Good Brain = More Golf!

It's All Good and Ready for More Golf!

    We are at exactly a year and seven months since my meningioma surgery now.  This will be a quick update.  I had an MRI again at a little over the year and a half mark (scheduling glitch) on Monday evening of this week.  Then I had both my regular physical with Dr. Lavengood in the AM and the MRI follow-up appointment with Dr. Maurin in the PM on Tuesday (scheduling serendipity). 
    In short, I am healthy and so is my brain.  It’s still all good.  I won’t need to return for another MRI for two years, unless a problem arises, and I doubt that will happen.  Dr. Maurin said they don’t even schedule appointments that far in advance.  Nice.
    Driving home, I discovered it had been weighing on me.  A song came on the radio and my eyes welled up with happy tears; I got a wee bit emotional, but nothing major. 
    The song on the radio was Take a Picture by Filter.  I’ve always thought this was a strange song, but I’ve always liked the way it sounds.  I can understand how he can be awake on his airplane, but why is his skin bare?  Weird. 
    Anyway, I do like the lyrics when he sings about feeling like a newborn and feeling so real, and I also like the part where he says, “Could everyone agree that no one should be left alone?” 
    Somehow, those words rang true on my ride home.  I too felt like a newborn after hearing the good news, and I certainly agree that no one should be left alone.  Thank you again, all of you, who never left me alone when I needed you the most.

B Meets C, Birdie #2, and a 44 on Presidents' Day

    Last weekend, I also got to play with Bruce, C.J. and Cameron.  It was the first time the four of us got to play together, so I was curious how it would all play out. 
    We chose best ball match play, of course.  Cameron and I took them on.  Cameron carried me for the front nine.  Bruce started off with a birdie, so we were one down for the first two holes.  We got back to even with Cameron’s par on #3.  I helped a little with a par to put us one up on #4.     
    Bruce countered with another birdie on hole #5, so we were even.  Then Bruce knocked us back down again with a par on #7.  He played the par fives at two under!  My par on #8 was the only...

Anchoring Weighs on My Mind

    Okay, this whole anchoring controversy thing has been on my mind a lot lately.  It’s a topic of our conversations when we play since I do anchor my Thomas Golf putter and have for many years now. 
    My first thought is that it’s no big deal.  I know I'm a decent putter (shameful confidence-building brag, sorry), so it won’t matter.  I like to anchor, though, and I am used to it now.  I am very confident with it, and I never thought it might someday be taken away because of a rule change. 
    The USGA has decided to do this for...

My Thank You to Coach Lewis

Guy, Coach Lewis, and I

2nd Row: Darrel, Dan, Coach, and Brent, 1st row: Myself, Rich, and Guy,

    Coach Lewis, thank you for your time, your expertise, your sense of humor, and your high expectations.  Thank you for your basketball program and your shooting clinics.  Thank you for all of it.
    We had a Saturday luncheon/reunion with Coach Lewis at Nicolo’s in Lakewood for a celebration last month.  He had just been inducted into the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame earlier that week, mostly as a player, but also for his work as a coach and as the innovator of the Global Shot Doctor Shooting Clinics.  This luncheon, by the way, took place approximately 30 years after I first started playing for coach and for Alameda High School.  
    My brother Guy (1984 squad), and three other players from our ’85 squad were there to revisit the past, share stories and catch up with each other.  Coach brought two scrapbooks to jolt our brains and give us a trip back in time.  Near the very end, another player from Guy’s class showed up.  It was a fantastic reunion!
    I won’t share everything we talked about, but I will comment on how we all agreed about the things we admired (and still admire) about Coach Lewis.  As fathers of sons and daughters who are playing sports, we see what is painfully lacking in many places.      
    Where is the fitness test that weeds out the players who don’t really want to be there?  We were required to run 5 miles under a certain time limit and complete some other physically demanding tests just to have a chance at trying out.  Where is the clear, concise teaching of the fundamentals?  We were taught the fundamentals for every aspect of the game.  Where are the packed gyms?  The practice situations to help us get ready for any of the endless variety of last minute (or the final few seconds of) possibilities?  The fun and fancy warm-ups before each game?  Those were just a smidgeon of the things we remembered, and they were all outstanding memories.  Well, except for maybe the running parts. 
    I mentioned it in a previous post, but if imitation is truly a form of flattery, Coach Lewis should feel very flattered.  The following are just a few examples of the things I have done in an attempt to emulate Coach Lewis (not coming close really, but always giving my best). 
    Coach had quotes, inspirational quotes at the bottom of every practice schedule.  I have used quotes, too, as a coach.  My favorite is, “When you’re green, you’re growing.  When you’re ripe, you’re rotten.”  I remember that one from a Shot Doctor Clinic. 
    Coach had a small informational piece in every basketball program called Sim Sez.  My weekly newsletter at school is titled Swope Says...  Coach Lewis invented Shot Doctor, which has now evolved into Global Shot Doctor.  After gaining success as a volleyball player and assistant high school volleyball coach, I collaborated with my co-ed doubles partner to successfully run our Spike Doctor Volleyball Clinics (sound familiar?) here in the Four Corners area for seven years back in the 90’s.  We had what we thought was a solid method of teaching the volleyball fundamentals, and we had a camp store with some of the latest, greatest volleyball clothing and accessories.
    As a teacher and a coach myself, I realize after more than 20 years that I can never predict the ways I have affected my students and my players.  Coach Lewis, I know it’s the same for you, but let me state clearly that you have affected me greatly and in the most positive ways.  I remember playing for you.  I remember your lessons on basketball and life, and I know that the lessons about life were the most important.  It was a privilege to be one of your players, and it is a privilege to continue to know you now.  I am certain that all of your former players feel the same way.  Congratulations on your success and your induction into the Hall of Fame.  Thank you.  Thank you for all of it.

Presidents' Day Weekend and First Birdie of 2013

2-16-13

    Ah, a fresh page.  A blank white screen with a blinking cursor.  The sounds of the keys clicking on my keyboard.  Sunlight at dusk streaming through our living room.  Peace.  Hello, writing time.  I have missed you. 
    Happy Presidents’ Day weekend, the reason for this newly found time to write.  I hope to get caught up with everything that’s in my brain.
    I’ll begin with the first birdie of 2013.  In my last post, I said I wanted to write about my silly new golf shoes that I won last year, so this was also the first birdie with those new shoes on my feet.

Hidden Valley Golf Course-Hole #15-Birdie #1 of 2013

    I was playing...