Closing Time, part I

It's been a stupendous season of winter golf, better than one could hope for. But with a few inches of snow heading our way, the writing is on the wall. Fun time will be over soon. The coldest month of them all is just around the corner. Once snow blankets the ground, there'll be no recovering. Not in the short term. It could be two months before we tee off again--an unthinkable length of time in golf terms.

Yellow

Back from California. It was nice coming back to a mild New York winter. After a couple nights of rest I was back on Eastern Standard Time and so ready to get back out into the wild uninhabited world of winter golf. I hit it, pretty hard, taking advantage of the convergence of some holiday downtime and not-entirely-terrible weather. It was all kind of a blur of push draws and three-putts. I've been enjoying it as much as ever, but it's just been happening at such a fast rate that I'm having a hard time keeping up with it all, emotionally. So here's a bunch of photos and impressions from the last three rounds, all played with the same ball, an optic yellow Titleist I found up in Yonkers.

Winter/Spring Week

We are officially back at it now. Picking up where I left off late last year, scoring those cheap tee-time deals over on Staten Island. Two of them this week, one at the ass end of winter and one on the first day of spring.

Winter 2014, continued

It feels like we're still in the Little Ice Age of 2014, but at least the snow's gone now which means everywhere's open. However it's still a play-at-your-own-risk situation as I found out over the weekend.

Dark Thoughts 2014: The End

A random sampling of turf near in New York City. Since the local courses aren't answering the phone when I call, this is the only indicator I have of what it must be like out on the fairway.

Now that Daylight Savings days are here, it's probably high time to put away those dark thoughts of Winter 2014.

It doesn't matter that there's still snow on the ground--DST means that spring is nearly here. Right? Which means that at some point the earth will actually thaw out completely and miracles of miracles, we can resume playing golf like it's no thing. It doesn't matter how stubborn this lingering winter is--sooner or later the warmer weather will happen, it has to. There simply is no historical precedent for it not to. In the meantime the extra daylight will be nice--I guess. It makes it a little harder to wallow in gloom and that's probably good.

Legitimategolf In The Matrix

Launch monitor technology is everywhere in the golf universe these days. It's employed in telecasts to make the action seem more interesting. It's used as a teaching tool. And when calibrated properly a launch monitor is an invaluable sales tool for the retail industry.

I have mixed feelings. I mean, I suppose technology was instrumental in the discovery of the "new ballflight laws" which I'd consider somewhat relevant to living a good golf-life. But then again when you have rank amateurs freely tossing around terms like smash factor or angle of descent everyone loses, in my opinion. I mean it's natural to be wowed by all the hard data that comes out of these devices, but doesn't it seem that, on balance, worrying over such information creates more issues for golfers than it solves? (Granted I am a sucker for any conspiracy theory that involves the man trying to distract us from the real issues.)

Dark Thoughts: Snow Day

What I've come to realize in the last few days is that this current winter is the worst winter I've ever experienced. Funny that I'm just now figuring it out. Then again this one didn't really come out and announce itself as the winter to end all winters. It just kept piling on slow and steady, and now it's all this.

Ghetto Golf, volume 11: Douglaston Park Golf Course, Queens

[This edition of Ghetto Golf was plucked out of the earth a couple weeks ago and stored on a shelf so that it could be enjoyed during these barren times.]

The latest stop on the Legitimategolf New York City Golf Tour takes us out near city limits once again, way out to the neighborhood of Douglaston, Queens. I was hereabouts not that long ago, whacking balls and checking out the instant noodle selection at the Alley Pond practice range. Douglaston Park GC is like Alley Pond in that the Korean flag has been pretty much planted here--this is K-town golf territory now.

Dark Thoughts, vol X: Cold comfort

In normal circumstances the practice range is somewhere I go only when I feel it's truly necessary, like if I'm trying to make some sort of revolutionary swing change, have to re-learn to hit a ball and need the repetition. Not a fun, recreation activity. Some people might enjoy it; to me the driving range has about as much to do with actual golf as a drive-thru carwash does to actual driving.

Dark Thoughts: 2014 Winter Support Group

[photo by mike_cala]

This snowstorm is a good occasion on which to open up a support group for everyone dealing with the complications of winter. Me, I'm fresh off playing some golf so I'm not actually feeling it just yet, but I will soon enough. Once it sets in, it'll be pretty bad I'm sure.

Dark Thoughts VIII: Full Swing

We've been so lucky with the weather lately. Praise the golf gods. I used to joke around about the winter being my peak season. Well by now I don't think it qualifies as a joke anymore. No, it's reality. The numbers bear it out--I'm playing more lately than at any time last year, and as of the last few rounds actually seeing some positive trend in my scores. Train keeps on rolling; why the hell not.

2014 Winter Season Status Report

[photo courtesy of NASA/NOAA]

Some of you have expressed concern for all of us up here in the Northeast in the aftermath of the latest snowstorm. Judging by the satellite photo, the situation looks very bad.

And judging by this sporting fellow I came across out by the East River, you might assume that we've now descended into desperate times. I remain unmoved however. I got a good fill of ghetto golf (and attendant douchebaggery) in the last days of 2013, and that's probably what's been keeping me going. Withdrawal will set in soon of course but no reason to worry just yet--there's a sliver of hope on the horizon.

This storm might've covered a big area, but things aren't as bad as they seem--the mess it left behind wasn't so bad as to squash all hope of playing golf in the near future. Temperatures, which had dive-bombed into the negative digits a few days ago, are about to swing wildly into the upper 40s. As I write this, I can look out the window and laugh cruelly as the drizzling rain eats away at the snow cover. Rain--our unlikely ally in these frozen, perilous times.

Hopefully the rain will macht schnell and clean this place up. Time is of the essence since on Tuesday we'll be hit with some more, potentially problematic arctic cold. But looking over the extendo forecast, there might appear a window of opportunity sometime around next weekend. Stay tuned!