Year after year we pick up our clubs in March or April and head down to our local golf course for our first outing of the year. We’ve spent the last four to five months cramped up in our houses wishing we could get out there and play, but cold weather and snow have put a stop to our beloved game. Each year we end with promises of better golf and improved scores. Yet, the season starts and we’re right back where we started the previous year. Why? Well, if you are like me, you didn’t hit the range that much over the winter and your swing looks more like a brush clearing hack then a golf swing. Yet, sometime in June the light will click and you’ll finally feel right over a golf ball again.

Living in the northeast and loving golf, really don’t go well together. Sure we have some absolutely beautiful courses, but not being able to play year round or at least a little closer to year round, hurts a weekend hacker’s game. I try to hit the range as much as life allows me in the winter, but I find excuses, and the fact that its 15 flipping degrees, the excuses are really easy to find.

So how does the northeast golfer make progress or compete? I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I believe it is truly harder for an individual who lives in the northeast to compete with players whose residence allows them to play golf for more parts of the year. Just take a look at the PGA Tour and glance through players and the states they reside. You won’t find many Connecticuts or Maines. I think the players in the northeast really have to be extra committed to make progress year after year.

So for all the other northeast golfers, who are wondering what he $%#! happened over the winter to my golf swing, I feel your pain. So hit the range, go back to the basics and look forward to a couple of months from now when you can get that swagger back in to your step on the course.