Yikes, it’s been a long winter.  And it’s still not over.  There’s a good 2-3+ feet of snow still out on the course and it will be a while before it all disappears.  However, the worst appears to be over (fingers crossed).

The last 35 days or so has been unprecedented in my lifetime.  Seems like every 2-3 days, there’s been a fresh snowfall.  It started with a 2 foot dump of a storm, followed a few days later by another 8-10 inches.  From there, it’s been a few inches here, a dusting there, and bitter cold temps.  I’ve spent plenty of time on the course during that time, but all of it has been in an effort to keep the tee pads clear.  I’ve played exactly 54 holes of golf, 36 of which were yesterday, since the last week in January. An undesirable dry spell to say the least.

The first 18 holes I played in the snow was at the Frostbite Doubles.  The original date had to be re-scheduled because of a storm, and the new date resulted in only 3.5 teams showing up to play. Because of the half team, I decided to step in to play with the .5 to make two full groups of 4 and played one round before my team and the other (in a division of their own) decided 18 holes was enough.

Then it was three weeks of no play until yesterday at our next tournament, Ice Doubles.  I had no partner lined up and was fine with just playing TD for the day.  Only one pro team showed up (along with 8 amateur teams), so rather than have the pro team play against no one, I offered to play with them for fun. From there, we decided to make it a 3-man Open singles division and played for $5 a man instead. I finished second out of three and was just happy that I made it through two rounds without losing a disc or hurting myself.

And it was also enough to light the fuse again.  In March, the golf dry spell has to end regardless of what the weather does.  My first PDGA of the year is barely four weeks away, and I intend to be ready for it.

(Edit as of 3/2 at 9:30pm: Or not four weeks away. Tourney 54 postponed due the snow levels. Doesn’t change the plans to end the dry spell though.)

Step one has been to set up a basket in the basement, complete with backdrop to protect the walls. I’ve got enough space to putt 35-footers although I’ll probably stick to 15-20 footers primarily just to keep the damage to a minimum.  Time to put some time into my putting.

Step two, drag myself out into the snow and play a minimum of 72 holes a week. I like to advocate field work as part of a good practice routine, but all the fields are covered in deep snow. The course, at least, has clear tee pads and some well worn (provided we get no more big storms) and packed paths to walk on.  So field work is going to have to be exclusively course work for the time being.  Throwing is throwing after all.

Step three, believe it or not, is snowshoeing. It’s been the only way to get around the course to clear tees and make walking trails on the fairways, and all that walking has been paying dividends. If there’s anything I’m ahead of the curve on this winter, it’s getting my legs and cardio system in shape. It’s been a great side benefit of trying to get and keep the course moderately playable despite the snow cover.

So…putt, play, snowshoe…the cure for the winter blues.