Rookie on the Green

I made it out to the range again today with high hopes for a nicer day since it was at least sunny.  The wind was still howling, though.  I was dressed like the Unabomber on the driving range — hood up, shades on, keeping out the wind any way possible.  My eyes are still watering.  The ball kept blowing around on the mat — it was hard to keep it still to hit it!  But I did get in some good chipping practice.  The chipping greens at Hiawatha are kind of protected by hills, so the wind wasn’t quite as bad.  I was impressed by the turnout on the course despite the cold and nasty wind.  Minnesotans are known for their hardiness, after all.  I sure hope the wind has died down by tomorrow, or we’re in for a long 18 holes during the first day of league play.

Today we headed out to the Braemar Golf Dome in Edina, MN, to get in some mid-winter practice.  This was the first time I’d hit balls in a dome before.  According to the website, Braemar’s dome is “the largest and longest-hitting in the Twin Cities area with 46 tee areas on two levels.”   The prices aren’t bad — $10.50 for a half hour on a tee with unlimited balls (that’s on weekends) and $7.50 per bucket during the week.  Two people can share a tee, so Matt and I alternated on one tee and it worked well to have short breaks between each hitting session.

It’s pretty close quarters on the tees.  You can’t take your golf bag in, so you have to just carry in the clubs you want to hit.  Definitely a great way to get some practice in while the weather outside is so nasty.  I’m sure we’ll go back quite a few times before spring arrives.  The picture’s a little blurry, but here I am hitting some balls.

In Minnesota there’s still snow all over the place, and spring is nowhere in sight.  Tomorrow we’re looking at a high of 4 degrees, low of -10.  So there’s no chance of getting out on the golf course any time soon.  So what do you do to keep up your game when it’s not possible to go out on the course?

I still have some lessons left in the package I got at Golftec, so I signed up for a lesson every two weeks for the next two months, in hoping of reviving some of the beginning golf know-how I absorbed last summer.   The Golftec lessons are inside a Golfsmith location, so that’s a big plus, and there’s also an area where you can practice hitting the ball.

I went to my first lesson in a couple months yesterday and will post more later on how that went and what I learned.  Going to a lesson made me want to get out on the golf course in the worst way.  So I think my husband and I might go search out a golf dome to hit a few balls this weekend.  Other than that, it might be time to book a golf trip somewhere warm.

Photo -- nordstrom.com.

Nordstrom has these Lacoste long-sleeve polos on sale for $49.90, down 40% from $88.00.  I stocked up on a bunch of them from macys.com at $39.60 each, but it appears that they’re now sold out!  I think these shirts would be great for golf on an early spring day when it’s still chilly outside, or if you’re like me and live in Minnesota, you need long sleeves until June.