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There are more than 80 golf courses within 50 miles of Des Moines. There is at least one muni in every county (and we have 99 counties). Public courses range from rough tracts that Ol' Tom might have played to beautiful new layouts that would cost 100s of dollars in any major market. Instead, we can play them all for less than $75 dollars and many for a lot less; have lunch for less than $10, and be back at work by noon. The season goes well into the fall; I've played Thanksgiving weekend, and some of the local public courses are open year round. (One of my favorite fundraisers, for Children and Families of Iowa, is played at Terrace Hills east of Des Moines in December, and my other favorite, A Shot in the Dark for Prevent Blindness Iowa is played after dark at Willow Creek Golf Course.) We'll be posting reviews of these and other Iowa and New Jersey courses, as well as any resort courses we get to play, regulalrly.  We have golfers of all shapes and sizes, young and old. And now we have Zach Johnson. See you on the links.

Aerated Greens

Played a round at one of my favorite munis yesterday, Waveland Golf Course.  $15; no tee time; just walked up and was partnered with Chris, a young lawyer, and Keith and Sean,a father-son twosome who love golf.  Despite a a hellacious rain storm Friday, and humid weather all weekend the course was in fine shape.  It ought to be as it was the host for the Des Moines City Men's tournament last weekend and the Women's Tournament this past weekend.  The winners, of course, played really well:  Jon Brown, the Men's champion, won his third straight title with a 6 under score of 210, and Fiona Watson picked up the Women's title with a 2-under 142.  Great golf.  I played the course both Sundays after the tournaments were held. 
I am no champion golfer, and my putting is still a work in progress, but I noticed that  Waveland had recently aerated the greens and the furrows made a difference.  Now they weren't like the furrows Jack wanted in the traps for the Open, God forfend! But, lag a downhill putt and the aeration furrows really channeled the ball; hitting cross-furrow required a youthful approach to short putts.  Maybe they rolled them for the tourneys; maybe those guys and gals are just that much better; but I have to wonder why they couldn't have waited a couple of weeks.

Still, for only $15 after 4 pm, it is a great course.

BTW, this is the only competitive golf event Watson plays in; good for her.

A new golfing buddy

Just a quick intro to Kirsten Mortensen author of the coolly named Golfolicious blog.  Self described as "a writer, a mom, and nearly always in a good mood" she is also a golf fanatic.  She posted her 2007 resolutions for golf.  A fine writer and a golfer with a fine attitude.  We wish her well as she promotes the game we love.  Also check out Scot Duke's suite of sweet golf and business sites: Business Golf. He offers a unique approach to business consulting and a keen eye to the business of golf as well, something we appreciate.  He also plays great music via Sonific's widget.  Check it out. 

Tour Links and Us

We love the Tour Links putting greens we use in our clinics, and so do our clients.  Easy to assemble, rugged and good looking (kind of like me) they are great for practice and entertainment.  The one we use fits nicely in a spare room or an office (what a great way to spice up the reception area!).  We use them in our junior clinics at the end of the putting section.   If you do not want to buy one (they are available in a range of sizes and prices) we can provide one for your special event.  We have set them up at corporate events where the hosts have offered prizes for sinking a putt or just wanted to entertain the troops on a Friday afternoon. They are great for graduation parties (I have attended 12 so far this year) and open houses.

Because a number of clients asked us where they could get one we have arranged to offer them for sale to clients and visitors.  Email or call and we will help you pick one out.  We plan to offer sales on line soon.

Charge by the hour

Brandon Tucker, staff writer at WorldGolf.com suggests, tongue-in-cheek, that golf courses should charge by the stroke.  He makes a lot of sense but recognizes the real problem of enforcement.  After writhing through Sean O'Hair's excruciatingly slow pace of play and being stick behind a foursome that was clearly clueless about pace of play (why was the same guy always looking for his tee shot (from the blues no less) in the gorse about 50 yds off the tee box hole after hole? Even the 11-year old in his group that Saturday morning was out-driving him. And what is an 11-year old doing in a Saturday morning group anyway?)  I say charge them by the hour.  All it takes is a swipe of their credit card and an easy hook-up to a digital timer.  My comment to Tucker's article follows:

Courses could charge by the hour (or the quarter hour) with the rate per fraction of hour increasing, a lot, after four hours, and going through the roof after 4 1/2 hours.  On the flip side courses could offer discounts to players who finish or promise to finish in less than 4 1/2 hours.  Sheesh, when I was a young caddy, good players routinely finished 18 holes, with a snack and a roll of the dice at the turn in four hours--walking, no yardage markers (except a few buses at 150 yds out, no GPS or range finders.  Caddies helped but those guys knew how to play along.  Heck even the giggle golfers in the afternoons finished in well under 5 hours.  Charge by the hour and offer incentives for fast play.