Matt and Robby use indoor golf range they helped build at the BHM office out of a discarded fishing gill net. They are using a video system to record and playback their swings so they can analyze them.

We’ve finished deadline for the Jan/Feb issue so I’m back to the Gold Beach Youth Golf Team. We meet at my office, which has been converted to the golf club, this afternoon to discuss the winter schedule. Right now it’s raining most days and it gets dark about 5 pm, so it doesn’t leave a lot of room for golf outside. The kids built an indoor range out of an old discarded ocean fishing gill net in one of the BHM storerooms, so we have a rainy-day place to practice. Through donations the club purchased a used video system so we can record, then analyze the kids’ swings.

Two people have taken me up on my appeal for donations of golf clubs in my Oct. 15 post.  If anyone else has clubs they no longer use, we’ll put them to good use. I’ll pay the Fed-Ex charges. Just e-mail me (dave at backwoodshome.com) with your mailing address and I’ll ship you a pre-paid mailing label so you can FedEx the items to us. If they are real good clubs, we’ll even pay you for them, but we can’t afford much.

Lisa with prepaid FedEx ticket. We'll send you one if you have golf equipment to donate.

You can also help out the youth team by buying a golf shirt I designed. I talk about it in my upcoming editorial in the Jan/Feb issue. It costs $30, but it’s high quality — 65 percent poly and 35 percent cotton that would sell for about $35 at a golf pro shop. I’ll not only send you the shirt, but I’ll also send you a free, autographed copy of my book, Can America Be Saved from Stupid People, and our little U.S. Constitution book. The offer isn’t online yet (I’ll have the webmaster do so soon) so you’ll just have to call the office at 1-800-835-2418 to order. Here’s what the shirt looks like:

The golf shirt has the Backwoods Home logo (embroidered) on the left breast.

Robby and Matt, two members of the Backwoods Home Magazine Youth Golf Team, chip balls into a horse trough while I control an extra large burn pile in the background. These are our two best players.

Anyone out there want to donate their old golf clubs to my youth golf team? I’ll pay the Fed-Ex charges. Just e-mail me (dave@backwoodshome.com) with your mailing address and I’ll ship you a pre-paid mailing label so you can FedEx the items to us.

I’ve been trying to think of an easier way to raise funds for the youth golf club, and it occurred to me that a lot of people probably have old, but good, golf clubs stuffed away in their attic. I do — or did — until I brought them into the team room, which is part of the BHM office building. If some of you have golf clubs you no longer use, we would put them to good use.

A pertinent story: A high school freshman member of our team loves to Tee-off with my TaylorMade R7, L-flex driver. He, like me, has a fairly slow swing (he because he is young and I because I am old) so the L-flex suits his swing. I’ve been letting him work a few hours here and there at the magazine stacking boxes and sweeping floors so he can save up and buy the club, which probably costs $75-$100 at a golf shop because the club is a couple of years old.

But it occurred to me that once he gets that club, he’s going to realize that now he needs some good wedges, maybe a good 3-wood he can hit. The proper clubs are important to an aspiring young golfer. Crummy clubs often lead to crummy performance and a loss of interest in the game. So I thought I’d solicit clubs, beginning here.

An abundance of clubs would serve two purposes:

(1) The kids could try the various clubs every Wednesday when we play at the local course and see which ones fit their swing.
(2) We could sell some of the clubs to raise funds, probably taking other clubs in on trade and resell them.

We’d make the kids pay for the clubs they like, giving them a steep discount and letting them work at the magazine or a couple of other businesses in town that have decided this youth golf club is a good idea. Simply giving free stuff to kids does not foster self-reliance.

Anyway, if you’ve got clubs, I’ll take them and I’ll pay the freight. If they’re real good clubs, you could probably talk me into giving you a free subscription or renewal to the magazine. I’m easy!