Golf is such a funny game!

I joined three of my buddies today to play in a local Relay for Life golf tournament.  We started out this morning with high hopes of bringing home the goods.  We put together what we thought would be a good foursome and off we went.  I would like to tell you that we won the tournament, but sadly I can not do that.  We played pretty well, but there were some other teams that played a bit better.  It was a fun day spent with good friends and I would gladly take my chances in the next tournament with the same three guys that I played with today.  Now here's the funny part...

Since this was a charity tournament, prizes were given in the form of golf equipment instead of cash.  They were nice prizes however!  First place took home Taylor Made Drivers, second place took home Taylor Made Fairway woods, and third place took home Odyssee putters.  There were also prizes for closest to the pin shots on all of the par 3's which included golf bags and Titleist wedges.  But the big prize of the day and the one that had everyone talking was a chance to hit your ball closest to the pin on a Par 4 that sits on the edge of a lake some 278 yards from the tee.  The hole is designed to play around the water, but a brave golfer with a little pop in his swing can try and carry the water and a sand trap and try to hit the green for an easy Eagle attempt.  The prize for this shot was a brand new 2011 Taylor Made R-11 driver. (retail $400)    This is an extremely nice prize for a charity golf tournament!!

I stepped on the tee and paid my $5 for my chance.  I had been hitting my driver pretty good all day, so I was fairly confident that I could make it onto the green, but a previous shot had been measured in at 22 feet.  It's hard enough to hit the green, much less get it closer than 22 feet.  Remember, the pin is 278 yards away!  I took my time and picked out a line of sight.  I drew it back and let it rip!  It looked good from the get go!  I knew it was enough and headed in the right direction, but you can never tell what will happen when it hits.

Let me take a moment to back up and tell you how I played the par threes today.  A par three is a shorter shot and you should be able to hit the green on a consistent basis.  I usually do pretty well on par 3's because I am a pretty good iron player.  Well today was not my day.  I did not hit one single green in regulation on a par 3!  For me, that is terrible!  Back to the impossible shot...

As the ball was coming down towards the green I thought it was going to be coming in too hot for the green to hold it.  This would mean that my shot would end up over the green.  The golf God's must have felt bad for how they treated me on the Par 3's and actually made my ball check when it hit.  The result... 7' 11" from the cup!  Noone else came close.  The prize of the tournament was mine!

I can't hit a Par 3 from less than 160 yards but I can pull that shot off!

Golf is such a funny game!

Downeast Challenge #2- The Chip Shot

Challenge Number 2 from my friend in Downeast Maine involved a little something that I can really appreciate.  This challenge was all about me and what I could do with a sand wedge.  I got a little camera help from my son and we knocked this challenge out in just a few tries.  Enjoy!

Now it's on to Challenge #3.  Who knows what the Duckman has in store! 

Hope it's fun!

Challenge #1 from Downeast!

I started out as a simple conversation between two new friends.  You know, simple things like how are the kids, how is school going, how is your baseball team, or how is the turkey season coming?  Eventually The Downeast Duck Hunter and I started to talk about our blogs and he reminded me that I have not been posting very much lately.  I explained to him that I really didn't have much going on that I thought was blog worthy.  My turkey season has been in the tank so far and I didn't figure that my readers want to read about me reviving my once great golf game.  Well the Duckman jumped at the chance to issue me a challenge in order to help bring me out of my writing funk.  He says it comes in 5 parts.  If I meet challenge one, then he will issue me challenge number 2, then #3 and so on.  So here we go!!

Challenge #1-  Video my son Reid catching a bass!  No problem!  I hope a 4 pounder will do!  Listen to the words that my little man has for Mr. President!

So now we are on to Challenge number 2!  Give us your best shot Duckman!  This should be fun!

Camp Kaleo, An RA Trip in Pictures!

The Royal Ambassadors from First Baptist Church in Fitzgerald made their way to Camp Kaleo this past weekend to test their skills against other RA's in the State of Georgia.  We had a great time and I think I will just let the pictures tell the story!

This is Reid competing in the Wild Wood Run!

Reid and some of his teammates trying to get their fire going in order to boil the can of soapy water.  It took them just over 12 minutes.

The boys are taking aim in the BB shoot competition.  Reid scored the highest score out of this group!

A big part of the weekend is the knot tying competition.  Here is Reid tying his knots in the team part of the event.  Our group finished third!

Here Reid is working on the Double bowline knot!  He got it correct!

The boys are now waiting to tie knots in the individual part of the competition.

This next video is Reid competing in the individual competition for tying the bowline knot.  He finishes second by .9 second.  Watch how close it is between him and the boy in the yellow shirt to the left of him in the shot.  Keep in mind that the other boy is in the third grade.  Reid is in the first.

The weekend was not only an opportunity to spend time with some great Dads and other RA leaders, but also a time for me to spend time with Reid on a real camping trip.  He really enjoyed all of the competitions and just being in the woods.  On the ride home from the church he said he was ready to go back to camp.  I told him that we would go back next year.  He said he wanted to go back today!

Bringing home the Gold!

Every other year, I'm the Man!

You see this picture?  This picture was taken after I killed my third gobbler of 2010.  2010 was a great year for me as a Turkey hunter!

This is another fine picture of a great Hunting experience that took place in 2008!

This 21 lb beauty fell to my calling charms in the Spring of 2006!

Do you see a pattern here?  I can keep going if I need to.  If things do not pick up here in 2011 very quickly, then I believe I am cursed with the "every other" or "even years only" curse.  It has been that way for me with very few exceptions since 1998. 

It's hard to figure.  Our place has plenty of birds.  They just do not seem to like me in years that end in an odd number.  This year is not looking very good for me either and my hunting chances are getting fewer and fewer.  I was out of town this past weekend golfing. This weekend I will be camping with my son and his RA group.  Next weekend is Easter weekend and I have to attend an egg hunt with my wife and kids in the early morning.  The following weekend I am scheduled to play in another golf tournament.  I'm just about out of weekends!!  I can only hope to get in a few "mid week" hunts between now and the end of the season.  The problem with that game plan is that the birds are not talking very much right now and I do not want to use all my brownie points from work to go sit in silent woods!

This turkey hunting thing can drive you crazy but I guess I will just have to live with the fact that every other year...

 I'm the man! 

I do love the game!

This past weekend marked the 12th year in a row that a group of golfers from Fitzgerald took to the road in search of a good time, a little competition, and a lot of great fellowship.  The Wild Chicken Cup was once again contested in the great state of Alabama at the Dothan National Golf Club and Hotel.  44 golfers made the trip for this years tournament.  Team Red came into the weekend riding a wave of momentum as they upset Team Black in 2010.  Their confidence was reduced to fear in short order as Team Black jumped to an early lead after day one.  After all was said and done, Team Black secured the victory and the Wild Chicken Cup was returned to its rightful home. (I'm on Team Black!)

This was only the second time that I have played golf in the past 6 months and only the 3rd time that I have played since last year's tournament.  I as reflect back on what golf has meant to me in my life, I find that very surprising.  Several of us talked about the fact that we do not play much anymore, especially after our Country Club shut the doors, but I have a love for the game that is not easy for me to describe and I find myself missing the game very much.  I thought that I could just walk away from it, but the truth is I need it.  It is a part of me.  It is in my past and I hope that it will always be in my future, and thanks to a 7 year old boy that I met this past weekend, I'm going to make sure that golf will continue to be in my life as well as the life of my son Reid.

I never even asked the kid his name.  He was a cute little dude with his khaki shorts, polo shirt and Masters hat.  He looked like a golfer with his two toned golf shoes, golf glove and shinny bag and clubs.  His father told me that he was seven years old and loved to play golf.  I thought of my own son and how he likes to hit balls in the yard with his clubs, but then I watched this little guy take a few practice puts on the green and I knew that we were talking a different ball game.  The word "prodigy" came to mind as I watched this kid hit a few practice balls.  His Dad worked at the club and has been bringing him out to play since he was three years old.  He went on to tell me that he has played in three different kids tournaments and has won all three of them.  They are preparing to play in the "Future Masters" tournament this summer.  I wish this kid all the luck in the world and I admire his Dad for bringing him to the golf course.  By the way, this little 7 year old that can only hit the ball about 135 yards went out and shot a 79 from the ladies tees.  That is impressive!

So why did this kid spark my fire for the game of golf again?  It made me realize that I should be doing more to pass this great game on to my son!  The game of golf can be played for a lifetime and nothing would please me more than my son taking up the game and being able to play it at a high level.  With the reopening of our local golf course, I hope that I can take Reid to hit balls and try to play a little.  Do I want a prodigy?  I'm not hoping or wishing for that.  I just want him to play the game and learn to love it one day just as I did. 

I was not exposed to the game of golf at an early age.  In fact I probably did not swing my first golf club until I was 12 years old.  Baseball was my life as a young boy and stayed that way through high school, but if I had to do it over again I think I would choose golf.  I'm a better golfer than I was a baseball player.  One of my fraternity brothers tried out for and made the Georgia Southern Golf Team while we were in school.  I could play with him and I was only two years removed from playing full time high school baseball.  If I had focused on golf for all those years, who knows, I may have gotten a free education somewhere.  I just want to provide Reid with the opportunity to make a choice.  If he loves baseball, then we will play baseball.  If he loves golf, we will play golf.  If he wants to play both or none at all, then that will be fine too.  I just want to expose him to as much as possible so that he can feel good about the decisions that he will one day have to make.

That little kid broke 80 for the first time this past Saturday.  All you could see was his huge smile as he ran up to his Dad to tell him.  I remember the first time I broke 80 and how excited I was to tell my Dad.  I can only hope that Reid will be excited on the day that he breaks 80, but it will be up to him if he wants to play the game that his Dad still loves!  It will be up to me to give him that chance!

Son, do you want to go hit some balls?

Some Changes!

I started playing around with blogger last night upon a recommendation from a fellow writer in the blogging community.  It seems that when I started this blog, I picked one of the very simple templates in which to begin my blogging adventure.  I had no idea what I was doing, so I just picked a template, added some colors and off I went.  After visiting several blogs over the past year, I have come to realize that I may need to freshen up a bit for you my now loyal followers!  Here is what I have so far!

I'm not sure if I like this yet, and I'm sure there are more changes to come, but this is what I'm going with for right now.  Let me know what you think or if you would like to see anymore changes made.  Can you read the print?  Are the colors OK for reading?  It will ultimately come down to what I like, but I do value your input!  If you see something that I might need to change, please leave SPECIFIC instructions on how to change it.  So far all I know how to do is hit buttons and see what happens!!

Hope you enjoy and if I could ever get on a turkey I'd have a new post for you!

Have a great week!

If you are a Turkey Hunter, You Have Got to Hear This!!

I have no idea who these guys are, but they may have recorded the best Turkey Hunting video ever.  Turn up the volume as you listen to this.  Talk about getting your blood boiling first thing in the morning!  Hope they don't mind me posting this on a blog, but I got it forwarded to me in an e-mail and had to share!  Enjoy!