Author: Boss

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Video Lessons

With the season in full swing, Summer is here and I really wasn’t playing that well.  My swing was  inconsistent and unpredictable to say the least.  I’ve been shooting 84 and then 98 in the span of just a few weeks.  Normally, this can be fixed by going to a coach and getting things straightened out.  However, I haven’t had a coach for a few years because I moved to a rural area and I don’t know of a good one around here.  So what to do?  It just so happens that the last lessons I took in San Diego were videotaped, so I dusted them off and took a look.  Yet again, my video lessons proved to be money well spent.

There were a couple things that I saw on those videos.  First, one of the first things my old coach had be work on was my reverse tilt.  Instead of my torso tilting toward the hole, my coach wanted my torso to tilt away from the hole.  This would promote a better plane and make it easier to launch the ball, especially with my long irons and fairway metals.  So that was the first thing I changed.  I took these mental images to the driving range and immediately saw results.  My plane has improved and my ball striking is much more consistent.  The two rounds I played since viewing those lessons were both 82’s.  Yeehaw!  Can’t argue with success.

Man those video lessons continue to payoff even years later!  Even before this happened, I was a believer in the benefits of video lessons.  However, learning from them years after the lesson was one benefit I hadn’t thought of.   Now all I can say is that I’m gonna keep those videos forever!

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Clothes with SPF?

Have you ever heard someone ask for a tip and the other guy responds with “wear sunscreen”.  Haha, very funny, but boy it’s getting hot out.  This year, because it’s kind of a pain to put on a ton of sunscreen on, I decided to try wearing long sleeve shirts as long as possible.  It’s still working even with 90+ heat in a lot of places!

Long sleeves have a few benefits.  The first is of course keeping the sun off your skin.  This helps keep your risk of melanoma lower, keeps your skin looking younger, and keeps you from getting a crazy farmer tan.  Seems good all around.  A second benefit is that it’s supposed to keep you cooler.  I’m not sure about that one, but everyone wears long sleeves in the middle east so there must be something to it.

I have two different approaches to my long sleeves.  First, there are long sleeve shirts made out of moisture wicking, breathable material.  These are a great option and very easy to find these days.  The other option is a pair of sun sleeves.  These are tighter and designed to cover just your forearms and extending under your short sleeves.  Sun sleeves are also made out of high tech fabric, but allow some breathing room under your short sleeves.    Plus, you can take these off when you go inside!  Here is a picture of a sun sleeve made by Sun Mountain.

Sun Sleeves made by Sun Mountain
Sun Sleeves made by Sun Mountain

The other thing to consider when buying your golf shirts is their UPF, which is similar to SPF for sunscreen.  It stands for UV Protection Factor.  Clothes inherently have some UPF because they block the sun, but companies are impregnating clothes with a sunscreen like substance to increase your protection from the sun.  This seems really smart and makes a lot of sense!  Some clothes even have their UPF rating right on their label, so keep your eye out.  Generally the UPF will run from 30 to 50 on average.

Anyway, hope those thoughts on sun protection are useful.  Hit ‘em long and straight, but don’t forget to protect your skin from sun damage!

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The Las Vegas Callaway Facility

Vegas is always fun, but it’s even more fun with the abundance of golf.  There is so much golf in Vegas.  It’s got a lot of options for adding golf to your vacation in lots of ways.  It gets a little chilly in the winter and very warm in the summer, but the weather is great most of the year (that has become a criterion for where I want to spend my time).  I’ve even played when it was 105 degrees in the summer, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  It’s a dry heat..

But the two biggest problems with golf in Las Vegas are the cost and the fact that when you’re on vacation there are so many other things to do!  This past trip to Las Vegas, I found the solution to both of those problems:  The Callaway facility just south of the airport on Las Vegas Boulevard.

I played the nine hole par 3 course at the Callaway facility and it was speedy and cheap.  We teed off at 11 am.  That was perfect because it was close to the strip so we didn’t have to get up super early and there were a bunch of open tee times to choose from when I called earlier that same week.  Most holes fall between 110 and 135 yards, so it’s really a short game course, except for the one 185 yard hole at the end.  But the course was in pretty good shape and picturesque enough to enjoy.  There was water scattered throughout and a few bunkers to make it interesting.

The first thing I liked about the Callaway facility is the convenience and short time commitment.  It only took about an hour and a half to play, and we were taking our time.  Even if there’s a slow group, it wasn’t a huge deal because the holes are short and there are only nine of them.  I was in Vegas with a bunch of people that didn’t play golf, so it was a perfect little golf outing without excluding people from a whole day.

The second thing I liked about this option was that it was cheap.  It only cost $30 to play compared with $100-500 to play a full round of golf at most of the other courses.  Of course, if you go to Vegas in the dead of summer or winter you can get great deals on most championship golf courses anyway, but 30 bucks is tough to beat.  It’s especially good if you’re going with people that don’t play a lot and aren’t willing to pay the big bucks for a nicer course.

Granted, the Callaway facility was only a par 3, so if you wanna play a full round of golf this isn’t the place.  However, if you’re hung over and you just wanna hit some balls, this may be the place to go.  It was the right choice for me this trip and I’d play it again!

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Tiger Woods is coming back at the Masters!

I’ve always been a Tiger Woods fan.  That hasn’t changed after all the hoopla surrounding his personal life.  I think he could’ve handled it better, but who’ll really cares anymore?  I just want him to win.  This long hiatus that he’s taken has just made the drama last even longer.  But, finally, it looks like Tiger is ready to get back to the thing that made him great: golf.  And he’s coming back at the biggest stage in golf: the Masters.

The Masters is where the greatest come to test themselves against the best.  It has a storied history that golfers recount like it was yesterday.  It remains the hardest ticket in sports to get.  Augusta is hallowed grounds for golfers.

Is Augusta the place that Tiger makes his triumphant return?  May people have talked about this and many have taken different points of view.  It seems as though many people agree that Tiger will come back sharp, but the problem may come with has lack of competitive play recently.  Will that have an effect on his play?

Here’s the thing:  Tiger is driven to win.  If his history is any indication, he is not going to Augusta for a top ten.  He wants to win.  His goal is still to win more majors than Jack.  He’s still got that goal in his sights.  I guess this week we’ll see how close he’s getting.

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How often to replace your golf club grips

I just bought new golf club grips online.  I bought an entire set of Winn DSI grips.  I bought them online because they’re cheaper and because I could get exactly what I wanted.  I love getting new grips because they feel so great in your hands.  They give you confidence with every stroke and help you make a consistent stroke every time.

You should replace your grips every 12 to 24 months depending on how often you play.  However, make sure to inspect your grips regularly for any ware or tear.  On the other hand, even if you haven’t played much, if your grips are old they may become hard and slippery as well.  In any of these cases you also may want to change your grips.  Also, try to replace the grips on your entire set at the same time.  This will help your consistency with different clubs.

Plus, new grips make it almost feel like a new set of clubs, which is always fun!