(Since I am preparing for my trip out to Palm Springs, I thought I would spend the entire week writing about golf and FUN in Southern California)
Part Two:
There are still a few more things to consider and to be prepared for if you truly want to enjoy your dessert golf in the summer. I have mentioned about it being Hot, and the need for Water, Sunscreen, Sunglasses and preparing for the Wind. Now let me tell you some of the things to be warned about…like those were not enough.
Golf Gloves: Folks, if you don’t wear them, then I suggest you take a golf glove with you on the trip to bathroom where you are staring at the heat lamp in the bathroom getting use to your sunglasses and drinking water…because without a golf gloves your hands are going to be like two pieces of raw meat before you get to the first tee. To take my suggestion one step further…I suggest you wear a glove on each hand. There is no rule in golf that said you can’t wear two gloves and if you don’t normally wear a glove because of some FEEL issue you have, then you are probably a little higher on the stupid meter than expected.
Why do you need to ware a glove??? Let’s review! Did I mention that in the desert it get HOT? If that is not explanation enough, let me take the reasoning a few steps further.
Do you know what metal does when it sits in the sun all day? Yes, it gets hot. Not only Hot but in the desert it gets REAL HOT!. You may not have noticed it, so take a look around the next time you go outside or go to play a round of golf. Pay particular attention to all of the things you touch that are metal.
Since I know several of you are still up there on the stupid meter, let me comfort you and walk through all of the things you are going to touch that are made out of metal. And to make this so you can remember them I will only mention the ones that are going to be outside in the heat.
The first thing you are going to deal with that is shockingly hot is the door handle of your car. Yep, there go the tips of your fingers making it real tough to dial 911 on your cellphone. The next thing after you have caught your breath from sitting on the hot seat (factor that up a few notches if the seats are leather or worst, vinyl) is the steering wheel. There goes the flesh on the insides of your fingers. By now you will have learned how to turn the A/C on and shift the car into drive with your elbow and steer with your thighs.
OK, you have survived the car and you are thinking ahead to what else you will have to deal with. Let’s see how well you did.
You just drove up to the course. If you are lucky they will have concrete for a parking lot. If it is asphalt… well forget picking anything up off the parking lot with a bare hand and I would not put your soft spike shoes on just yet unless you are planning on having them re-spiked after walking across the parking lot. If the parking lot is concrete…well remember what I talked about with the glare of the sun and getting sunburned in places you never sunburned before…the heat off the concrete will take care of all of that like when you put a steak on a grill.
OK, you made it to the course…now you can relax and not have to worry about burning your hands. NOT! While you have been in the pro shop looking over the Bobby Jones shirts you can never afford, your clubs have been sitting out in the staging area in the sun. OH, what’s that?…they are calling you to the tee. You run out to your cart and reach over with your right hand (if you are right handed) and grab that sand wedge to practice a few pitch shots. NO, that smell is not the halfway house cleaning off the grill …it is the palm of your hand being cooked after gripping that precious forged metal head of your sand wedge.
Now, you are literally getting burnt into your memory one of the hazards of playing golf in the desert in the summer. But wait!, there is more.
After crawling up to the tee back shaking your hand to get the water off after sticking it in the carts ice bucket for relief, you gingerly take out the big dog and grab that cord grip you had to have put on your clubs because you think they feel great. How do they feel now? Kind of feels like grabbing your wives curling iron she left on the bathroom sink. But, hey! Your tough, so you suck it up and make a large cut at the ball and that cord grip cuts so deep into the right index finger you start yelling a millisecond before the clubhead sends the ball off into the bunker just off to the right of the fairway about 150 yds away. No, it is not time to have a beer…remember, you are in the desert. Beer is a no-no. So, wrap your hand in a wet towel while you drinking a bottle of water on your drive out to the fairway bunker because there is where you are going to experience the main reason why I strongly suggest you wear a glove on both hands.
So there you, with a numb right hand. Now you are pretty much left-handed with the exception of when you reach down in the fairway bunker and grab the handle of the rake with that tender ungloved right hand. Yes, there have been reports of people actually seeing visions moments after the blood curdling scream of pain.
There is a reason why golf courses put the phone number of the pro-shop on the scorecard…that is so you can call and have someone bring you a glove for your right-hand (if not for both hands).
I think you are now getting my point on how to deal with all of the challenges you will face when playing golf in the desert and are close to understanding how Hot it is in the desert in the summer.
In Part Three; I will provide you how I get ready for Desert Golf.
Scot Duke, President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, provides over 31 years of corporate management experience to helping small businesses improve their marketing strategies. As author of: How To Play Business Golf, Mr. Duke outlines the steps to sucessfully using golf as a business tool. To learn more about Mr. Duke, IBGS or to purchase How To Play Business Golf visit http://www.innovativebusinessgolf.com
Business Golf: The Real Deal! 