What Do You Expect?

Last month I played in a match play event that pitted me against a 7 handicap.  Ok, she had to give me 13 strokes.  One would think one could do something with that.  Well, one can always hope.  I lost 3/2.  I came home and my husband asked me how I played.  Not well I said.  He looked at me and cautiously said, now don't get mad at me for saying this but what did you expect?  You don't practice, you haven't played as much as you normally do and you don't take lessons.  I did not hit him with my putter.  I hate it when he is right...

Formats for Tournaments...Can You Ever Satisfy Everyone?

I have been in charge of many of our major tournaments over the years.  From our Member Guest, to our Member Member to our Solheim Cups. I know that's a sentence fragment but just go with it.  The women always accept the Solheim format which is 6 holes scramble, 6 holes best ball and 6 holes alternate shot.  But when it comes to a tournament like the M/G or M/M, whoa, does the bitching start.  I can see how the M/G format should be more player fun.  But for me, the M/M means it's a team event with big prizes and the TEAM should earn it,  My goodness you would think the world is coming to an end when I want to in some way count both players scores, even on a divided format.  Here's what we've tried:

Golfing Italy...Well, it Was an Experience

We just got back from an 8 day trip to Tuscany.  We went with another couple who had never been to Italy.  My husband and I have been all over the country.  We did it in batches and different ways.  We spent 8 days driving the lake country.  We've been to Rome and Tuscany and Florence.  And we've cruised all around the country on our favorite cruise line Windstar (http://www.windstarcruises.com/). From Venice to Malta, from Rome to Venice, from Rome to Rome.  This trip we stayed at a great little boutique hotel Villa Le Barone (http://www.villalebarone.com/) right smack dab in the middle of Chianti.

Golf Tournaments to Support Breast Cancer Charities

I know that this has become a great way to support breast cancer charities.  I wrote about our efforts in an earlier blog: http://womanlovesgolf.blogspot.com/2013/02/think-pink-golf-tournaments.html

Here's an update.  This year's theme is based on the Katy Perry song, Roar!  Our theme is "HEAR ME ROAR!"  Our mascot is a pink tiger roaring loudly.  But the focus of the decorations will be butterflies.  It's based on these lyrics:  "Now I'm floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee..."  Strong but beautiful...At the awards luncheon I'm going to do a dramatic reading of the song and will have a Greek chorus to sing, well, the chorus.  I was a speech coach so I don't mind doing that. It should be fun.

Foreplay-Dating and Golf

I've always told my daughter that if she is on a plane she should have two magazine with her, Fortune and Golf Digest.  Why?  A guy might look at her and say, wow, concerned about money AND plays golf.  Good combo.  Might get a date.  I'm just saying.  Anyway, Golf Digest has an article entitled Foreplay.  

How to Put More 3's on Your Score Card

I know I said this wasn't going to be so much about technique etc.  But I have found I'm not playing as much golf as usual and some of my skills have slipped.  The best thing to do, of course, is to take a lesson.

The Lack of Information/Apparel Available to Women Regarding Golf

There used to be a great golf store here in my city dedicated strictly to women.  If you wanted the latest in any golf attire or equipment, she had it.  Only for women.  It was a real treat walking into that store.

A Golfer's Eulogy...No Joke

Of course we've all heard the quote about how a bad day on the golf course is better than a day at the office. I don't think this was the case for this guy.  But he obviously died a happy golfer.

How Do You Feel About Your Handicap? And I Don't Mean Your Husband :))

My husband and I took a trip to Whistling Straits and included in the package was a half hour lesson from

Whistling Straits

one of their pros.  He asked me my current handicap,

Stereotypes in Golf

I subscribe to a fun Face Book page, Swing by Swing.  They always send out some fun videos.  Recently they sent one out that was a very a funny one showing 4 guys making fools of themselves by imitating "stereotypical" golfers.

You Know You Need a Personality Bi-Pass Operation When....

I love group dynamics.  With our women's golf association,  we've played with each other for so long.  We all know each others idiosyncrasies.  She talks too much, she's a bad driver, she's slow, she wears too much perfume, to cheating on scoring or posting wrong scores on purpose.

UBF....Come on. You Know You're Curious.

I have a girl friend who is a very good golfer. I think she's a 6 or 7 handicapper.  She is also a staunch Catholic girl.  Went to Catholic schools all of her life. (It doesn't really matter the religion.  I'm just trying to make a point.) I've never heard her say one curse word.  Now, we have a mutual nemesis golfer.

Deliberate = Slow

While watching the Bay Hill Invitational, I listened to Johnny Miller opining on the thing that most irritates PGA players.  It happens to be slow play.  I'm sure we all remember Sergio and his hand gripping and Keegan Bradley's "dance" before hitting a ball.  They're not all  like Brandt Snedeker.

The Walmart Golfer

No offense to Walmart.  I love Walmart and I shop there all of the time.  But each month or so I inevitably get a mass emailing with "New Pics of the Shoppers at Walmart!"  And inevitably the pics are of people in outrageous clothing, inappropriate clothing for their body types or lack of clothing with numerous tattoos and piercings.  So what does this have to do with golf?

Create Your Own Golf Tournament

Caveat...if you've never put on a golf tournament, then it would be wise to get help.  Hopefully this site can give you ideas.  5 years ago I was feeling my hormones raging and then began raging (to my husband, the dear thing) that our pro shop cared diddly squat about couples' golf tournaments.  I was on the golf committee at the time representing the women's golf association.  I said something to the pro about not having any couples' 18 hole golf outings.

The Imp of the Perverse

This phrase was first used by Edgar Allen Poe.  Remember in the Tell Tale Heart a boarder kills an old man because he can't stand to look at his pale blue eye. He dismembers him and buries him under the floor boards of the house.  While he had been killing the old man, the old man had shrieked.  The neighbors call the police.  The boarder is all cool, calm and collected until he begins to hear the thump, thump, thump of a heart beat getting louder and louder.  Surely the police can hear it!  He screams and yells to pull up the floor boards to silence the heart.  Ok.  I remember that from school.  What's that got to do with golf?

The Golf Bi*ch

I play almost every Sunday with my husband and another couple.  I've played with other men as partners in tournaments.  I've seen them throw clubs, curse, beat the ground, even break a club AND get drunk.  But this is not a behavior you see in women...oh yes it is!

Golfers Are Self Centered

Now why would you say that?  Because it's true.  My husband asked one of his oldest friends to come play in his member guest.  His friend's wife is also one of my dearest friends.  Of the four of us, she is the only one who doesn't play golf.  Not that we intentionally or consciously did this but all the three of us that golfed did was...talk about golf.  My dear friend would leave and go read a book.  Another example, please.  Well, how many times have you had to listen to a golfer go through every hole of a round they've just played?  Ahem...listen up husbands.  Or, you're riding in a cart with someone and all they do is talk about what they just did or what they need to do to improve on the next shot.  Shut the F*CK UP!  I'm trying to play my own game here!  The fact of the matter is NO ONE ELSE CARES ABOUT WHAT YOU JUST DID!  I'm starting to get like Elaine on Seinfeld with the exclamation points. 

But since you're reading my blog, I've got you sort of trapped and will tell you about my almost Adam Scott moment.  Once a year we have a bracketed match play event we call our President's Cup.  We start out with the lowest handicapped person in the flight playing the highest handicapped player.  I'm a 19 and I played a 15 so she had to give me 4 strokes.  I make the turn 6 UP.  I said to myself, self, keep focused.  Just win a few more holes and you can put this away.  Not my usual philosophy.  My usual philosophy is "one shot at a time sweet Jesus, one shot at a time."  My husband says that's blasphemous.  Well, if Zac Johnson can thank God.  But the truth is I don't think God really is worried about my golf game.  I digress.  I tie 10.  Hit the ball in the water on 11 (loss), hit the ball in the water on 12 (loss), two chunks on 13 (loss).  So I'm now only three up.  Tie 14 with a 9 (wasn't pretty) and hit it in the water on 15 (loss), now two up.  Pulled, shanked and lost 16 even though I've got a stroke (loss), tie 17 and go into 18 one up.  I DID NOT WANT TO PLAY EXTRA HOLES.  Get a hold of yourself you dick nose (sorry, a popular phrase my husband uses).  Well, ladies and germs, I had a stroke on the last whole, a long par 5.  I get on in 4, she's on the fringe in 3.  She three putts and I one putt for a par and the win!  The crowd roars! 

Don't you just hate playing like that?  And don't you hate reading about it?

A Woman Who Loves Golf

The "doers" and the "don'ters...

We have 80 members in our women's golf association.  Of that 80, 24 have volunteered to do something to help the organization STAY an organization.  I recently posted on my blog all of the volunteer jobs we need to fill every year.  But of those 24 that have volunteered,

We Need Volunteers!

It is the job of the vice-president of our women's golf association to get all of the volunteers for the up coming year.  Sometimes it's easy...sometimes, well, nearly impossible.  I work, I have kids, I travel, I'm here only 3 months out of the year, I've volunteered every year for 10 years! Enough already!