tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248Sat, 14 Sep 2024 08:34:13 +0000beginner golfVillage Greensputtingbad golfgolf wisdomscorecardbogeysgolf advicegolf quotesA.A. MilneChapel HillColonial AcresEquipmentHarry VardonHarvey PenickManor Golf ClubMark TwainMitsushibaP.G. WodehousePingRich MaidenScrubsWalter HagenWilsondrivergolfgolf booksliteraturepar-3putterswing advicevideowedgesThe ongoing quest of a hacker, a duffer, a foozler, an imposter-who-has-no-business-wielding-a-club, to break his average golf score of 156.http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)Blogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-7672274206605836955Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:01:00 +00002012-08-03T14:01:36.806-04:00beginner golfbogeysputtingscorecard They call it "Village GREENS" for a reason. I started this blog almost a year ago to chronicle my attempt at becoming a better golfer. (It seems like it's been that long since I posted anything.) Since then I've played about 69 (tee-hee) rounds of golf, gone to the driving range, taken a five-week Get Golf Ready class and worked with an instructor in a private lesson. Am I any better? If you http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-lower-score-worse-golfer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-1546892015109733563Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:52:00 +00002012-03-01T14:52:53.590-05:00bad golfbeginner golfVillage GreensSome of us more than others experience a bad day on the golf course. First off, I recognize that a bad golfing day is relative. Phil Mickelson has a bad day when he doesn't come home with an oversized check. A scratch golfer has a bad day when her handicap goes up. My dad, who as a rule doesn't like golf, has a bad day whenever his annoying son drags him out to the course. For me, a bad day http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2012/03/everyone-needs-bad-day-of-golf.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-4430499347863429366Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:04:00 +00002012-02-29T10:04:40.123-05:00beginner golfputtingVillage GreensWho would have thought that a golf game I played on the antepenultimate day of February would be my fifth -- FIFTH! -- game of the year? In the Northeast, weather has been practically nonexistent. Bad for the planet, bad for crops, but good for my golf game. Regrettably, a beautiful day for golf. So yes, I am personally benefitting in the short term from the destruction of the planet, but I http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2012/02/drive-for-show-putt-for-dough-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-6056418706226507300Sat, 25 Feb 2012 13:42:00 +00002012-02-25T08:42:00.707-05:00beginner golfputtingVillage GreensEven on a rainy day, you have to keep on the sunny side. No matter how bad your game might be, focus on the positive. You can't see it, but I totally hit the ball in the middle of the fairway. Friday, for instance, I took pride in some unusually good putting. I played Village Greens -- which, as I often mention, is a par-56 executive course with just two par-4s. The best I ever did was a 90 http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2012/02/golf-round-village-greens-feb-24.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-3351455469197186071Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:50:00 +00002012-02-22T12:50:14.803-05:00bad golfChapel HillVillage Greens I used to think baseball was the ultimate sport for the stats geek. In the days before SportsCenter, you didn't need video replays to recap the action from the night before. The box score gave you all the information you needed to dissect what happened in the game. Only baseball fans could look at the six-inch-thick "Baseball Encyclopedia" and consider it a treasure instead of a doorstop. (http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-season-same-old-scores.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-3228270430872434491Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:51:00 +00002011-11-16T14:52:44.648-05:00beginner golfgolf advicegolf booksHarvey Penickliteratureputting"Who are you?" Scott asks when I tell him that I played two rounds the other week. Scott's confusion is understandable. When I lived in Seattle, I played golf maybe -- maybe&nbsp;- once a month, less if possible. He knew me from those days, when my play was laughable and I wore my frustration on my sleeve. No wonder he was puzzled at my newfound enthusiasm for the game. These days, I have even http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/11/black-and-white-and-green-all-over.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-7015346168789806579Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:27:00 +00002011-11-15T13:15:44.331-05:00A.A. Milnebad golfbeginner golfgolf quotesgolf wisdom I can't watch golf on television. I never could. Before I started playing golf, the flattened, boob-tube version seemed so boring. The announcers spoke too quietly, the audiences responded too softly and the action – following the arc of a white ball into what was often a gray or cloudy sky – too lazy. "Of course you don't like to watch it; you don't play golf," my friends who did watch the http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/11/heres-to-bad-golfers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-4401888525631793849Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:04:00 +00002011-11-14T15:43:42.963-05:00beginner golfgolf wisdomVillage Greens<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/11/almost-ready-for-big-boy-courses.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-683383678639331504Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:39:00 +00002011-10-11T16:44:39.475-04:00It seems as inevitable as paying taxes, dying or remaking a comic-book movie. Eventually, if you keep practicing, you will get better. Maybe not good, but better. &nbsp;This has an upside: Who wouldn't want to suck less at a skill? That is the entire point of practicing, of persistence, of all those other "p" words that we associate with becoming good. The arc of the universe may bend toward http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/10/burden-of-expectations.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-5154029616352031295Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:13:00 +00002011-10-09T11:13:57.223-04:00beginner golfgolf wisdomBloggers are never supposed to apologize for taking long absences from their blogging duties. So I won't. (I read that on a blog somewhere.) I would like to say that the reason for my cyberspace silence these last few weeks is that I've been sequestered in a Himalayan monastery, studying the finer points of golf and getting in touch with my inner chi in order to improve my golf game. Oh, and http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/10/return-of-swing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-4497775959530063310Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:53:00 +00002011-09-08T14:53:47.181-04:00What is the point of the driving range? That's not a rhetorical question: I went to a range earlier this week and did the obligatory practice putting, practice chipping and practice swinging the club. All I learned is that I am as wildly inconsistent when the ball is sitting on a rubber tee with nowhere to go as when I'm on an actual course trying to put the tiny sphere into a cup. You might http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/09/at-driving-range-in-driving-rain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-783730981260837371Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:49:00 +00002011-09-05T22:49:23.227-04:00beginner golfManor Golf ClubFor all my other golfing faults, at least you can't call me a fair-weather golfer. Today, Labor Day, I worked my way through 18 holes at Manor Golf Club in Sinking Spring, Pa., slogging through a soggy front nine before the sun finally showed, ever so briefly, later in the afternoon. I half-expected to see werewolves out on a day like this. At first I thought I had a way with rain; the first http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/09/rainy-day-golfing-12-35.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-898513821767176483Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:21:00 +00002011-09-03T15:22:28.573-04:00beginner golfdriverputtingVillage GreensOne of the most oft-used pieces of advice that novice golfers receive is: Don't Use The Driver. It's the most difficult club to hit. It will ruin your game. It will run off with your spouse and steal your credit cards. To be sure, it is tough to hit a driver WELL. But at the par-56 course today, I was struggling with every other aspect so that when I reached the par-4 ninth hole, I decided to http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/09/dont-hate-driver.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-3424352212302744674Thu, 01 Sep 2011 19:56:00 +00002011-09-01T15:56:37.788-04:00Of all the ways that golf can frustrate the beginning golfer -- and there are many -- this week none compared with the vexing art of putting. All the good shots from the tee on seem wasted once you get on the green and you need a million shots just to triangulate the hole, even though you can see that IT'S RIGHT THERE! IT'S RIGHT FRICKIN' THERE! Hole 2 at Village Greens in Sinking Spring, http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/09/putting-is-my-downfall.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-8674492160484277552Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:22:00 +00002011-08-30T13:24:54.543-04:00beginner golfRich MaidenI have started a Golfing Noob Tumblr account, where I chronicled last week's outing at Rich Maiden, a lovely 18-hole course near Fleetwood, Pa. The biggest discovery I made was that I hit my 3-iron off the tee better than my driver or even my 3-wood. So for the entire back nine, I kept all my woods in the bag (with one exception: Once I used the 5-wood on the fairway). The result was better, buthttp://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/day-i-retired-my-woods-for-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-3497053835781901602Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:01:00 +00002011-08-23T15:01:12.722-04:00bogeyspar-3swing adviceVillage GreensAmazing what one little piece of swing advice can do to your game. I have been reading "Harvey Penick's Little Red Book" and "Fundamentals of Hogan" for tips on how to swing properly, something I never really studied. For years I followed the model of, watch your friends swing and try to do what they do (only left-handed). I didn't notice any improvement until today, playing at Village Greens http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/if-my-lob-wedge-were-person-i-would.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-7632137171523094871Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:01:00 +00002011-08-22T12:01:18.629-04:00beginner golfColonial Acresscorecard Great day for golf. The intent seems noble enough: create a wildlife sanctuary in a public golf course. I don't know how much the animals enjoy the constant threat of errant golf balls flying into their habitat. In this weekend's round, I mercifully missed their homes as often as I missed the greens. No animals were harmed during my game at Colonial Acres; only my golf score. Colonial http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/latest-environmental-danger-terrible.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-4166879600196185663Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:32:00 +00002011-09-08T14:58:56.661-04:00golf quotesMark Twain Blogging, like brushing one's teeth, ought to be a daily activity. The main difference is, one only needs to take two minutes; the other, if you're doing it well, can take much longer. I'll leave it to you to guess which is which. So I created a bit of a dilemma for myself with this blog, where I'm supposed to write about taking up the sport anew after a long layoff and making progress (or http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/nongolfers-have-it-wrong-about-mark.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-468636550481179859Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:34:00 +00002011-08-16T13:34:18.206-04:00puttingscorecardVillage GreensI almost forgot to post my scorecard from today's 18 holes at Village Greens. The good: two pars, one bogey and a double bogey. One of the pars was on hole 7, where I hit an 8 last week. So, yay for that. The bad: Way too many three- and four-putts, despite starting with a good putting game in the first few holes. Also, four holes with 8, two with 9 and one 10 (but it was a par-4, so I was onlyhttp://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/official-record-from-todays-golf-round.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-4864747214384429734Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:08:00 +00002011-08-16T13:08:31.997-04:00beginner golfVillage Greenswedges I'm proud to say this was my first shot off the tee. Sadly, I didn't birdie.&nbsp; When you're a beginning golfer, sometimes the well-hit shots hurt more than the bad ones. Case in point: My first ball off the tee today at Village Greens, a par-3 course in Sinking Spring – the site of last week's adventure – struck a wooden fence to my left and bounced within a reasonable distance of the http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/neither-rain-nor-wind-nor-lousy-play.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0Sinking Spring, PA 19608, USA40.327055378391115 -76.020362176998940.316805378391116 -76.0356531769989 40.337305378391115 -76.0050711769989tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-7517019794933533410Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:38:00 +00002011-08-15T11:38:26.469-04:00beginner golfgolf adviceHarry VardonIf you want good advice about the game of golf but don't want to pay for it, you can either prowl the Interwebs for blogs that offer same, or you can wait 100 years to hear from the experts. Note the form! The grace! The jacket and knickers! Harry Vardon, who won the British Open a bunch of times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote a book about this exasperating sport in 1905,http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/free-advice-from-golfing-legend.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-6552779352989705807Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:02:00 +00002011-08-14T10:02:19.257-04:00beginner golfVillage GreensToday's important lesson: A 7 on a par-4 is a better score than a 7 on a par-3. That's a rabbit in the lower left hand corner, &nbsp;and no, I didn't hit it. I played not quite a full round at Village Greens Golf Course in Sinking Spring, a mostly par-3 course in a beautiful, tree-lined suburban setting. Luckily the day was a nice one for walking in the woods, as I spent most of my time http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/golf-outing-village-greens-golf-club.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0Sinking Spring, PA 19608, USA40.328120281695043 -76.02140396586912640.317870281695043 -76.036694965869131 40.338370281695042 -76.006112965869121tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-5168352555190522931Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:55:00 +00002011-08-10T13:55:00.239-04:00ScrubsvideoIf only all beginning golfers could look so smooth: http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/inspiring-first-shot.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-6818429865251801563Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:43:00 +00002011-08-10T08:43:00.340-04:00golfP.G. WodehouseI have struggled in the last few weeks to figure out why, at 41 years old and after a healthy layoff from the sport, I decided to take up golf. My life had been going well once I put my clubs away. I'm not saying there's a connection but after I stopped golfing I found a better job in my field, met the love of my life and bought a house. Why muck that up with golf? P.G. Wodehouse. Smart.http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/why-golf-why-now.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4173203085393271248.post-7882436587548099131Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:09:00 +00002011-08-11T01:11:48.710-04:00EquipmentMitsushibaPingputterWalter HagenWilsonMy golf clubs get a bad rap. Not by me, of course. Of the many, many faults of my golf game, I think "bad clubs" falls somewhere below "bat hallucinations" among things that should worry me. Two weeks ago I played 18 holes for the first time in about seven years. One of my friends, "Chris" (actual name: Chris), insisted I need to buy a whole new set of clubs if I'm going to play this game. http://golfingnoob.blogspot.com/2011/08/note-on-equipment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Adam Richter)1