Friday, November 18, 2011

Inexpensive Golf Gift Ideas

1.  BirdieBall


As many of you know I purchased these in the Spring on clearance and love them.  They are durable enough to just justify the price, but if you can find them cheaper then by all means by them.  They are a limited range practice ball that is just plain fun to hit.  I've even convinced some friends to want them now.  Minus the ones my friends lost I still have all my birdie balls and they all still work fine.  Even the one that got run over by a mower!

2.  Tiger Woods: PGA Tour 12


I wanted this game when it first came out, but it was crazy expensive.  It's cheap now and it's not even 2012 yet.  This game has gotten good reviews, and now it is under $30 which is cheap for new video games.  If I had some spare cash lying around I'd snatch this up.

3.  Golf for Dummies DVD
As you guys know I checked out this DVD from the library and I loved it.  Gary McCord is the star in it, and he is funny as he is informative.  In the extras there is a massive golf dictionary that really helps if you have no idea what someone is talking about on the course if you are just starting out. 

4.  Zero Friction Golf Tees
I have not had an opportunity to use these as of yet, but they look pretty neat, which is always good for a gift.  They were the official tee of Remax Long Drive, and are supposed to add 3 yards or something like that.  They would be more durable than the regular tee.  They aren't to expensive so you can't say no to at least giving someone some and having them give them a try.

5.  A Swing Lesson at The Local Golf Place
This is going to be the most expensive gift on the list.  Swing lessons range from $35 to over $100.  I cannot think of anyone that does not need some sort of swing lesson.  Especially after not golfing on a course all Winter.  I know I would love this gift.  Some golfers may be to proud to admit they need a swing lesson or want to go, but getting it as a gift should convince them to go anyway.  They will end up thanking you for it.


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

King's Walk Golf Course Review

A few months ago a friend and I played some evening golf at King's Walk Golf Course in Grand Forks North Dakota.  Now this was my first time playing a 4 star course so I had some high hopes.  First we got a pretty cheap rate.  First we got twilight rates then on top of it we got student discounts.  It came to around $20 a person.  It seemed pretty reasonable to me and also my friend.  We had to make a reservation which we expected considering it is considered the best course open to the public in town.  The clubhouse was nice but the guy doing reservations gave us a little bit of attitude like we were not welcomed there.  We got to the first tee and one thing I noticed was the course was in amazing shape.  Even better than other course I have been to so far.  We started golfing and I was playing horrible.  I couldn't hit a straight shot with a driver to save my life again!  I need to work on it once I can afford to golf again.  Anyway we were enjoying ourselves putting and such.

There were a lot of members on the course that day with golf carts going at a much faster rate than us.  We let them play though every time.  It usually ended up as us visiting with them anyway due to the fact the course was so busy.  This is where the enjoyment of the course ended though.  After letting two or so groups catch up to us and play through the groups behind us started getting ruder and ruder.  We would still let the faster players play through politely but would not get any thanks or anything like that.  We were in no hurry to finish the course like they were we just wanted to enjoy ourselves.  Again there was a huge clog up on the course so letting people play though did not get them any further in front of us, because we were always waiting behind them at the next hole waiting for the people in front of them to finish.  We got up to play the 8th hold after waiting for the group ahead of us to get out of driving range a visibly drunk guy came screaming up on his golf cart across multiple fairways.  He screamed at us saying "You fuckers are holding everyone up!"  We calmly explained to him and showed him we must wait there are people in front of us.  He then not so kindly expressed to us that we should get off the course anyway since we were not members nor good at golf.  Then drove off.  My friend and I did not enjoy this to much.  A few minutes later that guy and his friend on the cart went blowing buy us just to cut in front of us.  I'm sure he passed quite a few golfers and have no idea which hole he went on.  By this point my friend and I were convinced this was not the place for use.  We finished up the front 9 went into the clubhouse and ate some food.  The food was very good by the way and the price was just a little bit pricey in our opinions.  We were still upset about what had happened to us and decided this course was not for use at all.

We came to the conclusion that the higher priced the courses get the more assholes the course gets.  It seemed like mostly everyone was out having a good time on the cheaper courses and not much would upset them.  King's walk was not like that at all.  Yes there were nice people, but in the end it seemed like those people were few and far between.  I'm still upset when I think how I was treated to this day.  My friend and I both decided never again would we golf at King's Walk.

In conclusion the golf course was in amazing shape and the food in the clubhouse was very good, but I cannot recommend this course due to the attitude of many of the golfers (mostly members) on the course.  People like that can easily ruin a good day of golf, and when your paying more you expect to have more fun.  This is sad, because it is such a beautiful course.

Here are some pictures of the day.  By the way I decided to try out a Zazzle account and put some of the pictures on there in case some one actually wants to buy the pictures I took.  You can view the Zazzles site here.  I don't know how long I will stay with Zazzle though, because they are more frustrating than anything.
Anyway onto the pictures...
The Clubhouse

View of the fountain from the first hole

First Hole fairway

more of the first hole fairway

a nice bridge

Golfer teeing off

Some golfers gettin ready to tee off while we walk back to the clubhouse the course is so pretty I wish people there were nicer


Ducks and what they call a lake

the fountain on the "lake"

View from the clubhouse

Sunset over the clubhouse