Gar's Golf Sojourn
Gar's personal post in the quest to beat "old man Par".
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Shooting my age, totally delusional?
Merriam-Webster defines delusional as something that is falsely or delusively believed or propagated; as in believing “they will finish on schedule” or in the case of shooting one’s age; “delusions of grandeur”. And, I must admit the first few times I had the thought of “How cool it would be to shoot my age”, the next thought was “YOU ARE TOTALLY NUTS”. However, as I am now in the mid seventies age bracket, perhaps “delusional moments of grandeur” can turn into reality. Now, way back while playing to a plus 3 or better, I did shoot mid seventies or better most of the time, the only problem, I was in…
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The Sojourn of a Course Formerly Known As
It was the spring of 64 when I discovered the game of golf. Up until then, being totally focused on other types of round balls, I am not even sure I knew anything about the game except our school had a golf team. That same spring, 600 miles away, a course opened that in time would become ingrained in my golf DNA. Park Mammoth Golf Course was part of a Best Western resort that included tennis courts, putt-putt course, horseback riding, private cave, and a miniature train that would take you “to and from” the lodge to various points around the complex including the golf course. Imagine a collage of…
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The Practice Manual
If you have been playing as long as I have, you have seen a lot of thing change in the golf industry. In the past 50+ years, technology has evolved in an effort to improved the game that would have seen unimaginable in the early 1970s. However, one thing has remained constant, the golfer still has to swing the club. And, paraphrasing a Simply Red song, “time changes everything”; that includes your golf swing. What performed so well when you were in your thirties or forties, does not at seventy plus! So, at some point, if still serious about beating “old man Par”, the journey begins to find a new…
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What’s the Yardage
Historians have debated the origin of the game for a long time. Was it the Dutch playing a game with a stick and leather ball which the winner was whoever hit the ball with the fewest strokes into a target several hundred yards away? Or, was it the documented Scottish game gowf played since the 1400s? Whatever the case, I am willing to wager, it was only minutes after the first club was swung, the thought “How far?” followed. Knowing the distance has always been a key part of the game. Years ago, long before the GPS and laser rangefinders, the main way to know how far was stakes on…
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The Ben Hogan brand
My introduction to the name “Ben Hogan” came by the way of someone telling me I should get the book Five Lessons. At the time, I was fairly new to golf, a couple of years at the most, and most of my golfing experience had been on par 3s and short executive golf courses. However, by the early 70s, I had became a big fan of the man for what he had overcame as much as what he had accomplished in golf. And, by the early 80s, had Hogan clubs throughout my bag, so it was only natural for me to start playing the Hogan ball and wearing a Hogan…
