Wow, what a great day (again)! Cool but sunny morning. Had to hurry to get breakfast and shower done before heading out to the golf course for a 10 o’clock group lesson. For $20 each, we joined 16 other golfers in the cool of the morning and headed out to the practice range. Our teacher, Jack, was a 74-year-old pro who had recently had back surgery. The 90-minute lesson was divided into 3 sections. Instruction, practice, instruction, practice, instruction, practice. And the instruction was very helpful. Right off the bat I felt like I was making headway. Although I hadn’t been using my #1 driver, I decided I should see if with a bit of help from the pro I could get it working for me. And in each of the 3 parts of the lesson I learned how to make the club work for me. I certainly wasn’t hitting the ball as straight and as far as I’d like to, but at least not every shot was veering off to the right. And Sue too was feeling good about her progress — getting some good lift on the ball and more distance than before. After the lesson the instructor and his sidekick (Mark, an airline pilot and neighbor to Jack) gave us some tips about shopping for the right clubs for Sue. They recommended that we go to the Ping factory in Phoenix and get fitted, then bring the results back to the golf club and give the owner/manager (Dale) a chance to quote on the set. Which is what we then did.
We went home for lunch and then hopped into the van and drove the 1-hour drive out to the Ping factory. We signed up to have a specialist measure us and analyze our swing — and then recommend some custom-made clubs for us. It was fast and efficient, and Sue especially felt that the girl who worked with her really helped her find something that will work for Sue.


After our visit to the Ping factory we stopped at the Superstition Center for a bit of shopping. Again, lots of success. Sue managed to find some slippers for herself. We had a nice cup of coffee in the mall. On our way out we had to stop and take a photo of a small shop offering custom-made “sings” which a guy was making by carving your name into a piece of wood with a router. Then we headed to a Fry’s store where Sue got some sheets for her mom and I rented a Redbox movie.
It was late (after 6:30) by the time we got home. We barbecued chicken and Sue made ‘cheesy rice’ and salad for supper. Then we watched the Daily Show and Colbert. We watched a bit more TV and then watched our DVD, “Water for Elephants”.