Wednesday, April 27, 2005

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Big Break III

I hope whoever might be reading this has seen the Big Break III finale, because I'm going to ruin it for you if you haven't. If you're like me, it's not that big of a deal anyway. I actually forgot it was on and had to Tivo the later showing and watched it this morning. The whole season, while mildly entertaining, was not on the level of seasons 1 and 2. That's not a knock on the ladies or anything. Maybe it's just too much of a good thing. I don't think there was enough time between season 2 and 3 to make for a good build up.

Anyway, as far as last night's finale goes, going into it I would have to say I was pulling for Pam over Danielle. I tried to give Danielle the benefit of the doubt, and was actually pulling for her a little throughout the series, but she got to where she kind of grated on my nerves. At the same time, Pam showed a little questionable games(wo)manship in the final match. Even so, I was still pulling for her at the end. Danielle seems to have such an ego on her, I think it would have been cool to see her get beaten by the most inexperienced of the group.

Win or not, Pam's got game. She was spraying it all over the course in that final match, yet she was still able to keep things going until the 17th hole. To have been only playing 3 years and be at that level, is amazing. I've been playing the game for close to 20 years, and I'm still in hacker territory. As for Danielle, she's got game too. She could whoop my butt any day of the week. But I think she doesn't have as much game as she thinks she does.

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Check-Go

Just for the heck of it, I bought one of those Check-Go sweet spot finders last week. It's probably just a gimmick, but at this point I'm willing to try just about anything (cheap) that will possibly give me some advantage. I've tested it, not with actual putts or anything, but just by trying to mark the equator on a ball then putting the same ball back in the thing and marking it again. It does seem to find the same equator, or pretty close to the same equator every time. That's encouraging just in the fact that whatever it's doing at least it seems to be doing it consistently. Whether marking that equator and using it as a putting line will actually produce results is another story. I guess it can't hurt to try it though.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

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Random Thoughts

My scramble partners for the previously mentioned scramble have been set. With less than 2 weeks to go, I've got for pounds left to reach my goal. I was proud to get through my conference with with no major weight gain.

I just bought a (new-to-me) used set of clubs off eBay a few weeks back. They were the Taylor Made RAC Oversize. I've always really liked the looks of them, but being left handed, it's hard for me to find some to demo. I thought I'd go ahead and give it a shot and started looking for a set about a month ago and ended up getting a pretty decent deal on eBay. Here's the kicker though... they have graphite shafts. I've never played with graphite in my irons, and am still having a little mental trouble with making myself trust that they're not going to snap on me. I can actually hit them pretty similar to my King Cobra irons, and they really feel pretty good in my hands. I was planning on debuting them in the scramble in a few weeks, but the bermuda in our fairways hasn't really woken up yet, and I've not gotten a good chance to get used to them. Even though they're used, they're in pretty good shape and I don't want to scratch them up too bad on the basically dirt fairways that we have now.

I also bought, last week, a new Sunday Golf Bag. I'm planning on getting back into walking this season. My 200 pound tournament goal is not the end of my weight loss aspirations. I've been working for a few years now to get back down to 180, and I'm getting there this year. It's driving me crazy. I've been so close it's not even funny, then I'll end up falling off the wagon and gaining 20 or 30 pounds. It's the unattainable goal that I just want to see on my scale one time. Of course, I'd like to stay around there once I get there. But as long as I get there, I wouldn't be too disappointed to go back up as high as 190 every now and then.
 

Saturday, April 16, 2005

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Weigh-In

As of this morning, I've got 6 1/2 pounds to go to reach my goal, with 3 weeks left to get there.
 

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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Tournament Time

Got myself a little tournament coming up the 7th of May. Actually, it's not that big of a deal, just a little 4-man scramble for charity. It's something I started playing in about 3 or 4 years ago when my boss offered to sponsor me (foot the bill) if I could get a team together. I didn't think much of it. I'm not much of a tournament golfer, but figured since he was offering me a free day of golf, I shouldn't pass it up. So I got a team together and we ended up shooting 7 under. Not great, but considering our high handicaps and the fact that the winners (much lower handicaps) shot 14 under, we were pretty pleased.
 
All in all it was a fun day and has been one of the highlights of the season for me ever since. I didn't get to play last year because I had to be in a friend's wedding, so I'm really geared up for it this time. My current goal is to get myself back down to 200 pounds by the day of the tournament. As of this morning, I've got 9 1/2 pounds to go. With just 3 1/2 weeks remaining, it's going to be difficult, but not impossible. My biggest obstacle coming up is that I will be attending a conference for 2 days next week, which will most likely throw me off my diet at least a little bit.
 
I plan on posting updates to this blog as I make progress toward my goal in the next few weeks, as a little bit of a motivating factor.
 

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Major Recap

Well, that's another major in the books, and another win for Tiger Woods. It was a good final round I thought, as Sunday at the Masters usually. Matter of fact, it was one of the best in recent memory I thought, right up there with Phil's win last year.
 
I was most impressed with Chris DiMarco and his relentless pursuit of Tiger. Some would have said going into the final round (me being one of them) that DiMarco didn't have much of a chance to catch Tiger, with Tiger playing as well as he was and DiMarco seemingly choking on the final 9 of the third round. But DiMarco showed a lot of guts and, to me anyway, Tiger showed that he's still not quite the force he was in 2000.
 
I think it's a combination of things. First off, Tiger's swing, while looking better all the time, is still not as repeatable under pressure as I'm sure he'd like it to be. And second, I think most of the guys on tour aren't looking at him anymore as the unstoppable force. Let him throw together a few more wins this year and that may change, but for now I think everyone sees him as a little more human that he used to be.
 

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

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The Masters

With the first major of 2005 looming, I have to admit I'm beginning to feel all tingely inside... is that how you spell tingely? Oh, well, anyway...
 
With the Big 4(+1.. props to Retief) playing out of their minds so far this season (#4 won just yesterday), I'm really hoping for a shootout on the back nine on Sunday. Heck, I'm hoping for a shootout all four days to be honest. How great would it be to have all 4(+1) with a realistic chance to win come Sunday afternoon? I mean, the shootout at Doral was great, with Tiger and Phil both grinding it out until the final shot, but I for one would like to see a shootout with everybody in the mix.
 
Here's my fear though. Going into the event, with the exeption of Phil's win yesterday, all of the guys just seemed to me to be a little loose... with their swings I mean. Given, they have all had an extra week to work things out, but the possibility is totally there that none of the so-called favorites will be there come Sunday afternoon. Now, don't get me wrong, I think it would be great for someone else to have a shot at the coveted title of Masters Champion. But with all the hype on the Big 4(+1) this year, and with the seasons they've had thus far, it would be a bit of a letdown in my book.
 
I'm going to go ahead and predict Ernie Els to win. But I'm still going to be rooting for Phil to successfully defend.