Local Christmas golf gift opportunities
With 11 or so days left until Christmas, one can imagine the potential for increasing concern that time is running out to find something nice for golfing loved ones.
Fear not, for lo, several opportunities remain for glad tidings in the Cape Region for the Christmas gift giver with something golf in mind.
Ruddo’s Golf on Route 1 in the Midway area is now the only local store dedicated to golf. Bret Marshall is the PGA pro who runs the place, with help from longtime staffer Pete McCaffery.
The store stocks its usual wide variety of items for sale, including clubs, balls, shoes, shirts and other apparel, and golf-related gifts. Hours of operation generally run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call Ruddo’s at 302-703-2555.
The Cape Region’s public golf courses, including The Rookery, Baywood Greens and Old Landing, will also be happy to provide additional suggestions, such as gift certificates for tee times when the weather is better.
At the Baywood Greens website, baywoodgreens.com, shoppers can print off a coupon for discounts valid through the Christmas season.
The Rookery is featuring a Breakfast with Santa Sunday, Dec. 16. The pro shops at both the Milton and Rookery North courses are well stocked, with membership options available as well as gift cards.
Baywood Greens and The Rookery are also happy to sign folks up for lesson plans with their golf pros on a one-time or multiple-visit basis.
All of the local golf courses, both public and private, do a nice business selling logo items such as shirts and hats. Those items always make nice gifts for your local golfer.
To reach the Rookery, call 302-684-3000. The Baywood Greens golf shop can be called at 302-947-9800. Old Landing’s phone number is 302-227-3131.
This year’s Cape Region Christmas gift opportunities also include a chance to appreciate a local writer and golf fanatic - in addition to yours truly, that is.
Ann Revere Reed is a two-time women's club champion at Shawnee Country Club, and a former standout athlete at Cape Henlopen High School. She is now a member of The Rookery, and a frequent entry in local, state and regional golf tournaments.
This summer Reed published a golf-related novel, “On a Dime: Senseless in Lewes.” Reed says, “It’s a page-turner tale of embezzlement, love and betrayal, laced with a bounty of local interest.”
Marshall Hamilton Stewart III (a.k.a. Mars) is a bank employee, husband and father who is framed for embezzlement. With very little time to waste, he has to find a way to exonerate himself and save his family.
According to Reed, Mars decides to use some of the lessons he learned from playing golf to end his troubles. Along the way, Reed says, “He scores some birdies and at least two triple bogeys.”
“On a Dime” can be purchased at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth, Biblion in Lewes and online at Amazon.com, where the Kindle version is also available. Check out the positive reviews at Amazon.
New rule proposed for long putter technique change
The R&A and the United States Golf Association, golf’s governing bodies, announced Nov. 28 their proposed changes to the Rules of Golf that would prohibit anchoring the club in making a stroke.
The proposed Rule 14-1b would prohibit strokes made with the club or a hand gripping the club held directly against the player’s body, or with a forearm held against the body to establish an anchor point that indirectly anchors the club.
The proposal is clearly aimed at folks who use belly or long putters. Based on what I’ve read, these anchoring techniques seem to be just a bit too beneficial.
Nonetheless, I must also confess that I have only rarely seen amateur golfers use these putters, much less watched them hole out from all over.
I understand the point of the rule change. It is intended to preserve the game’s requirement for a full swing of the arms, with all the potential variation in results that an unanchored swing can produce.
