Some really exciting things are happening for 78 MPH and I’d like to tell you about where we’re at. I say “we” because honestly I would be lost if it weren’t for the help of my oldest daughter, Colleen, and she’s never without an idea of what I should be writing about next, or how to find new readers.
Brian Harman’s double ace feat is on display at the World Golf Hall of Fame
She isn’t scared to ask people things, either. Like the World Golf Hall of Fame – they let me use a picture of one of the golf balls that professional golfer Brian Harman used on the final Sunday of the Barclays when he had two holes-in-one for my story on aces. They said, no problem – and it’s quite the stunning image!
Sir Nick Faldo
Adam Long, Director of Golf at The Wilderness Club
Or The Wilderness Club in Eureka, Montana. The truth was, I nearly got back in the car to drive back to The Wilderness Club to see Sir Nick Faldo put on his golf clinic on the 3rd of September, but since I didn’t, we asked the Director of golf there, Adam Long, if he would take some pictures for us that we could use for the blog, and he did. Thanks, ADAM!
Greg Norman
And then there’s the Greg Norman story. He’d made some comments about the state of golf and I found that I agree with him, and have some ideas of my own as to how we could better be growing the game. We tweeted it out to the Shark himself, and put it on his Facebook page too, and he commented “Great post, Maureen, thanks for sharing” and, as you can imagine, did that ever make my day.
Phil Mickelson
Here in Calgary, we’re going to have a new golf course and it’s going to be called Mickelson National. It’s currently under construction, and will be Phil Mickelson’s first Canadian signature course. I’m going to follow the development of the course for my blog. (Pssst, You may not know this, but Phil and I go way, way back, in fact, all the way back to 1991 – but that’s another story, and you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled for that!)
78 MPH’s Millstones
Me on the Golf Car cosy on a cool Calgary day
If you think that my blog is just for friends and family, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, friends and family do follow sometimes, but since June 7th, which is the day I posted my first blog, there have been over 7,500 readers and over 150 comments. One of my most popular posts is about positional vertigo and golf – and I meet people all over who tell me they have it and had never heard of the Denver doctor’s solution. And this week, the Quilting Board lit up my post about how to make a golf car seat cover as many quilters have decided that would be a great present to start making now for someone on their Christmas list.
This is my 57th post, and I think we have nearly a dozen in reserve. Each post requires a lot of work, including finding appropriate images, putting in the right links, sometimes they need interviews — and then after publication, we need to let the world know, on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit. We’ve grown my Twitter following from 1 (thanks, Abigail) to 100, all organic followers, which is great (that means I didn’t pay for anyone, which apparently is a common practice!)
I really appreciate all the comments, the encouragement, even the surprise that some people have expressed about me writing a blog. It’s fun to write, but my editor is really tough on me, forcing me to get to the point. That’s why I’ll be doing mini-series on some of my favourite topics, like Sky Mountain Golf Course, and why I love it so. It’s nearly a mini series already!
Looking Forward
On October 7th, the blog will be 4 months old and I will turn 81. My wishes for my 81st year is to continue to be in good health, to be able to golf good courses, and hang out with my friends, meet new ones too and shoot my age again. With a bit of luck, all those things will work out, just fine.
Keep on reading on!
-Maureen