Golf Q&A
I NEED A RULING |
** This Q & A is from TeeMaster TeeMail, brought to you by TeeMaster.com, the free e-mail bulletin that keeps you posted on great golf deals, PGA Tour news, and other links info.
Ever wonder why full-length golf courses have 18 holes …
and not 20, or 10 or an Even dozen? Well during a discussion among the club’s membership board at St. Andrews in 1858, one of the members pointed out that it takes exactly 18 shots to polish off a fifth of Scotch. By limiting himself to only one shot of Scotch per hole, the Scots figured a round of golf was finished when the Scotch ran out.
Thanks to Andy for this Interesting Fact!
Other Interesting Golf Facts…
There are 336 Dimples in a regulation-size Golf Ball
The number of golfers in the United States and the population of Afghanistan. How weird is that? 2 220 (New York Times)
Courses Robert Trent Jones designed or remodeled in Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses. Donald Ross had 12, Rees Jones 11 and Tom Fazio 10. (New York Times)
Rudyard Kipling, living in Vermont in the 1890s invented the game of snow golf. He painted the golf balls red so that they could be located in the snow.
After Mark Calcavecchia and John Daly completed the final round in the Tournament Players’ Championship in 2 hours and 3 minutes, both were fined by the U.S. P.G.A. for playing too quickly. Daly shot an 80 and Calcavecchia an 81.
Legendary professional Harry Vardon, the greatest Open Champion of all-time, had only one hole-in-one during his long career.
Americans spend more than $600 million a year on golf balls.
There are more then 11,000 golf courses in North America.
The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million.
There are 50 million golfers in the world. Their average gross score is 107 shots. Eighty percent of all golfers will never achieve a handicap of less than 18.
The maximum weight for a golf ball is 1.62oz.
Before 1850, Golf balls were made of leather and were stuffed with feathers.
The oldest golfer ever to play a round was believed to be Arthur Thompson of British Columbia. At the age of 103, he equalled his age on the Uplands Golf Club in Victoria - a course of over 6,000 yards.
19 Tips to a Smooth Golf Event
Front Nine
- Select a course and date. Ideally, you want a course that is accessible, has a good reputation and is fun to play. Budget is a consideration, but should not be the prime factor. Depending on the size of your group, green fees will vary. Weekdays are generally less expensive than weekends. Showtime Golf provides golf course reviews and information for Las Vegas, San Diego and Phoenix.
- Enlist sponsors. For a corporate event, get a list of suppliers and vendors. They may participate by supplying prizes or player gifts or buying sponsorships as a thank-you for the business. Be sure that you have great signs recognizing your sponsors at the event: this is not an area to cut costs. Ask our course tournament coordinator to suggest suppliers for signs, products, etc.
- Provide player registration forms. While this may seem like a hassle at first, it can really come in handy on event day. Include name, address, phone and fax for the event databases. Be sure to list a fax # and address for returning the form and identify a deadline date for return.
- Print Schedules. Be sure to put together a schedule for the day and either fax it to players or hand it out at registration.
- Solicit Prizes. Get the nicest prizes you can afford or have donated because this area creates reputation. Nice prizes help to make the event memorable and generates interest in playing next time.
- Choose a Format. Your choices are: Best Ball, Captains Choice Scramble, Foursome combined or Individual Stroke Play. The one you choose may depend largely on the skill levels of your participants. The course pro can assist with decisions about format and tee options.
- Prepare for on-site registration. Without question there will be a rush at registration the last hour before tee time. Always have a organized system of checking your golfers in and be able to get them on their way quickly.
- Determine pairings in advance. For corporate outings, consider who is paired with who for political reasons. If the reason for the event is to accomplish business goals, pair the right people together.
- Plan the transportation. Be sure golfers have good directions to the golf course if they are driving themselves or that bus drivers know where they’re going. Golfers have to be at the course and ready ahead of time. Especially for shotgun starts.
Back Nine
- Have enough beverage carts. If your event is a warm month, add an extra cart. Thirsty golfers are crabby golfers, and there are health factors too. Remember to consider box lunches and snacks.
- Start on time. If you have a 8am shotgun, have golfers at their assigned starting holes and ready to begin play at 8am. Better to please 120 golfers who are ready than satisfy 10 who are late. Showtime Golf San Diego can help by providing luxury transportation to and from the course.
- Be sure signs look good and are in place in plenty of time. It’s the easiest way to please sponsors or make them unhappy. Ask the course tournament coordinator to recommend providers of quality signs.
- Have enough volunteers. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Staff accordingly.
- Check the yardage on prize holes. Nobody wants legal problems, so save yourself a potential headache. Ask the course tournament coordinator to recommend providers of hole in one contests.
- Be in sync with the golf course staff. You can’t do too much planning. It’s a good idea to have a face-to-face meeting with the course tournament coordinator a few days before the events to discuss details and your expectations of staff.
- Keep the pace of play moving. Don’t try to do too much. Be creative with games and contests, but remember they slow down play.
- Recognize your sponsors, dignitaries and beneficiaries. People like to see where their money is going. If you’re benefiting a charity, you can’t go wrong with dogs or kids. Ask the charity to provide volunteer help and a list of potential sponsors/golfers.
- Write thank you letters to your sponsors and volunteers. Include a survey if you would like feedback. It’s also a nice touch to thank the golfers for participating.
- Every good course has a 19th hole. Remember the details, and try to under-promise and over-deliver to make the next event even better.
Call us to plan your next golf event or tournament at (866) 661-2334
When Things Get Slow
Just got back from my morning round and it seemed that at about every other hole there was a 5 to 10 minute delay on the tee box because of some backup in front of us. I watched as one player surveyed his shot, surveyed his playing partners shot, then returned to the cart for his club. Then his playing partner took his shot. Then, finally, they both would return to the cart after surveying the results from the fairway. Aggravating? Yes. Affects your play? Yes. Is there a better way? Yes.
In case you didn’t know, there is a proscribed, unwritten set of behaviors that separate a “conscientious” golfer from a “selfish” golfer. Below are just a few that will help you keep things “on pace”.
1-Play to the pace of the group in front of yours, not just to stay ahead of the group behind. Remember, your group sets the pace for every group behind yours, all the way back to the first tee.
2- Be prepared to hit your shot before it is your turn to play. Gather your yardage, pin placement, wind, and slope conditions in advance when possible.
3- Limit practice swings when it is your turn to play. If practice swings are a necessity in your routine, take them before it is your turn.
4- If sharing a golf cart, do not become a spectator. When you arrive in the vicinity where tee shots are located, get out of the cart and begin to plan your next shot even if it’s not your turn to play. Go to your ball with a few clubs and a seed bottle and plan your shot while your fellow competitor is playing his/her shot.
5- Do not spend more than five minutes searching for a golf ball. USGA rules prohibit this practice and the pace of play will suffer. If you hit a shot that may be out of bounds, play a provisional ball. Going back to play again takes too much time.
6- Hunting for lost balls in lakes and hillsides is best way to upset the group behind you. If you are hunting, you are not playing and not moving.
7- Practice - Nothing promotes quicker play than keeping the ball in play. A bucket of balls before a round goes a long way to ensure that you have less errant shots and more playable lies.
See you on the tee box….
There Goes My Game Again
Being able to play golf in San Diego sure has its benefits. Get up Monday Morning, no work, 70 degrees and sunny, and the courses are reasonably empty. In February…..
I played my weekly golf match last Monday at Maderas Golf Club,(Great Johnny Miller design, I have always said Maderas is a “golfer’s golf course”),where you rarely see a lucky golf shot, and even after 2 or 3 good shots in a row, you still need to hit that fourth shot to score on the hole.Because of the shear length of the course from the Blue tees, Average golfers at Maderas have a tendency to overswing, trying to eat up that yardage on those big par fives with 230 yard forced carries off some of the tees…
At the the turn, one of our foursome started topping tee shots and skulled balls left and right. After a couple holes of this hoo hah, he was duly humbled enough to take some of the “slow down” advice from his colleagues, and his game returned to some semblance of normalcy (with an assist from 2 cold Budweisers to relax things), and it got me to thinking of what “on course” tricks or tips does one use when his/her game goes entirely in the commode?
What I have found after consulting the colleagues in my foursome, and after receiving a smattering of random, completely non-scientific gimmicks, tricks, wives tales,and old school knowledge, is; That anyone who plays the game, and plays well, has some method to “right” their game when things start to go oh so horribly wrong… Listed below, in no particular order, are a couple of tips I collected……..
1-Try a shorter swing- Backswings that are too long outnumber those that are too short by 1000 to 1! (most overswingers feel about half a swing when the are actually parallel), so by shortening it up a little promotes staying down and not flying open …….
2-Taking practice swings about two feet above the ground at a smooth, slow pace…. This promotes good swing plane and hand release(especially for steep swingers and slicers)
3-One tee, one ball, 6 inches: Place a tee in the ground, place the golf ball on the ground 6 inches directly behind the tee. Align yourself for your shot, take the club back low and slow, and brush the ball back with your club as you go into your swing. This promotes a smoother, straighter takeaway.
4-Take your actual swing just like your practice swing- It seems everone has a smooth, relaxed
practice swing and keeps that head down with a nice high release, and the minute they are over the ball, on the tee, the actual swing is entirely different from the practice swing. Think relaxed practice swing…..
5-If all else fails, try Smitty’s 2 Budweiser solution.