Ultimate springtime golf fitness tips for "real" golfers

By Tim McDonald,
National Golf Editor

For those of you unfortunate enough to live in the North, you must be salivating at the thought of the spring golf season.

Hold on, Tiger. You ain't the man you used to be. You can't just jump up and go straight to the golf course after a long winter of sloth and mold.

Now, you will find any number of charlatans willing to sell you their total golf fitness regimens. These sleazoids always assume you're a golfer interested in a cleaner, healthier way of living and golfing. I've seen you out on the course, and I know that's not the sort of thing you're "into."

So here is my total golf fitness regimen for the "real" golfer:

• For God's sake, you have to strengthen your core! This involves eating really hard food, like jawbreakers. Eat a bag of those and have your neighbor punch you in the gut to see if your core is all it can be.

Options: Month-old fudge, Purina Dog Chow, pine bark.

• You also have to really work your obliques, I mean really work the hell out of them. Here's the perfect exercise for that. Lie flat on your back with knees bent slightly wider than your hips. If you have really fat hips, you're either going to have to really stretch your knees like in a cartoon, like The Elastic Man from India, or just skip this exercise. In fact, if you have really fat hips, just skip playing golf, nobody wants to see you out on the course.

Now, you slim-hipped people reach your hands to the ceiling like you're crying out for the Lord Jesus Christ to spare you from your miserable existence. You can hold light hand-weights, or not. What do I care? Lift your head and chest toward the ceiling and rotate to reach both hands just outside of your fat, right knee. Repeat on the left side. Now, take a breather. Ask Christ for forgiveness.

• Breathing exercises: Breathing properly and deeply is critical, especially for those tense moments on the course when normally you would start crying.
This deep-breathing exercise involves attending your local adult movie house, or calling up one of those sites on your Internet browser. Follow your instincts. It's either that or follow mine, and then you're looking at jail time.
• Horizontal abduction/adduction: I can't give you much help here, because I always get "horizontal" confused with "vertical," and I have no idea what adduction is. Who came up with that word, anyway? It's a stupid word and should be eliminated from the English language, if it's even English.

• Standing hip rotation: Don't do this. It makes you look like a girl.

• Alcohol fitness: How many times have you lost $2 Nassaus because while you were getting hamboned, your playing partners were just holding up that bottle of Jack Black pretending to drink?

Well, no need to waste good liquor. You can still drink and maintain your competitive edge. You just need to build up a tolerance. Stand upright in a dark closet, with a wide stance, and suck it down. Keep drinking until your wife leaves you.

• Aerobics: Ha! Don't make me laugh. This is golf!

• Putting: Don't bother to practice putting. Putting in golf is overrated. I play golf maybe 200 times a year and I've yet to meet anyone who can putt. You either make it or you don't. If you miss, just keep putting until the ball goes in the hole. Simple.

• Seniors: As we age, our bodies react differently, so seniors must prepare for golf differently than young punks. An important thing to remember is that there is an inverse relationship of increased ear hair to laughably short drives off the tee.

So keep those ear hairs trim and neat. If you're proud of your thick mane of ear hair, don't sweat it. If you're short off the tee, you're probably small in other areas, and I think you know what I'm talking about.

• Excuses: A healthy psychological outlook is a must for Better Golf. If you can convince yourself that the snap hook you hit into the weeds over there is not your doing at all, you'll retain the confidence needed to excel in the game.

The first time you smack one of your all-too-typical lousy shots, turn to your playing partner and snarl," "Will you stop that!" Look at him, looking all hurt and everything. Who would have thought golf fitness could be so much fun?

• Torque development in the downswing: This is so important, I can barely contain myself. This is vital to any golfer who has ever wanted to improve his score. You could even say it is absolutely critical in terms of reaching your full potential as a golfer and knowing what it is to be truly human.

• Alignment and posture: Face the target squarely and stand erect, with your rump jutting out slightly. Feels a little silly, doesn't it? Can you think of another situation in life where you would position yourself in such an odd manner? I can't.

Immelman’s Steely Nerves Win Masters

Trevor Immelman's swing has been compared to Ben Hogan by one of golf's great players, Gary Player, a three-time Masters Champion.

There is another quality Immelman shares with Hogan that until Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club probably had not received enough attention.

Hogan, also a Masters Champion, was recognized as golf's Wee Ice Mon for his steely nerves. Immelman demonstrated over 72 holes at Augusta National that he has the same kind of determination and cool demeanor.

Immelman shot a final-round 75 Sunday for a 280 total, eight-under-par, and a three-shot victory over four-time Champion Tiger Woods. It is the highest final round score by a winner since Arnold Palmer shot 75 in 1962.

Immelman made it look easy at times, but everybody knows winning the Masters certainly is anything but. He showed resolve and perseverance at every turn. When he needed to hit a key shot or make a clutch putt to ward off challengers, he did. It was quite a display of golf.

Immelman underwent surgery last December 18 to remove a non-cancerous tumor lodged beneath his ribs. He didn't touch a golf club for six weeks and then only was allowed to hit a few pitches and chips.

Now, less than four months later, he is at the pinnacle.

"I made a pretty fast recovery, got back out on tour eager to play, but my game wasn't quite there," he said. "I wasn't happy with the way I was playing. I felt I had to start from zero again. Here I am after missing the cut last week Masters Champion. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard of."

Immelman knew the conditions would be difficult, with a blowing, swirling wind.

"It was a tough day out there," Immelman said. "I knew it was going to be tough out there for us and I knew I had to stick to my game plan, play one shot at a time, and just be tough. I'm proud of myself for doing that.

"This has been the ultimate roller coaster ride and I hate roller coasters."

Two American challengers with six Masters titles between them - Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson - were poised to challenge Immelman but came up short.

They shot even-par 72 in the final round. Woods was runner-up by three shots; Mickelson finished at 286, six strokes behind the winner.

"I just didn't quite have it this week," Woods said. "I didn't make the putts I needed to make this entire week."

Mickelson, winner in 2004 and 2006, posted three rounds at par or better, including a second-round 68. His inability to play the par 3s with efficiency was costly. He made double-bogey and bogey the final two rounds at the 16th hole. He also had two bogeys each at the par-3 sixth and 12th holes.

"I hit two good shots today and made bogeys on four and 16, putting them in a tough spot and three-putting," Mickelson said. "Another three feet and the ball could have rolled down and I could have had a good opportunity (for birdie) both times. Some of it might have been play but some of it might have just been unfortunate."

Mickelson's most unfortunate break came at the par-5 eighth hole during Saturday's third round. His third shot hit the flagstick and caromed away. Instead of a short birdie putt, he three-putted. His charge had ended and try as he might, there was little he could do in the final round.

"I was hoping to make more of a run than I did," Mickelson said. "But it was a tough day and I felt like I had to fight pretty hard to keep it around par. But I certainly had some chances that could have brought it lower. It just doesn't look like it would have been enough anyway.

"I thought I struck the ball pretty well this week and it's encouraging that playing the majors I'm striking the ball better than probably I ever have. My chipping came around this week. It hasn't been where I wanted it."

Vartan Kupelian is the golf writer at The Detroit News.

Byman Inducted into Colorado's Golf Hall Of Fame

The newly appointed director of golf at The Legacy Golf Club in Henderson, Nev., a suburb of Las Vegas, was inducted into Colorado's Golf Hall of Fame on February 21, 2008. Bob Byman, who dominated Colorado golf in the early 1970s in similar fashion to Hale Irwin in the 1960s, will join his Boulder compatriot in the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

Byman had a brief but phenomenal run as a player while living in Boulder. He won three straight state stroke-play amateur titles (1971, '72 and '73) while a mere 16, 17 and 18 years old. Byman captured the state high school title in 1973, leading Fairview High School to the team championship as well. Byman later became a standout at Wake Forest, where he played on the 1974 and '75 NCAA championship teams with Curtis Strange and Jay Haas.

"It's an honor for us here at OB Sports to have someone like Bob on our staff," said Tom Vold, Director of Golf for The Legacy Golf Club. "The induction into Colorado's Golf Hall of Fame is a very prestigious accomplishment and we are quickly realizing that Bob is a perfect addition to our already highly accredited staff."

As a professional golfer, Byman won a PGA Tour event in 1979 (Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Classic) and five national opens overseas. Byman's career as a player slowed after 1982. However, he kept his passion for the game and has been a successful instructor for the past 20 years, most recently at The Legacy Golf Club outside of Las Vegas, where he's lived since 1999.

"The 1970s were incredible years for me; I played some of the best golf of my life," Byman said. "I don't know if the game can ever get any simpler than it was then. I always tried to get back to that simplicity I had as a kid. "It's a great accomplishment for me to be recognized in the same group of honorees as Hale Irwin and other fine professionals who contributed to the growth and status of Colorado golf."

New restaurant for Aspen golf course

ASPEN — Ownership of the restaurant at the Aspen Golf Club is changing hands, with longtime local restaurateur Shlomo Ben-Hamoo walking away from his lease a year early.

Beginning this spring, Shlomo’s on the Green will become Red Mountain Grille, which will be owned and operated by Jamie Ramey and Rich Burbidge, the current managers of the restaurant.

Steve Aitken, director of golf, will propose a 5-year lease for the Red Mountain Grille at half of the cost of Shlomo’s rent, which was $20,000 a year.

If approved by the Aspen City Council on March 24, Red Mountain Grille will pay $10,000 a year.

The reduced rent will enable the new operators to extend the hours of operation, which has been a bone of contention with golfers in recent years who have complained that Shlomo’s on the Green wasn’t open often enough.

The city’s lease with Shlomo wasn’t structured in a way that required the restaurant to be open during crucial times for golfers at the municipal course. That will change with the new lease.

“We want it tailored to golf,” Aitken said, adding the reduced rent is a subsidy of sorts. “[The restaurant] is not a real money maker for the operation; we look at it as an amenity.”

Golf course restaurants around Colorado also struggle with making a profit and face the same issues of high operational expenses while trying to meet the needs of golfers, Aitken said.

With any city-owned building, a Request For Proposals process is done in an attempt to find competing businesses that are interested in the lease. But in years past, Aitken said there’s been hardly any interest from restaurateurs to open up shop at the golf course, especially operating it year-round.

“It’s hard to find qualified applicants,” Aitken said. “No one would do it in the winter time, they wouldn’t touch it.”

The City Council will be asked to sign off on Red Mountain Grille without going out for bid on the lease. Aitken argues that because Ramey and Burbidge already comanaging the restaurant and have for two years, they are the best candidates to take over the operation.

“A successful restaurant operator needs to be there, on site, and these guys are,” Aitken said. “That’s how you fill the niche and needs of the customers.”

In the past year or so, Shlomo’s focus has turned to other interests and the restaurant appears to have become a low priority for him. Ramey and Burbidge are young, aggressive and ready to make a go of their new business.

“You’ve got two guys who really care about it,” Aitken said. “They are exactly what we need. They definitely want to step it up and make people happy.

“The passion of the operator to do that wasn’t there.”

Ramey has been overseeing the restaurant operations all winter, which has been open Wednesday through Sunday, primarily to serve nordic skiers on the golf course. Winter hours end this weekend.

Ramey and Burbidge will use the weeks before the golf course opens as a transition period to establish their corporation and tweak the restaurant operation.

During the golf season, Red Mountain Grille will open at 7 a.m. instead of 10:30 a.m., and later into the evening. That means breakfast for early morning golfers and additional bar service. The previous lease only required the restaurant to be open until 6 p.m. Ramey said that will change this season.

The menu won’t change much and neither will the prices, which average in the $10 range, Ramey said.

“It will be affordable for locals and a good deal for tourists,” Ramey said.

Asked why he and his new business partner want to enter into a venture that’s difficult to turn a profit, Ramey replied, “I don’t think it’s everyone’s chosen profession. I’m a chef and you don’t always do it for the money.”

However, Ramey and Burbidge believe they can make the business successful.

Part of their business plan is to capture the local crowd who live at Truscott and around the golf course off of Cemetery Lane.

“It would seem to be a natural,” Aitken said. “They have a captive audience.”

Ramey and Burbidge have extensive culinary experience. They both have worked at the Aspen Skiing Co.’s restaurants, with Burbidge currently the executive chef at the Merry Go Round at Aspen Highlands.

Ramey has worked at Shlomo’s since 2004, working part-time during the summer months. He became a full-time employee in 2005 and started co-managing it with Burbidge shortly after.

In 2006, discussions about taking over the business began. Last year it was decided that Shlomo would step aside.

“I would like to thank Shlomo because without him, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” Ramey said.

Cart service on the golf course is expected to improve as well, with proposed hours of operation to be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with additional service as needed.

It’s unknown when the course will open, considering there is three feet of snow on the links right now. Aitken expects to be open by mid-April, if the weather cooperates.

Season passes are on sale. A 20-punch pass is $475 if purchased by April 1. After that, it will jump to $525. Season passes are $1,000 until April 1, and after that the season passes will be $1,200.

Spring preview: UCCS golfers gear up for title run

With the spring portion of the golf season starting on March 10, the UCCS men’s golf team is preparing for the rest of the season and the NCAA Division II Northwest Regional Championship held in California from May 5-7.

Ending the fall portion of the golf season, UCCS was ranked 19th, and going into the upcoming tournaments, they have moved into 15th without even playing.

“The ranking creates excitement for them, but they know what really matters,” said UCCS coach Phil Trujillo, who was named the Division II Regional Coach of the Year last season. “They know they have to play their best every time and get us past regionals. This team has a lot of experienced players on it, and they realize how important this spring is.”

Last year, the team went into regionals as the top seed because they were the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions. They were The RMAC champs two seasons in a row, and they are hoping to accomplish the top spot again this spring and make it to the NCAA Division II Championship held in Texas from May 14-17.

“I’m looking forward to a good spring and a national championship run,” said Trujillo. “We have a very good spring schedule with tournaments in California and Phoenix. I expect them to stay focused on our goals and play their best at all times.”

If you look at the men’s golf roster for this season, you will notice that all of the golfers are originally from Colorado. Trujillo stated that he doesn’t necessarily look for golfers from Colorado only, but with the budget, he goes for the best he can find here first.

“I believe that they understand how to manage their games better from playing in all types of weather,” Trujillo commented. “When it’s 40 degrees without the wind chill, and I tell them we’re teeing it up today, they don’t waiver; they get their clubs and ask what time to be there.”

The team has played extremely well on difficult golf courses, and they are able to create a large separation between themselves and the rest of the pack. They do, however, have a disadvantage on easier courses where the separation gap is lessened because the entire field plays a better game. UCCS does practice on difficult courses which helps them with the experience of tough play.

“We recruit players that have tons of tournament experience, so they know how to play on difficult courses,” explained Trujillo. “Most of these kids at this level can hit it 300 yards plus, and when the course isn’t difficult it becomes a pitch and putt contest. It really changes our mindset when we encounter layouts that reward ‘hit it anywhere and get away with it’, but our experience will allow us to adapt and stay ahead of the competition this spring.”

According to Trujillo, the guys are close, they hang out, and many of them even room with each other. They have friendships beyond the course. The team was also involved with the “Big Brother Association of El Paso County” last year.

“It was very rewarding for them and something that will remain with them for the rest of their lives,” said Trujillo. “It wasn’t easy getting up at 5:30 a.m. to meet their little brothers, but once there it was an amazing experience. We always want to be a part of the community in a positive way.”

Going into this season, four golfers remained from last season; Tyler Bishop, a junior from Longmont, David Hoffman, a junior from Colorado Springs, Eric Winder, a senior from Grand Junction and Barry Cornella, a junior from Canon City. Adding to the upper classmen is David Cosel, a transfer from University of Kansas, and Todd Napikowski, as transfer from New Mexico State. The three freshmen are Mitch Buchner from Loveland, Kevin Chan from Colorado Springs, and Brian Morfeld from Boulder.

When asked how the freshmen are incorporated into the team, Trujillo replied,”It’s a re-learning process for them. We incorporate them by playing many practice rounds with the upper classmen and showing them that collegiate golf is a different ballgame. They learn their roles on the team immediately and know they have to get better quickly.”

Trujillo has a lot of faith and confidence in the team going into the latter part of this season. He believes they are ready for regionals and the upcoming championships.

“I believe that this is the best group of boys that our program has had!” Trujillo exclaimed. “We’re solid in all five spots, and they can all compete with the best of them. I have nothing by confidence in them and look forward to accomplishing our goals.”

Superintendent is Named Colorado's Golf Person of the Year

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame has named Steve Sarro, a Class A superintendent at Vail (Colo.) Golf Club, as the 2007 Colorado Golf Person of the Year.

Sarro organized and led a group of 28 Colorado and Wyoming superintendents, assistants, turf students, irrigation technicians and vendors to New Orleans in March 2006. The group aided four hurricane-stricken golf courses in their efforts to return to operation. In addition to giving a week of their time and labor to help repair the devastation caused by Katrina, the volunteers raised nearly $30,000 for the struggling Gulf Coast courses.

"I am proud and honored to have been given this award," said Sarro, who becomes the first superintendent to receive the honor. "But I hesitate to put our efforts in the past tense, as the guys down in New Orleans are still there and still giving it their all, after losing almost everything."

The group drove to New Orleans and divided into four groups, each staying five days and working dawn till dark at the public Brechtel Park Golf Course and Audubon Golf Course, as well as private English Turn Golf and Country Club and TPC Louisiana. Each course was extensively damaged by the hurricane. Sarro's crew cut trees, removed stumps and debris, repaired bunkers, greens and drainage, aerified and did general maintenance.

"You'll never appreciate how good it made us all feel to have the actual golfers come up to us and thank us for our efforts," said Sarro, who was also named the 2006 Superintendent of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and the 2006 Turf Professional of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association.

"For us it was a wonderful opportunity to help them forget the horrible events of Katrina," he added.

Superintendent is Named Colorado's Golf Person of the Year

The Colorado Golf Hall of Fame has named Steve Sarro, a Class A superintendent at Vail (Colo.) Golf Club, as the 2007 Colorado Golf Person of the Year.

Sarro organized and led a group of 28 Colorado and Wyoming superintendents, assistants, turf students, irrigation technicians and vendors to New Orleans in March 2006. The group aided four hurricane-stricken golf courses in their efforts to return to operation. In addition to giving a week of their time and labor to help repair the devastation caused by Katrina, the volunteers raised nearly $30,000 for the struggling Gulf Coast courses.

"I am proud and honored to have been given this award," said Sarro, who becomes the first superintendent to receive the honor. "But I hesitate to put our efforts in the past tense, as the guys down in New Orleans are still there and still giving it their all, after losing almost everything."

The group drove to New Orleans and divided into four groups, each staying five days and working dawn till dark at the public Brechtel Park Golf Course and Audubon Golf Course, as well as private English Turn Golf and Country Club and TPC Louisiana. Each course was extensively damaged by the hurricane. Sarro's crew cut trees, removed stumps and debris, repaired bunkers, greens and drainage, aerified and did general maintenance.

"You'll never appreciate how good it made us all feel to have the actual golfers come up to us and thank us for our efforts," said Sarro, who was also named the 2006 Superintendent of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Golf Course Superintendents Association and the 2006 Turf Professional of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Regional Turfgrass Association.

"For us it was a wonderful opportunity to help them forget the horrible events of Katrina," he added.