Golf Wanting and Wishing

Well, I wish I was watching the Tiger and Phil show but guess I'm gonna have to do that via the computer what with the Jerry Lewis telethon taking place on Terre Haute's NBC and Louisville's NBC. Phil has opened with three birdies in the first six holes to take the lead in the tournament; Tiger has one birdie in the same stretch (update: make that one more birdie for each of them - thru seven now...). Darn it all. I guess that's an affiliate decision; wonder how any are doing golf? and not Jerry Lewis? Oh well, so it goes.

Busy morning at the golf course with everybody trying to take advantage of the 'last hours' of summer. Hey, guess what? Lots of great golfing left this year especially with the expanded daylight we have now. No need to put away your clubs. Nobody really does that, do they? (Dedicated golfer talking here; golf clubs never get put away...)

This year has been a tough year for me and my putter. That silly little short stick has decided to go on a sabbatical this year and left me with all sorts of questions about what to do in the meantime. Two things that have helped me: a re-dedication to 'seeing the line' and also making an attempt to make the forward part of the putter swing twice the distance of the backward part.

Seeing the line and then putting down that line, that would be the direction half of the equation, can be demonstrated right in your living room by taking a ten foot piece of string, tying one end of it around a pencil and then anchoring the pencil in a pencil holder; take the other end of the string and tie it to the little yellow plastic flag in one of those little green plastic golfing holes that we all have at least two of, it being a great gift for a golfing dad. The string should be raised high enough so that you can place your ball directly under the string away from the hole whatever distance you choose. Then take your stance and hit the ball down the string and into the hole. It's works. That very overt line to the cup makes putting so much easier; too bad we can't take a Sharpie out on the greens with us and draw our lines in actual play.

The 'one step back and two step forward' swing is something Eric read in David Pelz's book on putting (David Pelz's Putting Bible) and shared with me several years ago. At the time, I didn't think much of it, my putting being the strongest part of my game. But now, with all the troubles I have had this year, I pay more attention to the mechanics of putting and the memory of that suggestion came to mind. So, I make that part of my practice routine. Of course, doing something in practice doesn't always carry over to the golf course and the field of play.

Golfing update: Big Phil five under for the day, through ten; Tiger bogied 9 and is just one under, down by five with eight to go. My oh my, what a turn of events.

Gotta go do other stuff, like practice my putting, life weights, cuss NBC and JL...