Don't Give Up on Golf, America

The link below points to a poignant article written by ESPN Page 2's Mary Burkheit about golf and her father. It reminds me that I learned the game from my Dad, and I have many fond memories out on the golf course with him. I think it's good reading for a cold winter day like today, though I warn you, make sure you have a tissue or two handy. I needed one.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=buckheit/080226&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

It may be cold today, but it's supposed to be in the mid to upper fifties the rest of this week with sixties for Saturday. I expect I will go out and hit balls at Park Hill on Thursday at lunch if anyone is interested in joining me. Feel free to drop me an e-mail and we can coordinate times. My e-mail is: n3xt@arrl.net

Wellshire Men's Golf Club sent out their schedule of events for the year. If you were thinking about joining, these are the events that will be played. I expect to play in 7 or 8 of them at this time (pending spouse and calendar approval).

April 19 - The Earl Wilcox - blind draw for partner in your foursome

May 3 - Spring Banquet and Calcutta

May 4 - ABCD flighted scramble

May 17 - Point Par (Stroke Play Event)

June 7 & 8 - 2 Man, 2 Day scramble/bestball Event with picnic on Sunday

May 17 - Match Play Begins

June 22 - Skills by Age Group event

July 12 - Arizona Scramble - 2 nets

July 27 - Modified Stableford

August 9 - 2 Man Best Ball at Meadow Hills

August 23 & 24 - Club Championship with picnic on Sunday

September 5 - Calcutta

September 6 - ABCD Best Ball

September 28 - 2 Man Scramble/Scotch/Best Ball event

October 12 - Roaming Tee Box event

TBD - Fall Banquet

Check on Wellshire Men's Golf Club link at the right if you want more information (their site is being reconstructed as I write this though).

That's it for now, and don't forget to stop over and sign up for the ESPN Best Ball Challenge by clicking on the link on the right. The group is 'Wellshire Thursdays" and the password is "Wellshire".

Going to hit some balls!

Well it's Friday, it's already 42 and looking to get into at least the upper 40's today. I went and checked out the Park Hill Driving Range, and it's open! This is probably my favorite range in Denver as you will actually hit off the grass vs matts. Cost at the driving range is based on a card you can buy for standard $ increments. I bought a $20 card and I anticipate I'll get at least 4 large buckets worth before having to refill the card. The range also has an indoor facility that I didn't know about that will cost you about the same per session. For putting practice I still prefer the putting green at Wellshire where there is some elevation change and undulations that most courses and putting greens seem to lack. For chipping, pitching, and bunker practice, I like City Park as they have a couple of full size greens, with bunkers to hit out of. Just take your own shag balls or buy some range balls and have at it!

The WGC Accenture Matchplay event has been great viewing, though I've been solidly disappointed in NBC's lack of HD cameras. When CBS airs a golf event in HD, every camera is in HD. Not so with NBC, they have HD cameras covering their anchors, the blimp, and the interview area, but for on course coverage it's primarily SD. It's quite annoying going back and forth between the SD and HD cameras that if I was watching live would probably give me a headache.

It looks like Tiger is hitting his stride after a great comeback win against JB Holmes on Wednesday. He pretty much cruised yesterday against Aaron Oberholser. Michelson got bounced out yesterday along with Adam Scott, so a number of the heavy hitters are off to the Honda classic by now.

From the 'who would have guessed' file, it appears that Michele Wie is attempting to actually play some decent golf. She shot her first round under 70 in almost 2 years yesterday and is only 5 shots back in 16th place going into today's second round. Jeong Jang leads at -8, and is putting well with her Yes! Putter.

John Merrick is leading the best of the rest of the golfers not in the WGC Accenture Matchplay, posting a 6 under score after the first round. Dead last honors goes to Bubba Watson who shot a 9 over 79 yesterday, and is another 4 over through 15 today. It looks like he can take that plane out of Cancun tonight and start preparation for The Honda next week.

If you want to hear the WGC Accenture Matchplay from your PC, go to http://www.pgatour.com/ and go to the XM satellite links. You don't need an XM receiver or subscription, but you'll hear the XM feed. The best news is that this feature is FREE.

Anyway, I suppose I'd better get to work so I can hit balls at lunch.

David C.

Welcome

Welcome to The Urban Golfer! I hope to use this as a jumping off point for my golf experience starting this spring 2008. Please feel free to post comments or other things of interest to the Denver golfing community and especially for those of us in the Wellshire Thursdays group and the Wellshire Men's Golf Club community. I hope to be able to keep up on this on a very regular basis, and get ready for a great season of golf in Denver!

David C. Cleveland