Nine Things You Might Not Know About Golf Handicaps

USGA Handicap Manual

I just got my USGA membership renewal packet in the mail today.  Not only did I get my 2010 U.S. Open Pebble Beach hat, but they also included a little booklet called Shortcut to the USGA Handicap System. As the 2009 wore on, I got to be meticulous about keeping my handicap and learned a few things I didn’t know before.  If your only experience with the USGA handicap system is entering scores in a computer and affixing a new sticker to a card every couple weeks, then you’ve been missing out. There’s a very complex system for computing handicaps which, in fact, takes up a whole book.  Don’t believe me?  I broke out my copy for this post.  Of course, an iPhone image of my manual doesn’t do you much good.  Luckily, the USGA has most, if not all, of that handicap information online. I recommend digging in to understand the handicap system a little better, but here are nine things you might not know about USGA golf handicaps.  All of this information was

Come Sit on Santa’s Lap!

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Because of the extensive connections I have (not to brag), I managed to block out some of Santa Claus’ time.  He agreed to come and hang out with me so all of you can tell him your Christmas golf wishes for 2010.  So, come kids of all ages, sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what you want! It can be something for you, something for someone special, or anything relating to golf, in general.  Leave your list in the comments section. I’ll get this party started and give you the five things I’m asking from Santa for Christmas. Enough Tiger Drama First and foremost, I want a return to normalcy in the world of PGA Tour golf.  The Tiger Woods story has been one of the biggest of the year, and I’m guilty of gossiping about all the ins and outs (no pun intended) of that whole mess. For 2010, I want the elephant in the room to get up and walk away.  I want Tiger back on the course and I want to

How it All Began, Part II

Yesterday, I started to relate the foundation of my love of golf, but that was more like a false start.  This is the second part of that post where I really get to the bottom of my fondness for the game.  As I said yesterday, I really want to hear how you ended up taking up golf.  Feel free to drop your stories into the comments.  I won’t be offended if you skip my drivel and go right to the comments. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. As I was saying yesterday: Until… Starting With a Job In March of 1994, I was in college and was looking for a job for the summer.  The same group of friends that went out there a year or two earlier (including the two clubless deadbeats – sorry, dude…) decided that we should go down to the “country club” and apply for jobs. I put “country club” in quotes because at the time, we were so naive, we assumed it was a club for the elite like

How it All Began, Part I

I have to confess that the real purpose of this post is for me to hear from you, so feel free to skip all my jabbering and leave a comment if you like.  A comment on a recent post got me thinking back fondly to how I took up the game of golf many years ago.  There’s a lot behind the development of my appreciation for the game.  I’m going to share that, but I really want to hear how you got started with golf.  Share your story in the comments and take up as little or as much space as you need. Now on to the beginning… I had gone to driving ranges here and there while growing up.  I always used the house drivers that they loan out to people who don’t own clubs, but I never had any concept of the game.  All I knew was whacking balls as far as I could and laughing at people who whiffed (I wasn’t really laughing the time I slipped and threw the borrowed driver

So, Now What?

Sorry I’ve been so scarce around here lately.  I’ve been extremely unhappy with the way the golf season wound down for me and I needed some time to mentally move on.  To be honest, I haven’t hit a shot since my disaster in mid-October. Sometimes it’s best just to leave it alone for a while when things don’t go well.  Otherwise strong commitment can degrade into unbearable burden.  When golf stops being fun, then something’s wrong.  Well, I took a month-long breath and I think that did the trick.  I can tell you that when I hit balls again, I’m going to be fearful of the shanks, but I know how to work through it, so I’ll get that resolved eventually. So, now what?  The first step is to evaluate the year.  It wasn’t all bad, even though it didn’t end well.  I got my handicap down to around 13 officially, but I was playing better than that by the end of summer.  As you probably know, once there are a lot of scores in