need das bier? nein. das glen abbey!

October 7, 2006 under Glen Abbey, Golf, Kitchener, Oktoberfest, Waterloo

Today, the bunghole will be tapped. It’s not as dirty as it sounds 🙂

Today is the beginning of that time of year again when Kitchener-Waterloo hosts the largest Bavarian festival outside of Germany – it’s K/W Oktoberfest time! Looking out my office window at 2:30PM on Friday, I could already see people wearing lederhosen, and the festivities hadn’t even officially begun at that point. People are hardcore when it comes to beer, schnitzel and traditional German garb. Maybe it’s the beer and schnitzel that results in the wearing of lederhosen? I’m not exactly sure.

Dena and I celebrated the fall harvest by heading up to Oakville to hack up one of the nicest golf courses in the country and home to numerous Canadian Opens; Glen Abbey. We went with her boss and Pat. Dena won four free passes at a tournament back in the summer, so the round cost us nothing. Normally, a round at Glen Abbey will set you back over $200. The course is quite posh, but I’m not sure that I’d pay $200 to play it. It’s easy on the eyes, and you could sleep on the fairways. The greens weren’t much better than the ones on the courses that we’re accustomed to playing, but that might be due to the fact that it’s late in the season. Considering that Dena and I golfed a lot this summer, we had a tough round. It wasn’t pretty – I managed to par only one hole. Pat, on the other hand, hadn’t played all summer and shot a great round. Glen Abbey isn’t super difficult but many holes can be unforgiving, depending on your shot placement.

All in all, it was a good time. When we arrived back in Kitchener later this evening, the scent of grilled meat in the air was powerfuly noticable. Willkommen!

Dena at Glen Abbey's 11th Hole 

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my chick and her birds

July 2, 2006 under Golf, Sports

Here’s another weekly golf update. Yesterday morning at Beaverdale, Dena got not one, but two birdies. The first one was especially nice to watch as she knocked in her 100-yard aproach with her 7 iron on the second hole. She finished the round with an 84 and I shot an 81. For both of us, it was our best round of the year thus far.

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p-u-tting

June 24, 2006 under Golf, Sports

This morning, Dena and I played Grand Valley and we both had a pretty good round. She shot a 90 and parred 2 holes. I shot an 85 and parred 5 holes. However, my putting left a lot to be desired. A great example of this is fourth hole; a 280 yar par 4. It’s a slight dogleg left so while I was on the tee, I aimed as close to the bend as I could without going OB. With the help of what I could only guess was the cart path, I managed to put my drive on the green. I missed my eagle atempt, albeit the pin was on the opposite side of the green. I missed my birdie putt, too but thankfully saved par. As was the story for the round, on the greens in two (or 1 for the par 3s) and then atrocious putting took over. Maybe a trip to a few of the local mini-putts is in order 😉

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i got a hole-in-one…

June 11, 2006 under Golf, Sports

…in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 on the 8th hole at TPC Sawgrass 🙂

I’ve witnessed two hole-in-ones IRL; Pat‘s on the renovated 8th a few years ago at the Hollinger and a guy in the foursome behind us at Beaverdale last weekend.

This weekend, Dena and I played nine at Brookfield (we had a wedding to attend so we couldn’t play more). I managed to put my tee shot about 6 feet from the pin on the 7th hole on the blue course. The goal is to match my virtual self. If that’s not a weird sign o’ the times, I don’t know what is 😉

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hack up a pga tour stop

June 7, 2006 under Golf, Life, Sports

This Monday, Dena took part in a golf tournament at Rockway put on by the Waterloo Law Association. By some stroke (pun totally intended) of luck, she won the door prize. Said prize happens to be 4 green fees for a round at Glen Abbey in Oakville. Yes, she and 3 other lucky people can play on the course that was designed by Jack Nicklaus and is known as the most famous venue for the PGA‘s Canadian Open; Hamilton Golf and Country Club is hosting it this year, though. Who else will join her? Will she invite me, her ever-so wonderful and loving husband? 😉

BTW, happy Clean Air Day, folks!

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round 1 of 2006

May 27, 2006 under Golf, Life, Sports

This morning, Dena and I played our first round of golf this year at Beaverdale at 7AM. Due to some confusion between the proshop and schedulers, we were only able to play 9 holes since a tournament was also scheduled. The first round of the year is always tough. I didn’t do all that bad, manging to shoot a 43 and parring the par-5 sixth hole. Dena hit some good shots but didn’t keep her score on a few holes. We were both owned by ravenous mosquitos that dominated most of the course. We concluded our round with a visit to a Booster Juice near our place. Thus begins another season of golf 😉

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i'm getting old, or pat byck makes me sick

October 4, 2005 under Golf, Life, Sports

Lately, it seems that everytime I will be attending some event with Pat, my well-being suffers. Last autumn, when we attended the Pixies show in Mississauga, I came down with pneumonia a few days before the concert. This Friday, Dena and I will be joining Pat and Jen at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto to see the host of The Daily Show – and a pretty freakin’ funny man to boot – Jon Stewart. This time around, I have an aggrivated tendon connecting the right rhomboideus muscle group to my spine. Wonderful.

Within the past month or so, I’ve picked up a bad habit where half the time, I hit most of my irons (I’d say 3 through 7) fat. “Hitting fat” in non-golf terms, refers to the club coming in contact with the ground behind the behind the ball. This causes a big loss in the amount of distance that the ball will travel and it’s jarring as well. To correct this, I (along with Dena) went to Wedges ‘N Woods two Tuesday’s ago to work on revamping my swing. I modified it so that my feet are barely shoulder-width apart, put more weight towards my heels. After some practice with the new swing, I began to hit my irons further and consistant. In the next couple of days, I felt a bit stiff – much like I was using muscles that I haven’t all that often. It went away by Thursday. That Saturday morning, Dena and I played Beaverdale and I shot a 90, which wasn’t all that bad for the first time with a new swing (damn, my putting). I felt fine for the rest of the day and most of Sunday. But then on Monday…owie. A wicked pain in my right shoulder blade that fired whenever I lifted my arms, bent over and turned my head. At this point, I thought that new swing really gave my muscles a workout. But by the end of last week, the pain was still there and now it was accompanied by intermittent tingling in my right hand. Friday evening, I did a lot of heavy lifting while I was helping Dena’s office move all their furniture from one floor to another in their Kitchener office. We didn’t golf Saturday but instead went to Heritage Times in Chatham to watch Dena’s boss, who was one of the re-enactors in the War of 1812. I thought the break from golfing would help, but it didn’t. So now I’m trying to figure out if I have meningitis or just really dummied my back. After reluctance on my part, Dena made me a doctor’s appointment which is where I was infomred of the tug o’ war match being played with my rhomboideus muscles.

It’s a sobering reminder that everybody ages. At 28, I don’t feel old and I think I look younger than I am. But my back seems to be on to my lil’ ruse.

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golf for a good reason

August 22, 2005 under Golf, Life, Sports

Yesterday, Dena and I participated in a charity golf tournament at Grand Valley. A portion of the proceeds from the tournament go to the Kidney Foundation of Canada. The weather was perfect and our team came in sixth place, shooting even. We were -2 with five holes remaining but we fell apart. Either way, it was fun and for a good cause.

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up at the smack of dawn

July 30, 2005 under Golf, Sports

Dena, her boss (Ron) and I hit our drives off of the first tee at Beaverdale at 6:45AM this morning. The proshop added a solo golfer to our group to make us a foursome. He was an older gent who I guessed would be in his late sixties or early seventies, named Don, who hit a mean ball. By the time we were on the back-nine, he was known as Donny to us. All four of us played quite well. Don kept shaking his head in amazement when Dena hit a solid shot. She doesn’t really have a “girlie” swing so I guess that impressed him. I shot an 87, Ron hit an 88 and Dena shot a 100. We’re not sure what Don shot, as he kept his own score, but he sure plays near-scratch golf so likely pretty well. A little bit of information we learned was that one of Don’s sons was employed as a stunt double for Tom Arnold back in the day. Even if you aren’t a Tom Arnold fan, it’s still a pretty cool factoid.

I think Dena and I prefer golfing early in the morning; it’s not hot or busy and you have the entire day ahead of you when you’re done.

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18 and 1 back

July 8, 2005 under Golf, Life, Sports

I joined Dena’s office in their annual golf tournament yesterday at Beaverdale. For a while during the first couple of holes, the clouds and thunder looked like signs of ensuing rain. Thankfully, the rain never came. Dena really wasn’t supposed to be golfing, since our physician warned against golfing until the end of July, but felt good enough to try. She played well and even birdied the second hole! I birdied six and thirteeen, and was within a centimetre of birdie-ing nine. She ended up with a 90 and I shot an 84. The real suprise will come tomorrow morning to see if she’s walking upright or not 😉

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