Odiorne Point Golf Company

02/09/2013

I know we’re all patiently sitting and waiting for two plus feet of snow to fall all at once. This will enable us to run out first thing tomorrow morning and hit balls out of the snow, simulating hitting out of a wet bunker, right? No?

Well, just in case the world doesn’t end, it might be a good idea to know how to hit the ball out of a wet bunker. Here are some simple instructions. Of course the instructions are almost always simple. It is the ex*****on that’s hard!

http://www.golf.com/instruction/hitting-out-wet-sand

Good shots from wet sand usually come out faster and fly farther than those hit from dry sand, so you need to swing easier. The danger is that if you set your clubface square at address, it might dig into the wet surface and get stuck--almost come to a stop.

01/29/2013

The last few days have had me thinking about cold weather golf, or more appropriately, my first experience with winter golf. A few years back I took my first trip to the Cape for a New Year’s week outing. We were watching the weather all week and when it looked like it was going to hit 45° on Saturday, we decided to pull the trigger and go. We knew that at a minimum, it would be 15° warmer than at home, so that alone made it worth the trip.

When we got to the course, everything looked great. There wasn’t any snow on the course and it looked like clear sailing. We had a bright sunny day and no wind. It almost felt like spring when you were in the sun. Perfect.

On the first hole, I hit a pretty good drive on a short par 4 and was about 95 yards out in the middle of the fairway. My next shot was uphill onto the green and it was perfect. If you close your eyes I’m sure you can picture one of your shots, high in the air, framed perfectly by the hill in front, trees on either side and nothing but blue sky behind it. It was going to land about 5 feet in front of the hole, and while it was in the air I was thinking, “This is going to be a great day, nothing like starting the day off with a short birdie putt. What cold weather?”

Then my partner says, “That’s going to be trouble.” Huh? The ball landed almost precisely where I thought it would. Then I discovered that one 45° day cannot not overcome the impression left behind by two weeks of sub 20° days. Something to do with the laws of thermodynamics. Anyway, I heard a muted cart-path like “click,” and while I was doing the calculations, the ball launched 40 feet in the air, bounded over the bushes behind the green and down the hill onto another fairway. At least I found it, only 60 yards away.

As disappointing as that shot was, we made some adjustments and it was still a great day. Do you have any good cold weather golf stories? Please share them here with us, and check out this article about a course in Maryland where the prices drop with the temperature. Road trip, anyone?

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2013/01/blue-mash-golf-course-offers-low-prices-for-cold-weather-84357.html

Typically, a weekday round at Blue Mash Golf Course cost between $39 and $49; the weekend prices jump to between $39 and $59. But if the temperature is lower, so it the rate.

01/25/2013

OK, on a day when it was below zero when I got up, it’s hard to think about golf in a serious manner, so I think today I’ll write about a very common occurrence in golf, cheating. Nothing holier (no pun intended) than thou, just some of the funny stuff that I’ve observed along the way.

I think most of us will willingly admit that at some point in time, we’ve succumbed to some mild form of cheating – taken a Mulligan, accidently moved a ball in the woods when removing debris from around the ball, taken a gimme when offered one or even assuming one. Usually, when you’re just out for a fun round and nobody’s cash or manhood (OK, personhood, but don’t expect me to be PC) is on the line, it’s not that important. But here are some goodies…

I have one friend who is a TERRIBLE golfer. He regularly shoots in the 130s, and he’s cheating. One time in a friendly tournament I used to run, I started counting his strokes for a few holes. He was regularly carding 7s and 8s, but I realized that he was more in the 10 to 12 range. I called him on it on one hole when he claimed 7 and I counted 11. I even went back and counted all his shots and misfires for him. He was a bit surprised, simply said, I guess you’re right, I must have forgotten about those. Someone else in our party said, “I don’t blame you.” And that was it.

Another one was where my friend Ed Donahue, was golfing with an acquaintance we’ll call Paul. It was a competitive match with at least bragging rights on the line and Ed was sure that he was shooting better than Paul, but couldn’t figure out how he was falling behind. Finally he starts paying attention to Paul’s score on a hole by hole basis and realized that the few times he had given Paul a gimme from inside a foot, HE WASN’T COUNTING THE GIMME as part of his score. Ed and I still chuckle about that to this day. To paraphrase George Costanza, If you don’t think you’re cheating, you’re not cheating!

This final one is about a question that becomes harder to answer every year. How much do I have to cheat to win a scramble? Three friends and I used to get together every fall for a scramble tournament. Although we are hackers, we were infallibly honest and always ended up somewhere around even to 2 under. One year we were backed up and following a foursome closely enough to watch their drives on the first six holes. Between them, they never hit the fairway or the rough. They were always under a bush, in the water, in a trap (often their best position) or some other bad place. We lost sight of them for the next six holes and caught up to them at the end. We asked, “How are you doing?” figuring that we would at least be ahead of them, and they responded with, “10 under! We’ve really caught fire on these last few holes!” Needless to say, that ended our hopes because we realized regardless of how much we improved our game, we could never push our cheat-level into the stratosphere!

So, please post your favorite cheating stories here. Be nice and change the names to protect the ignorant. Here is a link to some good ones in their own right.

http://golf.about.com/u/ua/rulesofgolf/golfcheating.htm

What is the worst golf cheating you have personally witnessed on a golf course? The most blatant rulebreaking by someone you were paired with? Share your stories.

01/23/2013

How many times have you stood on the right side of the fairway on your 2nd (or 5th) shot with an obstruction like a tree trunk or low hanging branches defending your shot to the green? There is one particular one that I call “The Sentinel” because it is so effective at knocking down balls that would be otherwise perfect shots. It is the Dikembe Mutombo of golf.

My solution? Let’s just say that there have been many a time that I’ve said, “I’m pretty sure I can over-swing with my 3 wood and wrap my ball around that tree. And usually I’m right. The real problem is obviously not the tree. The real problem is that my slice decides to come out of the bag precisely in time to cause the problem.

One of my favorite slice stories is seeing my friend Jimmy absolutely crush a ball on a long drive hole at a scramble. He is lefty and sliced it into the branches of an old, dead tree on the left side of the fairway. He got a bounding cart-path-like hit on the tree, which directed the ball back to the right, into the fairway and added about 30 yards to his drive. Needless to say, the guys he took the prize from weren’t too happy when we regaled them with the story.

Like us and tell us one of your favorite slice stories. I’m sure there are millions!

As everyone says, the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one. Well, the next step is actually finding ways to do something about it. Don’t be like my good friend John, who, when I told him I could help him fix his slice in 10 minutes at the range said, “I don’t have the mentality for this game.” Here’s one easy tip that may help you stay out of the rough on the right side, avoid the trees and actually stop losing distance on your drive to a slice. But don't stop telling the stories!

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/golf-fix-tip-slice-072312/

Michael Breed, host of ‘The Golf Fix,’ has a simple drill to help you eliminate your slice. Watch ‘The Golf Fix’ Mondays at 7PM ET.

01/22/2013

Everybody knows that every guy in a bar hits his driver, AKA the Big Dog, (according to Roy McAvoy in Tin Cup), 300 yards. Maybe 320. That’s in the bar. On the course it’s more like 220, 221, whatever it takes.

So the question today is how far do you hit your other clubs? Your niblick, spoon or mashie? Or more modern clubs like the 9 iron, rescue club or your Skakel iron? This is critical if you’re going to get the ball where it needs to go – over the water, short of the marsh, back of the green, etc.

For me the first step in actually developing a course strategy was realizing that I didn’t have to, nor should I try to, hit the ball as far as possible on every shot. It took me years to realize that trying to get over a small stream bounded by marsh on the right side and knee deep grass on the left, while hitting my second shot from a downhill lie on a long par 5 (try saying that fast three times!), was not a formula for success. Especially when I all had to do was knock the ball to the bottom of the hill and leave myself 130 to 150 yards out on level ground with an unobstructed view to the green. The risk (lost ball, hitting out of deep grass or getting across left and sitting behind a long row of trees) was simply not worth the reward (hitting from 110 to 90 yards out with an uphill lie). Especially with a 10% success rate.

So to employ some strategy, you have to know how far you hit each club. For real, not bar distances or heaven forbid, Golden Tee distances. Here are some basic ideas for creating and understanding a yardage chart and how other factors will affect your distances.

http://suite101.com/article/how-to-know-which-golf-club-to-use-golf-pro-tip-a128749

Knowing which golf club to hit is simple once you have calculated how far each club hits the golf ball. Know club selection by experimenting and using a yardage chart.

01/21/2013

After that painful Pats game last night, we figured it was time for more humor. For our friends that went to Catholic school, pick a couple of your least favorite nuns and picture this conversation…

A nun is sitting with her Mother Superior chatting. "I used some horrible language this week and feel absolutely terrible about it," the nun said.
"When did you use this awful language?" the Mother Superior asks.
Answered the nun: "Well, I was golfing and hit this fabulous drive that looked like it was going to go 280 yards, but it struck a phone line hanging over the fairway and fell straight down to the ground only 100 yards from the tee."
"Is that when you cursed?"
"No, Mother Superior," says the nun. "After that, a squirrel ran out of the bushes and grabbed my ball in its mouth and began to run away."
"Is that when you swore?" asks the Mother Superior.
"Well, no," says the nun. "As the squirrel was running, an eagle came down out of the sky, grabbed the squirrel in his talons and began to fly away!"
"Is that when you swore?" asks the amazed elder nun.
"No, not yet. As the eagle carried the squirrel away in its claws, it flew near the green and the squirrel dropped my ball."
"Did you swear then?" asked Mother Superior, becoming impatient.
"No, because the ball fell on a big rock, bounced over the sand trap, rolled onto the green, and stopped about six inches from the hole."
The two nuns were silent for a moment.
Then Mother Superior sighed and said, "You missed the &! #&% #%! putt, didn't you?"

01/18/2013

A little levity on a cold Friday. How many of you have felt like this?

01/17/2013

Up here in northern-ish New England, we’ll be trying to find a place to hit balls and sneak out for a round locally in about six weeks. We’ll also be envious of those folks who can carve a day out of their weekend between now and then for a golf trip to the Cape.

With that thought in mind and remembering yesterday’s snow, we should also keep in mind that we’ll be playing in wet conditions. Below you’ll find some professional tips for preparing to do battle on a soggy course.

My best tips? Weather is the great equalizer. Stay calm, swing easy and let the other guys self-destruct. Never tell them why you’re succeeding and most of all, never, ever pontificate about your skill in the rain. It will be hard for your mates to explain to the authorities how you managed to bash yourself in the back of the head with your own driver…while standing in a bunker…but they’ll manage.

http://www.lifeintherough.com/2008/05/12/playing-golf-in-wet-conditions/

We’ve been getting a lot of rain around here recently. When that happens, even if the sun has started shining again, the course gets saturated and the game changes some. With an awareness of the issues and a few adjustments, you’ll be ready to tackle a round on a wet course.

01/16/2013

There are plenty of folks who still believe that the newest-bestest club is going to improve their game. Here is an article for those folks. Please tell us what you are doing while the snow flies to improve your game. Playing video games doesn't count...

http://www.golf.com/equipment/golf-magazine-clubtest-2012-drivers

Golf Magazine ClubTesters hit 14,000 shots to evaluate 25 new drivers. Find out what they had to say, see photos and videos.

01/15/2013

On Ask Rex on the Golf Channel, Rex answers what Tiger needs to improve. I think that Rex needs to improve his tanning regimen.

http://www.golfchannel.com/media/golf-talk-central-011513-ask-rex/

Rex Hoggard and Tom Abbott answer Twitter questions Tuesday at Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

01/14/2013

Life is not without divots, so when you do something that leaves a mark, it is a good idea to analyze it to figure out if was good or bad. Here's how the pros do it. http://www.golfchannel.com/media/golf-channel-academy-larry-nelson-010913-check-your-divots/

01/09/2013

So the pros golfing in Hawaii are whining about a little wind. They have claimed that the Kapula course is unplayable just because "high winds won’t allow balls to come to rest on the course's severely undulated greens." I think that's going to be my excuse from now on. Or the sun was in my eyes. Go to http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golf-instruction/video-how-to-navigate-the-course-on-a-windy-day/ to get some tips to overcome the wind.

High winds at Kapalua have derailed the PGA Tour's first 2013 event. In this video segment, Martin Hall has some tips to help you play better in the wind.