The wind down begins

Well it is August 30 and next week will be our first Men's Night in September.  Our tee time has rolled back to 6:00 pm and even with that it still doesn't give too much time for too many extra holes.  We should be dejected and downtrodden with the end of summer coming soon.

Or we can maximize the time remaining and get as much golf in as possible.  Getting dark too early...no big deal.  Simply golf earlier or take some LED balls and golf later.  A few guys chose the latter option after Men's Night this week.

Just because next week is September doesn't mean golf is done for the year.  Men's Night will continue until weather or low turnout makes us end it.  And if you are over 50 there are a couple of Senior tournaments coming up including Birtle on September 3 and Hamiota on September 17.

Just don't too long to find those extra days to golf.  Remember we got around 10 inches of snow last September 22.

This week, 15 guys made the best of a sunny, then cool, then windy, then rainy, then sunny, then cool later afternoon and evening.  Surprsingly, skins only went on three holes.  Winners included Terry Susinski / Stephen David ($20.00 on #1), Blake Hunter ($20.00 on #7), and Jason Gorrell / Kendal Korsocil ($20.00 on #9).

No one hit the fifth green.  Only Austin Hunter put one on #9 to earn closest to the pins.  There were no deuces.  In fact, of the fifteen players only three scored under 45.  But we still golfed.

Ringer boards wraps up as daylight gets shorter

Due to the receding sunset, we will be rolling back our start time to 6:00 pm this coming Wednesday.  This also keeps us free and clear of the sprinklers which are scheduled to run from 8:30 - 9:30 pm.

The ringer board concluded this week.  Brad Benton won the first flight with a -7 followed by Chris Kimpinski at -6 and Jason Gorrell at -5.  The second flight champion was Jason Hunter at -2 with Darcy Kowalchuk in second place at even par.  Thanks to the 13 players who participated.

This past week there were 22 golfers including a threesome from Hamiota.  Numbers typically decline a bit once harvest begins.

Closest to the holes were Sonny Blackbird on #5 and Jason Gorrell on #9.  Jason converted his birdie to share the $41.25 deuce pot with Cam Gregory and Anthony Dyck.

Five skins were won and all were $20.00.  Winners included Robin Kimpinski / Kory Stebeleski (#1), Jason Neufeld / Stephen David (#3), Chris Kimpinski / Kevin Bartram (#7), Scott Maynes / Charlie McNabb (#8), and Scott Martin / Cam Gregory (#9).

Not much to say

I was away last week at a conference so I missed Men's Night.  When that occurs it affects the blog in two ways.  Firstly, I end up being late in updating it.  Secondly, the blog is shorter.  Both are true this week.

There were 26 golfers last Wednesday.  Skins went on six holes.  Winners included Ron Huberdeau / Dale Martin ($20.00 on #1), Chris Malchuk / Scott Maynes ($20.00 on #2, $20.00 on #7), Pete Ostash / Ron Susinski ($34.38 on #3),and Jason Gorrell / Chris Kimpinski ($34.38 on #8, $20.00 on #9).

Closest to the holes were Wes Arnfinson on #5 and Chris Kimpinski on #9.  Chris converted his birdie to share the $48.75 deuce pot with his brother Robin.

This coming week is the final week to enter scores on the ringer board. Brad Benton still sits in first place, a stroke ahead of  Scott Maynes and two in front of Chris Kimpinski.

Thanks to Joe Shwaluk for coordinating an awesome evening of Night Golf on Friday.  All who attended seemed to have a great time and the weather was ideal.

Golf lessons anyone?

I want to talk about golf lessons in a bit...but first I will update you on what happened on Men's Night.Of the 29 golfers, Terry Brandon easily had the best evening.  His 37 was low score of the night and included an eagle on both two and seven.  He had 3's on holes 7, 8, and 9.  His 2 on two combined with Jason Neufeld's birdie 3 to win a $35.01 skin.  It's not often that a team is a combined -3 on a hole.

Other skins went to Keith Martin ($20.00 on #1), Tyler Ostash / Blake Hunter ($148.01 on #4), Chris Kimpinski / Troy Chwaluk ($35.01 on #6), Austin Hunter / Blake / Cramer ($20.00 on #7), and Scott Maynes / Robin Kimpinski ($20.00 on #9).

Closest to the pins were Theoren Hunter on #5 and Scott Maynes on #9.  Scott converted his birdie to share the $54.38 deuce pot with Chris Kimpinski, Terry Brandon, and Ron Susinski.

There are only two weeks remaining on the ringer board.  Remember, if you fail to post a score you get triples for those holes.  Brad Benton still leads at -7 with a completed card.  Scott Maynes is second at -6 with three holes remaining.

Now back to golf lessons.  Very few people that I know have ever received golf lessons.  Darcy Kowalchuk actually went to a PGA academy for a few days in Florida this winter.  Beyond that, perhaps there are a couple of guys who had a an hour or two of lessons somewhere.

In North America, the typical golfer spends around $3000 a year golfing.  That might seem like a lot but consider all the costs associated with playing.  There are memberships, green fees, clubs, balls, gloves. cart costs, golf trips, clothing, shoes, and lessons.

One key difference between us and European golfers is how we spend money on golf.  North Americans spend around 80% on equipment and clothing while about 80% of European golf related expenses are lessons and training.  Maybe that's why they do so well in the Ryder Cup.

A typical golf lesson in Manitoba costs $35-50 an hour.  Minnedosa is likely the closest location that offers lessons.  You could also go to Golf Town or Golftec in Winnipeg and get training or pay for simple swing evaluations.

If these options seem too costly, I offer lessons every Wednesday from 2:00 - 6:30 prior to Men's Night.  For $11.95 you will get my analysis on your swing with personalized comments such as "Nice draw Maynes" or "That was a good one Robin" and maybe a "Too much club Blake".  The fee also includes instruction on how mark score when no one else in your group will do it and how to sit quietly when the person with whom you are riding just threw their club 60 yards after a bad second shot on #4.

Probably the biggest benefit of training with me is that I will familiarize you with drills to increase your self confidence.  You will learn to quietly whisper "You are the best putter in Shoal Lake" while standing over a 20 footer.   I will even teach you how to confidently hit your ball to the proper side of the fairway that best gets you a lefty-righty partner.  Most people who take two lessons with me are yelling "Boom goes the dynamite" on drives of their own within 2-3 weeks.

Most golfers have different ideas on what makes their play better.  Some think it is equipment, others play high priced tour balls, and maybe a few get a couple of lessons.  While 67% of golfers don't drink while they are playing, 37% of those who do actually believe it makes them play better.  So for a slightly increased fee of $22.95, I will give you my standard lesson plus a double spiced rum and ginger ale.

Best of luck to the Shoal Lake golfers participating in the Hamiota match play tournament this weekend.

That's a gimmie

There were 27 golfers on Wednesday.  Closest to the holes were Jason Hunter on #5 and Joe Shwaluk on #9.  Only Joe converted the birdie resulting in a shared deuce pot of $121.88 with Ronnie Susinski.  That's Joe's third or fourth closest to on nine this year.  If he makes a few more we may have to put a plaque in his name on the tee box.

Skins went on six holes which was a season high.  Winners included Jason Neufeld / Jason Gorrell ($56.99 on #1, $112.38 on #3), Scott Maynes / Dale Hunter ($40.63 on #4), Scott Martin / Darcy Kowalchuk ($20.00 on #7), Theoren Hunter / Wes Arnfinson ($95.88 on #8), and Joe Shwaluk / Jason Hunter ($40.63 on #9).

Scott Maynes had a 35 which was the lowest round of the night.  He had one bogey and two birdies.  His group yielded the four lowest scores of the evening with a 37 and two 39's.  Scott moved up a stroke on the ringer board closing in on Brad Benton who currently sits in first place.  Speaking of the ringer board, you have three Wednesdays in August to lock up your final score.

Neuf won $84.63 on Wednesday jumping him to first place on the season money list with $190.39.  In second is Scott Maynes with $149.57 followed by Brad Benton with $142.86.  I have won $27.63 to sit solidly in 28th place.

After Men's Night, whether you golfed well or poorly, the conversation most often turns to putting.  Some guys talk about how they would have broken 40 if it weren't for a three putt.  Others mention that they had a 54 but with several three putts.  Almost everyone reflects on the impact of bad putting.  There are likely two explanations for this.  Either all male golfers in Shoal Lake are bad putters or putting is hard.  Let me make a case for the latter.

Golf magazine recently did an article on putting.  It stated that one of the biggest difference between us and pro golfers is what happens on three foot putts.  Pros convert three-footers at a rate of 99.4%.  Amateurs are often happy to go nine holes without missing a short putt.

Another interesting fact from the article was that pros only convert seven foot putts at a rate of 61%.  That is comparable to the rate at which major league pitchers throw strikes (62%) and the percentage of made NFL field goals that are 57 yards or longer (62%).  For eight foot putts, pros make only 52.8%.  The worst free throw shooter in the NBA made 50% of his shots from the line this past season.

So if you miss a few putts, including some short ones, it's not the end of the world.  However, if you want to feel really bad about your putting, consider this...from 2002-2005 Tiger Woods made 1536 of 1540 putts from three feet or less.  In four years, he only missed four times.

We regular golfers really only have three choices.  We can accept that putting is hard and not get too upset by it.  A second option is that we could putt better...recognizing that even that if we putt like pros we will still miss a lot.  Or, we could play with people who give lots of gimmies.