Have you ever golfed dead tired because you felt you had an obligation to? 

Friday night I was out until 1:30 AM with my girl scouts at Halloween Horror night Universal Orlando. Then we slept (sort of) in a tent for a few hours. I arrived back home, unpacked,  put away all the camp gear, cleaned up the mess from the day before when I left in a rush and made a decision to golf. If I could be on the course at 4, I’d have just enough time to finish before dark. Of course, I’d need to hustle to finish in 3 hours, as a 4 hour round would mean finishing in the dark.

The weather was perfect, sunny and breezy,  how could I not golf? It’s only $11 at nearby Pompano Municipal Golf Course, to walk 18 until mid-November, how could I not golf? It’s only 2 weeks until my charity tournament, how could I not go out and play 18?

I chose my neon like Nike performance wear outfit. I didn’t bother to iron it. It fits great and thus would make me feel great even if it had wrinkles (see prior product review on Nike Golf outfit).   After a 6 on the par 4 first hole, I briefly wondered, what was I doing here? But it was only the first hole and I couldn’t let bad thoughts creep in. 

In my effort to hustle and play fast, including the kindness of at least 3 groups that let me play through, at times I passed on enjoying the moment and thought more about just ‘getting it done’. On 16, I encountered a red fox. I stopped and he kept coming at me. He walked to within about 15 feet and then walked in front of me and across the fairway to the other side.  I love the outdoors!

In typical golf fashion, I finished bogey, par, bogey.  Good enough to end the day on a positive note.  On the 18th I popped out of the front bunker too hot and landed on a hill off the back of the green.  I made the treacherous chip shot downhill and nearly went in, landing 2″ from the cup for a tap in. 

The last two weeks of hard running and strengthening with weights gave me the stamina to play 18, still walking quickly on the 18th hole. My swing wasn’t the greatest, but I had the energy to play, and that’s one step towards a good winter season of golf. 

Final score- I didn’t add up yet, but it had to be around 100. Not a good scoring day, but a great day to feel out my weaknesses to practice on. 

up and down - 3 of 6

60-100 yards - missed green 6 times

fairways- 11 of 14

COURSE CONDITIONS: The course was in OK shape.  The greens were aerated a few weeks ago, so they should have been in great shape, but they were a bit bumpy from players not fixing their ball marks. The fairways were good. The bunker sand was very fine and powder like. A little too fine for my liking. 

ATMOSPHERE: Saturday, late afternoon. Everyone I encountered was happy. There was a wedding reception in progress and also nice crowd enjoying the outdoor bar. I haven’t seen this so much in the past, but there I saw a cart girl at least 4 times during my round.  There are two rest rooms on the course. 

VALUE: There is no better deal in my area. it’s a bargain off season! The course is designed for walkers, with most holes just a short walk from green to tee box. I brought my own pull cart, but they have ones you can rent too.

Golf practice is waning but my core strengthening is increasing.  Any momentum I had a week ago is gone and I only have 2 weeks to my next tournament!! My last run was Saturday, and after 7 miles in the hot humid weather, I could barely swing my speed stik. So how will I save my game without hitting the links? 

Last night I worked on side push-ups. I got this idea from a book called Core Performance Essentials. 

I picked up the book at Costco a few years ago and figured it was a good value compared to a personal trainer. Now I always knew that my core body could use a little work (ha ha), but until I tried some of these, I didn’t realize just how bad it was. Push-ups? No problem. Side push ups, big problem!

It took me about a year of non-continuous effort to get to the point I could do a decent side push up. Now I do three sets on each side- it’s easy to gauge your improvement over time with these exercises because my point of reference is almost always ZERO reps capability when I start. Most of the routines I either was not doing, never heard of, or did wrong. And that’s after years of working out off and on with trainers, friends and different gyms. 

The book has 4 illustrations for all the exercises, and 4 levels of difficulty for each one. For those who like to skip the reading and get to the beef, there is a couple of pages of spreads that show all the exercises. Then as you are able to hit a certain level, there is a slight modification for the exercise to make it harder. It’s color photos with color coding for levels or stages,  and everything is all together so it’s easy to follow. 

I follow up all strengthening programs with lots of stretching, simulating specific golf movements. 

For the ladies, if you suffer from a terminally soft tummy like me,  these golf shorts are great for whatever kind of body you have. They give when you need it, and are snug when and where you don’t. By Bugatchi Women, they have something called elastane which gives it some stretchability. You don’t have to wear them for golf. They look great with everything. They look like classy shorts, and no one ever needs to know they actually stretch. 

Sorry guys, there is nothing comparable for you. However, here’s a bunch of really nice men’s golf shorts.