Why I like living in Southern California

Temperature at 12:45 PM today at the Westlake Village Driving Range: 78 degrees with a slight breeze out of the NW at 5-10 mph.

Sunny....blue skies....leaves are turning beautiful colors - the range was about half full for the Friday lunch crowd - probably 95% guys (I only saw one woman on the range, actually, so the percentage is probably even higher for the guys...)

A colleague sprung the question on me this morning: "Wanna hit the range at lunch?" (And to think I was looking out the window all morning, thinking "Man, what a beautiful day - wish I was out playing GOLF")

Now I haven't hit a ball in almost two weeks- I've been spending my weekends either at the golf show, getting READY for the golf shows, or working on the website and shopping cart redesign...last time I touched a club was 11/6 for the Driving4Life charity tournament at Riviera Country Club.

We split a large bucket, and while I was a little wild...I was hitting the ball cleanly, getting it airborne without any difficulty, but experiencing a bit more fade than I was happy with....

I adjusted my shoulders closed a bit, and also strengthened my grip a touch, and that seemed to help a bit...the BIGGEST help seemed to come from a tip that was relayed by Tom Watson at the Driving4Life event...I "flattened" my spine, and whenever I did that, I hit the ball LASER straight, without any indication of any fade whatsover...

Flattening my spine made me feel like I was sticking my tail feathers out, but if I de-rolled my spine angle and held it through the swing - I was getting probably 20-30 more yards per shot, and they were in a tighter dispersion pattern, too! (Thanks, Tom!)

We always finish our practice session with a "chip-off", and I went two for three to the green on the orange flag at about 75 yards, and won today's event. (No prize, just bragging rights for the day...)

I'm scheduled to play Sunset Hills on Sunday at 1PM, and tomorrow's the Orange County Celtic Festival so it's going to be a hectic weekend.