During one of those wonderful summer days last week with the temperature in the 70s and blue skies, our range was packed with golfers looking like they were really enjoying being outside, enjoying their friends, and practicing their golf. As you probably are aware, Miles of Golf and the Kendall Academy are pretty serious about trying to help players get better and enjoy the game. Sometimes I think we need to concentrate more on the enjoyment.
Here are some ideas you might consider to make the game even more fun:
- Take a golf vacation. There are not many places to go as good as Northern Michigan in the summer to play golf. The courses are great and the price is right. Playing a few days in a row is also wonderful for your game. http://www.gaylordgolfmecca.com/
- Work at developing a group of golfers you really enjoy playing with. Give me the choice of playing a great course with golfers I do not really enjoy or playing an average course with true friends and I will pick the latter every time.
- Watch a golf tournament in real time. Without the Buick Open, don’t assume there is no spectator golf in Michigan. Every week there is the drama of competitive golf near you. Watching some of the state’s best amateur or pro in a local tournament is great fun and real inexpensive, like free. These players are amazingly good. The Ann Arbor area has the GAM Stroke Play Championship coming up this August at Barton Hills Country Club. Casey Baker, Miles of Golf VP of the golf shop is defending his title.
- Learn a little history of the game. I am of the theory that anything you have an interest gets better the more you know about it. Understanding the history of golf will add to your enjoyment, and like baseball, there are some great golf writers. Try something by Bernard Darwin, a great grandson of Charles Darwin, or my favorite Herbert Warren Wind.
- Appreciate the beauty and the challenges of the course you are playing. Mark Twain called golf “a good walk spoiled”. Make your golf “a good walk made better” by enjoying the beauty of the course, enjoying your playing partners, and accepting the challenge of the game.
- Take some of the mystery out of the game. Once a player learns how to control what happens to the golf ball, the more fun the game is. Without this understanding, the results of each shot, both good and bad, are a mystery. Golf lessons and instruction books will help you understand how the game works and making it more fun. http://www.milesofgolf.com/lessons/
- Play in a competition. Try your hand at competitive golf, any competitive golf like a league. It is very different from regular golf, and for sum, it is a blast. On our blog, there is an article about competitive golf.
- Understand how equipment works. Knowing something about the physics of how equipment propels the golf ball is fascinating for many players. Go through a Miles of Golf fitting and you may learn more about golf clubs than you want to know. These club fitters are true equipment geeks, and for many of you, it will be thrill. A great website for the latest on equipment, go to www.golfwrx.com. http://www.milesofgolf.com/club-fitting/
