The Rogers News

Category: Our Experiences

Tales of my life as told by me.

  • Meet the Press

    Since college, my ideal Sunday morning has been waking up early and watching Meet the Press with a hot cup of coffee by my side and a newspaper or my computer to peruse.

  • Voice

    I have not written for a long time and need to rediscover my voice. The best way to do that is to start writing again and be patient until the old one returns or a new one is unveiled.

    Check back on Thursday, June 5th for my first story in some time.

  • Round 1 of 2008: High Pointe Golf Club

    I played my first round of the year at High Pointe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Michigan last Thursday. If you’re not familiar with High Pointe, it is one of Northern Lower Michigan’s best courses. As its homepage reads, “Two unique nines, one great course.” The greens are spectacular, too. Huge undulations and contours that reward precise approach shots and penalize poor ones.

    Having not hit a golf ball on real grass since last October, I had no idea what to expect of my game. The relaxed expectations resulted in a decent score of 78, which could have been lower. The fairways on the front nine were forgiving enough to allow me to spray a few drives and still have an approach shot. We played through a slow group and as a result I rushed my tee shot on the par four twelfth hole and ended up with a triple bogey. In an otherwise error-free round, that was my lone mistake.

    What needs work?

    • Short game — misjudged pitches and chips cost me a few strokes.
    • Irons — distance control with mid and short irons.

  • Yearning to Compete: Setting a Goal

    Golf has always been competitive for me. While I learned to play by hitting balls at the Hack Shack golf range, I learned to score – to golf my ball – to post a number by playing junior golf tournaments. At the time, I was not aware of the lasting effect playing in the eight or ten tournaments a year would have on my approach to golf. The experience has had it’s positive and negative influences.

    The negative is that simply enjoying a nice day while playing golf is difficult. There is a constant desire to hit the best shots that I can hit, and when I fail at this frustration sets in. Learning to deal with this frustration by accepting the poor shots during leisure rounds is something I still work at to this day.

    Playing competitive golf starting at ten years old has had several positive effects as well. I credit competitive golf for some of the development of my honesty and trustworthiness. Golf is a gentleman’s game because it requires a great deal from its competitors. It’s rare that a player playing any sport but golf calls a penalty on himself or disqualifies himself. In golf, you see this every week.

    Competing and playing well makes for a healthy ego. So long as the ego is kept in check, it is a great source of inspiration and confidence.

    Playing in tournaments is fun and a great way to meet other driven individuals. Whether you compete on a high level or in the high-handicap league at your club, the back-and-forth of a friendly match is often a very rewarding and memorable afternoon. I’ll never forget some of the highs and lows and laughs I experienced while playing in junior golf, high school, and amateur golf tournaments.

    With this said, I haven’t played a competitive round of golf in over three years. The last round I played that “counted” was probably for the Traverse City Country Club Championship. It has been tough to play consistently in the past couple years because of working, moving, going back to school and traveling or working during the summers. But I’m declaring now that my goal is to play in at least two golf tournaments during the summer and fall of 2008.

    Watch out, World! Ha ha.

  • Early Morning Rounds

    I haven’t had the opportunity to play an early morning round of golf in a long time, but boy do I miss it. There is just something about the chill in the air, the uninterrupted dew on the fairways and greens, and the empty course waiting to be played that makes for a peaceful morning. Dodging the mowers can be tricky, but fun.

    My penchant for early morning rounds likely developed during my junior golfing days. At the young age of ten or eleven I started competing in nine-hole tournaments at local golf courses. The courses donated (I presume) early morning course time to the Traverse City Junior Golf Association for us to compete. And compete we did, once a week through the summer. There were usually about eight or ten tournaments, which worked out to one per week. Just enough to establish a competitive season without being too great a burden on our parents, who got us to the course at obscenely early hours.

    Later, high school golf tryouts started at 6am and ran all week. Needless to say, it was a very tiring week. High school tournaments were usually played early, too. And there were always too many pranks to be played and fun to be had to get to bed early.

    So, through all of this nostalgic wandering is the reason I like playing early in the morning. It gives me a reason to think back on my childhood when I had trouble falling asleep because I was so exciting and nervous about the next mornings nine-hole tournament. That feeling never went away, and to this day, I still get butterflies in my stomach when I tee up my Titleist on the first tee and take those stiff practice swings.

  • One Shot to Impress

    Imagine that you are in the following situations with only one swing – one shot – a single attempt to impress. What shot do you hit?

    Your significant other is watching you hit balls on the range for the first time?
    Driver

    You’re on the first tee with your potential boss. He just duffed it.
    Modest 2 iron

    Tiger Woods, strolling by casually, is watching. He needs a pro-am partner.
    Smooth 6 iron.

    You are leading by one at THE PLAYERS Championship teeing off on 18.
    Hard driver.

    Your golf pro starts hitting balls next to you on the range.
    Smooth 7 iron.

    Your best ball partner shows up after you talked up your (rusty) game all week at the office.
    Hit the putting green!

    Phil Mickelson shows up at the practice green next to you and starts hitting flop shots.
    A higher flop shot!

    You’re having a chipping contest with your dad in the back yard.
    Low sand wedge.

    It’s interesting to think of when you want to impress, show off skill, or ensure a solid shot. What would you do in these situations? Do you have any good ones of your own?

  • Awareness

    I walked to the grocery store to buy root-beer and an onion, I realized that while owning an iPhone allows me to better record my observations, it also significantly decreases my observations. I spent the whole walk to the store checking Facebook and Tumblr.