Winter is no time to take a break

Some people think just because it's getting colder and winter is here golf is out of the question for a few months. Well, those people are preposterous! That is a negative. The winter time is the time to work on your game, so when the opening day of golf comes around you are a completely new golfer. It is also a good time to invest in new clubs and try out different clubs to see what ones feel better.

You are probably asking, But Justin how would you do this if its just so cold outside? Well, I have just the perfect answer for you. For practicing purposes, domes are perfect. Kokamos, is a great example to practice your swing. They are open to the public and its not that much to go in there and hit for forty minutes. That's one of the main reason why they have it there. Especially right now would be a great time, because not a whole lot of people head up there. I just went last week with a friend and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. Only one other guy was in there with us and we sparked up a couple conversations with him.

If you are in need for some new clubs and want to get a feel for them during the off season so you'll have a great feel for them during opening day then I got a place just for ya. It's like golf heaven to me and I'm like a little boy in a toy store when I'm in that place. This golf heaven is called King Par. This amazing place is not to far away located in Flushing. King Par has almost everything you can think of golf related. The best thing though, is that you can test out clubs with there heated driving range. Yes, it's heated! All you do is just pick a club you want to try out and let them know and you'll get a little basket of balls to hit. It's by far the best place on earth for any golfer.

So if you are one of those people that are taking a break right now since its cold outside and want to get better. Then get off your butt and hit the dome! Thank you for reading

Complexity of Golf Balls

     Way back when in golf there was only one type of ball. It was a simple game. Now a days that has completely changed. There are so many different types of balls out there it's ridiculous. They are all made and meant for different style of players. So lets say you are a golfer and you have a strong drive and that's what you focus on when you play. You would want to use a ball that is made to help you go longer distance off of your drive. So there's a ball that Titleist made that is called Velocity. It's meant for people that have a powerful drive off the tee so they can play a short iron shot to the green. They just made this ball not to long ago, and I have not tried it out yet. I don't really know if I am willing to drop $33 on them though.

     Now if driving is not your game, you're more of a iron kind of player. Don't worry, there is a ball just for you. Another Titleist because I don't know a whole lot of other ones, it's the Titleist Pro V1x. This ball is meant for low long shots and a softer feel and drop, with good greenside control. I haven't tried this ball as well. Mainly because this ball wouldn't fit my game. Also the fact that it's way more than I would ever spend on a box of balls.
     If you want a ball that has a lot of spin so you can control your shots on the green then I got the ball to fit that. This one is a Taylormade. The ball is called Project (a). This ball is meant for this mid handicapped players who want to play better. It is a extreme spin and has a softer outer core so it'll drop nice and easy once it hits the green.

Now lets get to the ball I use, because I know all of you have been wondering what this pro uses. Well the ball I use is called Noodle. Yes it is called that, which is one of the reasons why i play with that one. The real reason is because I don't have a really straight drive most of the time so the Noodle ball I use is supposed to keep my ball straight and have it go a long distance. So that's my favorite ball to use. I also do like to use the Titleist NXT  Tour which almost has the same concept. The stupid thing is I haven't even scratched the surface of all the golf balls you can play with. All are meant for different players.

From Past to Present

Golf is one the oldest sports out there and has evolved quite drastically. Way back in the day only the rich and noble people were able to golf and afford it. The wealthy were the ones that pretty much created the sport to what it is today. You can still see a glimpse of that today with country clubs and only the people that can afford it play. So a good amount of upper class wealthy people do play the game. You see in movies and stuff how business man have work meeting and go out golfing on a really nice course just because they can. I'm sure that's how it actually is in real life or at least close to it.
Now lets go way way back when it all came together. They say that glimpse's of a form of golf was created back in the Egyptian days. But Professor Guerrero here, (yes I did just use myself in third person) is skipping ahead to the we lads in Scotland. During the 15th century they came up with the general rules and play of the sport. Shortly after that it was banned because it was supposedly getting in the way of their precious archery practice. Apparently they needed that to defend the country, but come on that's really lame and they soon realized that a few years later. The ban was raised and even the king of Scotland became interested in the game. A few post's back I talked about St Andrew's and the Old Course. Well this is when the course was created and the legacy began. Around 200 years later golf came around to the U.S. and that's when the first set of golf clubs were used in the country. Then after that it exploded and kept on evolving to what it is today. Back when it started they used beech wood and other hard woods to create the club. Wood was used for the longest time until the early 1900's it slowly got replaced and in 1931 the first tournament was won using steel shafted clubs. Then that sparked the next era for golf. Once WWII was over they began to experiment more and more with different metals. Slowly they went from steel, to graphite because it was lighter and you could have a faster swing. Then from graphite shafts came titanium club heads that paired with it. together those two make up a lot of golf clubs today.
Well there you go, a small history on how golf evolved from then to now.

You All Know Tiger

Everyone knows who Tiger Woods is. They all may not know him for the golfer he is or used to be. They may know him as the player he was off of the golf course if you know what I mean. Cheating on his wife and have a sex addiction problem. Yes he did have multiple sex partners and cheated on his wife a lot. That was the lowest of the low for him and he lost pretty much everything once that got out. His wife divorced him shortly after and he lost quite a few sponsors. Some big ones like Gatorade, and General Motors, but two companies did stay with Tiger throughout the whole fiasco. Nike and Electronic Arts stuck with him all because for Nike Tiger was their number icon in the golf category and for Electronic Arts, they have a whole video game line named after him so they would never let him go. Around three months later Tiger gave a televised announcement and stated that he was in therapy and gave an apology for all of his wrong doings.

Coming from the golf point of view taking a break from golf really hurt his golf rankings. Tiger dropped all the way to 58th in the golf rankings, which is the lowest he was ever. He soon regained the number one spot two years later. Ever since his Tiger's gigolo secret came I feel like he hasn't played the same. To me he has gone down hill. Yeah, he did win some championships and tournaments, but he wasn't really consistent. 2013 was his only good year after all of his problems and all the rest were not so great. Then Tiger hurt his knee and had to get surgery on it and had to be out for awhile for that. Then once back from that injury, he injured himself again. His back this time was the problem with some back pains. Tiger had to again leave the game again and went under some more surgery for his back and is currently doing therapy to get back to his old self. He is 38 years old so Tiger has a lot of golf still yet to play, and the fact that he is by far one of the best golfers to every play the game is just astounding. He has a  god given talent that he's had ever since he was little and its incredible. Despite what he's done he is one of my favorite golfers and sparked the boom of golf in the U.S.

Europe Has Us Beat

Every two years there is this competition between the United States and Europe. This contest is called the Ryder Cup. It all started way back when in 1927, with just the US and Great Britain. It slowly changed over the years and it extended to all of Europe instead of just Great Britain. Anyways, these past few Ryder Cups haven't been in the Untied States favor. In the past ten Ryder Cup's Europe has won eight of them. With winning this years cup put them in a three year win streak. To some people that don't really care about golf probably don't see what the point in this is, but to me and to all the other fans out there its awful. Especially this last cup was pretty embarrassing to be honest. They just got they ass's handed to them losing 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 points.

But that score wasn't as bad as the 04 and 06 Ryder Cup's losing both years with the score        9 1/2 to 18 1/2. The one in 2004 was actually held here in Michigan at the Oakland Hills CC. Surprisingly though we are still winning with the record of 25-12-2. In the very beginning when the Ryder Cup was created America was dominate. From the beginning 1927 all the way to 1983 Europe only won three and tied one. But then again the Europe team back then only consisted of Great Britain and Ireland. Once they extended the team to all of Europe it completely switched on us.

Mainly golf is just an individual sport, but during the Ryder Cup that is not the case. The captain of each team has to plan and match players who they would think would play well with each other. There are different types of play at the cup. There is Fourball, Foursomes and then Singles. In Fourball and Foursomes two teammates are paired with each other and go ahead against two other on the opposing team. It may seem like it would be easy to just throw players in wherever but there is some strategy to it all. It all depends on how everyone plays and their own style of play. Every single person on the team are really great and are on the team for a reason but there are a few that standout and those players will most likely play the same type on the opposite side. The weekend overall is really exciting to watch. The next Ryder Cup is back here in the US in Minnesota. I really would like to go and I'm going to try to. I'm just going to have to wait and see.

Course Bucket List Part 2

 

So last week I talked about the golf courses I would like to play at in Michigan. That list is pretty realistic for me. Well, more realistic than my list of courses across the nation and world. There are so many amazing courses out there in the world. My list mainly consist of courses in the US, but I do have one outside of the country that I just dream of going to.

 One of those is St Andrews Old Course. It is the oldest and probably one of the or the most prestigious golf course in the world. My life would probably be complete if I played there. The bridge right there in the picture to the right is well known across globe to every golfer. Its called the Swilcan Bridge and every golfer walks across this 700 year old bridge on the 18th hole to close the round off. This course has been around since 1400 they say. Its history and its a public course so I could play it whenever I take my spontaneous trips to Scotland. Ha jk..

Now the one that I have on my list for in the US are probably the most well known ones in the country. Augusta National is located in Augusta, Georgia and is one of the most famous courses in the nation and world. In 2009 it was ranked the number one golf course in America out of a hundred. It still remains in the top ten to this day. It opened up in 1933 and to me it is by far one of the best looking courses I have ever saw..on the computer and on TV that is. It is home to one of the major championships in the PGA, The Masters. It's been host to The Masters since 1934 and it won't ever change. Other than St Andrews this course is my second course I dream of going to. The only about this course is that it would probably be the hardest to ever play at. Since it's a private course, only members can play on it and to become a member you would have to pay a lot of money.  The picture below is one of the iconic holes on the course called Amen Corner. 

Course Bucket List Part 1

Everyone has a bucket list and want to accomplish things before they die. I have one too, well I have a few aimed in different categories. For the golfing aspect, I have a course bucket list. It is what it sounds like. I have quite the list of golf courses I want to play at before I die. I find this list to be challenging because not only are the courses extremely expensive, but not all of them are open to public. So i do have a few bumps in the road. The list is at least categorized by state and country. Believe it or not Michigan is home to a few very nice courses that are well known.
Starting with the number one golf course in Michigan. Crystal Downs (picture above) is in Frankfort. The course sits right between Lake Michigan and Crystal Lake. So you get a view of both lakes during your round of golf. It was ranked tenth in the United States for best golf courses by Golf Digest. Which makes me want to play it even more. But a downfall of the course is that it's a private course. So it would be extremely hard for me to at least touch the practice greens. Next up is the course that I've been practically drooling over for years now. Arcadia Bluffs,(picture below) located right on Lake Michigan in Arcadia. This course has had me in awe ever since I saw it in a golf magazine. It is ranked 3rd in Michigan according to Golf Digest. Just looking at pictures of it shows how beautiful the course is. I couldn't imagine what it actually looks like in real life. Good thing about this course is that it is a public course and I could go there whenever I wanted. I just need to save around $150 and I can play all eighteen. The reason why its so expensive is because the course is one of the best in the U.S. as well. It was rated one of the best public courses in the U.S. at 10th and ranked 24th for the best courses in the country. I am going to golf there one day, way way in the future. First, I need to have that money to blow on one round of golf, but most important I need to improve my golf game. Quite frankly, I suck a tad bit to much to be golfing there just yet.

My Clubs

When I started golfing every week I was using some old used clubs that used to be dad's. I still have them to this day in my closet. They have a new role now. Kill every spider that crawls in my room or in the entire house. But anyways, I used those Spaulding Irons for like one year until I couldn't take them anymore. Along with my irons I also had an old Ping driver that my uncle gave me. The irons truly sucked way to much so I saved up some money and bought me a completely new iron set. I did my research and tried to find the best set for the cheapest amount. It really didn't go very well. I came to the conclusion that golf clubs aren't cheap, so I gave in and just bought a brand that I have heard of before. Adam's golf was the brand that I bought and when I bought them I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. I was beyond happy with them and I broke them in the following day at the Reese golf course. I wasn't happy with them the first day, in fact I was actually beyond pissed off about them. I could't hit the ball straight with my life depended on it. But, I just had to get used to them because after a few times using them I was hitting the ball better than every.

My Ping driver was the next thing to go. It just had no more juice left in it and it wouldn't go far at all. So for Christmas one year I got a new TaylorMade Burner driver. By far the best present I have ever got. I didn't care how cold it was outside that day I went out there and hit a few just to see how it felt. The ball made a nice ping noise right when it came off the club head. That driver was my new baby and I didn't let anything happen to it. All that was three years ago and I have worn out my driver. It's now a dead driver and it doesn't nearly go as far. It's sad to think that but I need to invest in a new one. My irons are due up for a next set as well. They just don't cut it anymore and I a new set. my dream set is a titleist set. I've seen the new MB Irons and I would love to have them, but they are the most expensive irons out there and are mainly used by the pro's. Being truly honest, I am no where near a pro status. So having a set of those is just a dream.

Starting Out

When I was younger, probably around nine or ten, I would go out into my yard and hit golf balls back and forth. Not really knowing what I was doing I found out that I was using a set of left handed clubs. I finally realized that after I saw my brother use them and he is left handed. So I grabbed my dad's set and started swinging. I was a scrawny little boy so swinging those clubs was difficult for me, but I slowly started to get a hang of it. During the summer time I would go out almost everyday and hit them around the yard. Then slowly that phase just disappeared and I just stopped. I picked it back up around fifteen and i haven't stopped from there. The whole summer I would spend hours just trying to lift the ball over my one maple tree.  My road is a little busy so whenever I would hit a ball I would always look and wait to see if there are any cars coming just in case I hit one. I was starting to get some confidence in myself so one time I was about to swing and saw a car coming. I told myself that i wouldn't hit it cause I was good. Well, once the ball bounced off that club it headed straight for the road. The ball hit the car right wheel and made a loud noise. I dropped my club and ran faster than i ever have before and shut the door. Like the person didn't know where or what house it came from, yeah right. Luckily, they just kept on driving and didn't stop. I called it a day on that note. Then I would get my driver that my uncle gave me out and pound them into the field right next to my house.  It amazed me on how many balls just disappeared into that field. Then my very first time golfing was at fifteen. All those years of practicing in my yard were finally going to get tested. It was a golf outing for my cousin who was in the marines. So it was a big family event. I got paired up with a few of my cousins marine buddies and I had quite a time. I did alright for my first time but the same day was the day I had my first alcoholic beverage. But that's besides the point. My team won, and got some money. My first time golfing was one I will not forget.

Why Golf?

Well I hate to use the example that i gave my instructor, but i really liked the topic and I could right about it for days. The reason why i choose this topic is because I love golf. I love the game, i love watching the game, and i love how it makes me feel. When I'm golfing, it just makes me forget about every thing else and just focus on my round. I go whenever I i have time. A good thing is that I have two courses not even five miles from my house. The Reese golf course I have probably gone to the most. Sometimes i just go and hit the range and it a few bucket of balls. Another reason why I love the sport is just because of its scenery. Some courses that I have played at are beautiful and I looking and admiring the view. I love going to new courses all the time. Sometimes i would go to a new course just for scenery and nothing else. I have gone to a few courses up north and it was just stunning. One course was right near my cabin and was sitting on Torch Lake. On one of the par three holes on the back nine you could just see the entire lake with its sparkling unique blue turquoise water behind it. That hole and course was by far my favorite and best course that i have played on yet. I did pay the most for that course, but it was worth every penny.