Another trip to the Swing Zone

Another bucket of balls at the Swing Zone. I found out they're open 8am-9pm pretty much every day of the week.


Seems I have the ideal schedule to go down there since the place was empty except me and one other golfer. Not that I'd call myself a golfer at this point.

You are now entering the Swing Zone

Went down to the Swing Zone driving range today in Kona to hit a bucket of balls. That's what it kind of looked like, I was hitting the bucket and not the balls themselves. Okay, that's a bit tough on myself. I brought a 9-iron and #1 driver to the range and hit some good shots with both but need much more practice. The range at noon was empty except for one other guy. By the time I was done half the stalls were busy with golfers, no doubt out of work early on the day before Thanksgiving. I really wanted to at least get down to the driving range once before my vacation was over so I made it. I'll probably have to come back next week.

Driving the ball about 100 yards when I'm not skimming the grass with a shot.

What the putt?

I'm back on the Big island and I needed to buy a putter. I headed over to Play It Again Sports and looked at putters. Most were in the $20+ range and most looked pretty beat-up. I futted around a with a few but they looked so bad I decided to head over to Wal-Mart.

I got to Wal-Mart and found my putter, brand new for about $17. Okay, it's probably not the best putter in the world but I'm not the best golfer so it doesn't matter. Besides it feels good in my hands and doesn't have too much of that fancy design enhancements like some other putters, it's pretty basic which is what I like.

My dad gave me three boxes of used golf balls for me to practice and play with. A bunch of pretty good shape Titleist balls, good enough for me to lose in tall grass or lava fields I figure.

Oh yeah, I also went to Costco to buy a golf bag, my most expensive purchase for this crazy sport. At over $80 at least visitors who borrow clubs from me will have a nice bag to go with that full set of clubs.

Forgive me but I'm starting to golf

Spent part of the morning at the Ala Wai Golf Course driving range with my dad. He had me starting-off with a 9-iron and I was hitting the ball, lofting it up and hitting it about 50 yards. Then he started coaching me on hand and body position, etc. Now I was hitting the ball into the ground, off to the side, etc. Hmmmm.

After relaxing a bit I was starting to hit the ball straight ahead again lofting the ball up. My dad said, "the 9-iron is the easiest club to hit with." It must be true because I wasn't doing too bad. Okay, I did miss the ball completely a couple of times.

Next we switched to the driver with a 10.5º loft. I was hitting a bunch of line drives, into the ground, etc. It was more like I was hitting a sacrifice bunt rather than a driver. I did get the sweet spot on a few balls but this was a very small percentage.

So much to remember, keep my hands in front of the ball when setting-up, keep the left arm straight, hands together, smooth stroke, etc. Okay, enough bad drives down the driving range next was the putting green.

On the putting green i did much better. Able to sink the ball in the hole from either close, medium and farther distances. I just needed to judge the amount of force to hit with. All in all not too bad of a day at the driving range.

And as for the golf shoes, my dad hit a few balls wearing slippers. He hit the ball long and straight but couldn't see where the ball went once it flew past 50 yards. His eyesight isn't as good as it used to be.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Is it the shoes?

Okay, today is the day I'm going to the driving range with my dad for some golf lessons. My dad asked me if I was going to buy golf shoes and I just burst out laughing. He looked a bit confused until I said, "do you really think golf shoes are going to help my game?" I told him I'd just go in the running shoes I brought. Shoes aren't going to make me better, only practice will do that at this point.

It's like the joke asking for directions in NYC, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice my son."

We also discussed me buying a putter but I decided to wait until i got back to Kona. I figured a putter could be considered a weapon on the airplane.

Clubbed to death

Okay, I caved. I got a set of golf clubs. No, I didn't spend any money for clubs, I made my 15th anniversary at the newspaper and we had a choice of gifts via their online catalog. I considered the reciprocating saw kit, a real man's kind of tool. But I don't really have anything I need to destroy by cutting it up. I also considered the Coleman tent but I couldn't think of five other people I'd stand to be in the same tent with, besides it's the old cabin type design. DVD players are cheap so I didn't chose that and I certainly don't need another digital camera. Women's jewelry is also out so i settled on the golf clubs.

As I noted on my normal blog I have always refused to give into playing or learning to play golf. But I figured there was no way in hell I'd spend money on a golf club set so I might as well take a free set. But I had to choose between the 11 piece golf club set or a golf bag, not both. Also no putter was included with the golf set. Oh what have I done?