How to celebrate Halloween on the golf course

Start with the right costume - I recommend dressing up like a professional golfer...

Add: Some spooky morning fog

Add: A scary shot or two

Mix the above with ghoulish blood-looking beverage while watching other groups also dressed up like golfers trying to tackle the 18th at Pebble.

Boo! Have fun!

Time flies when you're playing Pebble Beach...

7am - Out the door to hit the range before the round... who really needs sunlight to practice, right?

8am - Tee off
Don't let the starter's speech add any pressure to your tee shot. "Welcome to Pebble Beach. We do not take mulligans on the first tee at Pebble Beach."

9am - 4th hole.
Hopefully your nerves are settled by now. You wouldn't notice it from the tee box, but you're about to get your first glances of the ocean on your right... beautiful!

9:30am - 6th hole
Just stand there and take a look at what's ahead of you... that's a heck of a hill you have to climb on your second shot! Oh - and don't forget about the risk of hitting your drive into the ocean!

9:45am - 7th hole
Its only 90 yards down the hill... but it may as well be an island green with all of the bunkers protecting the green! Try not to hit it into the front bunker, then across the green into the back bunker. I hear its hard to make par that way.

Oh - and while you're there - don't forget to have a look out into the bay to see what the kayakers are catching!

10am - 8th hole
Better hit a nice drive... so that you can experience what Jack Nicklaus calls the, "greatest approach shot in all of golf." Just don't get too close to the edge and stress out your playing partner!

Don't forget to look back from the green to fully appreciate the shot you just made!

10:30am - 11th hole
At this point, you've gone far enough along the ocean away from the clubhouse, and you make the turn to start coming back.

11:15am - 13th hole
Check out Bing Crosby's former home on your right - recently sold for a cool $22M

11:30am - 14th hole
Try to keep your putt on the green on this one... Paul Goydos took a 9 on this tough par 5 in competition, and that was it for him! I putt it off the green... woops!

Noon - 17th hole
Email your family and friends to let them know you'll be at the 18th green by 12:30 in case they want to watch you on the live webcam of the 18th!

12:15pm - 18th hole
Grab a second ball in case you put your first drive in the ocean... this is a mulligan-worthy driving hole (and the starter can't catch you for taking one!)

12:30pm
Sink your mulligan par putt and leave the course bewildered about how 4 1/2 hours could possibly fly by so quickly.

The West Coast Swing Begins... at Spyglass

(Above: Sunset on the 17th hole at Spyglass)

Well, its our 7th Wedding Anniversary - so where better to spend it than Pebble Beach?!? I can't think of anywhere else I would rather be! We arrived today and hit the links at Spyglass this afternoon. Spyglass Hill Golf Course is rated one of the toughest courses in the world and it lives up to its reputation! We were paired with Bill, who is here celebrating his 60th birthday, and Justin from Dallas who is playing here for the first time (and ended up shooting an 80 which totally contradicts my earlier comment that Spyglass lives up to its reputation as tough)! But hey - it was tough for me!

I really thought my entire game would come together today... my driver is finally working and my irons have been good all season, so it was about time! I stepped up to the first tee and smoked a drive down the middle of the fairway. My second shot was a smoked 3 wood down the middle of the fairway. My confidence was high; it was finally my time... WRONG! My irons and my short game left me. I duffed my next shot into the bunker; duffed my bunker shot into the next bunker, and then skulled my second bunker shot over the green. To make a long story short - I ended up taking an 8 on the first hole... and it didn't get much better after that! The next 15 holes were all about trying to find my iron swing, and trying to stay out of bunkers (because my bunker shots were disastrous!!)

So how do you get through a round of golf when your swing is off without getting too frustrated? Well - its difficult that's for sure. What made it easier today though was our caddy, Michael Jordan (yeah - that's really his name!), and the other players in our foursome. Every time Bill hit a good shot - every time - he celebrated with a vocal, "Woohoo". Justin scrambled from behind trees and tee boxes and somehow pulled pars out of thin air. Long putts by anyone in our foursome resulted in full-on rounds of applause by everyone else. And of course "Wedding Anniversary gimmes" got longer and longer as the round wore on. Everyone in our group had a great attitude, loved the game, and felt lucky to be out playing at Spyglass today.

On the 17th hole, I hit a great drive, and then finally hit a crisp 8 iron to about 8ft from the pin. I gave my birdie putt a chance but missed it and tapped in for my par. It the only par I had all day... but I had found my iron swing!! I made a bogey on the 18th after another decent drive and then a really good iron shot. It took 16 holes... 16 holes to find my iron swing today... talk about painful... but here are the lessons I took away from today:

1. There's not point getting upset over a bad drive!
My driver was finally working, but my short game wasn't so I was making triple and quadruple bogeys after driving the ball 200+ yards. Conversely - there have been plenty of rounds where I drove the ball terribly and walked away with pars and bogeys. So there really isn't any point stressing out about a bad drive

2. At some point keeping score is pointless - so just stop if you want!
I was scoring so badly that by about the 13th hole - I wasn't paying any attention to my scorecard because it really just didn't matter. Instead, I focused my energy on trying to find my swing. Who does your score really matter to anyway other than yourself?? There's no point wasting your energy beating yourself up over a bad round!

3. Attitude is everything - take time to enjoy the good shots and the good company
I walked away from today's round honestly not even knowing what my final score was. I enjoyed myself though, and I really enjoyed the company of our foursome. Their positive attitudes and enjoyment of the game was infectious... so remember the next time you're playing that your attitude and behavior could be making a big difference in someone else's round!

Below: Justin, Bill, Lisa, Scott

Practice breeds confidence: Getting the most from the driving range

I’ve mentioned already that before you hit the links for the first time as a beginner, you should spend a lot of time at the driving range to gain confidence in your swing. Your goal should be at minimum to make sure you can hit one club consistently about 100 yards before you hit the links. I stand by this advice, but it occurred to me the other day when I was at the driving range that it too can be a bit of an intimidating place to go for the first time, so here are some tips for hitting the range with confidence…

1. Choose a stall at one end of the range or the other
This may sound silly, but seriously – if you’re not confident, go to a place on the range where fewer people can see your swing!! Be assured – you will duff a few balls… and there’s a chance you might even hit a ball or two off the metal divider that separates the stalls. You will not be the first to do this, nor will you be the last!! (That being said though – people do notice when they hear the “clang”)

2. Start with your pitching wedge NOT your driver!
This is the biggest mistake people make at the range… the first thing they do is pull their driver out of the bag and start rifling through balls. It’s the most difficult club in your bag to hit, and your body is still stiff and your swing isn’t ready for it. Trust me – as tempting as your driver is - start with your wedge to get warmed up.

3. Create a routine that works for you
My normal routine is to hit my pitting wedge until I feel comfortable, then I move to my 7, then my 4 iron hybrid, and then my driver to warm up. Once I’m warmed up, I have two different routines. Some days I want to simulate a round, so I hit driver, then 4 iron, then wedge (to simulate the clubs I might hit on the course in that order on a given hole). Other days, I work through every club in my bag and I tell myself that I’m not allowed to move on to the next club until I hit 3 pure shots with the club I’m holding. If I fail with any club I have to start over. (I stole this one from Phil Mickelson who forces himself to hit 100 putts in a row during his practice sessions and has to start at 0 if he misses any – it simulates the pressure of putting during a round) This routine forces me to really focus on what I’m trying to work on

4. Shhhh….
Yeah, much like the course, people don’t want to hear people talking in their backswings… even at the range, so keep it quiet (even when you hit a few pure shots and want to celebrate)

5. Take breaks and practice swings
It is so tempting when you’re at the range to just hit ball after ball after ball after ball… without breaking and without even practicing your swing… but guess what – that isn’t anything like what it will be like on the course! Use your time on the range to practice for being on the course. This is your time to nail down what feels comfortable in terms of a pre-shot routine, and to really focus on practicing your swing… so just take your time and enjoy yourself!

Eat your heart out NKOTB

My 14 year old self would have loved this... it just has to be shared: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM2NocuEihw

Whoever said golfers are too serious??