Golf

Reasons Why I Don’t Play Golf Anymore

kingofpots Insights ,

The following are the reasons why I don’t play golf anymore:

1)   Playing golf is very expensive. Even if I play at discounted golf/green fee in any of the four (4) military golf courses and one (1) government-controlled golf course (Veteran’s Hospital Golf Course) in Metro Manila, playing a round of golf is still very expensive.  Expenses in one golf game, to include some betting, would cost one set of NIKE/New Balance/Adidas running apparel (singlet & running shorts).

2)   An average 18-hole golf game lasts for 4-5 hours. Yes, it takes a marathon race time finish to walk and “whack” a tiny ball and put it to 18 holes, covering a distance of 6 to 7 kilometers.

3)   I’ve seen and met a lot of different kinds of people. It is in the golf course where you can meet different personalities and observe the attitudes of people which you seldom see when you are talking to them in their offices and in personal meetings. Some are decent-looking but they “cheat” their scores and “fix” their ball on the fairway. Some are rude, noisy, and correct/lecture you on how to drive your ball correctly if you committed some mistakes. However, it is in the game of golf where I discovered my “most trusted and best friends” in my military profession.

4)   Players don’t know “Golf Etiquette” and “Rules of Golf” anymore.  Players now most especially the “late-bloomers” don’t know the time-tested Golf Etiquette and the Rules of Golf. The game of golf is a gentleman’s game whose players are honest, decent and knows by heart the rules and etiquette of the game. “Kahit sinu-sino na lang pwedeng maglaro at manalo ng golf”. This is the exact words that I hear from better golfers whenever a “late-bloomer golfer” wins an award in his Class. The reason why that golfer won is obvious.

5)   I Don’t Play Politics. One of my former “boss” in the military who retired as a Three-Star General has this theory/reason why people in the middle-class or those in the C & D populace learn to play golf as this is a “ticket” for them to “rub elbows” with the elites and/or politicians. Our military and police officers are not exempted from this observation or theory. This could be the reason why our military and police Generals are not joining weekend road races as they prefer to hone their driving, sand blast techniques, pitching and putting skills in the driving ranges and fairways. I think simple addition and subtraction skills are included, too! On the other hand, except for Senator Pia Cayetano, Mr Fernando Zobel de Ayala and some of the younger corporate executives, who among the politicians have you seen in the past joining weekend road races? Chances of “rubbing elbows” with the elite and politicians in running and road races is very nil. I am sure that by the middle of 2009, you could see politicians at the starting line to “fire the gun” and award the podium finishers, if not, as the primary sponsors of weekend road races. 

 6) Nothing to prove anymore. I made a “hole-in-one” at Hole #17 in Camp Villamor Golf Course in September 1997.  I missed 2-3 inches from my 2nd “hole-in-one” at the Hole #8 in the Philippine Army Golf Course in May 2004. These are holes that your eyes could see from the tee mound/tee-off area and in the presence of golfers waiting to make their putts on the said hole/s as witnesses!

I thought of posting this story/item because of the controversy that happened at the Valley Golf and Country Club lately. If you want to know the truth of the incident, ask the caddies!!!

Running & Golf

kingofpots Jogging, Running , , , ,

Running and Golf complement with one another. For you to develop endurance in walking from one hole to another, running is a good sports to develop strength and endurance to one’s legs and stamina. It develops also the legs to be stable during golf swings, most especially in the last 9 holes. Once golfers reach the “green” to putt, the player who is a runner does not have to be breathing heavily and has the stable pulse to putt the ball into the hole.

Last Monday afternoon, 31 March, I decided to review my golf swing in our Parade Ground at Jamindan. The Parade Ground has two tee-off areas and one “green”/hole and the farthest distance is about 200 yards.

I started my warm-up using my Iron Wedge club for a distance of 30-35 yards to the putting green. After hitting at least 30 balls, I shifted my practice driving by using my Fairway Club #5 for a longer distance. I was able to hit another 30 balls using my longer clubs.

After my golf driving practice, I inspected the establishment and completion of a 550-meter jogging lane around the Parade Ground which will serve as Oval Track for the Officers and Enlisted Men in their 2-mile run tests. This had been a plan by former Commanders to build but it never materialized. Within this week and few days before my retirement from the service this plan will become a reality.

The following were some of my pictures during my golf driving practice:

After almost one year of not playing golf, my golf stance is becoming tense, awkward, and “rusty”.

I always remember “slow backswing” and shifting of body weight from the right leg/heel to the left leg and left arm straight up to downswing as tips in a golf swing.

A golf swing finishes with a nice upswing and a nice “form”. The Oval Track/running path is seen on the background where it is initially filled with sand and gravel and later to be overlayed with asphalt.

For more stories and insights on golf, please visit my new golf blogsite at http://thebaldgolfer.wordpress.com.