Gardening in Iowa

April 3, 2012 4 Comments

I spent last Saturday in the garden at our new house.  It was my first day moving dirt and planting in Iowa.

The biggest raised bed in our New York gardens, during what we called Purple Season, when the irises, salvia and catmint were dominant, and the smoke trees were at their smokiest.

Gardening has been a passion and hobby for me since we moved into our last house in New York in 1999.  We had a large yard with many raised beds and garden areas. They had been neglected for years before we bought the property. We spent the first few years clearing them out and planning new arrangements.  During the twelve years we owned the house, we invested thousands of dollars creating new beds and buying new plants, and hundreds of hours planting and tending the gardens. By the time we left New York, we had 15 different garden areas and the typed list of perennials, shrubs, and trees that we put into them went on for nine pages.

In truth, it ended up being way too much work, especially after Eric and I started spending most weekend days playing golf.  Making golf a priority left me with less time to take care of the garden. Gardening is also hard on your back muscles, which has been an issue for me since I hurt my back playing golf three years ago. If I can only do one of these things, I would prefer to play golf.

So having a garden at our new house was important, but it had to be a manageable size.  I think we achieved this goal. Our new house in Des Moines’ Beaverdale neighborhood has a much smaller yard and far fewer flower beds. The beds were also in pretty good shape before we got here. We are going to wait and see what comes up this year before making any drastic changes.

Here are some reflections on gardening in general and gardening in Iowa specifically:

  • The dirt in Iowa is amazing: This is not news to all of the farmers in the State.  There are six to eight inches of rich top soil in Iowa, including our backyard. In New York, the good dirt was only as deep as you placed it, which is why we had so many raised beds. The rest of the yard was hard clay, with stones mixed in. I was digging this Saturday in some flat areas around the house. I never hit the bad stuff.
  • I like to mulch: I think gardens look better with a few inches of mulch on top. Not every gardener agrees with this point.  I prefer natural looking, brown mulch, but the prior owners had put down red mulch so we had to follow suit. We used to bring it in by the truckload at our house in New York, and also get help to lay it down.  Eric insisted on paying someone else to do it after a couple of years of doing it ourselves, and killing our backs in the process, and I was happy to go along. So I was surprised when he volunteered to haul and lay the mulch himself at our new house, another benefit of having a manageable-sized yard.
  • Perennials are your friend: They come back each year, which saves you time. Many perennials can also be divided after a few years, which saves you money. They are also easy to move and replant if you need to make changes. If you run out of garden space, you can share the extra plants with your friends and neighbors. We were happy to be on the receiving end when a new friend dug up some of her siberian irises and ligularia and we planted them on Saturday.
  • Remember the rule of three: When you plant perennials, you have to remember the rule of three. You need at least three of a kind to make the right statement. You should also avoid putting single perennials in the middle of grass without any kind of barrier between the plant and the grass. We dug up a number of stand-alone perennials on Saturday and moved them to a new garden area that we created with a few bricks and some well-placed mulch. It was a small change, but it made a big difference.
  • Your feet are gardening tools, too: Once you get the plant in the ground and have watered it in, you need to use your feet to tamp it down. Step around the plant a few times so the dirt is packed in. You’ll know if it has worked the next day when you check on the plants and they are perky and upright.

Filed under Iowa, Nature Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Boycotting the National Chain Restaurants

February 28, 2012 4 Comments

My 2012 New Year’s Resolution was to refrain from eating a meal at a national chain restaurant.  After two months, I have eaten a meal away from home at least 30 times and do not miss those national chains one bit.

Christopher's is less than a five minute walk from our house in Beaverdale.

As I predicted, eating out in Des Moines is never an issue. There are enough independent restaurants to last me the whole year. Here are just some of the places I have eaten in the last few weeks: Alba, Wasabi Chi, The Continental, Sbrocco, Splash, Jethro’s BBQ, Trostel’s Dish, Christopher’s, Drake Diner, Chef’s Kitchen and Palmer’s Deli. These are all great, independent restaurants.

There have been some challenges when we travel. Eric, Katelin and I took a trip to Kansas City in early January. We ate breakfast at Chef’s Kitchen before we hit the road. By 3 pm, we were hungry and looking for a place to have a glass of wine and some small plates, which we call “tasties.”  We had dinner plans at Chaz on the Plaza, a fine dining establishment located in the Country Club Plaza, and did not want to spoil our appetites. If we were in Des Moines, we would be heading to The Continental or Sbrocco. We weren’t sure what the equivalent was to those restaurants in Kansas City. We wanted someplace that was near to where we were staying, was not a national chain, and served wine and tasties. We ended up at a place called Houston’s, which was not familiar to me, and is, as I just discovered . . . a national chain. Oh well, ignorance is bliss, I guess. We won’t be going again, since it was nothing special. Chaz on the Plaza, on the other hand, was spectacular.

Breakfast and lunch the next day in Kansas City were also a challenge. We drove through County Club Plaza a few times before we found LatteLand Espresso and Tea for breakfast. No issues there, but I probably would have preferred McDonald’s coffee and a biscuit. On the way back to Des Moines, we stopped at the Iowa Welcome Center in Lamoni and ate at the Maid-Rite, which is an Iowa-based chain that is famous for its loose meat sandwiches. The Lamoni store was out of most things on the menu and I don’t think any of us enjoyed what we ate there.

Eric and I had much better luck on our trip to San Antonio, Texas. The Riverwalk is full of independent eateries. We stayed at Contessa Hotel. We had coffee and muffins there two out of the four days we were there and also sat down for a pre-golf outing lunch. We ate breakfast twice at Zuni Grill, had a great brunch at Cappy’s on Superbowl Sunday and two great meals at nearby restaurants: Las Canarias and Zocca.

I had the perfect grilled cheese sandwich at Cronk's.

We have had even better luck during our trips inside Iowa. Eric’s quest to visit all 99 counties combined with his interest in eating good pork tenderloin sandwiches have combined to take us to some great small town restaurants — the places where the locals go to visit with their neighbors while enjoying homemade soup, hearty sandwiches and cream pies. On our way to Sioux City in late January, we ate a great lunch at Cronk’s in Denison, Iowa. On the way home from Mason City (via Hancock and Winnebago counties), we stopped in Forest City to eat lunch at Sally’s. Eric and I couldn’t resist splitting a piece of homemade banana cream pie for dessert.

On the way home from Sioux City, we stopped at Boxer BBQ in Council Bluffs, which we highly recommend. We liked their BBQ pork and beef brisket better than Jethro’s BBQ, which we visited on New Year’s Day. Boxer doesn’t offer the same type of fun sports bar experience though.

I plan to continue my boycott of the national chain restaurants for the rest of 2012, and maybe beyond. Independent restaurants offer fresh, local ingredients at reasonable prices. Their food is often better and cheaper than what you would get at a national chain.  Based on purely anecdotal evidence, the standard price for a good, satisfying lunch at a local eatery in Iowa is $5.50 .  . . but that doesn’t include a slice of homemade pie.

Filed under Food, Iowa, Travel Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

My Favorite Books From 2011

January 23, 2012 Leave a comment

According to my Kindle, I bought 17 new books this year, twelve of which were published in 2011. Here are my favorites that were published over the past year.

Pulphead: Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan is a Southern Chuck Klosterman. He writes about music, culture and American life from the perspective of someone who grew up going to church every Sunday and quoting the Bible. Mr. Sullivan writes about oddballs and eccentrics, the staples of every good Southern story. Mr. Klosterman writes about ordinary people who find themselves in odd and weird situations.

A Killing in Iowa: A Daughter’s Story of Love and Murder by Rachel Corbett. Ms. Corbett takes artistic license with the title of this Kindle single. She was not related to the murderer in the story. He was her mother’s boyfriend for a short period of time. I believe her though when she says his death had an impact on her. Particularly when she found out he killed another woman before he took his own life within 12 hours of sleeping on her mother’s couch. She also does a good job of putting his life and death in context. What is it about Southeastern Iowa that gets to people?

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. This is a woman’s story. Both the protagonist and antagonist are women. It is also a Midwesterner’s story. The protagonist grew up in Minnesota, the daughter of an East Indian father and Minnesotan mother. She had one foot in both cultures, but felt most at home in the place where she did not look like she belonged. “Being the child of a white mother and foreign graduate-student father who took his doctoral degree back to his country of origin after he was finished had become the stuff of presidential history, but when Marina was growing up there was no example that could easily explain her situation.”

Before I Go To Sleep: A Novel by S. J. Watson. What would your life be like if you woke up each day with no memory of what happened the day before? This is an engrossing detective story. You may figure out whodunit long before the book ends but you will want to read on to find out whether our heroine safely navigates her way to freedom.

Bossypants by Tina Fey. Tina (I don’t think of her as Ms. Fey) is writing from the perspective of every woman who has been in a position of authority and been less than comfortable wielding her power. I hear you girl! She is witty, self-effacing, and endearing. She tells a good story and makes us like her even more.

The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain. This is the story of how Ernest Hemmingway met and married his first wife, Hadley Richardson. She is eight years older than he when they meet and then marry. He is ambitious and devoted to his craft. She is his best reader and critic. They did not live well but did live fully. If you touch brilliance once, are you tainted forever or can you move on and accept an ordinary but constant life? This book was not published in 2011 but I got so much out of it I have to share it.

Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do by Michael J. Sandel. I bought this book because Tom Friedman recommended it. I was intrigued by his description of the political philosopher who speaks to standing-room-only crowds in China. Mr. Sandel is a professor at Harvard Law School. His goal is to give students a framework for answering some of the tough questions confronting every citizen. He doesn’t provide answers, just questions and a roadmap for developing your own answers. Is the role of government to produce the greatest happiness for its citizens, ensure free markets, or promote virtue? Professor Sandel explains the political philosophy and historical context for each answer. His own view — promote virtue — may be surprising, but perhaps is one that we should (re)consider.

Note: This post also appears on Indie Moines’ New York-based sister site, Indie Albany.

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My New Year’s Resolution

December 31, 2011 Leave a comment

One of the best things about Des Moines is its many fine restaurants. Almost every day, I have a conversation with someone about what new restaurant I have visited or want to visit and the meals that I have had at other restaurants.

For whatever reason, Des Moines is attracting chefs and restaurant managers who are interested in preparing high-quality and fresh food, employing friendly and responsive servers, charging reasonable prices and providing an interesting ambience. I have heard this is a relatively new phenomenon in Des Moines, but I hope one that will continue. Eric and I are certainly doing our part to keep these places in business.

I love the 40+ small plates offered at Dish.

There is no comparison between the restaurant scene in the Capital District of New York and what we are seeing in the capitol of Iowa, perhaps because the talented foodies and chefs here are not gravitating to a megalopolis to the south. For a little while, one of our favorite restaurants near our old house in Latham had been Vin Santo. It featured a small plates menu with an excellent wine selection. It failed to attract enough customers, who were apparently used to and expected large amounts of meat and potatoes to appear on their plate when they were paying good money at a nice restaurant. Vin Santo changed its menu in an several times, with each iteration getting more pedestrian in an attempt to please its customer base, but it ultimately was sold and converted into the suburban Epicurean Bistro, which is a good French-style restaurant that serves a wonderful hanger steak with Yukon Gold pomme frites with shallot wine gravy. Meat and potatoes, check.

Here, there are a number of small plate restaurants where we have had great meals, including Trostel’s Dish, Continental and Sbrocco. They are commercial successes and listed in the Top 100 restaurants in the area. If your definition of culture is the ability to maintain a vibrant restaurant scene with many different types of cuisine, then Des Moines has it.

Hence, my New Year’s resolution for 2012: I will not eat a meal at a national restaurant chain. This includes the obvious ones, like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Subway and Burger King. It also includes the sit-down restaurant chains like Ruby Tuesday’s, Carrabba’s and Bennigans. This does not include local chains which have multiple storefronts in the Des Moines area, like Tasty Tacos, which is on my list to visit.

My goal is to support local businesses and reward those adventurous enough to take a risk and build something new and different in the community that they live in. Local franchisers, like the Subway Shop owners and those opening up the new Dunkin Donuts in town, are taking risks, but are not offering anything new and different. Uniformity is the whole point of a franchise. Whether you go to a McDonald’s in New York, France or Iowa, you expect to be served the same food that tastes the same every time.

I will keep you posted on what difficulties I encounter in meeting this resolution. I am not expecting any. The point is not to deny myself something to improve some aspect of myself, but to motivate me to look for and support alternative food venues, even when I am in rural Iowa and the only non-chain restaurant in town is a local diner that has been around for decades catering to the tastes of its nearby residents. What new and interesting things will I encounter there?

Note: This post also appears on Indie Moines’ New York-based sister site, Indie Albany.

Filed under Food, Iowa, Travel Tagged with , , , , , ,

Iowa Lawyer

December 22, 2011 Leave a comment

I was sworn in here.

I was admitted as an attorney in Iowa on December 20. Before that date, I could not hold myself out as an attorney authorized to practice law in Iowa. After December 20, I can claim that distinction.

Iowa requires that every attorney admitted to practice law be sworn in by a Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, which is equivalent to the Court of Appeals in New York State. This means that 30 seconds after being admitted as an attorney in Iowa, I was shaking hands with a Justice from its highest court. Cool.

The three of us who were sworn in on December 20 had the honor and privilege of having Justice Brent R. Appel administer the oath. He took the time to explain why he thought the tradition of having Supreme Court Justices administer the oath had merit, and why it should continue. He stressed the importance of civility, public service and professionalism. Eric and Katelin bore witness to the ceremony and were duly impressed by his humility and sense of honor.

Below is the oath I swore to uphold.

I swear or affirm:

As an officer of the Court serving in the administration of justice, I will:

  • Support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Iowa
  • Perform to the utmost of my abilities and education
  • Maintain the respect due to the Courts and my colleagues
  • Faithfully and ethically discharge the duties required of Iowa lawyers

As a zealous advocate and counselor for my clients, I will:

  • Strive to be worthy of trust and respect
  • Counsel clients to maintain only those disputes supported by law and the legal process
  • Use only those means that are consistent with justice
  • Maintain the confidences of my clients as required by law
  • Support the cause of the defenseless or oppressed, pro bono publico

As a member of the legal community, I will:

  • Strive to represent the legal profession as one of justice, honor, civility and service.

I hope I can live up to these high words.

[NOTE: This post also appears on Indie Moines' sister site, Indie Albany.]

Filed under Government, Iowa, Law, Work Tagged with , , , , ,

How to Buy and Sell a House

December 5, 2011 2 Comments

Ryan has kept us up-to-date on his adventures building a house. Eric and I recently experienced another side of the equation: we sold our house in New York and bought a new house in Iowa.

We have some prior experience with this process. We have bought four houses and sold three during our twenty-four year relationship. We bought our first house in Northern Virginia in 1989, just before we got married. The interest rate was 10.5%.  According to the flyer that we received from the selling agent, who was also our agent, we paid more than anyone else in the neighborhood had previously paid for a house there, ever. Yeah us!

When Eric got transferred to Idaho in 1991, we tried to sell it but the housing market had fallen and we were under water. We eventually sold it at a loss, after renting it for less than we were paying on the mortgage for about five years.

We did a little better on our next house, but not much. We bought it in 1992 and sold it in 1993 for the same price. Luckily, Eric’s employer paid the realtor fees so we didn’t lose too much money.

Having learned our lesson — you need to be in a house for awhile if you want your investment to pay off — it took us some time to get back into the market in New York. We moved there in 1993, but did not buy a house until 1999.  Luckily, its value nearly doubled during the twelve years we owned it. When we refinanced in 2002, we also put more money down at a time when many homeowners were taking equity out of their properties. We would have paid for the house completely in less than four more years had we stayed.

With that much equity in the property, we were able to put down a very sizable up-front payment on our Iowa house once we sold the New York one. So that’s how it’s supposed to work! Here are some other things I have (re-)learned about buying and selling an existing home:

  1. Work with an experienced realtor. They are professionals and they know what they are doing. The realtor will keep your expectations in check. They do most of the work and make everything easier. They know the market and what is out there.  They are also a buffer between you and the people who are touring your house and making snap judgments about your decorating choices and budget priorities. Being judged is bad for the soul. Also, if you are buying a house, make sure you have your own agent, someone who represents your interests and not those of the seller.  Eric and I strongly recommend the realtors we worked with: Mary Anne Hess at Coldwell Banker Prime Properties and Sue Mears at Mid-America Group Realtors.  You may get lucky using a for-sale-by-owner approach, but it puts an undue burden on you, the buyer, and the buyer’s agent if you do so, since there’s no way you’re going to know all the ins and outs of the legal, contractual and civic requirements associated with major property transactions in your market. You get what you pay for, especially in this situation.
  2. Buyers want the latest updates. A friend told me recently that she and her husband were updating their kitchen because they planned to sell it in a few years and move to Florida. This sounded crazy to me. Why spend all that money to put in features that you will not have a chance to enjoy? So it will sell faster, of course.
  3. You should fix the stuff you know is a problem before you put your house on the market. Every house has issues. You know better than anyone what the issues are with your house. Don’t wait for the home inspector to tell you what you already know. Just fix it.
  4. Don’t waste too much time looking at houses that have been on the market for months, unless you want to buy a fixer-upper. Houses that have been on the market aren’t selling because there are too many things wrong with them.  At least in the markets we have been looking at, a house that has been on the market more than 90 days isn’t selling for a reason.  We stopped looking at them to save time.
  5. If you are not sure what you are doing, ask for help.  We should have asked our parents and older colleagues for advice when we bought our first house. I am not sure why we didn’t, probably because we thought we were smart enough to figure it out on our own.
  6. A house is an investment, until you live in it awhile, and then it becomes a home.  Don’t fall in love with a house until you own it. Don’t pay more than market price for a home because you think it is your dream home. If a house is priced right, it should sell for about 95% of the asking price, so you need to start there or below there if you don’t want to pay too much. While it is true that your monthly payment won’t go up by much if you overbid $5,000 for a home, you will notice that $5,000 when it comes time to sell the house.
  7. Don’t buy more house than you need.  Buying a house is a big investment. There are many other investments that you need to make in your life. You need to save for your kids’ college and save for your retirement. You also need to enjoy life along the way, because there are no promises that you will ever make it to retirement. If you buy more house than you need, you are putting too many eggs in one basket and short-changing those other investments (unless you are among The One Percenters).
  8. It’s the interest rates, stupid!  We thought we did well when we refinanced our house in New York at 4.6%.  The rate on our house in Iowa is 3.2%. That is a lot of Cheetos (which is what Eric and I call things we impulse buy).  If you are sitting on the sidelines wondering whether it is a good time to get into the market, you should act now and buy that house.  Interest rates are already starting to go up.

I don’t plan on selling another home soon, and hopefully never will again. I hope Katelin likes this house because we are seriously thinking about handing her the keys, if and when we decide to move on.

Here it is: our new house (and home) in Des Moines . . .

Filed under Albany, Family, Iowa Tagged with , , , , , ,

Haiku From The Road

October 9, 2011 Leave a comment

Katelin and I drove to Des Moines last Thursday and Friday. It is about about a 20-hour drive from Albany. Luckily, Katelin was able to make the trip with me. She is a great traveling companion, talkative and easily entertained. We amused ourselves during the 10-hour drive from Elyria, Ohio to Des Moines by writing haiku. Here are some of the better ones:

We are on the road.
No Kesey or Cassady.
Sh*t! No LSD!

Hundreds, Velvets, Stones:
Head banging at ten o’clock.
The playlist rocks on.

The trees are turning,
The sun is still high and bright:
Time to move along.

Speed up. Slow down. Drive.
Stop for food and bathroom breaks.
Ten hours should fly by.

I-80 goes on.
Along it, Monsanto rides.
Farmers, hide your seed.

Orange cones, yellow lines.
Green and blue signs. Trees on fire.
Colors of the road.

Starting to hate orange:
The sign of slowing traffic,
Rarely seen in poems.

Marquez, Plato, Keats:
We speak only of great works.
(And Millionaires Matched).

Still on the highway
Can’t write a clever haiku . . .
[Insert crude joke here]

We’re in Iowa:
“Fields of opportunities.”
They built it. We came.

Reading the billboards:
“Lion’s Den Adult Superstore.”
We think we will pass.

The bridges are here,
Madison County is near.
Where is Clint Eastwood?

We are in Des Moines:
Achy, tired, but happy,
Building a new life!

Filed under Family, Iowa, Poetry, Travel Tagged with , , , , ,

Career Advice for Twenty-Somethings (Part Six): “So, How is the Law?”

September 20, 2011 1 Comment

“Oh, sweetheart, you don’t need law school. Law school is for people who are boring and ugly and serious. And you, button, are none of those things.”  Legally Blonde (2001)

Our lovely daughter Katelin is studying cultural anthropology and business at SUNY Geneseo. Her friends are all nice, interesting people, and we have enjoyed spending time with them. It’s fun to see things from their perspective. During a recent visit, one of her friends surprised me with the title question: “So, how is the law?” I wasn’t sure how to respond. The law has been good to me. I am less sure it is a good career for twenty-somethings. I am not encouraging Katelin to go to Law School and did not want to encourage her friends to attend either. Here are some sobering statistics:

  • In 2009, the median salary for new Law School graduates was $72,000. In 2010, it was $63,000.  The national mean salary for attorneys was $93,454 in 2009, and $84,111 in 2010.
  • The average debt for Law School graduates is $75,500. That’s a lot of Cheetos.
  • The number of applicants to Law Schools was 83,400 in 2008 and 87,900 in 2010.

If you are considering Law School after graduation, please keep the following points in mind:

  • Law School can prepare you to do many things. You don’t necessarily need to practice law after you graduate.  We live in a society governed by the rule of law. Knowing what the rules are, or more importantly knowing how to figure out what the rules are, is a valuable skill in many areas.
  • If you go to Law School, you will want to spend at least some part of your career in the private practice of law. Three-fourths of Law School graduates are in private practice. It is where the jobs are and where the money is. Fortunately, it is also the best way to learn what it means to be a lawyer who zealously represents her clients. If you spend your entire career in government service or with a corporation as your client, you will miss out on this important perspective.
  • Avoid taking on too much debt. Apply to a number of Law Schools and pick the one that is the best deal. If you spend $40,000 per year to make $60,000, it will take longer for the investment to pay off.  If your third choice school is offering you a scholarship, it may pay off financially to accept it.  Student loans are easy money, until it is time to pay them back. You want to minimize your debt burden to give yourself flexibility after you graduate.
  • Don’t mess around once you start Law School. You need to graduate near the top of your class to get a great job in such a competitive market. I am 15 years out of Law School but still have my GPA and Law School ranking on my resume. You will carry those statistics around with you for the rest of your career.
  • Go to Law School near where you want to live. I went to Albany Law School. It is the best place to go if you want to practice law in Albany. There are some Law Schools that have a national reputation. You can go anywhere with a Harvard or Yale Law School degree.  A regional Law School is perfectly fine, though, if you know were you want to live.

Prior Articles in This Series, Here.

Filed under Law, School, Work

Pursuing Your Bliss

August 11, 2011 7 Comments

Pursuing our bliss, in formal wear.

We are moving to Des Moines this fall.  It is an exciting time for us. We will miss our friends here in Albany, but look forward to experiencing new adventures and meeting new friends.

In many ways, this move is easier for me. When people ask me why I am moving, I have a quick and easy answer: I have a great new job that is closer to my family in Minneapolis.

Eric has the more difficult task. He has to explain why he is going to leave a good job that he loves to move halfway across the country without knowing what he is going to do when he gets there.

Those of us who know him well know that he will find something fabulous and meaningful to do in Des Moines. No problem. Done deal. Those who don’t know him as well, however, may wonder why he would take such a chance.

Because he can. I don’t mean economically, which is the easy part. I mean psychologically.  It takes a strong sense of self to define who you are and what makes you happy, without any reference to the views of other people.  When you can do that, you don’t care whether anyone else approves of your life choices.

How lucky am I to have such a strong-willed and adventurous companion? Very.

Filed under Family, Iowa, Work Tagged with , , , , ,

Breaking 100 in Golf

July 14, 2011 6 Comments

Golf season is in full swing. Eric and I are playing most weekend days. I also play in a Tuesday night league. I am happy to report that I am regularly breaking 100. If I could chip and putt more consistently, I would be scoring in the low 90′s instead of the high 90′s.

Now I know why most experienced golfers spend so much time on the practice green. What used to look boring and mind-numbing is now an essential part of improving my score. If I have time before a round, you will find me on the practice green chipping and putting.

Did you know only 51.9% of golfers break 100? This statistic assumes that golfers accurately report their scores, and honestly count every errant shot.  I played with a couple of guys early in the season that I didn’t know. One of them took a mulligan off the tee on every other hole, which should, per USGA rules, count as two strokes per hole (the swing and the penalty) and not zero.  On the 18th tee, he announced that he needed to par the hole to break 100. I chose not to emasculate him.

You can’t get away with this type of scoring in the league. If you are not accurately counting your strokes, you can count on your opponent to do it for you. My league handicap is currently 15, which means my average score has been 51 for 9 holes. I expect it will drop a point or two in the next recalculation as I have scored under 50 the last two weeks.

I attribute my improved scores to one thing: keeping my head down. As in life, you need to stay focused on what you are doing and not look up to score well on the golf course.  Don’t worry about what others are doing.  Stay focused on the task at hand and you will succeed.

One of my fellow league golfers lost her husband this year. It happened on the golf course during our first round of the year. She returned to the league and the place where it happened after a few weeks. She is scoring better than ever. Her secret: her husband is there with her at every hole telling her to keep her head down. May he rest in eternal peace.

Filed under Sports

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