Sneaking in some golf behind my man’s back

I’m a little disturbed that I’m getting used to the fact that I can forget how to swing a golf club. But why shouldn’t I? Golf is difficult. Sometimes I forget how grapes taste and that doesn’t bother me, so why should this?

Today was the monthly tournament with my golf club. I had to skip it, which was difficult for me. It’s the first one I’ve missed since I joined the club when I first started playing golf. But I am dedicated to my new man and his needs come first. We’re still really struggling with his separation anxiety, but we’re making progress. He’s just not ready to be left alone long enough for a round of golf. First I missed Vegas while Greg went, now I’m missing golf while Greg is out playing with his men’s club. So much for Vito being “our” dog. Oh well… I just won’t tolerate any more complaining out of Greg when Vito brushes off Greg to seek my affection.

I’m a tiny, pouty bunny-rabbit.

Did I mention progress?

Oh yes… there’s progress on the golf front as well. A couple months ago I mentioned that I lost my swing. I have only played a few times since then and as for practice…well, playing is practicing. The few times I’ve been out there, I couldn’t stand my inconsistency, so I altered my game. I decided to use a half backswing with a full follow through. Kind of like a punch shot, which I can still control well, but breaking down the wrists with a full finish instead of holding on for a low punch. It’s actually pretty effective. I think my full swing is breaking down because I’m getting too casual with my left arm and when it gets floppy, it causes all kinds of troubles. So I lose some distance with a 1/2 to 3/4 backswing, but I just club up and everything works out better. My five iron has really been performing, and I even chose to use it off the tees on occasion no matter how long the hole was. With my lost distance, I hit it about 150. So I played “old man golf” on a couple longer holes and just hit 150-150-150=450 up the middle to the green and even two putted for par. And 5-iron, 5-iron, wedge for a 400 yard hole, playing for bogey. If the hole layouts beckoned it, they’d call that course management. Since my own ineptitude demanded it, I guess it’s game management.

What? Actual practice?

I’m going bananas with such a golf drought, so today I actually went to the practice range. I am ashamed at how long it has been since the last time I went. Anyway, no one had torn my number off my “lost swing” posters there, so I just filled a large bucket and headed out to an open spot.

It was roasting hot out so I guess if I had to miss a round of golf, it wasn’t a terrible day to do it. I didn’t feel uncomfortable in the blazing sun but I was definitely flushed after an hour of practice. I was hitting my irons well but still wasn’t making quite a complete backswing. My woods are still slicing more often than not, but at least I’m back to making solid contact every time. My pitching and chipping were the best, with pretty accurate distance control from 10-75 yards. Really short chips were often hitting the tiny spots I chose. It was feeling pretty good with the exception of the woods. I think I might try to play my next round with nothing but irons and hybrids and work on the rest when I can. And no, I didn’t practice any putting. The practice green was too far away and that’s not my main problem right now anyway so shut up. 😉

Nanny cams

I’m comfortable leaving Vito alone for one hour, so that’s what I spent at the range. (Maybe having Vito as my prison guard will actually help my game!) I leave a recorder on to find out what he gets up to while I’m away and the first few minutes are full of heartbreaking whines, howls and door scratching. He settles down after that, though. I’m thinking about setting up a webcam so I can watch him on my Blackberry but I don’t know how. I tried it with Skype but the call kept disengaging. Let me know if you have any ideas.

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