A Well-Wrapped Wrap-Up of the Year 2023

Written on 12-17-23.

     I am watching the highlights of the Woods playing at the PNC Championship.  Before that, I finished a YouTube video of Zach Allen.  It was called Ben Hogan’s Trail Arm Secret (Part 2).  It talks about holding the club cack—handed or backwards.  I first heard about this from a Pete Cowen video.  This weird way of holding the club actually puts you in the perfect position with your arms and body in the backswing.

I tried a few mini-swings with it indoors and then I went outside, too.  What I like about it is the way it feels so connected and consistent.  I might even try some swings “cack-handed” at the range at home tomorrow or at Pinon Hills on Tuesday.  Eric and I have a tee time at noon on that day.

Written on 12-24-23.

Closer and closer, we are coming to Christmas and the end of another year.  I recently gave a thumbs-up to John Lennon’s Christmas song on Pandora, Happy Xmas (War Is Over). It’s because these words resonate with me: So, this is Christmas.  And what have you done?  Another year over.  And a new one just begun.  And so this is Christmas.  I hope you had fun.

It’s nostalgic, and I am also reminded of part of the purpose for this journal.  At the very beginning of this diary (way back in September of ’99), I was getting more...

Eric is Back

Written on 12-14-23.

      Eric and I got out yesterday to play one more time with some decent weather, and darned if he didn’t beat me again.  It started out bitter cold with biting wind, but it steadily got better as the round went on.  By the back nine, I was taking off my jacket to hit my tee shots (not that it helped).

We played our “usual” game starting on hole #2, which became my only warm-up.  Eric went to the range, so he was good to go.  It was so cold, and I arrived later due to getting my temporary crown fixed and stopping for breakfast sandwiches.  I had a terrible front nine, and Eric dominated until holes #8 and #9 where I gained my first ties.  By the end of the front, he was leading 18 to 7.  

I thought I could catch him, however, because I was warmed up and playing.  As the weather got better, so did my play.  Could I recover enough to get the win?

Written on 12-16-23.

The first two holes, I got skunked again, and it was looking like I might repeat what happened on the front nine.  I had to start scoring big points, and he needed to help me by cooling off.  Then I did get some big points!  I scored...

Too Many YouTube Golf Videos?

Written on 12-10-23.

    It’s another Sunday afternoon, and I am listening to the Broncos.  They are 6-6, and they are playing the Chargers (5-7).  Right now, they are ahead by seven at the end the first quarter.

B rode her stationary bike for five miles, and now we are relaxing.  I filled up the Cherokee’s tires with some air, too, because the freezing temperatures lowered the pressure.  They were all low (around 31 psi), so I brought them back up to 38 psi.

I did that after watching the end of the Grant Thornton Invitational.  Jason Day and Lydia Ko teamed up to win that premiere event.  I really enjoyed watching the PGA players joining up with the LPGA players.  What great athletes they all are, and they are a joy to watch together!

On to golf…

I just glanced at my blog, swopeofthegreen.blogspot.com, and I see that I had the brain surgery in 2011 and the stroke in 2019.  Now, it’s 2023, so it makes me think again that time keeps marching on.  This diary is coming to a close again, too, and that is another marker of the time just flowing by.

I saw a YouTube video with Rick Shiels and Bryson DeChambeau.  Bryson gave Rick a lesson, and I had an epiphany again.  

*Do I watch too many YouTube videos to try and improve my golf game?  An argument could be made for that, but I do enjoy hearing tips from people who are experts on golf.  The hard part is discerning which ones to try.  Mike Stark taught me about everything he could when I took a year of unlimited lessons from him, and I remember him saying something like this to me, “Once you have all to tools and information, it’s up to you to practice and get better.”

He was right, but there is so much to learn about golf.  I have heard of other golfers who learned something new, and it changed their golf games in unimaginable ways.  That is not the epiphany, however.

Back to the YouTube video I saw, and this is the discovery.  I know that...

Love the 5-Hybrid and the My54's

Written on 12-1-23.

    I got stir crazy this afternoon, so I did go ahead and drive to the golf course to play nine holes.  It was cold, but I didn’t care.  On hole #7, it started to flurry with confetti-like snow, and it was surreal.  I had never played at Pinon Hills when it snows.  It was beautiful.  I can picture my golf ball sailing through the air and the snowflakes on #8’s fairway.  Pretty cool. I mostly went to play with my new Wishon irons out on a golf course, not just in my backyard.

I managed two pars, and the new clubs helped.  On hole #2, I used my 3-wood to tee off, and I ended up just 149 yards out.  I chose my 7-iron next, and I used that new baseball grip.  My ball sailed with a wonderful trajectory to the middle of the green.  I managed two putts from there for my first par. 

The second one came on hole #6.  I used my new 5-hybrid (I used it for the very first time on the previous hole for an incredible tee shot), and I struck another beauty.  My ball landed on the front part of the green.  I checked the yardage, and that shot was 170 yards downhill with a large side breeze coming in from the left.  I used up two putts there, too, of course.  I hoped I would get another birdie, but my first putt missed left, and it was a smidge short.

I love the new 5-hybrid.  I did have those two successful and consistent swings with it.  I did...