A Golfer's Birthday

We are sorry to have made fun of Katie’s golf ball retriever in an earlier post, because now there is an identical golf ball retriever in this writer’s golf bag. It arrived at our door this weekend in the hands of our golfing buddy Joan, complete with festive ribbon wrapped around the pole.

It must be admitted that it is pretty cool, and probably will serve for multiple uses, like retrieving cat toys from underneath the refrigerator, and shooing away flying bats to name only a couple of possibilities.

No sticking snow on the ground here yet, so we hope to have a chance soon to try out this new, cool device on an actual golf course. We will definitely keep you posted.

It does appear that we may also be keeping alien spaceships posted as we wander the course with this device in our bag. We will get back to you on this, too.

The Rain-Wind-Rainbow Tournament Report

We know you’re anxious for the news, and so we must report here that the WNMLF Scramble Team of Joan, Katie, Cindy, and Vicki survived their first-ever 18 hole tournament at Pinon Hills Golf Course, a benefit for our local Toys for Tots program.

Even though we finished last by some measures, we are happy to report that we finished first for the ladies’ team category (which sounds even better if you forget to notice that we were the only ladies’ team entered).

Things looked a little grim as we sat in our carts, waiting for the shotgun start. It was about 38 degrees F, and rain began to pour down on us.

“Golfers, start your carts.” We were off.

Our first hole was #10. We made the happy discovery that even though we were wet and cold, our teammate Katie was going to have a fabulous day on the course. We made par on that first hole following Katie’s good shots.

As we drove toward hole #11, shivering Cindy said, “One down and only seventeen to go.”

For the next few hours, we experienced almost every weather pattern that the Four Corners has to offer—sunshine, rain, sleet, clouds, wind. All we missed was the snow that held off until a few hours after we finished.

We made the turn and stopped off in the snack bar for hot chocolates.

Springtime returned to us on hole #3. We looked back and saw a full arc rainbow, certainly a sign from the universe that a day on the golf course is always a good one.

Things we learned in our first tournament—

**Some golfers have raincoats for their golf carts.

**There is not necessarily a real shotgun in a “shotgun” start.

**A $20 investment in a pink paint stick is money well-spent.  The paint stick allows Scramble golfers to count any ball within the radius of the paint stick around the hole as IN the hole. We made good use of this stick.

**W. Timothy Gallwey’s humming thing didn’t work out so well.

**It is NOT a good idea to carry a cup of hot chocolate out onto the green and attempt to putt while holding aforementioned hot chocolate.

**If you try to play with one of your cool, official tournament golf balls, you will probably lose it on the first or second hole you play.

**It can take a really long time to play 18 holes.

**The WNMLF team rocks.

Is there any other way to play golf?

Mental Prep for Tournament

New advice from another library trip, this time from W. Timothy Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Golf—

HUM while you are swinging.

Now we are faced with the dilemma of choosing the proper tune to hum. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy from the Ninth? John Prine’s Angel from Montgomery? Row Row Row Your Boat? Deck the Halls?

Since all the golf advice we have so far encountered has included some version of “just relax and have FUN out there,” we figure that this focus on choosing the proper tune for humming during the swing is probably a good distraction.

Meanwhile, a significant portion of our mental preparation must include this weekend’s Four Corners weather forecast.

Winter storm warnings?

I can’t hear that because I’m humming. You will have to guess what tune I have chosen.

Tournament Prep

Believe it or not, the WNMLF golf league is about to play in its first golf tournament. Is the world of tournaments ready for us?

Our New Mexico November weather turned back to spring for the past two weeks, and we’ve been out there on the driving range in our shirt sleeves as the temps hit into the 60’s and even 70’s.

We took the advice that appeared on a Dove dark chocolate wrapper, “Make the most of an Indian summer day,” and even felt pretty toasty one afternoon last week as we made it through a large bucket of golf balls.

Still, it is November, two weeks before Thanksgiving, and so anything could happen this weekend, both on the golf course and in the local weather pattern.

Stay tuned for further details.

Library Golf

On a tour of the college library with her class the other day, this blogger found herself quite unintentionally stopped in the golf section. She looked up and GV 979.P75 R65 1996 was trying to jump off the shelf.

And there it was—advice from Dr. Bob Rotella, sports psychologist and golf philosopher,

GOLF IS A GAME OF CONFIDENCE.

Among the Pearls from Dr. Bob:

“The right choice is the decisive choice.”

“It’s not very important where you’ve been. Life is about where you’re going.”

“If you can win the battle with your mind and emotions and play your best game, then you really can’t lose.”

“Most dreams are attainable if the dreamer is ready to devote consistent, intelligent effort to them.”

…and a few other pearls scribbled in now undecipherable handwriting.

Then life pressed in and this reader had to press on with the rest of her day.

She walked out of the library with some good advice to ponder, maybe even some golf tips.