I’m on the hunt for some new great Golf blogs to read. Does anyone know any? I’m looking for offbeat and interesting blogs, not the big PGA focused stuff, or pure product blogs.

I stumbled onto a manufacturer/marketing company called GolfGym who has an interesting blog at http://www.golfgymblog.blogspot.com/ – yes, sometimes they are selling stuff, but more often it’s good content and ideas on fitness and training. I’m thrilled they are blogging! I wish they would do an online training course or something a bit more active during the offseason to help us duffers get into golf ready shape!

Know any others that you read on a regular basis?

Many of the golf blogs I had been following have either stopped posting or have become too advertising/marketing centric (not that there is anything wrong with trying to turn a buck here or there).

Right now, Life in the Rough is my favorite golf blog to read. It’s both personable and helpful, something I have been striving for here on Golf is Hard to achieve.

I’ve also added a list of golf blogs that I subscribe to on the right (—> look over there). So you can keep up with what I’m reading on a regular basis.

So, what golf blogs are you reading?

I’ve been wondering lately, as I’ve written down some annual and long term goals for myself, what exactly is this blog good for? Hmmm…

It’s been really fun to write and to hear from some of you from time to time. It’s clear that I’m a pretty bad golfer, but that I really do enjoy it quite a bit. Right now, playing a round of golf is the closest I can get myself to a real “zen” moment – the game simply demands that you be completely present at all times. I think that’s what I love most about it.

I think the answer to my question though, is that this blog is good for new golfers and bad golfers alike. I hope that it reflects back the best of why you play golf and occasionally makes you smile, laugh or even learn something.

So for now, I think I’ll stick with my random and sporadic approach; posting on things that are interesting to me and complaining about my lack of focus, inability to hit a soft chip shot and my horrible putting game.

For those of you like me who love statistics, here are some traffic numbers to Golf is Hard from 2008:

• 2,943 visits from 67 countries
• 3,880 page views
• 85% of you were new visitors (where’s my repeat readers?)
• Top referring web site was thegolfgirl.blogspot.com – thanks Golf girl!

I hope you’ll keep on reading and leaving the occasional comment.

Saw this interesting piece on BBC News “Playing golf can ‘damage hearing” that is most certainly partially hype.

That said, here is the advice…

Players who use a new generation of thin-faced titanium drivers to propel the ball further should consider wearing ear plugs, experts advise.

The sonic boom created by these clubs apparently can damage your hearing. The worst offender was the Ping G10 at over 130 decibels. If you have one of those bad boys, you might want to dig up some earplugs!

The article isn’t specific about how often you’d need to play with to affect your hearing which is why I’m a tad skeptical of how seriously to take this article.

I usually walk and use a cart for my clubs, especially after hurting my leg last year. I enjoy walking a lot and sometimes feel like the push cart isn’t allowing me to burn as many calories as I’d like by walking. After all, one of the ways I justify playing golf is that it keeps me in shape (but not apparently enough to make any sort of aerobic difference).

Check out this informative article on Golf.com “Hit ball, drag bag and burn some calories, too” ofr all the details.

• There was virtually no difference in calories burned between carrying (721) and using a push cart (718)
• Players in the tests scored best when using push carts and playing with a caddie.

I don’t have a caddie, so that’s out… but it’s great news that there is little caloric difference between carrying and pushing. Sweet.

For you riders (the shame!), subjects burned more calories when they walked and carried their clubs (721) than when they rode in a cart (411).

Anyone wishing it was spring already?

I am.