Winter weather again… Second year running.

Rain, Shine, Sleet or Snow - Golf - Maybe! If they will allow you on the course – practice. If not – improvise… Although Washington, Congress, and Wall Street have gutted America, we will survive. You must not quit. Sponsorships are being cancelled or dropped worldwide, starting with Tiger Woods and GM. So, back to the drawing board. Dust off the old worn, bent and rusted clubs and shine them up. This is your chance to move up the ladder a notch.

Okay, right, you betcha. Out comes the old car (new actually). The garage is now a driving range, with chipping and putting capabilities (12 ft. ceiling at center). Yeah, we still have the one (practice area) outside for sunny days. See pictures at Backyard Photos. http://roydye.org/Backyard%20training%20aids.htm

Inside the garage we covered one wall with a large square practice net that retracts into the ceiling when not in use. A putting surface down one side with carpet covering the floor between the net and the putting surface. Top dog, my man, top dog! Expensive? Nope. Remember I’m cheap. (When you don’t have money – you are cheap -  or frugal. Parsimonious, if you will.)

The nets you can get at any golf outlet (usually under $50) and I got the carpet from a carpet remnant house for $60. That’s it – now I can golf – practice – all winter. The older you are or the more you work, the more efficient and accelerated your practice time must be. Time fly’s now-a-days. Get-with-it…

Yeah, we broke 100. Worked the nineties (90) through mid-year. Cruised into the 80 bracket (yes… 89 is in the 80’s) right up into old man winter. But we can’t stop here although we are heading into the second year. Remember I thought I’d be shooting scratch within a few months! (My oi - online instructor - had it exactly right from the start.)

Okay, I admitted in the last article that it would take longer than I had anticipated – maybe the rest of my life. But, that’s okay too; the health benefits have surpassed expectations. Back to walking across America? I don’t think so. (However, with the right sponsors – we’ll consider anything.)

Golf course walking far exceeds any gains walking the highways and byways – health wise. (Walking the highway has become very dangerous, in today's hectic world,  to say the least.) The beauty, of each golf course, is extraordinary – if you just open your eyes. I carry a camera at all times – as you can see. It’s not only about the golf!

Back to Golfsmith looking for magic of some (any) kind. Found three super guy’s there that helped tremendously. Greg Johnson, Ray Sharp and James, the new replacement for Greg (all technicians). Without them I wouldn’t be playing golf today or be able to play a decent game. (Note: Greg has gone to the links full time I understand. Ray is playing the local pro circuit, PGA I think. James is full time and plays the locals at every opportunity.) All are GolfTEC technicians, http://www.golftec.com/ and are located at Golfsmith - Memphis. http://www.golfsmith.com/

I tried all the clubs they have and learned how to remake them, alter, and build clubs from scratch. They sell all component parts at this location. I can’t imagine how a golfer can play a decent game without this knowledge. The variables from grip to toe are almost limitless and are make or break decisions for your game.

My opinion – if you are playing with straight off the shelf clubs you will never be better than you are now, and are, as a matter of fact, probably only playing around the 80 or 90 bracket, full time golfers and professionals excluded! (Might as well go to Wal-Mart for standard off the shelf brands.) Not good enough for me – remember I’m going for scratch – okay, stop the lol bit, it's a wonderful goal.

The point is you don’t have to play with off the shelf clubs and equipment – of any brand. The technicians at places like Golfsmith and other pro shops are there to help you – if you just ask. Besides, most altering of clubs specified by a club fitting will come free of charge with the purchase of most all clubs or sets. Or cost very little to make required changes to your present set.

Brands? Any brand that suits you. It’s beauty to you only. Clubs are like cars. All will get you there. Come in every conceivable color, and fit whatever size you may be. All properly tuned (club fitting process) will race neck and neck to the finish line (18^th green) with the best of them. The winner is usually the best mental strategist whether it’s clubs or cars. Why?

The world is so technologically advanced that any company (or China, at 1/4^th the price) can build you a club to match your exact specifications and needs. The only difference playing or in competition will be you, the player. So, pick your favorite beauty, price, color, brand, or name that you can spell (usually American), and GO PLAY.

Oh yeah 'Hoss', 89 is absolutely within the 80 bracket. What, you thought it was 90-?

Until next time, I’ll keep walking, biking, and golfin’ America and leave a smile and handshake everywhere I go.

Roy Dye

Cuttin' up…

When you seriously set out to "get your game on" and do… then you are cuttin' up. I have been accused of cuttin' up many times. More recently I really thought I was cuttin' up golfin’ way ahead of my game plan.

The weighted club and catch net are two examples. As I mentioned in an earlier piece, I used a catch net to keep the balls within the fence, my boundaries in the backyard.

Like I said, I had to get really close to keep the balls from flying around the edges and over the top. But, after a thousand or two swings, hits and misses, I could back up a bit. Too good. I measured the trajectory of a ball flight and extrapolated a distance from the net whereby I could hit the center of the net with a driver. I WAS cuttin' up!

Okay… right on. Another one hundred power shots with the driver and I headed to the driving range. The very first ball may have hit my net – if it had been there – but it didn’t touch the area that I was aiming for about 250 yards down line, or stay within anywhere close to what would be the imaginary fairway area.

Alright, no problem… Another ball and it would work out! But, another, and another, and another didn’t come close either. Extrapolate – maybe I better look the word up. I must have made a mistake. I certainly WAS NOT cuttin' up now.

I didn’t finish the range balls. I left directly after about a dozen tries. What was wrong? It hit me on the way home what the problem was. First, it was the accuracy of the intended trajectory and the upper body strength that kept me from reaching my goal.

Enter the weighted club and a very small target on the net. Sure, I could hit the net, but could I hit a 12 inch target centered on the big net? Logically, a one or two degree deferential in the club face could mean 50 or 100 yards left or right down line of my intended target!!! Hello hazards, hello lakes, hello trees…Back to the drawing board for the net work.

Analyzing the net situation also gave insight into the distance factor. As logical as the net situation was so was the power behind the driver – which I had none of. Hello weighted driver – the first attempt.

Taking the chipping net-side target from the back of the net, I cut it loose and tied it to the front target side that I was using for the driver. (Pictures in the 2008 Golfin’ Gallery.) Giving me about a 12 inch target for the driver with the pre-configured distance.

Okay, nope, I couldn’t hit the center at all which explains why I couldn’t keep the ball in the fairway area at the driving range. Oh… but soon, I was cuttin' up again. Five out of five, then ten out of ten. Oh yeah, cuttin' up now in fine style. Dropping them into the target area of the net.

Back to Golfsmith and picked up two donut weights about 150 grams each for the driver. Strength training and swing plane exercises over and over again. Then both weights. After about a thousand times I was ready for the range again.

Oh no, I was not cuttin' up as I thought I’d be. True, it worked wonders for my distance and accuracy – compared to earlier – but no Tiger or Ochoa would give me a glance with these numbers.

However, I was now on the right track. It would just take time, and as I was to find out, more weights, smaller targets on the net, more swings, more training, more hours. Imagine a one degree tilt of the clubface, up down, left or right that will cause the ball to completely miss the fairway or the green altogether!!!

Accidently seeing a segment on the Golf Channel about heavy hitters and heavy club weights – I looked up the site on the internet. Finally I found the weight of the club they were selling. Oh wow, it weighed over two pounds. That means I was about two donuts short of having a real upper body strength building club that would actually increase my swing speed which would translate into greater distances on the range and off the tee.

Oh man, I got two more 150 gram weights, making four altogether, totaling about 2 1/4 pounds of club head weight. Whoa, I tell you one thing, if you ever learn to swing this thing on plane with any speed and accuracy, you won’t have any trouble driving over 250 - 300 yards and staying in the fairway with a measly 200 gram store-bought driver (actually 200 grams static head weight. 300 - 350 with attached shaft and grip).

Next I transferred all this info to the irons. Net, targets, distance, the whole ball of wax. Pictures of targets for driving, irons and pitching targets are included in the Golfin’ Gallery. The rings on the tree are actually hula hoops that work quite well for each iron with long irons using the lower hoops and short irons using all the top hoops. Using air balls, of course, that allow full swings but only go a few feet.

Right on again, I was not cuttin' up with the irons at first and could not hit each of the hoops at the proper distance. But, that changed in time and now I am just using time to burn up more practice hours. Apparently there is no magic – it takes time, practice and patience.

However, progress has been made. A considerable amount of progress as a matter of fact. Not yet under the 90 mark scoring but will be under 90 shortly. And, what happens at 90??? Nothing, I will keep going. Next, I am looking for 80, but remember, I am going for scratch… Still don’t like handicapping a player. Why 'pay' a player to 'beat' you?

Until next time, I’ll keep walking, biking, and golfin’ America and leave a smile and handshake everywhere I go.

Roy Dye

Un-Tape, Un-Tape, Un-Tape

Oh yeah, good thing it’s not permanent tape. Remember I said I taped my clubs with the expected distance written on the tape! The distance each club would hit, drive, knock, mash or in any other way propel a ball, or cause it to roll a great distance, toward the intended target…

This was the new cheap Wal-Mart set. Boy, they looked good. I had a rain cover on the top but I kept it off so the clubs could be seen. Nope, I had never seen a Cobra, Calloway, Nike or any other big-time recognizable golf club.

So they looked good to me. Besides, if you can play golf – you apparently can play with anything – club-wise. You certainly don’t need a Cadillac to go to the market. You can get to the store in a Focus with plenty of room to haul your grub back! Counting on my country-boy logic and common sense here to justify my cheap clubs.

Several at the clubhouse did see the clubs but no one asked to see them or pick one up! (Wow, wonder why?) Good thing, I found out later as time went on that each time I went to the driving range I had to take the tape off and re-tape with shorter distances marked on them. No fear of hitting the great distances the pros do.

Finally I stopped re-taping after each driving lesson. I just wrapped enough tape right below the grip so that I could peel off a bit and jot down a new number for distance. This was still decreasing.

Once Ed sent an email asking how I was doing – guess he thought I had already quit since he hadn’t heard from me. I fired back that I was down to or below the numbers listed for the ladies now in club distance and still peeling off tape.

After a couple rolls of tape and tons of practice, I was keeping the ball within limits of an imaginary fairway down-line but my distance was only about half that of the pros. Nothing the pros were doing was in line with what I was doing at this time!

How short was I on the distance? Well, here’s an interesting bit. I finally got onto the dog track course (of which I am very proud of now – because I have learned the most here and decided that if you can play here you can play anywhere – right again Ed.)

So I was midway through the course at hole 7. Folks behind me were chomping at my heels. I got behind a tree and waved them on – play on by. Hole 7 is listed as 125 yards – tee to pin. I watched the guy at the tee take an iron and hammer away. The ball rolled up just shy of the green just a few feet away from the hole.

When they walked up I disclosed my weakness by asking him what iron he was using – I then put my foot in my mouth again – I guess that was a 5 iron? They started laughing saying "Heck Naw, that was my pitching wedge. I can normally hole it from the tee." Hey, you gotta have a laugh-a-day. Somebody does anyway!

I couldn’t wait until they played on by and I could get me and my clubs out of there. Why did I ask him if it was a 5 iron? Because mine was taped with the distance I had achieved (that I was down to) with the 5 iron. One hundred (yeah, 100 yards) to 120 yards!!! Can you imagine when my hero Camilo Villegas has a distance on his 5 iron of 205 yards!!!!!!! Oh me oh my…

Glad to see the end of THAT day. Now what? Okay, some more research, more work, more training, especially with weights and strength training. Apparently I just could not swing the clubs with enough force to get a decent set of numbers from them – or taped to them.

Another note from my oi and I told him I was catching up to the ladies distance mark AGAIN. Not there yet but the game plan was working. And losing more weight. Besides walking the course everyday and the additional weight work I had dropped another ten pounds. There’s always a winning side to everything if you look for it.

Next time I’ll show you some of the weights and weighted clubs that I built to re-build some of the arm muscles and re-gain some of the strength of yesteryear. Heck, we all know this. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

By the way – I have moved my distance up on the 5 iron to 160 yards. Nothing to brag about yet, but better than before when it was around 100. With Camilo hammering out 205 on the 5 iron, I’m just 45 yards away now. Not 105 yards as before – half his distance. Progress.

I know now I’ll never reach his numbers – but I’ll be somewhere between where I am now and where he is now. And that’ll be just about where Golfsmith say’s the average distance is for the 5 iron. Not Camilo or Tiger, but the average everyday American golfer. That suits me.

You young folks reading this have got it made. While you got it – use it. Don’t wait until you get older and have to start all over. Keep it, eat a healthy diet, maintain and go for the 100 mark. Not 100 in golf – 100 years old.

The 100 mark in golf? Yeah, I’ve been working on that one too. I just assume that I will break the 100 mark scoring and so I am not worried about that mark or the 90 mark, actually. I’m working on my oi’s number. The upper eighties.

 I'd rather not have a handicap at all. I’m shooting for "Scratch." Actually, there's something strange about giving points to an underdog...

Until next time, I’ll keep walking, biking, and golfin’ America and leave a smile and handshake everywhere I go.

Roy Dye

Pitch, Putt and the Dog Track...

With all the cards and letters coming in and the next update already in demand, I gotta get with it. With Pitch and Putt sounding a little strange (my online instructors next command), and ciphering and deciphering looking like keys to a lock… times a-wasting.

Now we know what our oi (online instructor) was talking about. This ain’t easy – physically or mentally. Actually, common sense and ciphering can be one and the same. This deal – Golf – is gonna take some logic and sorting of information to accomplish a winning strategy. In fact, I might as well stick my foot in my mouth right off the bat. It’ll save a lot of time later. I WILL learn to play golf in a decent manner!

Born with an abundance of common sense ciphering was second nature to us. Growing up right after World War ll was no easy task. However, you did learn to make-do with what you had, could make, earn or find. Common sense as talent in other words was an asset. (This later, my online instructor said would become very important. When it was time to make do with what you have, including talent and material.)

His advice? Hit a dog track type course first. (An old nine hole that was beat up pitching and putting to the maximum.) Makes sense – who would want an amateur scaring up multi-million dollar tee’s, fairways, and greens? Besides, you couldn’t afford it.

I found one close to home that was as he described – or worse. It was certainly a unique experience just to walk it. Scary for me as a matter of fact. I didn’t even know what a golf ball would do when you hit. If… I could hit it!

As I said earlier, I had already miscued on his advice earlier and purchased a cheap set of clubs from Wal-Mart before I received his letter advising against it. However, the clubs were no longer shiny and new looking. Beating around the backyard the way I did had taken its toll. They certainly looked used. Used up, actually.

So I headed to the dog track, so to speak. I chickened out at the office and asked for a bucket of balls and headed to the driving range instead. I figured I could hit some golf balls and not appear too dumb doing it. Besides, I had gotten the distance each club should drive a ball and taped it to the shaft on each club. Yeah, I read a lot and was learning what I was supposed to do.

I’m just glad it was early in the morning and no one was there except the attendant. I choose the 200 mile marker (uh oh, that’s 200 yards) first. I walked out and picked up my first ball. It didn’t go but about thirty feet anyway.

190 yards short of my target range and the tape indicator on the club. I was going to tape the club at about 250 to 300 yards, like the pros, but I marked the driver at 200 to 250 yards – in case someone was there and asked about my range – I’d be within limits!!!

Good thing the driving range was about as wide as long (for me anyway) because many balls went directly sideways. Yeah, exactly ninety degrees! Now I know why they have the guards between each player.

Okay, so now that we have gotten a few weeks behind us and lost more balls than Wal-Mart stocks, I can see that IT IS POSSIBLE TO PLAY GOLF even if you start this late in life. Besides, golf was NOT the name of the game when I started this – It was my doctor’s insistence for medical reasons. But, golf IS NOW THE NAME OF THE GAME!!! Once you get hooked – you’re hooked. Simple as that.

To cut a long story short and get on with the golfin’ I re-read all my notes from the online instructor. Turned on The Golf Channel every day, got a few golf magazines and found the local Golfsmith retail outlet.

Now I had all the tools necessary to cipher a strategy and game plan for the next twelve months. Besides, foot in mouth again, I committed to a golf tournament for charity in June of 2008. One year from the time I started. Nope, never thought for a minute that I wouldn’t make it.

Besides my online instructor, I decided to go straight to the top, learn from the best. I bought tapes (CD’s actually) by David Leadbetter and Butch Harmon (Tiger Woods ex-coach). Went to Golfsmith’s repair guy’s and learned about the clubs, length, weight, grips, speed, distance and what have you. Even a set of kitchen scales to weigh each of the clubs.

It was going to be very difficult for me ( my oi was right on the physical side of it) if I was to have enough stamina to endure a full eighteen or thirty six hole endurance test and survive this on a day to day basis. With that said I put the physical part behind me and decided that, I had done it for the road, I certainly could do it for golf.

Back to the TV. Wow, what you can learn if you really watch the top players. Tiger Woods, Camilo Villegas, K. J. Choa, Michelle Wie, Nancy Gulbis, Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, and a few others. But, these guy’s have a very unique approach to golfing, training, appearance and attitude. All important assets to successful golfing. So I am partial to them for a faster learning curve.

Now the hard part. The make or break part of becoming a successful golfer. From the health side of near physical abuse to proper diet, exercise, and walking. Full golf training, from rules and regulations to swing training, driving and putting. Over and over and over again and then over and over again!!!

Okay, so now we have a plan. Can we stick with it? Well, here’s the straight dope… we are gonna give it the old college try. The old one, two, three.

Note: A few pictures have been added in the Golf Gallery that demonstrates the degree and number of task necessary to have available training areas round the clock in any kind of weather. Nets, grass, mowing, makeshift clubs (I made my own weighted clubs) and various other homemade training aids. Observation of course. I watch all the locals every chance I get.

One more 'foot in mouth' comment - I believe ANYONE with a desire can learn to play golf!!!

Until next time, I’ll keep walking, biking, and golfin’ America and leave a smile and handshake everywhere I go.

Roy Dye