YOU MAY BE A DUFFER
Jeff Foxworthy says “if you ???? , You may be a REDNECK”.
Well those that play Golf say it a different way:
If you only play Golf once a year, You may be a Duffer.
If your golf clubs are twenty years old and still look new, You may be a Duffer.
If your playing with your Dad’s clubs, You may be a Duffer.
If you only play Golf on the weekends, You may be a Duffer.
If you never had a golf lesson, You may be a Duffer.
If you had a golf lesson and you tell everyone that the instructor wasn’t any good, You may be a Duffer.
If you write down four when you had a six, You may be a Duffer.
If you buy new clubs every year and your score stays the same, You may be a Duffer.
If you buy a dozen golf balls before each round of golf and come home without any golf balls, You may be a Duffer.
If you start to complain about your bad back on the first tee, You may be a Duffer.
If you ask for a eight foot “give-me” on the first green, You may be a Duffer.
If you ask the Starter where the beer cart is, You my be a Duffer.
If you ask on the second tee box if the 19th hole is open yet, You may be a Duffer.
These are just a few of the reasons that You may be a Duffer, and I am sure that you can come up with some more.
If you have a good idea about why you may be a Duffer add them to the comments.
GOLF IN RETIREMENT
Did you play golf before you retired?
Well for many of us there wasn’t time to play much golf before we retired. We spent all our time in the office, traveling on business, coaching little league and such.
Then we found ourselves retired with time on our hands and looking for something to do. We had played a little during our working years, but not enough to be any good at it. If you only play once or twice a year you can’t say you play golf.
But now in retirement what better to do then get out with the boys or girls and play golf. We have that old set of clubs that we used all those years in the Company Tournament (once a year), they will be OK to start with. Now we have to find someone to play with, someone you worked with, a friend from Church, a neighbor, any of these would work. Where and when are you going to play? All these decisions have to be made before we even get to the course.
Now lets help you out, most golf courses have men’s and women’s leagues (if your spouse plays they also have couples leagues) you can join and play every week with them. Maybe you have a friend or former co-worker that play there and would take you along to get started. Maybe your old company has a retiree league that plays at a local course, you can join that. Many Retirees go South in the winter and you can find many leagues and groups to play with there, just ask where you are staying for there groups or where the local course is located.
All in all there is no shortage of places to play, you just need to look for them.
Now that you are playing more you will need more equipment, cloths and stuff so look right here at 19thholegolfstore for everything you need.
WHAT DOES IT COST TO PLAY???
Where do you play golf ? Public courses, Private courses or Country Clubs?
Do you care what it costs to play?
Well for some of us it does make a difference where we play because of the cost.
We are very lucky in the Mid-West as we can play a lot of very good Public Courses and small Country Clubs for a very reasonable price. There are a lot of Public courses that we can play for under $30.00 a round, with a cart, for a senior during the week. Many of these courses also have annual memberships, and trail fees it you have your own cart, that work out to even a lower cost. For seniors this a great deal and most of us don’t mind staying away from the weekends when they have all the working people traffic. Most of these courses are setup with senior, men’s and women’s leagues and therefore give you a great golfing experience and maybe even some new friendships.
There are also a lot of small Country Clubs that you can belong to at a cost of under $50.00 per month, for a family membership, and you can play all the golf you want. (If your spouse plays this is a really great deal). They may charge you $10.00 to $15.00 for a cart, or you can have your own cart and pay a trail fee, either way this is still a great deal if you have a lot of time to play. These courses may not be the best courses in the area, but they are not bad for the money.
Sometimes you can find a, so called, Private Course that allows the public to play on a day or two during the week at a very good price. Most of these courses can’t be played by the public on the weekends. But there again, if you are retired you can play during the week.
Now I am going to give away the SECRET: If you are retired, or not, there is a great place to go for the winter months. The Texas Rio Grand Valley.
The Valley has all the amenities you could ask for. The people make you feel welcome and at home and the prices are right. There are a large number of camp grounds for your RV and also many places to rent for the winter or shorter periods.
There are a lot of public courses in the Valley that you can play for under $35.00 per round with a cart. It may be a little hard to get on in the early morning, but you can get on with no problem later in the day. Most of the camp grounds have leagues that play once or twice a week and they have the early morning tee times tied up. In addition, most of these courses have a league of their own that you can join.
There are also some Private courses that may cost you a little more that will let the public on during the week for under $50.00 with a cart. You will also find a few very nice Public courses that will cost you over $50.00, but if you watch the paper you will find a advertised price lower for early morning tee times on some of the slow or later weeks of the season.
If you live on the East or West coast and do not go to Texas in the winter you’re missing some great golf.
WHY DO YOU PLAY GOLF?
Some of us play because we LOVE to play and would find the time to play no matter what.
Today was a good example of “no matter what”, when I left home it was sprinkling, not much, just a little, so we go to the course just to see if it might stop shortly. Upon arriving at the course we go in the Club House and wait to see if any other idiots show up. Now I should tell you that this is the middle of the week and everyone that I play with is retired, so we have time to wait and see if the rain stops, or at least lets up a little.
There are always a few real golfers (idiots) that show up on these days. So we stand around the club house and talk about what the weather is going to do, can we get 18 in, if not maybe we could get 9 in. OK, the rain stopped and one of my partners showed up, a retired Doctor (so much for the intelligence of doctors). We find one other real golfer that is ready to play so we head for the 1st tee.
Yesterday the temperature was 90 degrees and sunny, today we have a north wind and a temperature of 60 degrees (real idiots, right). It might help you to know that my Doctor friend has only been playing golf for about two years since he retired and doesn’t play that well. I have been playing longer, but I didn’t really start playing until after I retired either, but I play a little better then the Doctor. The third we picked up really plays bad. Not that it makes any difference, but we stopped after 9 holes, it was raining again and it didn’t look like it was going to let up.
Why do we play? We just have to go out and hit that little white ball, then we hope we can find it and hit it again. What a dumb game!
As you get older you go to the golf course because it is good for you, you get out of the house and spend some time in the sunshine (or rain). We see our friends at the golf course and that is how we keep up with what is going on with everyone.
There are some people in our group that play golf very well and they are playing because they play well. There are people in our group that play fair and they play because they are trying to get better. Then there are people in our group that play not so good and they play because they like to play and see all the other golfers and they don’t care if they get any better or not. (Now this group complains about their game just as much as the good golfers, but they really don’t care how bad they are. This is also the group that says they are going to give this stupid game up, but they show up, on time, tomorrow).
So let me ask you, Why Do You Play Golf??
IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED ……… GOLF
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1-1)
Now every Christian knows this passage from the Bible. In fact every person in the United States over the age of ten has more then likely heard this passage more then once.
But, did you know that God also gave us Golf in order to stop war?
Well, the history of Golf, in the World Book Encyclopedia, says that Golf probably started in Scotland about 1100 from a Roman game called Paganica. This game was played in the open field with a bent stick and a leather ball filled with feathers.
We find written reports of Golf back as far as 1457. In 1457 King James II and the parliament of Scotland banned “glofe” because its popularity threatened the practice of archery for national defense. The ban was ended when England and Scotland signed a treaty of (perpetual peace) in 1502.
From this we must surmise that God gave us Golf to stop wars.
Well, let’s think about this for a minute. God gave us a game where you can get outdoors, play with friends and enemies alike. God gave us a game where we compete against our friends and enemies and still come home mad at ourselves and not at everybody else. God gave us a game that when we have finished playing we all go to the 19th Hole and have a beer with our friends and enemies. God gave us a game where everybody lies about their score and nobody cares. Surely this game must stop wars.
All the while we play this stupid game God must be getting a great laugh. It has to be funny when he throws a big gust of wind at you just as you tee off. God must think its funny when he hides your ball right out in the open where you know you saw it stop, but it’s not there. God must think its funny when he starts rain just as you get to the seventh tee. Only God would think a fairway sand trap is funny. It must be really funny when that sudden gust of wind comes up and stops your ball right in the middle of the pond. You know that one of God’s great works are trees, right, OK, but why did he have to put so many of them right in the middle of the fairway?
With all the above proof I have no doubt that God created Golf.
AFTER LABOR DAY, HAVE YOU PUT AWAY YOUR CLUBS?
Are you one of those people that put away your clubs after Labor Day? Clean your clubs, clean your shoes and put everything away in bags so they will all be nice and clean next spring.
Well there are a lot of very good golfers that put away their clubs right after Labor Day. Why? Some people will tell you that golf is only a summer game and once Labor Day arrives it is Fall and you no longer play “summer games”. There are some people that will tell you that after Labor Day you start bowling and therefore no longer have time for golf (there is always time for golf). Some people will tell you that the weather gets too cold and/or the days are too short (if you are still working this one might be true). Some people will tell you it is football season, no more time for golf.
However, if you are retired, like me, this is the best time of the year for playing golf. All at once there are fewer golfers at the course. The mornings are a little cooler (might need a wind breaker), but it warms up nicely by mid morning and it’s a great time to play. Being retired gives you the ability to pick the days you want to play. There are normally lots of very nice days during September and October. If you play in the Mid-West, the weather stays nice until the first of November and sometimes until early December.
If you are lucky enough to play with real golfers, like I do, you will play every week until December and maybe until Christmas. In the Mid-West you probably will not be able to play from Christmas until mid March. Although, I have played in January and February a few years.
If you and your spouse are both retired; January through March is the time you want to go South for at least a few weeks, and hopefully for a few months. South Texas is a great place to go and is not very expensive. Besides golf there are a lot of other things to do and lots of people to do it with.
Still working? Ok, pick your days by looking at the weather forecast and find one or two days a month that you and your spouse or friends can take off to play. You will love the Fall weather if you pick the right days and it is a great way to relax on your day off.
Ok, now that you know the true story about Fall and Winter golf don’t give up the best months of the year by putting your clubs away