A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

golf

Golf has ups and downs like other recreational activities

Recently, a local newspaper noted a low turnout in two county golf tournaments – the women, and the junior.

The women’s tournament only featured 32 players and the junior tournament only features six. The women’s tournament is by flights, so it’s not as though all golfers competed in the highest group.

Conversely, the men’s county tournament, which was held a few weeks ago has a strong turnout as normal, drawing about 125 people. Still, that number even seems down from the past. I remember when I used to play golf and played in that tournament, there was a larger turnout and often a sellout (which I believe was about 156 or so).

The big number, to me, when it came to the men was the numbers in the two lowest – the D and E – flights, which had a combined 55 players. That means nearly 50 percent of the field were in the two lowest groups.

Like other sports, golf's participation can sometimes go up and down.

Like other sports, golf’s participation can sometimes go up and down.

So what’s happening? Why are numbers down all around?

Probably price and time.

When I switched to playing disc golf a few years ago, my two biggest reasons were because of the time aspect (I can play 18 holes of disc golf in about an hour and a half; 18 holes of ball golf, even with a cart, is 3.5 to 4 hours minimum), as well as the price point. In disc golf, the majority of courses don’t cost anything to play. Your biggest cost is the discs. And, if you aren’t competitive, a mid-range disc and a putter (so, about $20-$25 total) will be just fine for you.

Anybody price out decent clubs recently?

It’s also not cheap to play golf. If you want a cart, which I think the majority of golfers choose, it ups the price even more. Heck, there are some courses out there that require you use a cart!

Greens fees aren’t cheap.

Balls aren’t cheap.

You get the picture.

Our economy, while showing some signs of getting better, isn’t what it once was. That cuts into people’s “recreation” budget. More people are finding cheaper alternatives for their recreation, which is understandable.

I stopped playing because it got too expensive and I just didn’t want to sit out and play a round for four-plus hours. I’ve thought about getting back into it. I liked playing (at times). I liked it more when I walked the course and played, especially if I was by myself or just one other person. I got exercise and it was enjoyable for that long amount of time because I could kind of be in my own thoughts. My golf bag is one of those backpack-style ones and I tried not to pack it so much, making it decently comfortable.

But, like many people, I got frustrated. I wanted to do better. I hated shanking a ball or duffing a shot. I wanted to be some top-level player, even though I didn’t have the time, patience or money to put into being that strong. Let’s face reality – if you are going to play at a very high level, you need to put the time into it. I didn’t do that enough.

The same can be said for disc golf. To be good, you need to put the time in. I don’t have any decent courses too close to me, so getting better was tough. I didn’t play enough. And, honestly, one can only throw discs in a field or put on a portable basket so often before it gets amazingly boring.

The reality is times are changing. People are more in tune to expenses and what they do for recreation. This is all way too understandable, that’s for sure.

People still play golf, that’s for sure. Tournaments cost money, though. Sometimes people just don’t want to pay to play in the tournaments anymore.

Maybe it’s becoming more recreational and not so competitive. Maybe some people just want weekends for other things, leaving golf for a few rounds after work during the weeks. Like other things, though, it’s likely cyclical. I’m sure it will go up again at some point.

Hopefully, the reason isn’t just economical, rather family or friends or something along those lines. Diversity in what people do is an important aspect in life, and it’s always good to broaden horizons and see what else is out there.

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A win doesn’t always need to end with a victory

Neil focuses on lining up a putt.

If the title of this post confuses you, hopefully it will make sense when you finish reading this.

Sometimes in life, you don’t have to win to be victorious. A win is a wonderful thing, especially when talking about sporting events. Still, sometimes just battling to the end makes one a winner.

Especially when he’s overcome many adversities.

This past weekend was our county amateur golf tournament. It’s a wonderful tournament with upward of 150 golfers each year. Winning the championship on this course is quite the accomplishment. Especially if it’s somebody other than the person who has pretty much dominated this tournament for more than a decade.

A long putt drops on the 16th hole.

Enter Neil.

Neil is a long-time friend of mine. Years ago we used to sit around on Sundays during the winter and watch the Colts (my favorite team) and the Saints (his favorite team). Those days were filled with pizza, breadsticks (from Pizza Hut) and conversations about many things.

Golf was often the topic.

A passionate golfer, Neil once promised me if he ever made it on tour and reached the Masters, I’d get to be his caddy during the Par-3 tournament during the week leading into the Masters, which I always assumed would guarantee me being there to watch the actual tournament, too.

Though he didn’t make the tour, Neil’s always been one hell of a golfer. He hits the ball a country mile, has some of the best putting I’ve ever seen and usually stays calm when pressure hits. And he’s one of those guys who plays with focused abandonment — in other words, he’s not afraid to take a massive chance.

Alas, all the talent in the world usually isn’t an even battle when life intervenes.

Neil will be the first to tell you he’s battled some demons. He’s had many adversities in life that he’s had to overcome. These adversities aren’t little petty things. He’s had to battle some serious stuff.

Many of us always wondered when these adversities would win — or if they would?

I always tried to bet on Neil. I never was willing to give up on him. I’ve had long talks with him and have tried to give input where I could. But he’s made his mistakes. And he admits it. He knows it.

He kept battling.

Many of us cheered for him. We hoped. We hoped some more. In some cases, people really put themselves out for Neil.

A few years ago, things seemed to be coming together. He held the lead at the County Am. Could this be the tournament that helps him straighten life? Many people would look at this tournament and wonder why it would mean so much to somebody. After all, it’s just a County tournament.

It’s much bigger than that. For golfers in our area, it is the Masters. It’s the U.S. Open. It’s our “major.” And Neil was leading it and looking good in the process.

He missed his tee time the next morning.

When it happened, people said “That’s Neil.”

Despite regretting how things went down, I remember talking to him that weekend. You could see disappointment in his eyes in missing that tee time. Almost like it was major missed opportunity. That might have been something where some people might have thrown in the towel.

Neil kept pushing forward and has since turned a new leaf.

Watching a drive.

This year, the tournament came around and he was in it. Boy was he in it. In fact, he held a 1-stroke lead with five holes to play.

And focus? Wow was there focus.

After falling into a tie at the top, he drained a twisty 20-plus foot putt on Hole No. 16 to keep things tied.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

He got a bogey on 17 and 18 to eventually lose by two strokes. His tee shot on 18 went out of bounds and you could almost hear a collective sigh of the crowd following.

It wasn’t that people were cheering against somebody else — it’s that they were cheering for Neil. Many local people know his story and have pulled for him.

When he finished 18, he smiled. I think he knows his time is coming and his name, one day, will be on that trophy.

He didn’t win the tournament but Neil won in many more ways. Many, many more ways.

The word “proud” was used many times after that tournament ended when people spoke about Neil. I’m sure many people shared my thoughts of being proud of how he battled and competed — both in the tournament and everything he’s overcome in life.

Here’s to it continuing.

And if it does, all the golf tournament victories in the world won’t add up to the biggest win of all — life.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! 

This post is also being submitted to Dude Write, a weekly place where dudes show off their blog writing.

Winner of a Dude Write Chairman’s Choice Man Card for Week Six of Dude Write.

It’s time to to rattle the chains

Just a quick note today as I’m working on a few things, from job applications to a new blog — which is my main thing here today.

Starting Monday, I’m adding a second blog to my life. This one is niche-based, however, and will be different than A ‘lil HooHaa.

It’s about disc golf.

Now I realize there are other disc golf communities out there — from forums to disc review to course review. There are club blogs and ones based on stores and such. There are places, like Yahoo! Sports where you can find some stories each week about tournaments, who won and the such. All that is great and are good sources for disc golf. There’s even an amazing Vlog (video blog) where the person interviews some of the top names in disc golf. That is a fun thing to watch.

But I want more.

I realize, too, that some pros have their own websites and blogs. But with their schedules, sometimes it’s hit-or-miss when those blogs are updated and what kind of topics they cover. I also don’t just want the voice of the blogger or the writer — I want to know about the personalities in this sport.

With my sports writing background, this seemed like a perfect fit. I wanted stories. I wanted information. I want to read something I enjoy, not just an extended tournament wrap.

Back in September, I did a post about my experiences at the Vibram Open.

A month or so later, I did some posts about the Happy Endings (TV show) “Frolf” episode.

I was amazed at the outpouring of views and comments about these. That led me to believe there was room for something in the disc golf community that has more of a journalistic feel.

So I thought a bit about it. Looked for a disc golf name — hence the “RattlingChains.com.”

Over the next several months, I used a few contacts to get in touch with some of the top names in disc golf. I’ve done hours worth of interviews and have been writing quite a bit to prepare for the launch. I’ve made other contacts with people about photos and all sorts of things and hope to have some cool content.

Ready or not, we launch Monday.

Though I don’t have as many stories in the “can” as I would like, I have a bunch to get me flowing. And I have a lot of ideas and many more stories to write. I’m hoping over time, disc golfers give me ideas to follow. Maybe something about some players in their area. I’m all about learning new things and telling stories. I don’t want this to be all New York based or pro-based. I want to tell any good disc golf story.

If all works out, maybe there’s even a few disc golfers out there who want to write a few stories for us!

There’s going to be giveaways, contests and all sorts of things. We’ll have weekly polls and I’m even in talks with a couple of pros about blogging periodically with us. I hope that latter part goes well, but only time will tell there.

Hopefully, it will be a whole heap of fun as we’ve put a lot of planning into this site.

I won’t be giving up here, though.

As I noted in yesterday’s blog post, I have all sorts of ideas and I don’t want to let this site go to waste. I love this blog and I love blogging overall. And that makes me want to test my luck with a niche blog. Maybe it’s something I can do to take the next step in life. It’s a hobby for now, but let’s see where it goes, right?

In the end, it will be a place I can get into “journalistic sports writing” again, as well as the normal blog fare. I’m excited about that. The pros and players I’ve talked to and interviewed for stories have made me really look forward to this.

For those of you who are disc golfers, I hope you’ll check out the blog and enjoy it. Monday will be a post showing what the plans are and then we’ll get right into it soon after. We’re aiming for 3-4 posts per week to start off and then grow once we have more ideas and things to do.

The site is up now so you can see what it looks like — click here.

You can also like our page on Facebook (which would be super awesome for you to do!) by clicking here.

And if you have Twitter, follow us by clicking here.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank a few others who have helped with the project and hopefully will continue to work with and help as we move forward. Darren has been amazingly big in coming up with some ideas and many things for our contests. Dave has helped with some ideas and hopefully, when time allows, he’ll be able to give us a few stories. And Dave’s brother, Ben, designed the super-awesome logos. So a special thanks to those three.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Snapshot: June 18

It’s another blast from the past.

It’s Father’s Day weekend and it’s been nearly four years since my old man passed away. Not many a day go by without thinking about him. So I figured with it being this weekend and all, a photo of the old boy was something I needed to dig up.

His professional life was as a cop. But a few years before retiring from the force, he picked up golf. He became quite the avid golfer and even worked in the pro shop of the local course. When the weather was nice (and even when it wasn’t), he’d be out there hacking away at the ball. Good times.

Happy Father’s Day, pops.

Out on the course, as usual!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Luck o’ the discs

Daylight savings time isn’t the best day/night in the world. Though I like the end result — longer days with the ability to do more things — I usually don’t like the day where the clocks are set forward.

Especially this year.

The day fell on the weekend where I had been planning on traveling down to New Jersey to play in a disc golf tournament. With the hours being pushed forward, even though I went to bed around 12:15, it was, in reality, 1:15. When that alarm went off at about 4:50 a.m., I was groggy to say the least.

And it was very dark out.

After a shower and something to drink, I grabbed all that I needed and was on my way to New Brunswick, N.J. Oh yeah, it was still dark out.

It continued to stay dark until I got near Middletown — or about 1:45 into my trip.

I’ve gotten to a point in my driving life where being on the road in the dark isn’t my favorite thing. I don’t mind driving at dark, but it’s not something I always want to do. Especially long distances on highways. So when the light finally broke through, I was quite happy.

I pulled into the parking lot at about 8:45 a.m., making pretty good time.

Now, the weather called for 52-55 degrees and sunny. I had my shorts on under a pair of wind pants hoping and praying that I could play a round or so and feel like it was late spring or early summer. The wind pants never came off.

It was OK out. About 50, but that sun stayed tucked behind a lot of clouds. And the wind was there, too, which made it chillier. It also played havoc on the discs.

Oh yeah, the tournament. That’s the basis of this post, isn’t it?

The reason I had traveled 3-plus hours to play in the March O’ St. Pat’s Madness was because Darren had talked me into it and I also know the tournament director, Bob (a stellar pro, mind you). That and it was PDGA sanctioned, so it’s nice to see if I can get my rating up a bit. We’ll see about that, though.

Anyhoo…

This was two rounds of a lot of fun. There were only four of us in the rec division, so we got paired up in back-to-back rounds and I’m not sure I ever had as good of a time playing this sport as I did Sunday. Darren and Joe battled for the championship (Darren won his first tournament crown by two strokes) as Dennis and I battled for the basement (of which I took by 11 strokes… I was rewarded with a plastic Irish mug as the person who finished DFL in the tournament. What’s DFL you might ask? Dead F… Last!)

Dennis made this group a blast right off the bat. He was dressed as a leprechaun (and had some Apollo Creed-type drawers) and used an Irish accent to really push it over the edge. Quite a blast all day.

Dennis and Darren check the scorecards following the tournament.

The tournament was a good time. It was the first full tournament I played in this year, so after 36 holes and that long of a ride, I was a bit sore. Not a problem as it was worth the trip down. I just would have enjoyed better weather.

I shot a 77 in the opening round of the tournament, followed by a 76 in the second. I was happy to improve, though I would have liked to have shaved more than one stroke off my first-round total.

Darren and Joe had a good battle for the division title. Both played really well and were battling with each other most of the day. It was good though as it didn’t ever get too chippy. It was good sportsmanship throughout and it was a lot of fun.

Here’s a couple of shots from the day:

Joe with an approach shot.

Dennis putts as Darren watches.

If you want to see the rest of the photos I took (not as many as I would have if I had not been playing), go check out my Flickr set.

One other photo I’d like to share is a small group photo. It’s one of people who had a little “Irish” look going on. These were the people who dressed up a little for the day, including Dennis — who supplied the beer hats. I donned one for the first round, but switched to the Guinness derby I am wearing in the photo for the second round. Quite the fun group.

Trying to act all Irish, my lads!

I obviously didn’t take that image as I am in it — but Darren did well enough with my camera!

I also took some videos!

I’ll post one or two here that you guys can watch here, but the rest of them can be viewed on my YouTube channel. My issue? YouTube seems to be cutting off the final two or three seconds of a video so it can show the thing at the end showing you similar videos. Very annoying as a few of these videos are better to the end.

The first one features a sweet putt… behind the back!

This is one of three that I have of Dennis performing after the tournament. Good stuff.

The pros also had one heck of a battle with the winner earning a one-stroke victory over Bob, the tournament director. I’m sure it would have been fun to watch.

I’ll look forward to returning to the course in July for the Jersey Jam. The first day — Saturday — is for amateurs. The second day — Sunday — is for pros. I’ll play Saturday, of course, and then hope to stick around and take some photos and videos of the pros. I imagine it will be fun to watch.

More later!