Legitimate Golf Profiles: Evan Silkworth

I met Evan a few years ago at Dyker Beach GC in Brooklyn. At the time he was teaching middle school in the NYC public school system. A former collegiate golfer, he still had some game even though he wasn't working on it very much. We played some fun twilight rounds, and had some really good matches and nassau bets despite the huge disparity between our respective games.

Now, Evan has moved on from the thankless world of public school education, while still remaining true to his calling. He's now the head pro at Marine Park. He founded the Silkworth Golf Academy here a few years ago, is a TaylorMade staff pro and clubfitter, and is also a certified Trackman analyst. As of this year he's also running the pro shop, which is the best pro shop I've seen at an NYC golf course.

Usually when I'm at Marine Park I'll see Evan out on the range, or on the practice green, helping people with their games. What's remarkable to me is that these people represent a broad scope of humanity--men, women and kids. And a broad scope of abilities, from the most pitiful of newbies to kids who go on to compete at the collegiate and national levels.

It really is remarkable. I write often about the "ghetto golf" aspect of New York City, and there is a lot of truth to it, but when I see Evan doing his thing it gives me a whole different slant on the situation. That maybe there is more to golf in Brooklyn than the society of shlubby overweight middle-aged a-holes that I'm used to. It reminds me that golf really is for everyone, even in NYC.

So I ventured out to Marine Park and sat down with him to catch up and perhaps to get some inside perspective on the NY golf experience, and on why golfers tend to suck.

Legitimate Golf: How did you start playing?

It was almost a cliche. I was about 13, I was cleaning out the basement of one of my parents' rental properties and found a bag of clubs in there, and I started swinging this 3-wood, this old wooden 3-wood. I just started swinging it around, you know, having a good time, and it felt pretty good. I was hitting rocks and crap around the backyard.

And then I went out one day with my uncle, and the first shot I ever hit was in a schoolyard. We teed a ball up and I just nailed that 3-wood, like 200 yards on a rope, just blitzed it off the side of the building. So my uncle was like "OK, I guess we're going to a driving range." Right after that I stopped playing baseball, and my swim coach, who was also the golf coach was like, "Hey, come on out for the golf team!" and then it was off to the races from there. In the summer between eighth and ninth grade I started going to the driving range a lot, and I just fell in love with it.

LG: So it was almost by chance, that you got into it. And you got obsessed with it fairly quickly?

Yeah. I started working as a bag boy at a private club, you know, cleaning clubs, pulling carts around, picking the range, that kind of crap. But then you got to hit free range balls, and play the course for free sometimes. And that was kind of my introduction to the golf business.

LG: How'd you get into teaching golf?

I've always liked the teaching side of pretty much anything, so naturally I went to college to be a schoolteacher. But I still worked at golf courses throughout high school and in college, and even right after college while I was pursuing an education career.

But after a couple of years of teaching I started to miss golf, and I wanted to get back into it. Came out here to Marine Park and started working behind the counter in the pro shop. And I just started giving out free tips to the people here, and they're like, "Man, you're really good at this, you helped my game!" and then my client base just kind of snowballed from there. Then I also started teaching with Hunter [another pro at MPGC]; the two of us taught a bunch of clinics here and stuff.

LG: Who are some of your influences, golfwise?

I think if anyone says that Tiger didn't have any influence on them, they're lying. I mean, he shaped the modern game so drastically. Favorite swing? There's something about Payne Stewart. I remember watching him win the U.S. Open at Pinehurst #2, and the whole week... the raw emotion that he played with, and of course that final putt. He has one of the most beautiful swings I've ever seen. I definitely like Phil too. He's inspiring, kind of the modern Arnold Palmer. There's something about that, the man of the people thing, that I'm very drawn to.

LG: What is the best thing about being a golf instructor?

Hmmm.

LG: If you need some time to think that over, I understand.

Well, it's hard because there's no one thing that's the best. But as a teacher, watching your student succeed is very rewarding. That's gotta be up there.

LG: Specifically, adults or kids?

Anybody. Sometimes adults are even more fun than kids. Because kids kind of expect to do well, as well as mess up, so they don't really set expectations for themselves. Adults are like Oh my god, this is so hard, I can't do this. I tried this once on my own. It's gonna be a disaster! But then you help them a little bit, and they do better than they ever thought possible, and you really see them light up.

Another thing that's really rewarding for me is the opportunity to be creative. You can look at the student in front of you, you do a little diagnosis, an analysis of what he or she's doing, and then you get to create an ideal lesson, on the spot. It keeps you sharp because you're pulling from all the things you've ever read, and practiced, and worked with, and seen and heard from other pro's, and you're taking all the bits and pieces that are perfect for that one person and adapting all of it to make the lesson work. And that inventive side of it, which the student is completely blind to, is for me a lot of fun.

LG: So it sounds like you don't follow a rigid methodology or swing theory.

No. One of my favorite things to say to my students, is that golf instruction and swing theory are like religion. Any one religion can be perfect for one person, especially if it's matched to your own schemata and beliefs. Whereas if you start trying to mix and match, things turn into a hot mess real quick.

Same thing is true with golf instruction. If you stick to one swing philosophy, and you work on things within that one philosophy, things will come together in a nice neat little package. If you take bits and pieces from all of them, it doesn't blend together the same way.

So when someone comes to me and says I want to learn this certain swing theory, then we can work on just that swing theory, and we'll teach only stuff from that. Other than that, I put people where I think is best. You can't be too beholden to any one person, any one golf instructor. There is no one god of the golf swing, and there's no one right answer.

LG: What's the worst thing about being a golf instructor.

Uhhh.... [pauses]

LG: Please. You can be totally honest and candid here.

Ok, I guess the worst part is when you have people who come to you with a predisposition that they're going to suck. And they've beat that into their heads so much that no matter what you say to them, they're gonna make sure they're bad.

LG: So that's worse than somebody who comes in with the opposite, with too-high expectations?

Yeah, because it's easier to temper high expectations. Golf's the only sport where you can really be considered a beginner for a couple years. You can be playing for 3-5 years, and still get away with calling yourself a beginner. In baseball you got your rookie season. But after that, you're expected to know all the basics. In golf that's just not the case. But still people come in who are like, "I'll never be able to this, oh I can't hold it like this, I won't do it..." and their door is completely shut. How can you get them to do anything? They'll say "Well, I've always done it this way." So does that work? "Well no, I've always been bad..." Well, don't you think you ought to try something new?

But it sometimes leads you to a bad place because it can get to a point where I'll say "Listen, you're paying me. If you just want to sit there and talk, I'll sit here and shut my mouth and listen but... you're still paying me my full rate--don't you want to hear what I have to say?" When it gets to that point, it's like a last-ditch effort. And it sucks because I don't want to be that guy. So that's probably the worst thing about it, for sure.

LG: So you've been involved with golf for a while now, right. In your experience, how are New York City golfers different?

I'd say in general, amongst your regulars, the people that play golf once a week or more, New York City golfers are way more passionate about the game.

There's more of them, they're more concentrated, and they come together. They feed off each other, and the energy is just different. Now I'm talking especially amongst regulars--I'm not talking about your hacker that comes out once a month, beats it around and drinks thirty-six beers while on the course. The guys who play once or twice a week, whether it's seniors, or juniors, or your elite-level players that come here to practice and then travel off to play at other sites. 

Other than that I'd say there's much less polish, less pomp and circumstance. New York City golf is much cruder, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just a unique and distinct culture.

The New York golfer is a little more blunt, and their manners aren't quite as refined as you'd find in a country club, or in suburbia. It's not that there's much difference in attitude, that's just how it is. That's just the culture that's here. It's not because people are mean, or jackasses.

LG: It's not???

No, they just legitimately don't know any better, they've just modeled their behavior after what they've seen. For decades this has been what's going on. I mean it's great talking to some of the guys who've been playing this course for thirty years. And to hear them talk about the evolution of golf here, how it was just wild back in the day. It's crazy. Listen to them talk to each other, they're out there busting balls like they're playing stickball in the street. But that's how they grew up. They're the ones who shaped the culture. They're the ones who are playing multiple times a week, even in the winter.

LG: Would you agree that NYC golfers are sort of, disadvantaged, in terms of access to facilities, cost, etc.?

I mean there's actually quite a few golf courses in between the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. The only place that's really got it tough is Manhattan. I'd say the disadvantage is not so much the lack of courses, but the lack of transportation. You know, one thing we struggle with here, is getting better golfers from Manhattan to come out. Because it's actually easier and sometimes even faster, for them to get to New Jersey.

Another thing is, besides us, there's no golf course that has a full practice facility and golf course. We're the only one in the five boroughs. So, it's harder to practice your game and hone your skills. You know it's interesting, we don't have more players here. You can come an hour early, you can putt, you can practice chipping, on actual grass, then you can hit a bucket of balls, and then go play a round? You have to leave the five boroughs to do that.

LG: I've seen this course improve a lot over the last several years. I remember coming here when there was no pro shop, no bar, nothing. You couldn't buy so much as a bottle of water. A green fee was literally the only thing you could buy. So where do you see Brooklyn golf in say, ten years' time?

It's gotta be better. We're doing so many things here alone, that even if the other courses get worse, I'm hoping that what we do here has such a positive impact that it will more than make up for it. Pace of play initiatives and stuff... we're trying to get out on the cutting edge. We're developing our own app, so that people that come to the course can have all these online games, as well as reminders to keep up the pace of play.

Just this year I took over the pro shop, and I'm trying to do a lot more in the pro shop with branding. Letting people know that yeah, there is a golf course in Brooklyn. There is a driving range in Brooklyn. We're one of the few places in the state that has Trackman. That kind of technology gives us such an advantage, we're hoping to set ourselves apart from the muni's. A public country club, that's kind of our premise.

I mean just look at this bar, a few years ago it didn't exist. It was just a hole in the floor, and now we've got the cherrywood, table seating, tv's, outside catering, full practice facilities... plus, we keep improving the course itself. We're making it so a person can come here and spend the whole day. They can come in grab an egg sandwich in the morning, then hang out in the bar after the round. It's all golf-centric, not catering-centric. [Some of the other NYC courses are now focusing more on catering and banquet hall services than golf.] We want to make this a golf experience.

LG: Can I ask you a broad question, like, a really broad question?

Sure, go ahead.

LG: Why do golfers suck?

Hmmm.

LG: I realize, it's a very broad question. But it's something I've attempted to think about before. Is there maybe one unifying factor...

I'm gonna go with ego. At this point, I've literally taught thousands of golf lessons. Some of them have been I've built from the ground up, others I've completely rebuilt their swings. And the unifying factor... technically there is no silver bullet, no answer, no "do this and you'll be a better golfer." Some people have a knack for hitting a driver. But then they can't putt. Others can putt and chip, but can't hit a mid-iron, and can kind of hit woods. So the one achilles heel in golf is the ego. 

Golfers expect so much of themselves. There's no other sport where you practice so little, yet expect so much out of it. People expect to do what the pro's do. Every other sport, you play first, then practice later. In golf, you practice first to then able to play. So people get so wrapped up in the perfection of what they're doing, that they lose sight of the game itself.

You might hit it to four feet and think, "Well I didn't hit that quite straight" Well what do you want then, to hit it to three-and-a-half feet? Or you pipe a drive down the middle, but then you say, "Yeah, but I caught it a little thin on the face." Again, it's all ego that keeps getting in the way.

LG: Nice, that's a good answer. Seems like you've thought about this on some level. Now one of my favorite credos in golf is, Ben Hogan stated that he believes that anyone with normal physique and coordination can break 80, if they apply themselves. As an instructor, what do you say to that?

I thought he said "break 90."

LG: Definitely 80.

Definitely 80, huh. [pauses] Well, I agree with his opinion--but with an asterisk. Anyone with normal coordination and physical ability and the desire, can do it. But as long as they're willing to come to the course and practice, several times a week. Then again Ben Hogan practiced seven days a week. He also said any day you're not hitting balls, you're losing progress.

Evan managed to sneak out and play a few holes with Legitimate Golf.

LG: I know you're busy with lessons and everything, but do you play much these days?

No. Over the last year I've played three rounds. Two of them here, and the other was upstate, for a bachelor party, and everyone was absolutely wasted. Certainly would like to play more. I get out there and do playing lessons, but obviously I'm working, and I can't get into the zone that I'd like to when I'm playing, and also I feel I wouldn't be doing right by the student.

LG: Understandable. Still, can being an instructor somehow help your game, at all?

No. Well, I take that back. The dedication to learning more about how the golf swing works, makes me a better player. But the physical act of teaching doesn't make you better. Because you'll find yourself imitating people's incorrect moves. Also it wears you out--the time you'd spend on your own game is now spent on other people's games.

LG: So the net effect though, is a negative one.

It depends on how much you're teaching. If you have a couple lessons, and then an hour or two of practice on your own, then yeah, being an instructor can be good for your game. But a day like today, I got here at seven AM. Had a lesson at eight, then another at nine. I had some grip work and club repair that I had to do, then I had a kids' camp for three hours, then I had another lesson right after that, and now I'm sitting here talking to you. So it's been a fantastic day, I'm at the golf course all day, I'm hanging out... but I haven't hit a single a ball, or even taken a swing all day. So you know, that's kind of how it goes.

LG: Yeah, I figured as much. So, I just have one last question for this interview. Do you remember when I beat you in an 18-hole match at Dyker, 2-up?

No. I try to block those out. But if you say it happened, I believe you.

LG: Well I save everything, and I have the photo of the scorecard. I'll show you. It was a really good match, obviously for me very memorable because I won and everything, but also because you played what I thought was a pretty decent round, a 74--pretty good considering you weren't playing a whole lot then. I shot a 77, but somehow came ahead in the match play.

[laughs] Good for you, I like it. I do remember at that time playing a bunch of matches, so that sounds about right. Were you playing with me when I shot 29 on the back nine at Dyker?

LG: Nooooo, definitely not--I would've remembered that. What'd you shoot for the round?

I think it was a 68. I eagled the par five, and birdied 10, 11, 12, 13... yeah that was a sweet round. The putter was hot, I made everything I looked at.

LG: Wow, that is really awesome--I feel even better now about beating you. Thanks!

You can find Evan Silkworth at Marine Park Golf Course in Brooklyn. Find out more about the Silkworth Golf Academy on his website.

Legitimate Golf Diaries, volume 3: Heat Advisory

We're in the middle of a long heat wave. After a few days of eyeing the triple digit temps on the weather reports and seeing the numerous "heat advisories" and "air quality alerts" I got a little discouraged. But at some point you just have to get out there and have a go, so I dragged myself onto the express bus and out to the local shithole.

I got to the first tee and was devastated when the starter put me into a foursome. Usually when you brave extreme weather conditions you hope to be rewarded with an empty course. Not today. Actually the heat didn't hit me too bad. I remembered that I actually like hot weather. It's the humid sweating, the damp clothes, soaked gloves, the need to constantly gulp fluids--that's the real hassle. Other than that heat can be great. Loose muscles and joints, plus the ball flies farther--if you can just manage to stay upright, there's a lot to be said for this hot weather golf.

During the pre-round introductions one of the guys noticed that I had no cart or pull cart, and that I was about to try and walk and carry my bag. "You're crazy to do that in this weather." Then again he was an enormous blob of a guy, 300 pounds easy. What I really wanted to say was something about how if I looked like him then yeah, it wouldn't be smart to walk. It was a little early to be hating so I just brushed it off. "Ah, it's not so bad."

Filling out the foursome was a pair of younger guys. One wearing a Hunter Mahan replica cap and the other a Phil Mickelson "KPMG Consulting" version. Now I was not even aware a) that one could purchase such a hat or 2) that Phil Mickelson fandom actually reached such a level.

Because corporate logos are only worn by professionals because they get paid to do that, right? Sporting "KPMG" certainly isn't helping anyone get laid. Nobody would actually pay actual money to be a walking advertisement for some stuffed-shirt consulting corporation right?

Wrong. Once again I'm the one who needs to learn how the world works these days.

I was feeling especially sweaty when I took this photo, hopefully it captures how hot it was out there.

I haven't been here in a while; the greens have taken a beating from all the hot weather probably.

It was a typical NYC round, typically painful. As is customary around here the two replica hat guys shared a cart and made their way around the course as if attached at the hip, so enthralled with each other's game that they couldn't bring themselves to play ready golf. Phil Mickelson hat had some blowup holes and held up the whole group several times--the poor slob was too overweight to hustle.

Speaking of dumb behavior, this is worth mentioning since it's pretty common--teeing up in front of the tee markers. To me that says a lot. The average hole on an average-sized golf course is about 350 yards long. That's 12,600 inches. Think about that. Cheating just to make the hole two hundredths of one percent shorter.

Enormous blob was a real piece of work too. After almost every tee shot he would forget all about everyone else, drive up to his ball and just sit there in his cart staring toward the green, completely in the way of someone's shot, until one of us would yell "HEADS UP" at him. I don't think he was all there mentally, because he kept doing it, as late into the round as the 16th hole. Another stupid thing I noticed about enormous blob was that, in 18 holes, he didn't pick up a single flagstick. I later found out that this guy is a high school teacher. Sad.

It was hot, it was miserable. I swung it like crap, burned a bunch of edges in shooting 84. I couldn't muster any goodwill for these shlubs at all. I hardly spoke to anyone. Hunter Mahan hat was an okay guy though, and also golfed his ball pretty respectably. So after everyone putted out on 18, I went over to him, extended a hand, addressed him by name and said, "It was good playing with you." Then I turned to the other two guys, shook their hands and said, "Take care."

Instead of going home, I saw the 10th hole open and made a snap decision to re-play the back nine. I was feeling pretty fresh still. I had just about a 1/4 of a water bottle left, but I could ration it out. I ran into a lonely Chinese kid on the 12th and asked if I could join up. He agreed, but after a hole and a half I realized that his way of standing frozen over the ball would probably prevent us finishing on 18, so I ditched the dead-weight and played some solitary speed golf coming in.

Ahhh freedom. The first 18 was a long, tedious round but getting to play this extra nine makes it all worthwhile. It's those late-day moments on an quiet, empty course that to me really represent the height of golf. The slogging through of 5 hour rounds with dull strangers, that's kind of the compulsory duty, the dues you pay for a chance at moments like these.

Ahhh! A gang of raccoon puppies. They were all nervous and curious trying to watch me. Probably the cutest thing I've ever seen on a course. Over that last nine, I managed to play some real golf.

Plus I managed to walk 27 holes while carrying the bag in 100 degree heat, and did so without feeling like complete hell at the end, so all in all, a good outing. I figured out a couple things, one of which was to remove the glove immediately after the shot, and then sort of flip it inside out, give it a chance to air out a little. It helped immensely. So now I'm actually looking forward to playing again in this heat.

Philly Boy's Big Day Out: Golf, American Style

Yesterday in Inverness, Scotland, World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson did something that surprisingly, he had never done in his legendary career and that is to truly enjoy himself on a links golf course. Unlike his old foil Tiger, Phil had never managed to really show off his awesomeness at the home of golf, or anywhere in Europe for that matter.

It's just his third victory outside of the USA. (The other two came in China, where Phil is revered as a demi-god.)

Thankfully the whole Mickelson brood was on hand this week, obviating the need for any mid-tournament transatlantic jetting back to San Diego because someone had a little league game or something.

Continuing a recent trend, NBC decided to air the Scottish Open's final round live. It's a bit of a gambit given the aversion of US audiences to all things European, but good old Phil made sure this broadcast wouldn't flop. Perhaps thinking of his fans watching on TV back home, he delivered the entertainment in a big way with a couple of vintage, that's-our-Phil moments down the stretch.

First he bungled a simple two-putt from about fifteen feet which would've ended the tournament on the last hole of regulation. It was pin-high and a garden-variety straight putt, but perhaps feeling some nerves, he blasted it six feet past and then missed the comebacker.

Then, on the first hole of sudden death, with opponent Branden Grace lying three and looking at a likely two-putt par, Phil produced a blind pitch shot off an unbelievably thin lie, that took the break just right and spun back to within a foot for a tap-in birdie. Now I'm not the biggest Phil-phan, but I was watching live and let's phace it--it was phucking phantastic. A career shot, and very phitting (ok I'll stop) to cap it all off with the kind of risky, impractical aerial golf that the American has become a synonym for.

Now that he's finally tapped into his inner "Phil McKelson" and finally won on a links course, this week's Open at Muirfield becomes that much more interesting. Or not. We'll see.

Ghetto Golf, volume 2: Talkin' about practice

Practice. We all need it, in some form. This week's Ghetto Golf takes a look at Manhattan's one and only open-air golf facility, the Golf Club at Chelsea Piers.

The multi-tiered urban driving range is nothing novel. It's the norm in Asia.

For a lot of people there, the range is their predominant experience of the game. Some of the ranges in Korea are serious intensive training facilities that turn youths into golf professionals.

Our range is nothing like that--much more casual here. Mostly regular hackers trying to keep their lousy swings functioning. You won't see a lot of serious players; you will see a lot of tourists and non-golfers having a go, lured in by the novelty of a driving range in the city (it can get quite loud with all the shanking of balls into the vinyl partitions). And there is an actual instruction academy on the third floor which features an indoor bunker and putting studio, if you're really in a bad way.

Since it's Manhattan's only outdoor golf facility, probably anyone who's anyone in golf has stopped by at some point for some promotional headache or another.

Ok, let's get it on already. The main entrance is through the parking garage.

Before heading in to the golf club proper let's check out this sad little chipping/putting area. There's nothing real about this here facade--we are still in the parking garage. Those are windows and doors to nowhere. It's like when the aliens attempted to re-create a human environment for Dave Bowman at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey:

Because its all artificial turf, this green features some weird breaks that aren't visible to the naked eye. Really a terrible place to practice, just barely more real than those fake windows and doors.

Spend any time here and you might start to feel like a zoo animal. Lots of foot traffic going in and out of the Piers complex equals a lot of curious rubbernecking. I guess it is surprising to see people chipping and putting in a Manhattan parking garage.

The "pro shop" and front door to the "club". More fake shenanigans, but at least this is an actual building. As with the aliens in Space Odyssey, all these appearances are a nice thought even though they are hopelessly fake-looking. Hey, they tried at least.

It can get crazy busy in here--I've seen hour long wait times. Today though, no need to take a number.

Ignore the corrugated steel, inside-of-a-shipping-container appearance; this is a classy place.

Welcome to the future of golf ball dispensing.

The control panel. Tee height is adjustable for your pleasure. 17 cents is the off-peak per ball rate. Peak is 25 cents. Ow, expensive balls.

The view from the second level. There are four levels in all, but to ensure the safety of boats out on the Hudson, no woods or drivers are allowed on the third and fourth. It's 200 yards to the back net, which is a good amount of room, but only a narrow 40 yards wide.

Balls fed to you one at a time by the machine. Soon as you hit it another one pops up. If you don't take your time between shots, you yourself can lapse into machine-mode and start whacking ball after ball. Which for the most part isn't good golf practice. Probably good for revenue though. Sad, all this technology just to replace the good old-fashioned bucket of range balls. A step backwards if you ask me.

The giant nets are lowered when it gets windy, probably keeps the whole thing from toppling over.

I've been coming here sporadically for several years, have hit tons of balls and generally I never expect to hit it well here, no matter what condition my game's in. Not exactly sure why that is but it's probably something to do with the close confinement. Using a long club, it's not unusual to whack the partition behind you on the follow through. Plus the box is so narrow it makes it tricky to aim a shot other than parallel to the partitions.

Ok so I think I've hit enough balls for today, so let's snoop around the pier. When I say the range is built on a pier, I'm not kidding around. These are active docks for yachts, tour boats, party boats etc. I heard that Nicki Minaj once threw a party on this big one. Don't know who that is? Well, good!

A revealing panorama of the whole situation in all its cruel inhumanity.

That said we have to be grateful for this range. For it is better than nothing. Even though I have some beefs with the narrow spaces and the auto-dispensers, I'll go out on a limb and say that it's way better than nothing (high praise indeed). In a last resort situation, like in those deep desolate winters, when the urge to whack balls becomes too much to bear, this place tends to come in handy. Before it opened around '96, try to hit a full golf shot in somewhere in Manhattan and you'd probably end up in jail.

Legitimate Golf Diaries, volume 2

Earlier in the year, having gotten intensely sick of the local golf scene I resolved to play less, and play elsewhere, hoping the quality of play would trump the quantity and in the process I'd get out and explore the golf planet a bit more.

On the FDR Expressway heading south, getting the hell out of here.

In this episode we peek into a secret, unknown world. The nice part of New Jersey. Let's face it this state has a terrible reputation, and for good reason. The interior of it though, is bucolic to the max, what must be the eastern end of America's heartland: lush crops, rolling hills, roadside farm stands, charming country houses, wide open horizons. I'd show you more photos and what not but dammit--this is a blog about golf.

Today's round was churned out at Cream Ridge GC, in the township of Cream Ridge, 63 miles south of Manhattan. Mmm sounds tasty already doesn't it. (Unless you don't like dairy that is.) It really is a farm-flavored course, surrounded by farmlands on all four sides--fields of cornstalks abut right up against the course, no fences or anything. If you stare long enough into the rows, you can creep yourself out pretty good.

He Who Walks Behind the Rows... plays golf too.

I'd describe the conditions as rural and rustic, which is to say some of the green surfaces might be shabby, fairways shaggy in some places, bald in others. Rough terrain that'll have you bouncing all around the cart if you're not careful behind the wheel. Swampy, funky water hazards teeming with fish, and frogs n shit. All in all though the conditioning's good enough to yield a fair game, and the layout jives really nice with the natural environment. I have no idea who designed the place and it doesn't seem to be a big name architect, but whoever it was did a fantastic job. There's a lot of variety to the holes, lots of different looks from the tees, and I really dug the look of the old-school tree lines.

It was humid, it was hot; a classic Northeast summer day, sweltering but not quite brutal. On the first hole a pulled approach shot was gobbled up by a water hazard left that I had no idea was there, and that left me feeling exploited and preyed upon for the first part of the round. Around the ninth hole though, the round began to turn around a bit.

#16 Tee

When I got up to the elevated back tee on the 16th, I looked out and POW, was knocked out by this terrific view. This is where I really got sold on the course. It's one hell of a narrow opening, with a creek bed lurking just beyond, but what a beautifully framed hole. Unlike a lot of other do-or-die tee shots, I saw no malice in this one. Some shots seem to want to taunt you, make you feel weak and terrified. This one though, I felt it spoke to me. Hey, golfer. I respect you, and your ability. This opening here is small, but I think you can make it. And why not?

I am way too inconsistent at this golf to be getting all metaphysical about my shots, but for whatever reason in this instance I happened to put a really nice tee ball through the chute. The swing felt so pure, I had to laugh a little right after the hit. Probably the best swing in months. All the while golden sun rays broke through clouds, illuminating a slight drizzle of cooling rain; a really nice moment.

The approach to 18

Kept that momentum going and for the last part of the round I managed to do something that has escaped me all year--finally took a ride on the Par Train. Of course I really wanted to ride it right on into the terminal, but to do so I had one last tricky approach, about 82y or so, facing a steep false front, pond on the right, and Three Putt City lurking up on the wrong tier of the green long and left, which is where I put an L-wedge. But I managed to rescue the par by holing about fifteen feet down the sheer face of the green to do it.

As that putt rolled Ms. LegitGolf, who played the round with me, made about the worst early call I've ever seen on a course, cheering the putt in with several feet left to go. Naturally that prompted a fairly stern finger wagging, even though the putt dropped.

I tend to come down pretty hard on the early call. Nothing to do with superstition (even if it's hard not to blame an early call for jinxing your ball out of the hole). Putts just have a way of missing, of either taking a wrong turn at the wrong time or even going in and then coming back out. And when that happens it's agonizing enough in complete silence. When someone blurts out YES!! right before the ball lips out, it piles on shame and degradation, making an already painful moment even worse, and what kind of person wants to do that.

But thankfully there was no jinx, and thus we were spared a potentially tense drive home. Despite the rough start it was an altogether really nice outing. Will definitely be back for more golf and to load up on more tasty farm-stand tomatoes and corns on the cob. The back nine was my first time breaking 40 for nine holes this whole year, and doing so on an unfamiliar, watery course leaves me feeling pretty good about the likelihood of getting back on that par train next time out.

Legitimate Golf Product Review: those crazy white sleeves

Anyone who has ever watched Asian professionals playing golf has probably seen these:

This photo was taken in Thailand. It is never not hot in Thailand. You do the math.

Ever wonder, What is that, an undershirt, or is it add-on sleeves? In any case who the hell wears long sleeves in hot weather, and how come they don't seem to be bothered by them? If so, you're not alone.

Well some people need to get with the times it seems. Apparently fabric technology has progressed to where long sleeves on a hot day can actually be a good idea.

Wicking moisture away from the skin is a good thing apparently. Notice also that Dri-Fit isn't down with UV rays.

Actually the standalone sleeve is really popular in a lot of sports these days. You see them regularly on some of the biggest names out there.

In basketball, they're called "shooting sleeves" my brotha.

Robert Griffin III's use of the sleeve is based on the wisdom of Deion Sanders: "If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good." 

Dwight Howard agree: "Man, I just wear the sleeve because I like how it looks. I started wearing it in practice, it felt good one day and I said 'Man, I should wear this in the game. It might make my shot look better.'" He likes sleeves so much he found some sweet purple ones to jazz up his official team photo.

There's even a wikipedia page dedicated to the "basketball sleeve"; it credits Allen Iverson with popularizing the item among ball players. Evidently some believe the sleeve acts as an aid in shooting the basketball. Some even think that it could act as a placebo against injury or pain.

Unlike Dwight Howard though, golfers in the USA have been slow to adopt the new look. Apparently they are not sure if they want to make their shot look better too.

But leave it to the Asians, notoriously scared of the sun, to spearhead the trend. I'm not surprised, I see the sun-phobia firsthand out on my local courses. Nobody wears bigger visors, or sports bigger umbrellas, than Korean ladies playing golf.

In Asia, having a suntan implies that you are low class.

I have no problem with the sun myself. However I've never been a fan of the sunscreen lotion, so I wondered if sleeves could really be a viable sun protection alternative, at least cut down on my consumption of the greasy goop.

I went ahead and tracked down a pair for myself. I managed to find these "Nike Dri-Fit UV Solar Golf Arm Sleeves". Retailing for about $25, they're made of Nike's proprietary moisture-wicking fabric (really just polyester rebranded with a cooler name), blended with Lycra spandex (duh). It's a very thin, stretchy material. They come with sporty little mesh pouch for storage. Nice.

The interior of the upper cuff features a kind of grippy rubbery band, probably to keep the things from sliding off from the force of my oh-so-fast golf swings.

They felt odd when I first put them on, seeing as how they fit pretty tight (I'm probably between sizes, and went for the smaller). There is a definite compression effect for better or worse. Since I'm not really accustomed to wearing stuff quite this tight, awareness of my arms was especially heightened.

Consequently they do make the golf swing feel different. They just make your arms feel... different. It's hard to describe beyond that--sorry. Some might like the feeling. The first time I wore them out on the course, I had the worst start to a round ever. That could've been coincidence though, it was a gusty day. I know that I did struggle to feel right swinging with tight sleeves on. Unlike Dwight Howard, I wouldn't fall in love with them right away.

My initial experience wearing the sleeves.

To their credit they do somehow impart a weird cooling effect, even in really hot temps. In extreme New York humidity though I did find them slightly discomforting, a sort of suffocating feeling that made me want to tear them off. But that's humid heat for you, uncomfortable anyway you look at it. Still I'd say the sleeves are probably very well suited to dry heat conditions, where moisture can evaporate, bringing on the coolness.

I brought them along once on a cool day thinking they might offer a bit of insulation for when it got chilly later in the afternoon. Wrong! I might've appeared warmer to anyone who saw me wearing them but their cooling effect holds up in cool weather too, rendering them ineffective as an outer layer solution.

There's me, hard at work doing product testing.

I've tried em out on several outings, and I'm now starting to get used to the feeling. Each time out less aware of the sausage casings on my arms. I kind of like the way they look. Definitely help you channel your inner Deion Sanders. Maybe I'll start wearing them around town.

Ok, so they're not the magic-wear that I admit I'd wished they'd be. They don't feel invisible, like I had hoped. The compression effect, I'm still on the fence about. I guess for me nothing can really top the feeling of bared arms swinging free in the open air. But hey, these sleeves do offer some good sun protection along with you know, some rakish style, if you're into that. If you're tired of your same old same old golf gear and looking for something to shake it up, then why not, give these a try, you could do worse.

Considering their popularity among the sports elite, as well as the whole other half of the golf globe, it's only a matter of time before we're all wearing them. Might as well get in the vanguard and lead the way for you and your dweeby friends.