Wes & Me: In the Zone

Santa deposited all variety of golf paraphernalia at my house.  He probably had to outsource the golf stuff, if the rest of the world's golfers were gifted the way Wes and I were gifted.  I now have the coveted red leather shoes with royal blue soles that have preoccupied me for months, and a red and white glove to complement.  Wes owns a snazzy golf bag umbrella that's going to serve him well during California's rainy season, although getting it past the TSA security check will involve some challenges.  We both have lots of new balls from non-golfing friends and family, some of them with loving and creatively embossed inspirational messages. Thankfully, neither of us found a new ball marker in our stocking!

Paula Creamer: How Much Is Too Much?

I'm happy for Paula Creamer.  I really am.  Everybody deserves a rich and satisfying personal life.  To love and be loved in return forms the core of my own life, and I wish the same for every person who walks the face of the earth.  I'm a hopeless romantic and the joy Paula conveyed in announcing her marriage proposal resonates for me.  But Twitter?

To Cut, Or Not To Cut

Last year about this time it was a torn meniscus in my left knee.  Not a big tear, but enough to let me know it was torn every time I took a step.  I tore it in June, on the 8th tee at The Patriot, playing golf with Wes, while I was trying to outdrive him.

Do you think you can finish the round, Mom? he'd asked as he helped me limp back to the cart.

The Golfing Spectrum: Ko to Jiminez

At my home course the grass has gone dormant, the ground is hard, the greens are fast, and the season of winter golf has begun.  Today the skies are overcast and there's a fine, chilly drizzle that's not so much falling from the sky as it is hanging in the air.  There's not much in my world today to recommend a round of golf, but it's been an absolutely terrific golf day!  Lydia Ko and Miguel Angel Jiminez both won tournaments this weekend.

And that's significant because . . .?

Dubai: Party's On!

The Ladies European Tour is bringing its season to a close with a party to beat all parties.  I've always secretly believed that golf is really a vehicle for advanced adult play, and the pictures the LET posted on its Facebook page after the 1st round of the Dubai Ladies Masters confirmed this.

Camel rides, falconry, excursions into Bedouin camps for henna tattoos -- what else could you ask for to round out a season of athletic competition?



Lexi Thompson's blue sombrero pales in comparison to the goings on at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, UAE.  I find it all simply irresistible.  If you can't have fun while you're at work, why go to work?  Life's just too short to do otherwise.

Shanshan Feng's complaining about not getting enough sleep and Carlota Ciganda's taking time off from the practice green to hit the malls and Charley Hull 4-putted the 18th hole and gave up the 1st round lead.

I'm following the Dubai Ladies Masters and posting end-of-round reports, so if you want to see how this party turns out, check out my daily posts on progolfnow.com.

Photo Credits: Tristan Jones © Tristan Jones Photography

Lessons from the Links

I squeezed in a 2nd solitary 18 holes Thursday before the annual mid-afternoon Thanksgiving feast, and I again played a very satisfactory game of golf.  It wasn't spectacular.  Nothing amazing happened.  I shot 93, missed a few putts I should have made but didn't, needed to conjure up the Magic of Flora, my aged 11-wood (whose pink flamingo head cover gave the club her name), to get me out of a couple of waste areas and back into the short grass, but made no ball offerings to the water hazards and put a few pars on my card.

Real Life Trumps Family Golf

I'd planned to write a post tonight that reported the outcome of the first in our planned 3-match Thanksgiving series.  Travel plans were made.  Golf clubs were packed.  Smack talk had started.  Then things fell apart on the West Coast, and there was much reconfiguring and changing and adjusting.

We all agreed.  The needs of children in crisis trump the Thanksgiving Match Play series.

A Girls' Golf Weekend Supremo!

The Lorena Ochoa Invitational is a different kind of LPGA event.  The field is small -- just 36 players -- and the tournament is very intimate.  The players tend to hang out at the Guadalajara Country Club after every round snacking on Mexican tidbits and drinking margaritas.

It feels more like a girls' golf weekend at the beach than a pro golf tournament.  Well, there are a couple of significant differences -- a million dollar purse and a great big hand-crafted ceramic and tooled-silver trophy, to be specific.

Lexi Thompson got initiated into the Lorena Ochoa Invitational winners' circle today that includes Christie Kerr (2912), Catriona Matthew (2011), IK Kim (2010), Michelle Wie (2009), and Angela Stanford (2008).  I can't imagine anything that would be more fun that a serenade by a mariachi band to celebrate the end of a weekend of golf with the girls!

Diabetes & Me

I walked out of my doctor's office about a year ago with a diabetes diagnosis.  It actually wasn't much of a surprise.  My family medical history has been working against me on this one for most of my adulthood.  But I've lived an active life, watched what I put in my mouth -- most of the time -- and held off the inevitable for as long as I could.  So I received the diagnosis gracefully, asked to be sent to diabetes education, and was convinced that this wasn't going to change my life.  I was very mistaken.

Good Company Trumps Slow Play

I don't know about your golf rounds but sometimes, for me, getting through the round is more about survival than about winning.

I once played a round in Palm Springs in July when it was so incredibly hot that the drink cart carried iced towels in a huge cooler and dispensed them without charge several time during the round.  We all survived that round although I'll not again play golf in a Palm Springs August.  Another time I finished a round in rain so heavy that my ball was making 6" rooster tails on every putt.  I survived that one too, and the one I played the day the dreaded 8th hole pond at Star Fort was frozen and my ball resembled a hockey puck as it bounced on the ice and careened up the fairway toward the green.

And then there are the rounds that involve emotional survival.  That's he way it was for Jason and me at Wild Dunes Sunday afternoon.