the chicken/steak with fajita mix, take that mixture and combine with oil. Then add to your fajita as much as you want. And don’t forget the Guacamole! Jay made top restaurant quality filet mignon that I must remember how to make: Heat a skillet to high temperature (he did all of this on an open fire by the way), add butter (lots of butter) and wait until it is sizzling. Add tenderloins that have been rubbed in salt and pepper mixture and cook to your liking. Wow, crusty and salty on the outside, melts like butter on the inside. I was highly impressed.

My golf game was up and down over the holidays. On my birthday I had a 7:00am round that I was eager and ready to go. Too bad I shot the worst front nine in years: 48! I followed up with a 40, but 48 is highly frustrating.

I’ve had my first taste of maintaining a pool this summer. I have a 12ft Intek pool (one of those ‘semi-permanent’ pools) that can accommodate a filter. It takes about 3 feet of water (just below the bylaw requirements for a fence). There is no way I’m filling and dumping each time so I’ve learnt the art of applying chlorine, checking the Ph levels, etc. etc. This is good practice because I have been told in no uncertain terms that we will have a fullsize pool at some point in the near future (within 5 yrs?). So, please, anybody, tell me the plus/minuses between an above and inground pool. Bear in mind that I am beholden to choose one of these options. No pool is not an option so save your breath on the downfalls of a pool in general.

Maintaining the yard is so much more fun now that I have my riding lawn tractor. It is a whopping 18HP, way more than I need. But there are benefits. When I get it into 3rd gear I can fly around the lawn at breakneck speed. I’ve been able to whittle the time down from 1 1/2 hrs with the push mower to about 40 minutes with the tractor plus the trimming. There is more trimming required since there are spots I can’t get to but I’ve been able to use the weed trimmer for all this work and have avoided having to use the lawn mower. But this may change over time as I attempt to figure out the optimal cutting algorithm.

So life goes on. Summer for me is about not making many decisions in my worklife and trying to keep that as static as possible so that I can enjoy my summer life at home. We were recently bought out by a large German company. So far it hasn’t impacted my worklife and I haven’t put any effort into thinking about how my life is going to change in the next couple years because of the acquisition. I’ll tackle this when October comes around. In the meantime, back to summer and my quest for the inaugural keeper league baseball championship!