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-Kristen
The Golfchick
That chick blabbing about anything golf related.
Page 18 of 48
I think it’s clear that Tiger Woods is unstoppable, at least for the foreseeable future.
His remarkable combination of talent, drive and passion surpasses that of any other golfer in the world. As if that weren’t enough, it seems he has something else going for him as well. This month and this year, especially. According to one interpretation, anyway.
Starting today, Tiger has a powerful force in his corner. Just what the rest of the field needs, right? Here are some excerpts:
Your January Horoscope by Susan Miller Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)
“The year 2008 is just made for you!”
…
“Pluto is about to make a stunning move out of Sagittarius and into Capricorn on January 25” … “Pluto has the slowest orbit around the Sun and therefore spends the longest time in each sign and house of the zodiac. That allows Pluto to make a truly indelible impression as it travels through a house – in your case, your 1st house of personality and personal desires, determination, and dreams.”
…
“Others will admire your single-minded determination to succeed, for surely, Pluto will require an all-or-nothing approach from you. As a Capricorn, your motivation and ambition to succeed has always been high, but now it is about to become sharpened, focused, and intensified. Your ability to persuade others will become more effective too, for you won’t take “no” for an answer!” (emphasis mine)
…
“Were you born on December 28 or close to this date? You actually are in a perfect position to reap benefits galore.” (Tiger’s birthday is December 30.)
Did you notice the part about Pluto – I thought Pluto wasn’t a planet anymore – entering Capricorn today? Tiger shot a -7 (65) today at the Buick Invitational to take a 4 shot lead into the weekend at Torrey Pines.
Regardless of your opinion on horoscopes, there is no debating Tiger’s dominance in golf. Personally, I enjoy believing (the positive parts of) my horoscope. I find it fun. And as a Capricorn myself (January 4), I share Tiger’s stellar forecast and can tell you that my year is getting off to a fantastic and fortunate start! Now if only my golf game would show it.
Here’s a fun little video that landed in my inbox.
I don’t know about you, but I’d love to feel the magic of Tiger’s swing for a fleeting few moments!
Random acquaintance: I heard you play golf?
Golf Chick: You heard right.
Random acquaintance: But you’re not gay!
Golf Chick: It’s a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy these days. Shhh.
Random acquaintance: Really?
Golf Chick: *eye roll*
And so it goes. The stereotype of female golfers being lesbians is alive and well. At least among non-golfers and people who don’t really follow the sport. But who really cares about them?:
Golf Chick: You know, the vast majority of professional female golfers are heterosexual. Can you even name a single gay player?
Random acquaintance: How about Billie Jean King?
See what I mean?
It’s no secret that there have been several gay players on the LPGA over the years. I suspect there are several gay players on the PGA Tour as well, though I couldn’t name a single one. If “a few good men” came out to the public, would that build a stereotype of male golfers being gay? Yeah, right. Football, with all its contact and soft core porn sequences couldn’t even sustain that image if a star player or two actually ever came out.
Let’s get serious
Sadly, being gay is still a stigma for professional male athletes. Hell, I think it’s still a stigma for any male, especially with such macho (and purportedly straight) athletic role models, whether or not the gay man actually looks up to them.
Is it still a stigma for women?
That’s difficult for me to answer. I can’t know what it feels like to be a lesbian or whether or not people judge you because of it. I imagine there is still plenty of that going on.
However, I think there is an element of acceptance due to a sexualized society. Guys like the idea of two women together. As long as they’re pretty, of course. And there are plenty of insecure pretty girls who crave the attention of men so much that they will alter their behavior, their actions, their bodies, and their sexual orientation to get it and therefore can’t really be judgmental of lesbians. But that’s qualified tolerance, not acceptance. Personally, I hate that the word “tolerance” is used to describe freedom from bigotry. Who wants to be tolerated?
I think openly gay women are secure with themselves and, while they might appreciate universal acceptance, don’t need it. Just like secure straight women don’t care if they’re assumed to be gay just because they play golf. I know I don’t.
Back to the lighthearted fun
I recently discussed this topic with my friend, Wendy Dexter, who specifically asked to be fully named when I told her I would write about it. She’s a whack-job free-spirited, outspoken, fun character and I love hanging around her. She does not play golf. She does not watch or follow professional golf. Just the perspective I sought.
First, Wendy said she assumed all female golfers were lesbians and that I was the exception.
Then, after more discussion and her giving it more thought, she said she guessed not all female amateurs could be gay, but that she was still certain the pros must be. And that the better amateurs probably are, too. Whaaaa? Then the conversation went something like this (though it wasn’t nearly this streamlined):
Golf Chick: So, the better the golfer, the greater the likelihood she is gay?
Wendy: Exactly.
Golf Chick: Can you be good and not be gay?
Wendy: Probably not. Wait, but you’re not bad, right?
Golf Chick: Only compared to some. So, will you become gay if you improve to a certain level?
Wendy: No, I guess not. But you probably won’t improve that much if you’re not gay.
*another round of drinks is delivered*
Golf Chick: Do you have to be good to be gay?
Wendy: Are we in a “Sex and the City” episode? That sounded like a Carrie question. I can just see you typing this up and then comes the voice over: “Do you have to be good to be gay?” Or “gay to be good?” Whichever, I think you do.
Golf Chick: Can you be gay and be bad at golf?
Wendy: Hmm… probably, you just have a better shot at being good than if you were straight.
Golf Chick: Do you have to be born gay or can you choose it in order to improve your game?
Wendy: Would you?
Golf Chick: If you weren’t f—ing with me and this had any merit, I might really consider it. Greg would probably understand.
But she was only halfway f—ing with me. She actually does assume that female pro golfers are all gay. And, she claims that belief is the majority opinion in the non-golfing community. I tend to believe her because she has more friends and connections in reality than a lot of teens do on Facebook. She’s got the pulse of the community, one could say. I assumed but neglected to ask if that majority opinion includes gay non-golfers. Note to self to follow up.
I went on to explain the current atmosphere of the LPGA Tour and how most of the top players are straight, and that some of them are even adored for their looks, sexy or wholesome.
Wendy was flabbergasted.
For the record, I’m pretty sure Wendy is straight. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if she gave women a try just to be sure. And while the stereotype may have a negative connotation for many believers, it doesn’t for Wendy. She loves everyone.
Eat Golf is one of the biggest and possibly most frequented golf blogs in existence. There hasn’t been a new post there since April 2007, but it’s far from dormant.
The site is run by my good friend Rich, who has provided us with some great internet golf tools over the years. There’s the Eat Golf Price Shopper, which lets you type in any golf product name and it brings back prices from all over. Then you’ve got the Eat Golf Discussion Forums, which is a handy place to read and participate in multiple boards from across the web.
And don’t forget the Eat Golf Blogroll, which not only lists more golf blogs than I can keep track of, it also shows each site’s most recent headline. Just the headline, he’s not one of those content stealers. No way, there’s an enormous amount of original content on Eat Golf! Rich is one of the funniest guys I know. His sense of humor is all over his blog, so dig around! Oh let’s see, what else – you have Gear reviews, a photo blog (he has photographed TONS of golf courses and pros!), a golf dictionary, a golf news aggregator, and of course, the Golf Course searcher.
I’m telling you, this guy is brilliant. Lately he’s been so entrenched in other projects, he hasn’t put up anything new. Of course, he doesn’t really have to – his site just sits there running itself, getting loads of visitors anyway. But I miss him and want him to start posting again, and I can’t be the only one!
The sighting
Anyway, here’s the news: I hadn’t seen Rich in months and we’ve hardly even emailed each other, but on New Year’s Eve while Greg and I were out celebrating, Rich correctly guessed our location and stopped in to surprise us. What a terrific surprise it was! We caught up on one another’s lives and reminisced about old times. After all, he was the one who suggested I start this blog in the first place, back when there weren’t many golf blogs at all, let alone female golf bloggers. We were friends before I even took up golf but I was aware of his passion so he was one of the first people I played with when I started. Good times.
More Eat Golf!
In our excitement, Rich was re-energized about Eat Golf and said he would post something new soon, and (I hope) start to do it more regularly again.
So here I am calling him out and trying to hold him to it: Rich, you promised (I think)! If you know and like Eat Golf, let him know you want more!
P.S. Rich: Don’t forget to sign back up for our golf club. I hope to see you at Elkins Ranch!
Here’s an excerpt from this interesting post from Dr. Ellen Weber I found on Brain Based Business:
With the importance of the mental element of the game and golf’s demands on a person’s focus, it doesn’t surprise me at all that playing golf would sharpen a person’s faculties. Golf has so many business benefits, and I bet Mr. Business Golf already knew that increasing your business IQ was one of them. Did you?
Here’s another tidbit:
I didn’t even know humans were capable of using 90% of our brainpower!
Get smarter and play better by “getting stupid”
Here is another fascinating post by the same author on the importance of kinesthetic intelligence in golf.
Enjoy!
Mine stinks. Unless there is something remarkable about the hole – like how it looks or how I or someone in my group plays it – I generally don’t remember it until I’ve been there at least a handful of times.
Sometimes I don’t even remember entire golf courses! For example, I was visiting my family in south OC over the holidays. We got a foursome together to play the only course around that could give us a tee time at such short notice. Oh, we probably could have gotten on at one of the more ritzy and spendy courses but two of our players (Mom and my Faunt – that’s faux aunt if you were wondering) were beginners and we were just going to play a fun scramble so we weren’t going to break the bank on this outing. Our fourth player is a good friend and neighbor and has some skills even if he doesn’t use them all that often.
We chose to play Shorecliffs in San Clemente and I was pretty sure I had played there before. Sounded familiar, anyway. And I thought I remembered seeing it on my list of courses played. I checked out their website, which doesn’t say much but I found another site that mentions the narrow fairways and small greens (as well as it being Richard Nixon’s home course). You’d think that would help stir my memory. Incidentally, I’ve seen some great websites by Cybergolf, and I don’t know how long they’ve had the contract for Pacific Golf Enterprises, but they really need to add some more content there!
Anyway, even as we were driving to the golf course, I was wracking my brain to recollect whether or not I’d played there before. I could vaguely remember going there before because I think we took a wrong turn or something. Then it happened. I pulled into the parking lot and I vividly recalled one of the golf holes there! The 19th, to be specific. Yes, I remembered the people we met and even some of our conversations. I even know we talked about our respective rounds that day, just not the details to help me remember the course. I remembered the grizzly-but-fuzzy-underneath bartender. I remembered the practice green & range, the layout of the bar and restaurant and how it connected to the golf shop. But I still couldn’t remember the golf course.
Here’s a photo of one of the golf holes at Shorecliffs I found on the site I mentioned above. This is an example of a hole I remember when I see it because of what happened there. And probably only because it happened so recently. Obviously, it’s really narrow up there but it also slopes severely to the left. Since we were playing a scramble format, we chose the “best ball” off the tee for our second shots. On this hole, that happened to be mine, but it wasn’t ideal, either. I actually hit it on the right side and thought it was going to be good but it rolled all the way down to the left and wound up in the far end of that waste bunker. That, I remember. But I still couldn’t tell you what hole number this is. I see the bluff on the left and recall there were some homes in danger of coming down with a landslide where it gets steeper up by the tees. Seems like I read somewhere they had landslide damage on #6, so maybe that’s it. Oh dear, and it’s supposed to rain a lot starting tonight. I hope they’re braced if not moved out. There I go on another tangent… demonstrating how we remember that which we observe most.
What do I observe?
Actually, my recall of most golf courses often revolves around the 19th hole, the pro shop and the practice facilities. When I try to remember a golf course, that’s where I start and try to work my way out from there. So many golf holes just seem to blend together. I do tend to recall them once I’m standing on the tee again but I sure wish it went beyond that. Is it because my golf mind is inexperienced? I don’t think so. I’ve played with guys who have about the same level of experience and they remember where the trouble is on a particular hole or what the ideal position is on the fairway. Maybe it’s because I played so many courses in such a short amount of time in my “formative” golf years. I don’t know.
Maybe my golf game would be better if I observed more like Greg
Greg’s golf memory astounds me. He doesn’t just remember the types of things I mentioned above – oh no. He knows them all by hole number, location and what we both shot there. Usually each shot, as well. And he doesn’t even have to be at the course to do it, either. We could be at a gathering talking about golf and he could describe any course he’s played, hole by hole. A guy could be talking about a round he played at a random course and the one hole that destroyed his score and just as he begins to describe the hole, Greg will light up and say something like “oh yeah, number 7, the par 4 with the elephant grass along the right… you gotta stay left off the tee and then don’t be long on your next shot or you’ll have tree trouble if the bunker doesn’t catch you…”
Don’t get me wrong. I actually enjoy the way my mind works. It can be frustrating but it’s also fun. I just think my golf game might improve if I had better recall of golf holes. Maybe this year I’ll work on paying more attention to holes, shots and trying to store those thoughts. The trick will be remembering to try.
How’s your golf hole memory?
Normally, the photo above would show a great view of the Channel Islands from Glen Annie. Since the photo wasn’t great anyway, I decided fireworks would be more appropriate for the occasion.
Glen Annie Golf Club, which we played today, is one of our favorite courses around here. Within a fifteen minute drive, there are probably 10 courses we could play. Extend that to an hour drive and it’s probably more like 30 or so. 1.5 – 2 hours? Holy cow… I don’t even want to try to count.
At a “good traffic” time, Glen Annie is exactly an hour away, in Santa Barbara, CA, and basically across the street (freeway) from the more celebrated Sandpiper Golf Course. Sure, Sandpiper has a couple beautiful ocean holes but other than that, it’s simply another beautifully groomed resort-like experience. Cross over to Glen Annie and you’ll find equally good conditioning, interesting golf holes, a challenging layout, great greens, friendly and professional service, fewer people, and… you’ll spend less than half what you would at Sandpiper. If you live in the tri-county area (that’s Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties), you’ll get even better rates.
All the tee markers are in the shape of frogs, which I find quite cute, and there are frog crossings on a couple of the holes from which you get a free drop. I haven’t found anyone who has actually seen a frog using the crossings because evidently it’s too warm for them to travel during the day and golfers aren’t out at night.
Watch out for those frogs!
You may not get the ocean holes, but you’ll get plenty of ocean views. Stunning ones at that. Today was so clear and calm we could see every single Channel Island (Greg – the frog – can point them all out by name) and that’s not an uncommon day at Glen Annie. It was a great way to end our 2007 year of golf. We played with two great guys who happen to belong to the men’s club there – Paul and Brian. (Paul lives right off the course and can hear the frogs at night, especially in mating season!) Actually, in all our rounds there, we’ve only ever been paired up with one annoying creature. He was harmless, he just talked too much and offered unwanted advice trying to show off his course knowledge. But we have good memories and enjoy making fun of some of his more memorable antics. He knew we’d played there before but he just kept it up. Not just shot-making advice, either. I happen to do a pretty good impression of him warning us to “be careful on this steep hill… gotta watch those speed bumps.” Yeah, even if we hadn’t been there before, we’d need that, right? We laugh about that every time we play that hole. So we’re simple – sue me. But I digress.
Back to Glen Annie
It was cold when we arrived at a little after 7:00 AM but after a couple holes, the sun had warmed everything up including us and it turned into a perfect day with perfect weather and we had a great time. There was hardly any wind to speak of until the last few holes and that was only a matter of determining direction and adjusting by one club maximum. When we got home, we were welcomed by the familiar Santa Ana winds that were (and still are) gusting at unpleasant levels for golf, to put it mildly.
We’re not playing tomorrow to swing in the new year. We did that today. I predict tomorrow will be a lazy day of recovery from the festivities tonight. Actually, I still need to clean my house after coming home to the disaster area I left when I went to visit my family for Christmas. More disaster than usual, that is. I’m not much of a housekeeper anyway – and I’m being kind to myself there – but now this place is strewn with holiday mess as well. Perhaps I’ll resolve to do better with that in 2008. Yeah, perhaps.
Speaking of plans
Thank you all for reading. I’m looking forward to more blogging next year. And I have some new ideas that should be fun, but they’re still in the planning stages so I don’t want to say much. I hope you’ll stay tuned and keep your comments and emails coming. I really enjoy doing this, especially when it includes interaction with you.
Crap – it’s getting late and I have to go get dolled up – or at least cleaned up – to go out and celebrate.
I hope you all swing in the new year in style and have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2008. See you next year!
Happy New Year!
May they all roll true in 2008.
Here’s wishing you all a joyful holiday season and a brilliant new year.
May all your shots find their targets.
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Tiger’s Dominance Is All About His Mental Game
Yes, it’s another post about Tiger Woods. I’m just so in awe.
I have always enjoyed rooting for underdogs when I don’t have a favorite player or team to support in any given contest. However, I also appreciate excellence. I love seeing Tiger dominate so thoroughly just as I want to see The Patriots win the Super Bowl and have the perfect season. I’d be happy to watch Tiger win every tournament he plays this year (and he sure looks like he could pull that off).
It just seems impossible for anyone to be so consistently good at a game with so many intricacies that he outplays his peers every time. It’s to the point that he doesn’t really have peers. He’s in a flight all his own. For anyone who has ever played this crazy game, Tiger’s performance is beyond impressive to the point that it’s almost unbelievable.
I contend that the difference between him and every other golfer in the world is purely mental. Any one of those guys on Tour can train with coaches, work hard and perfect their swings so they can execute most of the time. The difference is maintaining the mental state to execute it more frequently. And keep maintaining it on the putting green. Hole after hole, round after round, tournament after tournament. Only Tiger has shown he can do that.
Is it in our genes?
I have the ability to focus at times, but I know my nature and how easily distracted I can be. There’s only so much “zone” my brain will allow. So, is the ability to have that kind of mental game in our DNA? I think so. Oh, we can work on it and train our minds and improve, but I think our potential in this capacity is hardwired. The thing is, we don’t know what we’re capable of so we can just keep pushing and trying. And when we hit a wall, we can go get new equipment because there must be something else going on. (If we “upgrade” from the latest driver to the greatest driver and it helps, it’s probably a placebo effect anyway.) Oh, don’t you love this game?
Demonstrating how the USGA can play all the games it wants and it won’t bother him, Tiger recently commented on the meaninglessness of par (I agree). Talking about how the USGA makes changes to par for certain holes and tournaments, he said:
It’s just going out there and shooting a number, people! Sure, mine’s (way) above par and his is below. Eh… Par, shmar.
Anyway, I have to wonder what goes on in Tiger’s mind during a round. Not par. Not comments from wishful rivals. Is it the number? Certain swing thoughts? Is it like a chamber of silence?
Is it possible to be hyperbolic when discussing Tiger?
Is Tiger approaching a singularity to transcend even his own biological limitations? Someday, will there be a chip we can install in our brains that will allow us to do the same? Am I totally geeking out right now? Will I ever be able to write anything besides a question again? Is it time for a martini?