Wanted: Golf Skills

I recently finished up some golf lessons Alan gave me for my birthday. There was a little scheduling issue (such a surprise when it comes to our family, I know!) that could only be resolved by taking two lessons last month around the time of my birthday and two lessons this last week.


I just wanted to let anyone who is interested know about the instructor. She is amazing! I liked her so well that Alan and I are thinking of doing some private lessons, either with the two of us or another couple who we love to golf with.


Thanks to Melanie, I can hit 110 yards or so with my irons consistently. I've been trying to get a handle on the woods (mine is a hybrid 3/5), but I'm not quite there yet. I'm determined to keep practicing with it, because she says it will be my "bread and butter" as a female golfer. It will help me make up some distance, meaning that hopefully Alan won't have to stop four times on the fairway so I can keep hitting and catching up to him!


In the beginning lessons, we have worked on stance/posture and grip more than anything else. She got to me to relax (yes that's possible) and have a more fluid swing. I would love to move on to her second group of classes, where you work on chipping and putting, but she's only doing private or semi-private lessons for the rest of the year.


If anyone is interested in taking lessons or wants further information, you can visit her site: Melanie's Pro Shop. She is patient and thorough, and I would highly recommend her. She is very much a pro!

Golf is a four lettered word for a reason

I don't know if I ever really mentioned it here, but on our pre-anniversary vacation last year, Alan and I accidentally stumbled across a joint hobby-- golf.

For me, it had never been a hobby. I was pretty neutral on the subject of golf before then. I only became enthusiastic about it when it was one of few options when a fellow traveler was feeling too icky to go out. The two husbands involved took me out to show me the golfing ropes, and it actually went fairly well.

That has been almost a year ago. Alan has since purchased me a set of golf clubs for Christmas, and golf lessons for my upcoming birthday. In the last year, I have two actual golf games (on the par three course with geese running around, no less) under my belt, during which Alan kindly did not keep track of my score.

In light of both budgetary and weather constraints, we have also played Tiger Woods Golf '08 on both computer and (more recently) the Wii. Alan argues it will teach me what clubs to use for what kind of shots. This would probably be true if I ever bothered to set the game up with the same clubs I carry. But at the very least, it works well for an impromptu, post-baby-bedtime date night.

We rented the Wii game before we purchased it, and played it for the first time tonight. It is actually pretty fun. It would be more fun if I could remember to keep my elbows straight. I would recommend purchasing it (it will be money well-spent for us).

It's a pretty fun game if you can ignore the cheesy character reactions to the success or failure of the shots, but make sure you secure the wrist strap. I don't care if that makes me sound like a geek, but the controllers are expensive and you might be tempted to throw them when the game won't let you out of the tutorial before you successfully bank your ball right. I certainly was. Tiger Woods Golf was just as irritating as regular golf. The exception was that I had two eagles on our nine-hole game. Since I won't be getting one of those in real life any time soon, I took the opportunity to enjoy the video game glory.