It is Labour Day weekend across North America and time to update you on a few things.
First the senseless death of the Gaudreau brothers reminds us of so many things. Impaired driving is just plain unacceptable but people still continue to do it. So many ride share programs out there, friends who would come and get you and bars that have taxi chits available.The Gaudreau family has been ripped apart on so many levels, the coping levels humans gets pushed to another extreme, one that should not have occurred because of selfish acts. The person who committed this act will have a lifetime of personal hell, but it will be pale in comparison to the Gaudreau family.
Moving on to a less important subject, hockey. The Ottawa Senators signed Nick Cousins this week. Cousins is playing on a one year deal after winning a Cup in Florida. Senators Hockey Ops seems to be building a team that will be prickly and edgy. So far I like the moves they have made this year. Fans want bigger changes, but we do not know what is happening behind the scenes. IMO they have inherited a sh*t show and are still cleaning up the mess of the previous regime. I do not know if they will make the playoffs, but I think they will be a lot closer than last year.
On another unimportant subject: divots, ball marks, and un-raked bunkers. I have been playing the game of golf for over 55 years. When I first started my Father drilled into me that when you walked onto the putting surface, fix your ball mark. If you can’t find it, fix other imperfections that are there. Always replace your divot. Now we use a seed soil mixture instead of replacing divots and always rake the bunker. Now it seems with all the “ new” golfers that the Big Three that was taught to me has become the Big Donuts. At my Club it is a systemic problem. We have a Course Operations Chair that is trying to change this, but the members just choose to ignore the efforts. I have sent him so many pictures that he is not responding to me. Quite frankly I wouldn’t respond to me either, as I am a pain in the ass.
The other day I sat on the patio behind our 18th green for an hour and watched groups finish. Of the 24 players only one player repaired a ball marks. The other 23 were concerned about there next shot. Approach shots to the green, 16 of the 24 did not fill their divot. So this leads me to believe that it is habit driven. The habits of these members and others have never been fully developed. You can tell players to fill divots, fix ball marks and rake bunkers but until it becomes a habit you are spitting into the wind. Perhaps the focus should be what you do after the shot and make fixing divots, raking bunkers, and fixing ball marks part of your post shot routine. It is done in other sports like baseball and hockey. Goalies after they are scored on and pitchers after they give up a home run have a habit to deal with it. No reason why the average golfer should not have one. But that is just me!
To close things out, get in the habit of “ if you drive don’t drive”. If you are already doing it, continue it. If you do not start the habit, you will not regret it.
Until next time!
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