Hitting a Small White Ball

After yesterdays thought provoking moments I needed an escape and I decided to go golfing. Normally golfing would not be on top of my list to clear my mind, but while in Ohio I bought a $90 club for $40 and wanted to give it a try.

Holy crap is this new club working. Along with some tips I've been given over the last few months I hit the ball well. After four holes I had three double bogeys and a par. As a reference that would be like an average golfer shooting three birdies and a hole in one. I will admit that part of the reason I was doing so well was the course. Paschal Golf Course in Wake Forest is the farthest thing from the PGA you can get. When you hear municipal golf course this is that place. The only good thing is it's easy and cheap.

By the time I got to the eight hole I double boggied everything and was thinking I could do no wrong. The golf gods frowned upon me and the next thing I know I'm hitting trees and a creek. I finished the hole a par 4 with an 8. With my humility back I pulled the new drive back out for my last hole of the day. I swing back slowly, only did a partial back swing, kept my head down and did not move my feet and the next thing I see is my ball flying through the air and land 210 feet from where I was standing. I finished the par 5 last hole with a par. That is a new personal record for me. Now the trick will be going back out and doing that again. Usually after a day like this, I'll lose 10 balls and shot 8s on every hole.

Free Golf

One of the greatest things about working in TV is the chance to get free stuff. This past Friday I got a chance at free golf at 12 Oaks in Holly Springs. I've mentioned a few times about my golf game or the lack there of, so what better way to see how bad I suck than going to a new course that is not even open. Oh yeah and it's suppose to be one of the toughest in the state if not the south. I kid you not I brought 20 extra balls so I'mnow packing 45 balls and I'm thinking I'm losing most.

We get to the course and we are actually doing a story on the course so I load up my cart with my clubs, camera, tripod, extra battery and hip pack full of cables and microphones. We start out and of course my first shot... straight into the woods, left me restate that hooked into the woods.

For the story we have to keep acturate score and I'm playing with Justice and I do not think he has ever kept an accurate score in his life. After the first hole I shoot an 11 and Justice gets an 8. Penn the sports director I beleive got a 6 (he's the ringer in the group). The next hole is a little par three and my first shot is a nice one... straight into the sand. I hate sand traps and this one is 5 feet below the green and it takes me 7 shots to get out of the sand and I finish the par three with a 12. This is going to be a long day. To make things worse it starts raining, and it's getting colder. Penn wusses out after three holes and Justice and I struggle on.

After Penn left I started to hit the ball better, and by better I mean I'm no longer getting 11 or 12 I'm getting 7, 8 and 9s. The rain lets up and we start feeling better, then it pours. It was like that all day, I finally get fed up with pulling my rain jacket on and off and I leave it in the cart, I'm already soaked why bother. We get to the dreaded 6th hole it's suppose to be the hardest hole, there's this swamp grass crap all over the place and you have to get over some of it off the tee. Look at the video below, I actually got over the stuff and got a 7, my best score of the day.

We get through 12 holes before we decided to call it off, we were just too wet and cold to play off. I don't want to know my score, but I had to be over 100 and the most important score is the balls lost. I lost 12 balls, but I did find 4 so it was an 8 ball day. Not too bad for a crappy golfer like myself. I was asked by Penn if I would go back and play the course again. My answer was yes, was the course tough... yes, but fair and I could have fun there. If I could afford the membership fee (we are guessing it has to be over $10,000 a year) I would sjoin, but since the membership fees are probably going to cost me almost the same as my mortage per month, I'm going to pass. Unless everyone out there chips in and gets a membership for me... come one people, it's for a good cause.

Way Above Par

On Thursday a bunch of us went golfing and to be honest the only thing that saved my game that day was the rain that forced us to stop during the 9th hole. The only word to describe my game was asstastic. I could not get the ball to go straight or more than 100 yards. I was so happy it rained.

Since we did not get to play all 18 we were given a rain check for Saturday, and I hoped things would be better. The only problem this time is the wound given to me by Gilbert in his death throws. My left ring finger is split open with a half inch gash. Any time I hit the ball wrong I felt it, and when I say felt it I mean near blinding pain. So at least I figured out what I was doing wrong and tried to correct it and not cause any more pain. By the 4th hole I started to get a little bit of a grove and could actually hit the ball. When playing with The Dad there is one rule... you don't out drive The Dad. I out drove him four times. He was not having a good day, he was playing with his younger brother and I think that sibling rivalry thing was getting to him and he was trying too hard. So you have his little brother sort of out playing him then you had me out driving him at times. Lets just say I think he was glad when we finished our 9 holes today.

Except for the pain, and the lose of about 18 balls over the two days (I did find 8 so I'm only down 10) it was a average day, but we were out and about and getting some exercise, that has to count for something.

A Random December

I've been scatter brained, tired and well not in the mood to do anything other than play Madden on my Playstation 1 and read. I am so ready for a vacation and there is one on the way... WEEEEE! The only problem is that it is our Ohio Christmas Tour and there is not enough time to see everyone I want. Hopefully I will get recharged and feel like my old self, to get me feeling better here are some random tidbit's I've had.

Writer's Strike

If you did not realize there is a writer's strike in Hollywood and every TV show is suffering. The biggest thing is the writers want some royalties from DVD sales. To be honest they are not asking for that much, but the producers are being greedy and not giving an inch. This is going to start to suck for TV. If you like original creative programming it's about to stop, so no new Office and possible only 8 episodes of Lost. For me, I do not like this idea. If you are a fan of Deal or No Deal or any other type of "reality show," then you will be in heaven. I'm about ready to grab a large blunt object and go to town on some Hollywood heads. Get a deal done or I will gather a posse and start clubbing producers and writers like baby seals... WHO'S WITH ME!

Good Day?

I know there are ice storms in Oklahoma and mud slides in Oregon, but in North Carolina it's FREAKING AWESOME! We were in the 80s at one point. It was so warm for enough days that I actually got to go out and play a round of golf. Justice and I got a tee time at a pretty nice course. Normally, I would never be able to pay the course fees, but we had a coupon. We head to the first tee, Justice slices one into the woods... typical start. I on the other hand tee up and hit one down the left side of the fairway, my is that a good shot... wait, it's hooking. We hear a "DONK!" Justice looks at me, "Did you hit a house?" Yes I hit a house on a hole where it's very hard to hit a house. I am off to an awesome start. We bet the over/under on houses hit... today's number was three. I'm doing OK and then we get to a par 3, I pull out my 3 iron and whack a way. It's straight and by Jove, I think it's on the green. We walk up and we see what the picture to the left shows, I am 5 feet from the hole. I almost had a hole in one. I of course choke the next shot and get a par, but still, if that was a few feet shorter I'm buying drinks. I probably will ever get that close again.

When Do I Work?

At work we lost I think 9 editors, well maybe it's only two, but it feels like 9. This means if anyone knows how to edit, they are editing a lot more than normal. I've already pulled one weekend overnight and I edited once this week and it's currently 10:30pm and I get to go to work in 4 hours. I'm not happy, I'm not a fan of editing, I hate being in a tiny room attaching the same video to 6 half hour shows. That's why I like being a photographer, yes, I shot and edit every day, but it's always different, one day might be a meeting, then the next a meeting... crap I do have a repetitive job.

STOP WITH THE MUSIC!

OK, I like Christmas music as much as the next guy... if that guy does not like Christmas music. Raleigh radio has decided that they need more than one channel of Christmas music it, they need three. Then every other station rotates a Christmas song at least one every four songs. I normally avoid the radio and listen to either sports or my lovely MP3 player, but The Wife on the other hand LOVES Christmas music, I can't get away from it.

Free Golf

This year I really wanted to start playing golf, I've played in the past, but I want to be more serious and play as much as I can. I'm not that good but I have played three times this year and my dad gave me a few hints on improving my game like moving closer to the ball. With the thumb/wrist injury (I know I need to stop talking about it) and the extreme heat I had to take some time off. Well, the time off official ended Monday with a free round of golf at Prestonwood Country Club. How did I get to play at a swanky place like Prestonwood... MEDIA DAY!!! The Champions Tour is coming to the course next week and there is ALWAYS a media golf outing when any tours come to down.

I played with with weather guy"Pete Nice" and the producer known as Justice. I've played with Justice before and he's in the same boat I am... sucks, and I mean that in a good way. His theory is he knows he can't hit it straight so lets have fun and joke around for 5 hours. Pete Nice though, he's a baller and can hit the ball. We start out and I'm doing OK for the fact that I have not picked up a club for over two months. Then something happened on the third hole, I crush the drive down the middle of the fairway and since this was a scramble (you use the best drive from the group and you all go from that spot) we used my shot. I then hit a second shot 15 feet from the hole. I have my first chance at a birdie (one under par), mind you the best I have ever had prior today was a boggie (one over par). I line up hit the ball, it's on line, OH NO IT'S TOO FAST, it hits the back of the cup, bounces up and drops into the hole. I throw my putter up in the air.

I am in a happy place as we get to the next tee, so what do I do for an encore on the next hole... lose three balls, then the next hole I put two more in the water. I ended up loosing 18 balls on the day, which is a personal record, I did end up with a par later on.

The best, yet not so best part of the day was at the end of the day. As I mentioned before I played with Justice earlier this year, while playing I some how hit two house with one ball. That takes skill, you have to slice the ball and then have it hit the roof and bounce to the other house, which it ripped through a screened in porch. The over/under on houses for the day was 4. Pete Nice may have it one earlier, but no damage yet. On the next to last hole, I am tired and I'm starting to play bad and go back to my bad habits. I take a swing and the ball goes way left... straight towards a home worth well over a million dollars.The ball looks like it's locked onto a half circle window, but at the last second curves and hits the roof, bounces and hits the roof again. That shot is probably the most memorable shot of the round. The next hole, more houses and this time I knock over someone's deck chair.

Over all it was a good day, I hit a house (but didn't break anything), got a birdie and a par, lost 18 balls, drank my own body weight in water and Powerade and had a lot of laughs. I'm ready for another round... well when my body stops hurting.

Vacation All I Ever Wanted

Since Wednesday I have been on vacation. It's been pretty good so far. I'll try and get a more detailed post once I get back to Fried Chicken Dr. A few notes so far I've golf twiced and traveled almost a 1000 miles and we still have the return trip.

Random Saturday

Today was a busy day, I did a little bit for work, got a hair cut, took a swim with The Wife and then hit some balls so to get this all out here is my Random thoughts on a Saturday:

Work

Late last night I was sent to a scene, but no one knew what was going on or were the exact location of the scene was; all I knew was Rogers Rd. I get out there find out something is going on and that's all the sheriffs will tell me. I had to get up early to judge a contest at work so I though "hell, I'll go out and roll of some day light video." It's not to far from Fried Chicken Dr and won't take that much longer for me to drive into work. I leave early inform them that I am going out so we don't need to send a crew out. I arrive to the middle of nowhere and I have multiple sheriffs and a helicopter flying over head. Well because of my little trip I found out there was a body out there and it may become the lead for the news. SCORE ME! I know a dead body is a sad thing, but this is a morbid business and people love to see this kind of stuff on TV.

And the Award Goes To...

Almost two months ago I got a call see if JDOG-17 would want to judge a contest from Ohio Photographers Anonymous (OPA). We agree and we did the judging this morning. I was really excited because usually you can steal some ideas and I was never able to win one of these contest while in Ohio. Truthfully I was not horribly impressed. There were three or four really good stories, but hell I don't know why I stopped sending in stuff for these awards, I could have placed a few times! It maybe a little hind sight 20/20 but man I bet I could have won a few more awards than I did.

Snip Snip Snip

It's been a while since I got my hair cut and what better time to get one before I go on vacation. I head over to the local semi cheap SportsClips. I got a decent cut, but afterwards I started to think about all the cheap hair cut places I have gone. It's truthfully a roll of the dice if you get a good hair cut, so why do I go? It cost under $20, that's why. Over the last few years I started to notice a few things as well. The people cut the hair usually have bad hair cuts. Why is that? they are "stylists" shouldn't they know if you are a larger woman you may not want ultra short purple hair, or you might find someone with extremely teased out hair. On the other hand if I go to an semi-upscale salon/spa I usually get a great hair cut. Then I see the price and then add in a tip and it can get expensive. I guess you get what you pay for. Go cheap you will look cheap, go up a step pay 15-20 you will get an ok hair cut most of the time. Pay $20-40 and you will get a good cut. I guess you get what you pay for,

Splish Splash

The Wife has been bugging me to go to the pool for about two weeks now. I'm not a big fan of pools, but with a lot of marriages, the wife has veto power and The Wife, well... vetoed me and we went to the pool. I was getting ready and for some reason I thought it would be funny to grab some black socks and put my sandals on. The Wife got the joke, but was not going to let me out with them on. Trust me I was never getting near the door with that outfit on. I still want to know how did any guy think that black socks and sandals was a good idea... just bad... bad. LOOK AT THE PICTURE!

Fore! Well Only When I Can Hit the Ball

The Wife had to work and since the father-in-law is coming in Wednesday to play a little golf and then I'm playing my dad in Ironton I though I might want to get a little practice in. I grab my clubs and my shades and head out in the sweltering heat and head to the driving range. I start out a little off and by a little of I mean I can't hit a broadside of a barn with a club. More and more people are hitting near me and I start tensing up and get worse. It gets to the point where I am going to start throwing clubs and call the father-in-law and tell him to leave the clubs. I dip my head and look at the ball sitting there mocking me "You can't hit me... Oooo feel the breeze!" I take my new sunglasses off to wipe my face and everything seems farther away. I bought a pair of polarized sunglasses, these glasses refract light and I think it was making the ball seem closer than it was and I was topping the ball. I put the glasses on my bag and I start hitting the ball farther and straighter.

So what have I learned today, work likes dead bodies, I should have entered more contests while in Ohio, I need to spend more on haircuts, black socks are not cool and I can't wear sunglasses while hitting a golf ball. I guess knowing is half the battle.

Big Slice

For years I have tried to take up golf, I even have a set of hand me down clubs from my dad. Ever time I seem to get serious about golf I have a bad injury. back in 2001 I'd been to the driving range for about a year and wanted to go play a few courses and then I had to have knee surgery. While I was in West Virginia I started to get back spasms. Then last year I was in a car wreck and though I might have to have Tommy Johns surgery.

I know it sound suicidal wanting to play this very expensive game (have you looked at the prices for new clubs and how much greens fees are?). So today The Wife and I went to the local driving range and shagged a few balls. Out of 100 or so balls I maybe hit 25 straight and out of that 25, 13 or so went a reasonable distance. If this was baseball I'd be hitting .130 and being sent to the minors. The Wife on the other hit about 20 balls and had 15 go straight and 10 go at least 50 yards; for her first time she did really well. Michelle Wie watch out.

Then on the last ball, I set up took my time and hit a nice straight shot with my driver. It went only 200 yards, I'm going for accuracy not distance, and I got a little smile out of it. That's the way it seems to go with golf, you slice them all day long, but every once in a while you do something right and the ball goes where you want it too.

I'm hoping to stay healthy, because one we still don't have insurance yet, and attempt to
play this summer. I do need some help so Ty Webb if your out there Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah.