3-24-11
This spring break has not been as fun as others. We have mostly stayed at home and worked, but that changed today. We are driving to Lakewood to surprise my mom for her 70th birthday. Guy is flying out from Virginia with his family, and Bev is picking them up at the airport.
James is driving, and I am sitting next to him in the passenger seat, a prime writing place for me. Danielle drove from our house to the top of Wolf Creek where James took over. It was snowing! Visibility was terrible, especially when James was driving. We almost stopped to help some people in what looked like a silver Crown Victoria, but when we started to slide, we changed our minds. Usually it gets better the farther we go down, but it was getting worse. It didn’t really get clear until we got to the parts next to the river after the second/new tunnel.
Now, we are on the cut-off called 112 after Del Norte heading towards Center, the Gunbarrel, and 285.
I have a bunch to write about, including three birdies, losing to Bruce, beating Bruce, helping with the golf team, and more. So, here I go...
On to golf...
Helping out with the golf team has helped me gauge how much I already know, and how, in many respects, I am an expert at golf in certain areas. As I have stated before, I am being selfish with my time. I am only helping out once or twice a week, and when I do, I take some of the players and play short game games with them. If they beat me, I pay them in quarters. I have only lost once. I don’t remember the kid’s name, but he got a two when we were playing short game stroke play at the practice green below the pro shop and the patio, and I got a three.
After getting my free new bag for helping with the team, a black Wishon number with the words Aztec Tigers on the side (thank you, Don), I realized how important golf and equipment logistics are. I need to know where my stuff is. I need to figure out how to carry my bag, so that I am comfortable and fast at picking it up and putting it down. I have to have a wet towel for cleaning my clubs now. I like my ball mark repair tool and my new Ballzee (sp?) ball cleaning thingy in my left pocket. Tees, fewer than before when I first started playing, and a couple of extra golf balls in my right pocket.
The best example of this is when I first started playing, I didn’t even know where to set my bag down when I played a shot. I would put my bag down right behind my ball, right in my swing path. Experience is the only thing that can cure something like that. I see these kids, many who are eighth graders, many who are beginning golfers, and they don’t have their "logistics" figured out yet. They can play like this, of course, but the awkwardness and newness of it all, gets in the way. I can focus on my shot/s more because I have all that stuff figured.
I can compare this to volleyball again. I’ve compared volleyball to golf once before, but here is another way to compare them. When James and Kyle are playing six on six in volleyball, they don’t know where to go yet since it is new to them. Setters shift over to the right side to play defense, middle hitters move to the middle to block the entire net, and outside hitters switch to strong side to hit. Volleyball, like golf, is so much better when all that stuff is figured out. Then all a player needs to do is figure out what he or she needs to focus on (making a pass or a spike), and not where to set the golf bag or not where to shift or move to.
This spring break has not been as fun as others. We have mostly stayed at home and worked, but that changed today. We are driving to Lakewood to surprise my mom for her 70th birthday. Guy is flying out from Virginia with his family, and Bev is picking them up at the airport.
James is driving, and I am sitting next to him in the passenger seat, a prime writing place for me. Danielle drove from our house to the top of Wolf Creek where James took over. It was snowing! Visibility was terrible, especially when James was driving. We almost stopped to help some people in what looked like a silver Crown Victoria, but when we started to slide, we changed our minds. Usually it gets better the farther we go down, but it was getting worse. It didn’t really get clear until we got to the parts next to the river after the second/new tunnel.
Now, we are on the cut-off called 112 after Del Norte heading towards Center, the Gunbarrel, and 285.
I have a bunch to write about, including three birdies, losing to Bruce, beating Bruce, helping with the golf team, and more. So, here I go...
On to golf...
Helping out with the golf team has helped me gauge how much I already know, and how, in many respects, I am an expert at golf in certain areas. As I have stated before, I am being selfish with my time. I am only helping out once or twice a week, and when I do, I take some of the players and play short game games with them. If they beat me, I pay them in quarters. I have only lost once. I don’t remember the kid’s name, but he got a two when we were playing short game stroke play at the practice green below the pro shop and the patio, and I got a three.
After getting my free new bag for helping with the team, a black Wishon number with the words Aztec Tigers on the side (thank you, Don), I realized how important golf and equipment logistics are. I need to know where my stuff is. I need to figure out how to carry my bag, so that I am comfortable and fast at picking it up and putting it down. I have to have a wet towel for cleaning my clubs now. I like my ball mark repair tool and my new Ballzee (sp?) ball cleaning thingy in my left pocket. Tees, fewer than before when I first started playing, and a couple of extra golf balls in my right pocket.
The best example of this is when I first started playing, I didn’t even know where to set my bag down when I played a shot. I would put my bag down right behind my ball, right in my swing path. Experience is the only thing that can cure something like that. I see these kids, many who are eighth graders, many who are beginning golfers, and they don’t have their "logistics" figured out yet. They can play like this, of course, but the awkwardness and newness of it all, gets in the way. I can focus on my shot/s more because I have all that stuff figured.
I can compare this to volleyball again. I’ve compared volleyball to golf once before, but here is another way to compare them. When James and Kyle are playing six on six in volleyball, they don’t know where to go yet since it is new to them. Setters shift over to the right side to play defense, middle hitters move to the middle to block the entire net, and outside hitters switch to strong side to hit. Volleyball, like golf, is so much better when all that stuff is figured out. Then all a player needs to do is figure out what he or she needs to focus on (making a pass or a spike), and not where to set the golf bag or not where to shift or move to.
No comments:
Post a Comment