Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Course marshals. God bless them. They perform a thankless task. Many do the job as volunteers simply because they love the game. Others are paid. Others do it because the course gives them access to play for free. Today I ran into one like all those we hate to deal with.

Yesterday, as we finished on the 18th green, the marshal drove up and told two of my partners to keep their pull carts at least 30 feet from the green. Today this same man approached us at the 8th. I was pulling a cart and had left it about 20 feet from the green behind a bunker. He accosted my partners again, so I asked him if he could explain the logic of this request. He told me it was in the rules.

He also told us they were trying to grow the grass, and pull carts matted it down. I explained that there are approximately 8 square inches of footprint on the cart wheels carrying about 50 pounds

Wednesday’s round at Colovista was mixed. On the good side, I hit several drives around 300 yards and straight, and averaged about 260 on the round. On the bad side, I 3-putted too many of their fast greens. Then, to make it worse, the greens on the back nine hadn’t been mowed that day. So, they were kinda fuzzy, and a little slower than the front.

I find it hard to play a course with fast, soft greens after playing regularly on my home course. I know I have to leave the ball short here to get it close to the hole. At Colovista, when my ball hit the green, it stopped. It took some adjustment…more than it should have. The 15th hole had a 120-foot drop to the green. We all played two balls from the back tee just for grins. It is a 190-yard hole, and we tried everything from 7 iron to 3 iron. Three of the eight balls hit the green. One of them actually bounced! It was an experience.

My swing deserted me this morning, though. I hit really good drives on the first two holes, then didn’t hit another the whole round. It was colder than it has been, and the extra clothing and stiffer joints combined to destroy me. It was really frustrating because I’ve seen steady improvement over the last two weeks, and today it just disappeared. I’ve brought my handicap down from eighteen to fifteen this last month, so I guess I was due for a bad round.

Our weekend group plays a team format with everyone who signs up. After all have teed off, the manager puts names into the computer, which does a sort to select teams. So, you don’t know who your teammates are until you finish. Well, the program acts up, so I’ve started working on a new one in Visual Basic. As I started, though, I realized I no longer know VB well enough to just sit down and write the program (a pretty simple sort routine). So, this afternoon, I dig back in the book and get it done!

Today I get to travel to Austin for some training at National Instruments tomorrow. This afternoon I’ll meet the son-in-law at Colovista for a round of golf. We tried playing once before, but got rained out. The course is beautiful, but the morning we showed up was a typical central Texas spring thunderstorm kinda day, and even the high points were soggy. Today should be simply awesome.

We tried playing the back nine last trip, but even high on the ridge above the Colorado River, the ground was just too soaked. Instead, we got a full tour by the developer/owner of Colovista. He was understandably proud. His name is Les Appelt, and he is a good old-fashioned Texan, a graduate of A&M’s engineering program. He drove us around, showing us many different properties, highlighting the tour with a drive up to the 14th green/15th tee. The 15th is a par 3 with a great view of the river and a big drop from tee to green. It is their signature hole, so you’ll see it in all ads for the development. I hope the wind stays down today so I’ll have a chance of actually hitting that green!

Nick Faldo is on the Golf Channel right now, explaining how he plays and his thought processes on each shot. It’s and interesting program, and I catch it when I can. Nick is quite a character, so this episode is even more enjoyable. I like the format because it brings together all the points made by all instruction into focus.

For example, Dave Pelz has a system for playing the short game where he defines club distances by the swing clock. That is, each club will fly the ball a different distance based on the backswing arm position. He identifies the 7:30, 9:00, and 10:30 positions as repeatable swings for specific distances. Faldo makes the same point about an individual shot he makes. He says he hits a full wedge 140 yards, so for a 120 yard shot, he wants a 10:00 swing. He also makes the point that it is irrelevant whether his hands actually get to the 10:00 position if his mind and body “feel” they’re at 10:00. The shot he made was distance-perfect, even though his hands actually only got to about 9:00. So, it’s really mind over matter.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the brain and how it works, and I also picked up a thin book on the mental side of golf. Realistically, you can do a lot to help your game (or anything else in life) with visualization and positive thought. I’ve learned to pick out a target on the course, whether fairway or green, and implant the image of the ball flying through the air and landing on that spot. Amazingly, I’ve had far more success with my shots doing this than I do with simply finding a “target line” for alignment.

The mind can retain an image for approximately eight seconds, which is why you can stare at something then look at a white wall and still see the image. I’ve begun to try and visualize the shot while adressing the bal so that it is implanted during my swing. It is amazing how the brain can control direction and distance, but not really all that surprising. Consider throwing a ball. You look at the target and throw…the brain accounts for the distance automatically.

Well, almost. It takes training and repetitions. Which is where I’m at right now. But I can saw there is strenth in the concept–I normally shoot mid to upper 80s. My last three rounds have been 84, 82, and 81. And I didn’t even feel like I played well.

I started a quest last year to play as many courses by different architects as possible. I really want to play courses designed by the ‘masters

That quote is from LtCol Jeff Kelley, who plays the TPC at Mosul every Friday. It looks a little rougher than the course in Kuwait. I was in Kuwait last spring, and really wanted to play, but never got the chance to get out there.

In the story on TPC at Mosul, there is an address to send donations. I can tell you from experience, nothing would give these guys more pleasure than to be able to take a break from what they do to spend a little time in “the real world.” A dozen balls, some cast-off irons, or that persimmon driver you keep promising yourself you’ll use again would be a welcome addition to their club.