Tag: Clayt

  • 2nd Swing Golf

    New and used golf clubs and equipment in Columbia

    I happened to be in Columbia on this cold and rainy Saturday and thought I’d visit this store/warehouse that I’d read advertisements about, touting over 179,000 used clubs at their six stores and having added something like 24,000 last month – and presumably selling that many. In person, I was surprised by the size of the store, the extent of their selection and their organization, including a good sized section for seniors. A sales rep told me that all of their clubs were on their website and a quick search indicated this store had over 3,000 drivers in stock. And no, I’m not getting anything for posting about them.

    By and large, we senior golfers are a retired bunch and being on a fixed income we can’t easily work a little overtime to pay for a new $600 driver or $400 putter. Truth be told, money probably better spent on lessons. What I did like was that they had many of the top rated clubs of 2025 and previous years rated by the amount of wear and tear and priced accordingly. If you found something you liked, they had several of those fancy bays with launch monitors and projection screens for you to try them out to see how they feel and perform.

    I’m still playing with Taylor Made Burner Bubble irons from the late 80s and have read virtually every year since then about the improvements being made to each manufacturer’s irons. Surely, a new set of irons would improve my accuracy and my now lagging senior distance issues. Perhaps a new set of irons is in my future – but not today. Just window shopping.

    The front of the 2nd Swing Golf store in Columbia on a rainy day.
    2nd Swing Golf, Columbia
  • Beautiful January Day at Bowie

    Headed back out to the Bowie Golf Club for a round of winter golf with Barry, Mac and Jay; Barry and I hitting from the golds and Mac and Jay from the whites. It was a bright, sunny day with temperature rising from 41 to 61 by the end of the round.

    Bowie is currently playing as a par 68 according to the Maryland State Golf Association website, rather than the par 70 reflected on the scorecard, caused by temporary tees on #1 and #9 (see Course Review). Even though this is the off-season in Maryland for purposes of adding scores, the geek in me was interested in the Bowie course rating being lowered to 62.3 and the slope to 105 for the golf tees. The GHIN bogey rating is 81.7 so my score was right on target today, shooting an 81 with my 18.0 estimated handicap. An excellent front with a 36 and a mediocre back with a 45. Six triple putts didn’t help the score.

    Other than being a beautiful January day, the wildlife were active, with the ever present geese and squirrels, but not in a distracting way. The company was good and our foursome wasn’t slowed by the group in front of us and we didn’t slow down the group behind, taking just under 4 hours to complete the round.

    Recommend you get out soon. I’m going to try to get out twice next week, once with the “usual suspects” on Wednesday and possibly my fourth course on my way to 100 on another day. Will have to look at the weather forecast to pick a day.

    Clayt's scorecard for 18 holes played at Bowie Golf Course on January 7, 2026.