First Outside Range Practice

While driving to the driving range this morning I noticed that my dashboard indicated it was 7 degrees outside. I made sure to layer my clothing prior to leaving the house. I met Nick in the parking lot and he asked if I would prefer to have our lesson in the dome or outside. The sun was shining and where we would be hitting balls from was somewhat out of the wind. I opted for outside and it turned out to be the right decision.

While I have hit many balls indoors during the course of this winter, no simulator or dome provides the visual feedback of being able to watch the trajectory of your ball as it leaves the club face.

I had mentioned to Nick that my driver was definitely not my best friend and as such we worked on improving that aspect of my game. I explained to Nick that my last practice session produced drives with a low trajectory and unwanted hooks and slices. Nick explained that my driver swing will be different than my iron swing....and that this is very common on the PGA Tour. Nick suggested that perhaps my hip slide was happening to quickly resulting in the bottom of the swing arc being pushed forward. He suggested that I try dumping my angles early on the way down which immediately produced a higher ball flight.

I was pleased with the results of this morning's lesson and could of played almost every shot if they had been made on the course. Eliminating far right and left drives will be the biggest boost to my game this year. If I am not always having to scramble out of woods and other assorted nastiness I will shoot lower scores.

We did spend some time on the practice green and he taught me how to properly read greens. He suggested a method that I had never heard of or read about and it has me wanting to spend some time on the green to work with these ideas.

While I think that it is to early to suggest that my driver is now my friend, it certainly is now an acquaintance.

Golf Dome Practice

Well it seems that the weatherman was off with respect to the temperature today. 3 degrees C. was to chilly to practice in the backyard.

Clayton called and said that him and his son Aiden were planning to go the Dome to hit balls and asked if I would be interested in doing the same. Well......of course I was into that.

The dome was busy and obtaining two mats side by side on the bottom deck was next to impossible. We elected to go upstairs and as it turns out it has much better lighting for using the video camera.

I worked on trying to keep my right shoulder moving through the downswing...as Nick had pointed out that I was stalling with the shoulder turn while my wrists released early. This is robbing my shots of potential power as it appears on video that my club face is moving the quickest before it gets to the golf ball. While it seems easy enough to get right I am finding it difficult to correct.

Today was my first time using the Swinkey and I set the two rods on either side of the ball pointing right of my target. The visual slot that this created really assisted me with the driver. When I keep the club head moving on the same path after ball contact it tends to send the ball out on a straight path. Nick suggested moving the ball further ahead in my stance when hitting the driver and by doing both of these things, I felt like I was hitting the ball hard.

I have to keep practicing hard because Aiden is definitely an up and comer.

Golfing Outside

I have been taking golf lessons since the end of November 2010 on a weekly basis. While I missed February due to the India trip, it was good to get back to swinging the clubs. My intent is to blog about golf this year. I think it will be a good way to keep track of my practice, my rounds, and serve as a reminder of what I need to focus my practice efforts on.

During my golf lesson this week my coach Nick Starchuk told me that he spent a couple of hours hitting balls outside at Oakville Family Golf on Thursday and suggested that if the weather is good next week that perhaps we can move outside.

While hitting balls in the golf domes and simulators is certainly great for practicing, they really do not compare to hitting balls at an outdoor range. There is something to be said for having the sun shining on your face while you watch your ball flight.

I am optimistic that this is going to be a very good golf season. I am feeling comfortable with the new swing that Nick and I having been working on. While it is far from perfect, and I have to keep working on my downswing shoulder turn, I know that I will be more consistent and will be hitting shorter irons into the greens.

The forecast for tomorrow is sunny and 7 degrees so I plan on moving my mat and net from the garage to the backyard. While outside I can take advantage of using the Casio camera's slow motion mode....and work hard to keep the shoulders moving and eliminate the early wrist chop.

India...Love it or Hate it

I decided to wait a week before writing this post.

Well after a marathon 40 hours in planes and airports we finally made it home. Travis and Derek weren't home when we arrived. The dogs were doing back flips they were so happy to see us.

The house was in relatively good shape...no damage other than a broken coffee pot that "broke by itself."

I thought I would provide some final thoughts and observations regarding India and our trip.

- We are fortunate to live where we do
- The cities suck and the villages rock
- Driving in city traffic is an experience that I will not soon forget
- We can live and be very content with much less than we currently possess
- The food was delicious
- Indians have an odd way of moving there head when you are conversing with them...it is side to side movement instead of up and down (yes) or shake (no) movement
- The south of India is cleaner than the north
- You are stared at constantly
- The country lacks golf courses
- Bartering is a way of life
- The people for the most part are very friendly and while I always felt somewhat on guard I never felt threatened
- If you are a vegetarian....go to India...you will feel at home
- Air travel is much less expensive

We really enjoyed this vacation, however, I can't see us visiting India again when there are so many other countries that we haven't been to.

Thanks for all of your emails, comments, and messages they pushed me to write on the days when I didn't feel like writing. Thanks to my business partners, Mike and Rob. I appreciate the extra work that you did that allowed me to travel! Finally, thanks to Sue who agreed to travel to the other side of the world and live out of a backpack for a month....you are a trooper.


पढ़ने के लिए धन्यवाद. शांति और सभी के लिए समृद्धि
Paṛhanē kē li'ē dhan'yavāda. Śānti aura sabhī kē li'ē samr̥d'dhi

Homeward Bound

Yesterday we spent the day swimming and sitting on the beach speaking with other tourists. There were others that we didn't speak with because the situation didn't present itself. I am disappointed that I didn't speak with the "nice lady." Do you ever repeatedly see the same person while you are on holidays and give that person a pet name to describe them to your traveling partner? We do that quite a bit. The "nice lady" we saw three days in a row, however, she was never quite close enough to engage in conversation. She appeared to be by herself, I never saw her speak with anyone, and she was always smiling. At around 4:00 pm every afternoon the "tea lady" would come down to the beach with her stainless steel container of chai tea. I would always buy a cup each for Sue and I and we noticed the "nice lady" would happily buy a cup. After finishing her tea she would fill the empty paper cup with what was left in her water bottle and search out the beach dogs to give them a drink. Sue figures that the "nice lady" has all of her chakras in perfect harmony.....whatever that means. I think that she is just downright happy to be sitting on a beautiful beach enjoyed perfect weather and not freezing her ass off going to work.

We are currently sitting in the Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi at a coffee shop in the arrivals section. They won't let us into departures as it is more than 5 hours until our scheduled departure.

This morning we had a cab drive us to Trivandrum to catch our flights to Mumbai and then onto Delhi. I don't think that I have mentioned the level of security in previous posts. The security at the airports here makes the security in North America look like the cub scouts are in charge. Every passenger is subjected to an entrance way scanner as well as being scanned with a hand unit and then frisked.

We just debated taking a picture of the truck at the end of the departure road that was fully outfitted with a wide selection of fire power...I ended up snapping one from far away through a pane of glass so as not to annoy them.

We have just over 6 hours until our plane leaves. Unfortunately, we have head wind going home so our return non stop flight turns into a 15.5 hour extravaganza.

This will be my last post from India. I do plan to make one more post after I get home to kind of wrap up this trip and write some final thoughts and observations.

I should have bought some sleeping pills from the Chemist.....

Catch a Wave During the Dog Days of India

Breakfast at La Exotica Home Stay was similar to the breakfasts that have been served at all of the home stays. An egg fried into a round flat omelette, along with toast and milk coffee. We have decided that tomorrow we will try one of the places at the top of the cliff.

The waves today were large and I spent a good amount of time swimming and body surfing. I am sure that I ingested my yearly quota of sodium in just one day. The pack of wild dogs on the beach kept us entertained. Watching how they interacted, and how people reacted to them was very interesting. Two of them decided to hunker down beneath our beach chairs for an afternoon snooze in some shade. (I'm sounding like Caesar Millan)

Today we met 13 people that we have met during our travels in other cities. It was good to catch up with them and trade stories of what has happened since we last saw each other. Some like us are coming to the end of their adventure while others still have months left to explore other parts of India. It is amazing how many people are dedicating 6 months to travel....and these people are not retired. That being said if you don't spend a lot of time in the big cities like Delhi or Mumbai you can live here much much cheaper than you can at home.

I have included below a short video from the cliff that I took while searching for a good cup of coffee. I have actually drank more tea here than coffee as it tends to taste much better than the coffee.

Two more sleeps then a whole whack of airport and plane time.

Hanging at the Cliff

After breakfast we packed our gear to leave for Varkala Beach. The fairy to the boat jetty was not scheduled to depart for more than an hour so we hired a canoe to take us across the channel. The thought of all our gear spilling into the water if we tipped concerned me but as it turns out we made it across without incident.



The taxi driver brought us south to this beach area. We have checked into a home stay that was recommended to us and we are now setup in a ground floor room with a view of the Arabian Sea.

As the posts were piling up we made our way to the first WiFi spot we found. We settled into a travel agency that sold internet time. We met a woman who we had breakfast with back in Fort Kochi. She informed us that we were in her travel agency and we spoke for some time about doing business in India.

Varkala Beach is at the bottom of a cliff and there are steep steps leading down to the beach every three hundred yards. On top of the cliff is what I have named the "gauntlet" where vendors try to coax you into their shops or restaurants. Before heading down to the beach we stopped in at the Kerala Coffee Shop and enjoyed a banana shake.

After going for a swim we walked back to our room to seek out shade. The sun is punishingly hot and we found it difficult to sit on the beach. While I haven't checked a map, we must be getting close to the equator.

As sunset approached we made our way back to the cliff to watch the sun drop into the sea. After the sun goes down the restaurants place the fresh seafood that they are offering for dinner. They lay the fish on tables in front of their restaurants and pack them with ice. They have an abundance to choose from and Sue opted for red snapper cooked in a banana leaf which she raved about while I settled on chicken tika.

We have decided that this will be our last stop in our north to south trip along India's west coast. We are about 40 km from the nearest airport and I have booked a flight back to Delhi for early Thursday morning.

It is 8:25 am and our hosts advised us that they will serve breakfast at 8:30 am so I should get ready. We continue to hope everyone is doing well at home and that Barry and Kim drive safely on their motorcycle trip down in the southern States.