Interview with Clark Cunningham of the Peerless Foursome Series

Just a mention that an interview with Clark Cunningham, the author of The Peerless Foursome golf children's book series, is now available at AssociatedContent.com. Mr. Cunningham is donating 40% of cover price of every book he sells online with the 'GGEC' PFS code mentioned to the El Cajon LUGG!

The first book, The Spyglass Cup, is now available at thepeerlessfoursome.com

Best Ball of Partners (26 April 2010)

The EC LUGGers' fifth event of 2010 went quite smoothly even with a busier schedule and a new lead instructor for the day. Coach Mary was at the Cottonwood driving range to get the group organized before letting Coaches Carol Lingle and Pat Beilke take over for the afternoon.

After everyone had put away their cell phones and followed a whirly round of warming up led by Bella, the LUGGers split into two groups with the Power Puff Girls (Cierra, Hayley, Jessika, Kristen, and Savannah) heading first to the practice green for 30 minutes of lag-putting games with Coach Pat; while the Woodstock Golfers (Madison, Bella, Marilee, and Tara) stayed at the range for half an hour of pitching and chipping through hoops, conducted by Coach Carol. Papa Doug and a few moms were also on hand to witness the budding golfers' facility with the golf club.

Safety rules were observed as usual. The golf clubs felt much safer with their heavy heads being lovingly held by the palms of the LUGGers' hands, whenever they weren't busy swinging the poor chunks of metal against the well beaten little white balls. The LUGGers also did well in taking turns and not approaching others who were swinging their clubs, ensuring that the afternoon rolled on without any occurrence more painful than a few sore feet (new lesson learned the achy way by new golfers: always wear athletic shoes to the golf course because boots really aren't easy on twisting feet!).

The groups switched and everybody had a few good half-swing pitches and distance-judging putts under their belt (it does pay to take time and have a good aim before hitting!) by the time we headed to the west putting green for the day's title activity; Best Ball of Partners. The LUGGers split once more to groups of 2 or 3 and deftly navigated 9 green-side holes played to specific instructions. Everybody breezed through the 'aim every shot' hole, but struggled a bit with the 'play each shot with eye closed'. The best score for each hole was counted and fabulously fun prizes were given as the event closed at 6PM (Congrats, Madison & Jessica!).

Our next event (3 May 2010), the Fast, Safe, & Courteous Event, will meet once again at the right end of the driving range at Cottonwood GC in El Cajon, CA.

Note In The Holes (19 April 2010)

The weather was worthy of bottles of sunscreen when the EC LUGGers made our first visit to Cottonwood GC's driving range on Monday afternoon.
After a proper warm up led by spry LUGGer Cierra, Coach Mary laid down the safety ground rules before introducing the concept of pitching using half swing and let the LUGGers loose trying to shoot their little white balls into either a blue net or a hoop 20 yards away. It is a bit tough trying to judge where half-swing is when many LUGGers are rather small compared to their clubs and haven't been swinging much aside from the previous EC LUGG events.

Pitching is quite simple once you've got some practice at it. Keep the leading arm (left arm for right-handers and right arm for lefties) straight and turn your shoulders back until the leading arm is parallel to the ground (with the club pointing straight up), then pivot your body back down and through the ball to finish with the back arm (right arm for right-handers and left arm for lefties) parallel to the ground. A few LUGGers did quite well and not only got a few balls through the net and the hoop but also knocked the latter right off its perches with their pitch, necessitating a dangerous venture by Coach Mary into the range to re-erect the gadget.

Thanks largely to our LUGGers' remarkable restraint from shooting even when unexpectedly presented with such a temptingly colorful moving target our head coach survived the trip and was able to then herd the group along to the chipping and putting greens for the day's flag event: 'Note in the Holes' obstacle course.

Nine stations were prepared with a balancing course, ball tossing stations, a swing-through station using napkin holders instead of golf balls, putting and chipping holes with a note in the cup asking about golf rules we had covered until now (i.e.; where the safe places to stand are while another golfer is playing her shot, who gets to play first (the best score from the previous hole and the person furthest away from the hole), etc.). Grandpa Doug was again on hand to help along with the coaches as the LUGGers safely navigated the course.
I hope everyone is looking forward to our next event on Monday April 26th, Best Ball of Partners! Please sign-in at the Cottonwood GC driving range between 3:30 - 4PM (event runs from 4-6PM).

Blind Holes: The Ball's There Whether You See It Or Not!

Leaky El Nino rain clouds notwithstanding the third regular event of the El Cajon LUGGers went on mostly as planned on Monday April 12th. We had a few new faces along with returning 'veterans' showing up to put Cottonwood GC's west practice putting green to good use.

The afternoon actually started in the carpeted pavilion tent between the clubhouse and the putting green with Coach Mary leading the group in a routine of warm up and stretching exercises (essential things to do before playing any sport!). After everybody was loose and properly armed with a putter the EC LUGGers were introduced to the concept of lag putting.

This, of course, is a very useful golf practice that benefits beginners and old timers (hackers included) alike. Why three-putt when you can get the ball in the cup in two? Instead of trying to ram the ball into the hole and risk having a long second putt, a good lag putter aims instead to have the ball come to rest within two feet of the cup. Chances are good that many of the putts would go in, and chances are great that when they don't, you won't miss the short tap in for the second putt!

Naturally, Coach Mary didn't let the LUGGers learn just one skill when she could have them learn two or three at the same time and loving all of it. The ensuing obstacle course with balancing and ball tossing stations kept everyone busy as the moody gray clouds gave up their attempt to, in more ways than one, rain on the parade.

After a brief break punctuated by steaming cups of hot cocoa the EC LUGGers moved outdoor to the practice putting green to have a go at the 'bump and run' (see previous post for Coach Mary's demo video). The little technical section was followed by the main event, Blind Holes, where the LUGGers paired up and attempted to hole their shots blindfolded (guided only by their partner's instruction). Coaches Mary and Pat along with Grandpa Doug kept a close eye on our visually-deprived budding golfers, of course, and made sure that only golf balls (and not people) were hit.

The day ended on a colorful note when Coach Mary dumped buckets of brightly colored golf balls: yellow, orange, pink, and even some purple, on the putting green and announced that they are free for the taking providing that they are retrieved safely to their new owners' bucket via putting and/or chipping.

A golf ball derby was on and much innovative use of the putter and the pitching wedge was thought up by the LUGGers who had as much fun trading for specific color balls as they did in retrieving them.

Golf Egg Hunt: Rained Out Without Being Drowned Out

The Girls Golf of EL Cajon 'Golf Egg Hunt' event was unfortunately pseudo-rained out yesterday and will be combined with the next event, 'Blind Holes', next Monday (April 12th).


The coaches regret that the rain storm presented an unfavorable travel condition for our LUGGers to get to Cottonwood GC (where all our regular events are held). It was indeed raining when we arrived to set up the practice area, but then the wind blew through and took the leaky cumulonimbus clouds away. It actually turned out to be a pretty beautiful and dry (if a bit chilly) afternoon on the golf course!

Since no one was around to keep us coaches in line, we had a bit of fun ourselves practicing some bump and run chip shots around the green. To sort of make up for our escapades, Coach Mary gamely consented to be filmed demonstrating the shot our girls will be learning to play on April 12th instead...

Pretty handy around the green, isn't she? It is a really simple shot that is quite fun to play once you've got the hang of it. We marked the green with three markers: one where to hit the ball from, an elevated string to hop the ball over, and a flat blue marker (a bit hard to see here, so I x-marked where it was in the photos) about 1/3 way between the ball and the cup - the ideal landing zone.

With a narrow open stance (your toes will line up left of the target), grip down on the handle and let your arms hang comfortably over the ball. Lean forward with the hands to keep them ahead of the club-face, then make a small putting stroke through the ball - keeping your hands ahead of the club head until a bit after impacting the ball... then watch the eager little white ball hop 1/3 of the way to the cup and rolls the rest of the way in!