For those of us that live in the snowy states, the golf season has been over for a few months.  I go though the emotional highs and lows every spring and fall - in the fall I treat every round like it might be my last.  It's sort of a doom & gloom attitude, but I enjoy each and every round in October (and November if I'm lucky) because the next day it might be too cold or there is white stuff on the ground.  In the spring it's like an emotional roller coaster...I'm watching the snow melt and praying we're not going to get some big winter storm at the end of April.  I'm also checking the newspaper and web sites to see which courses are opening within 100 miles and coordinating with golf buddies to see who's ready to make a trip on a weekend. 

But then there's the 5 to 6 months in the middle...my golf game is dormant, but I pass the time with another super cool sport - Curling!  No, not weight lifting - it's the sport that gained popularity after the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City - it's played on a sheet of ice (indoors) and you slide granite stones (approx. 42 lbs) into bulls eyes painted under the ice to score points.  It has been compared loosely to shuffleboard. Curling is a great complimentary sport to golf and I was thinking about the similarities and how I can take a little of each sport with me when I'm doing the other. (but for the record, I'd rather be golfing!)

You have to battle the elements - in golf, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature most of the time...wind, rain, sun in the eyes, dry conditions, or wet conditions, they all affect our club selections and our mental outlook.  In curling, even though it's indoors, the environment can change the conditions of the ice and that can affect your shots.  If there are a lot of people curling at the same time, the temperature can go up and change the ice surface.  If something as small as a hair gets underneath the stone it can cause it to go off track.  It's about paying attention to the surroundings and realizing that you might have to make adjustments to the normal plan or routine. 

You have to visualize the shot - on the green I often find myself drawing an imaginary line from my ball to the hole, and usually it's not straight.  I'm picking some point to aim at and then mentally calculating the speed I'm going to need to follow the line and get that ball into the hole.  Sometimes when I'm in the fairway I might go into my mental shot catalog to visualize the swing I need or where I should aim to get the right bounce.  In curling, when a person delivers the stone (pushes it towards the bulls eye) they will turn the handle either clockwise or counter clockwise and the stone will rotate while it is moving- and the stone will move in the direction of the rotation (that's the curl).  So just like putting, you have to judge the weight and the curl in order to make the shot.  There's touch, feel, and visualizing.  And sometimes I just have those days when my visualization stinks!

The game is mental - one of the nicest compliments I think you can get on the golf course is if someone says you have good "golf course management" - knowing when to be aggressive or when to lay up.  And then there's the constant battle with your own psyche, keeping positive and overcoming bad shots.  In curling, there's a lot of strategy - you are playing against another team, and assessing their strengths and weaknesses can be an important key to the shot choices that are made.  Do you remove their stone, or do you trust your own feel and touch and try to get your stone closer?  And how do you handle it when the opposing team gets a break and scores on you by mistake?  You're also a part of a team, and being aware of other people's moods can affect your own game, too.  Ever play with the chatterbox on the course?  Or the guy that throws his club?  Other people can impact your game.  We've got those people in curling occasionally, too.  But just like golfers, most all curlers respect the game, respect their opponents, and appreciate the opportunity to play.

And curling started in Scotland, so it must be cool like golf!

If you're still with me, thanks for reading this far!  If you're interested in learning more about curling, check out these sites:  http://www.curldc.org/about/basics.php  http://www.trianglecurling.com/Curling101.htm  http://www.usacurl.org/ (there might be a curling club near you!) 

I've seen this on TV and have always found it interesting.  One question I do have is about the guys sweeping the path of the stone.  Is it to slow the speed down?  I would think that the hydrostatic bond created between the thin layer of melted ice and the stone would do just that.  But that's just a quess.

How did you get into doing this???

 Just when I think you can't be any smarter than you already are, you throw out the term "hydrostatic bond"   - impressive!!  You ask a great question, and before answering I have to acknowledge that I am not an expert on the physics of curling, but here's what I do know.  The sheet of ice that you curl on is not smooth - before each game someone sprinkles water on the ice and the drops freeze to the surface, that's called the pebble.  Now, think about the bottom of a can of pop - that's sort of what the bottom of a curling stone looks like - there is actually very little of the acutal stone touching the ice - a small ring of the stone touches the surface.  The pebble allows the rock to travel from one end to the other and allows it to "curl"-move in the direction of the handle rotation as you've pushed it.

What sweeping does is it wears down the pebble (the bumps) and allows the rock to travel farther on the ice because the surface is getting a little smoother.  Sweeping also keeps the stone on a straighter line - it's gliding on the path being created by the broom's friction with the ice.  Great sweepers can probably carry a stone 10-12 feet farther on the ice.  You will hear curlers say the ice is "speeding up" after playing a few ends because sweepers have worn down the pebble on certain parts of the sheet and the stones will run just a tad bit quicker on those parts.  You are right about the slight melting of the ice due to the sweeping, but it almost immediately refreezes so the stone doesn't usually encounter melted ice...it runs over bumpy ice that is now just a tad bit smoother.  Does that make sense?

My parents introduced me to curling as a teenager and I have been playing for over 20 years - my Dad is in his early 70's and is still curling. It's a lifetime sport just like golf!  There are clubs popping up all over the United States - you should check one out!

Me smart?  No. I'm just a science nut, watch a ton of the Discovery channel, and am the Mack Daddy Google master.  10 minutes, the Internet and a computer is all I need to be the smartest guy on Earth.  LOL

So now you have me comparing the shuffle board table at my local bar with curling.  We use sand instead of frozen drops of water for the texture.  But sweeping it off would simply stop the stone (if that's what they call it).  And I'm not sure if you can put a spin on it in shuffleboard.  At least I've never tried to.  There have always been too many drinks involved to think that much about it.  It's much more fun to just try and knock your opponents stones off the table and talk a bunch of trash when you do.

I doubt I'll ever get the chance to try curling.  It doesn't get cold enough in Dallas.  And if it did, I would move.    I have a bunch of family (golfers) in Michigan though.  They need to know about this.

www.dfwcurling.com/

Be there or be square!!  

Hey, it's curling season again (otherwise known as non-golf season!) - we're off and running again this year, but I wanted to let everyone know the US curling world is getting ready for Olympic trials (to determine who will be the Men's and Women's team representatives) - this past weekend teams all over the country competed to make their way to Denver, CO for the final Olympic trials in February.  To find out about the Trials in Denver just click HERE.  I've seen many of these athletes in action over the years and know a few of them, too.  Now is a great time to get reacquainted with curling so you can get excited about in next February in Vancouver!  To learn about curling, check out this website - www.usacurl.org

 The United States Curling Association Olympic Curling Trials are starting on Saturday!  I have some friends who are competing so I am going to be checking out the action all next week - they will have live scoring on www.usacurl.org.  If you have the Universal Sports Cable channel, they will be showing the semi-finals and finals at the end of next week (Feb. 27 & 28).  We don't have the channel in MN, so if you have it, watch some curling for me!!