I've been playing golf a lot over the last three months with a guy named Sonny.
He works as a golf teacher and also plays a pretty good game.
On Sunday he is playing in a tournament and I've offered to caddy for him. We went out and played the course to be used today.
It is out in Tracey, a town about 20 minutes east of me. It's almost in the flat of the central valley of California, but some of the property catches a small amount of the foothills. Those foothills are the border between the east bay area and the central valley.
Most of the course is quite flat. However there are a few greens that have some slope. And a few holes where you hit to a small valley and then back up to an elevated green.
The greens are quite small compared to my usual courses. The fairways are bumpy and the grass is somewhat sparse. It seems to be a course where there is just not enough water. Their driving range is almost completely dirt. It's also short and there is a $100 fine for hitting over the fence! Not sure how they can know you did it, so always hit with a group!
The course has a number of longish par 4s. A couple in the 430 range. There are some 300 yarders, that are cleverly designed so that banging away at the green might not be the best way to play them. It looks like 200 yard shots make the greens more accessible and avoid some of the hazards -- always a good combination.
The par 5s are 500 to 550, which are not too long, even for yours truly (as long as the drive goes ok! Ha!).
There are some water features on 4 holes or so. They are all man made versus being natural. There is not a lot of free running water in this part of the country. Though one area had a carp in it that was almost 3 feet long. It might have been living on golf balls and thus well fed.
For the most part the course is wide open, though there are a lot of large trees to avoid. One tee area has a forced carry over some tall trees. It's a tough tee shot and the hole is fairly long. We are still discussing strategy on this one.
I'm looking forward to getting inside the ropes and watching the guys play. I suspect that to win it, one will have to shoot around par. So the golf should be reasonable.
Sonny plays a pretty good game. He drives the ball about 260 to 270 and is pretty straight. He is a very good putter too and as I think about it, a pretty good chipper. His wedge might be his weakest area. He bangs down on the ball and there are some gaps in his coverage. He doesn't like 110 yards in -- shorter or longer are fine. His favorite is 60.
Over the last year or so, I've been paying more attention to managing my game. I seem to think more about this than my golf buddies. Putting a ball in a reasonable position and not just as close as you can hit it, pays some dividends. I always thought I knew what I was doing in this area, but the more I pay attention the more things I see. There is always room for improvement!
I'm expecting I may be able to offer some help along those lines when we play.
So that is about it for the moment. I've been playing ok. Still the driver can be an issue. I have some good holes and then I seem to lose it. I'm going to strive on ball contact and forgo my dreams of distance for the nonce. I'll play tomorrow and see what I can do. Of course as soon as the contact is good, the next step is how to hit it longer.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Friday, May 11, 2018
Records
No, I didn't break par, but I have a short and amusing story to tell.
I asked Rich II how he played today and he gave me a wry grin and mentioned 39 on the front nine -- an excellant score, then dropped the other foot that he shot 49 on the back nine.
With that in mind I must tell the time I took John Lawrence out to play golf. This was in high school.
John had never played. He had trouble hitting the ball at all and managed a 350 on the front nine. Yes, it's a strangely even number, but it's as I rmembered.
The 350 is maybe a touch high and I've never heard of a higher score, but the really interesting part is that John managed a 186 on the back! This is I suspect a world's record for the greatest differential between nines. 164 strokes is a lot shave from a score. But as John put it that fateful day, "I cut down on my misses."
So the next time you are in the position of a rotten starting nine or a bad finishing one, you can remember the tale of Mr. Lawrence.
I asked Rich II how he played today and he gave me a wry grin and mentioned 39 on the front nine -- an excellant score, then dropped the other foot that he shot 49 on the back nine.
With that in mind I must tell the time I took John Lawrence out to play golf. This was in high school.
John had never played. He had trouble hitting the ball at all and managed a 350 on the front nine. Yes, it's a strangely even number, but it's as I rmembered.
The 350 is maybe a touch high and I've never heard of a higher score, but the really interesting part is that John managed a 186 on the back! This is I suspect a world's record for the greatest differential between nines. 164 strokes is a lot shave from a score. But as John put it that fateful day, "I cut down on my misses."
So the next time you are in the position of a rotten starting nine or a bad finishing one, you can remember the tale of Mr. Lawrence.
Justice System II
I was curious about the local court and if I could see their schedule.
I could. They print a pdf, maybe daily, with the details of what is going on in all the court rooms. There are a lot of courts. And there is a lot of things going on.
It was not unusual for a 9:00 am time to have four or more pre-trial hearings. Maybe they don't take a lot of time and gather them all there and dispense a bit of justice.
Other items were "Continued Jury Trial" and that might be the only thing scheduled for the afternoon.
A lot of details are in each entry. I was looking at the criminal section. You have the names of the defendant, the various attorneys and then a list of all the charges. The charges are all noted by the California penal code, by code, which is the section for an offense and then the paragraphs with a bit more details.
It looked from my small sample that it was not uncommon to charge the defendant with 20 or more items. Maybe this is "throw a whole bunch of stuff at the wall and maybe some will stick," or maybe this is the careful construction of specific details to properly ascertain what is reasonably provable.
But I kind of doubt the careful crafting bit. Very little of what I have seen in re the wheels of justice seem to be guided by careful craftsmen and craftswomen and craftspersons. But I must admit that my sample is quite small.
Now the reason I went looking is that as I mentioned, I am curious about all of this. I was considering the law when I was very young. And police work also had some interest. Fortunately I dodged all of that and found my proper niche, but one might wonder "What if?" But I would like to watch a trial.
I have the intention to wander over when golf is rained out. That will not be for months, but perhaps one of my golf free Thursdays will lead me there.
I could. They print a pdf, maybe daily, with the details of what is going on in all the court rooms. There are a lot of courts. And there is a lot of things going on.
It was not unusual for a 9:00 am time to have four or more pre-trial hearings. Maybe they don't take a lot of time and gather them all there and dispense a bit of justice.
Other items were "Continued Jury Trial" and that might be the only thing scheduled for the afternoon.
A lot of details are in each entry. I was looking at the criminal section. You have the names of the defendant, the various attorneys and then a list of all the charges. The charges are all noted by the California penal code, by code, which is the section for an offense and then the paragraphs with a bit more details.
It looked from my small sample that it was not uncommon to charge the defendant with 20 or more items. Maybe this is "throw a whole bunch of stuff at the wall and maybe some will stick," or maybe this is the careful construction of specific details to properly ascertain what is reasonably provable.
But I kind of doubt the careful crafting bit. Very little of what I have seen in re the wheels of justice seem to be guided by careful craftsmen and craftswomen and craftspersons. But I must admit that my sample is quite small.
Now the reason I went looking is that as I mentioned, I am curious about all of this. I was considering the law when I was very young. And police work also had some interest. Fortunately I dodged all of that and found my proper niche, but one might wonder "What if?" But I would like to watch a trial.
I have the intention to wander over when golf is rained out. That will not be for months, but perhaps one of my golf free Thursdays will lead me there.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Disaster!
And I do mean a Bad Star!
My TaylorMade 56 degree sand iron with its lovely 15 degrees of bounce has started to flake the chrome in the hitting area! It was a minor blemish and then it grew. Now it's about 1/4 inch long and fairly sharp. You wouldn't want to run your finger across it.
I took it to Golf Galaxy and the guy there wouldn't even look at it. "That's what edges do."
Well, humpf. Now for a new equipment search. The really sad thing is I had read about not using the 60 degree wedge and moving to 56 for all around the green shots. I've been doing that for the last couple of rounds and it seemed to be working pretty well.
Sigh, the shrug. It's always something...
My TaylorMade 56 degree sand iron with its lovely 15 degrees of bounce has started to flake the chrome in the hitting area! It was a minor blemish and then it grew. Now it's about 1/4 inch long and fairly sharp. You wouldn't want to run your finger across it.
I took it to Golf Galaxy and the guy there wouldn't even look at it. "That's what edges do."
Well, humpf. Now for a new equipment search. The really sad thing is I had read about not using the 60 degree wedge and moving to 56 for all around the green shots. I've been doing that for the last couple of rounds and it seemed to be working pretty well.
Sigh, the shrug. It's always something...
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Golfers I've Met in Situ
I've played with some interesting folks and I thought, after two beers, that it might be an interesting post.
The National Security Guy: "We had advanced knowledge about almost all terrorist acts, but there was no political will to do anything about it."
The Iranian National: "What do the Iranians think about their government?" "We are unhappy!" "What do you want to happen? You must talk about all of this down at the coffee shop?" "We expect that the American government will come in and rescue us!"
The Pro Bowler: "They want to see us play with heavy pins and knock them all down!" This is interesting as it seems there is only one weight of pin.
The Economist: 'Why do economist have such a poor track record of prediction?" "The government steps in with its overly large feet and screws things up. Oh, I have a book, The Economy of Golf."
The City Planner: "What's with all the climate change requirement for any local project? (In Livermore all projects have to take into account climate change, whatever that is.) "We will never get rid of it. The consultants and the lawyers love this stuff."
Normal Guy: "What was your father like?" "I never knew my father. I had a lot of "uncles" though." Oops.
The National Security Guy: "We had advanced knowledge about almost all terrorist acts, but there was no political will to do anything about it."
The Iranian National: "What do the Iranians think about their government?" "We are unhappy!" "What do you want to happen? You must talk about all of this down at the coffee shop?" "We expect that the American government will come in and rescue us!"
The Pro Bowler: "They want to see us play with heavy pins and knock them all down!" This is interesting as it seems there is only one weight of pin.
The Economist: 'Why do economist have such a poor track record of prediction?" "The government steps in with its overly large feet and screws things up. Oh, I have a book, The Economy of Golf."
The City Planner: "What's with all the climate change requirement for any local project? (In Livermore all projects have to take into account climate change, whatever that is.) "We will never get rid of it. The consultants and the lawyers love this stuff."
Normal Guy: "What was your father like?" "I never knew my father. I had a lot of "uncles" though." Oops.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Notes on The Justice System
I had Jury duty the other day. I was pulled from the main jury room and sent off to a court room.
That is better than sitting in the jury room all day and then going home.
It was a civil case. A young guy caused a car accident. His car hit a car and that car hit the plaintiff's car. The plaintiff was claiming injury and wanted a few dollars. They didn't tell us how much he was asking.
I've been on a few juries, but never seen a trial. There was always a settlement before the trial was to start. One was about a rock group, Third Eye Blind and they had kicked off one of the group and he wanted some money.
The other was in Chicago many years ago. It was a criminal case. There were questions about gruesome evidence and torture and kidnapping and such. We were to start the case the next day. Of course we all had to come into court and then were told the guy plea bargained for 16 years and 1 day in the slammer. I've recently run across the reason for the extra day. For some reason that allows for a much earlier parole possibility.
Ok, so back to modern day Oakland. They seat an initial jury and there is a questionarre that is passed around and each potential juror answers the questions via a microphone to the court. The lawyers get to kick off 6 jurors. Then they add more folks from the pool and we keep going.
They needed 12 plus one alternate. They called more folks to join the hot seats. I was the last of this second set. When the lawyers used up all their objections, the full jury was seated. I was left in the alternate spot and there were no others still in the hot seats.
But, wait! While they have the jury, they did not have the alternate yet. They called two more. They answered the questionnaire. The lawyers now get one more objection. The plaintiff used his one objection to send me home! That's good as Tuesday was a golf day. Ok, every day that ends in Y is a golf day. Strangely that is not a valid excuse in this court of law.
I find the whole process quite interesting. Also my thinking on a lot of how justice is dispensed has changed radically over the years.
I have become quite the fan of "justice theater." I used to be curious about the idea of profession jurors. But I think grabbing a bunch of folks and putting on a show and then asking for a verdict is about as good as it is going to be.
I was impressed with this judge, too. He was friendly and open and seemed to be fairly bright. Other judges have not impressed me with their logic, personality, nor intelligence. That was an unexpected bonus.
The other funny thing was that it seemed that this judge had had some sensitivity training. No longer is it "foreman" of a jury, but "foreperson." Also whenever a prospective juror related some history about something that might be relevant to their selection, the judge always said, "Thanks for sharing!" It reminded me of grade school or some such and not of a gathering of grown ups.
Since auto accidents was part of the case, we were all asked if we had been in any. It seems that about half the folks there had been rear ended and usually more than once. And as I thought about it, it's happened to me 3 times. Thanks for sharing!
So I miss out on the experience for another year. I'm almost tempted to go in some rainy day and watch a trial.
That is better than sitting in the jury room all day and then going home.
It was a civil case. A young guy caused a car accident. His car hit a car and that car hit the plaintiff's car. The plaintiff was claiming injury and wanted a few dollars. They didn't tell us how much he was asking.
I've been on a few juries, but never seen a trial. There was always a settlement before the trial was to start. One was about a rock group, Third Eye Blind and they had kicked off one of the group and he wanted some money.
The other was in Chicago many years ago. It was a criminal case. There were questions about gruesome evidence and torture and kidnapping and such. We were to start the case the next day. Of course we all had to come into court and then were told the guy plea bargained for 16 years and 1 day in the slammer. I've recently run across the reason for the extra day. For some reason that allows for a much earlier parole possibility.
Ok, so back to modern day Oakland. They seat an initial jury and there is a questionarre that is passed around and each potential juror answers the questions via a microphone to the court. The lawyers get to kick off 6 jurors. Then they add more folks from the pool and we keep going.
They needed 12 plus one alternate. They called more folks to join the hot seats. I was the last of this second set. When the lawyers used up all their objections, the full jury was seated. I was left in the alternate spot and there were no others still in the hot seats.
But, wait! While they have the jury, they did not have the alternate yet. They called two more. They answered the questionnaire. The lawyers now get one more objection. The plaintiff used his one objection to send me home! That's good as Tuesday was a golf day. Ok, every day that ends in Y is a golf day. Strangely that is not a valid excuse in this court of law.
I find the whole process quite interesting. Also my thinking on a lot of how justice is dispensed has changed radically over the years.
I have become quite the fan of "justice theater." I used to be curious about the idea of profession jurors. But I think grabbing a bunch of folks and putting on a show and then asking for a verdict is about as good as it is going to be.
I was impressed with this judge, too. He was friendly and open and seemed to be fairly bright. Other judges have not impressed me with their logic, personality, nor intelligence. That was an unexpected bonus.
The other funny thing was that it seemed that this judge had had some sensitivity training. No longer is it "foreman" of a jury, but "foreperson." Also whenever a prospective juror related some history about something that might be relevant to their selection, the judge always said, "Thanks for sharing!" It reminded me of grade school or some such and not of a gathering of grown ups.
Since auto accidents was part of the case, we were all asked if we had been in any. It seems that about half the folks there had been rear ended and usually more than once. And as I thought about it, it's happened to me 3 times. Thanks for sharing!
So I miss out on the experience for another year. I'm almost tempted to go in some rainy day and watch a trial.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Updates and Current Thoughts
Sorry for the long silence. Things have been happening and for the most part they are going well.
I shot 79 at Wente, the tough course in Livermore, yesterday. Second time I've managed to do that. I was able to get off the tee all day. Might have dropped one shot due to an errant drive, but that's it. I found myslef hitting short irons into greens and that's my money shot.
Then I was lent a Scotty Cameron putter to try. It's 34 inches, which is about 2.5 inches shorter than my current SeeMore putter. It's a mallet, but asymmetrical, as the toe end has a bit more mass than the heel section.
I used it today at the muni course and made 4 birdies. I had a ten footer to shot one under par, but pulled it a bit. I've never been under par, so this round matched my personal best.
I hit a lot of greens. I took a penalty stroke on 9 when I hit a tee shot through the fairway into the pond. I've never been in the pond before. I'll have to rethink the club for this hole. That penalty stroke saw me around in even par. I had two birdies on the front and the only other bogey was a plugged bunker shot that I couldn't get up and down.
What I am trying to do with the swing for the last couple of days is basically do as little as possible. Slow backswing and slow down swing. I'm letting the arms and hands and club just do what the centripetal forces require them to do, i.e., move out away from the body and eventually give the ball a wack. I find that as long as my shoulders stay on plane, I am good to go. Two rounds like this and I'm all smiles.
I've found this swing is making me longer and straighter, which is a nice combination. The tee shots are matching my short irons, which is all I want. The duck hooks have gone away and the miss is now a bit of a push. Oh, I pulled one today and that cost a stroke, but otherwise it's a new game for me.
So empirically I should gobble up this putter with all these birdies.. It's used and not very expensive. But I'll try it for a couple more rounds and then decide. I found it was pretty deadly on the shorter putts, but maybe a bit light for longer ones. I had some trouble getting longer putts to the hole.
Ted and I have an early round tomorrow at 6:45. It will probably be cool for a few holes. Then Friday is a foursome with the gang at 9:00. The weather has been variable this last week. There is some wind and allergies are up, but it's very cool for the most part. It's comfortable and all, but a fleece is required for the early holes.
What's nice about early tee times is that the pace of play is usually quite fast. We played today in about 4 hours with very little waiting. What a pleasure. The "hit, walk, and wait" type of play drives me nuts and tends to allow my back to tighten up.
As you can see there is not a lot of news and my bragging is probably pretty boring. But as the technical exploration seems to have ended for a bit, there is not much else.
I guess I might add the odd thoughts on the slower swing with better contact. I'm not losing any distance. This would indicate that contact is much more important to distance than swing speed. Or perhaps it would be better expressed that the contact has to come first and then worry about distance. I find that one can play pretty well with a straight and consistent ball flight.
Ok, that's it for now. I'll drop a line as new things come up. Thanks for reading.
I shot 79 at Wente, the tough course in Livermore, yesterday. Second time I've managed to do that. I was able to get off the tee all day. Might have dropped one shot due to an errant drive, but that's it. I found myslef hitting short irons into greens and that's my money shot.
Then I was lent a Scotty Cameron putter to try. It's 34 inches, which is about 2.5 inches shorter than my current SeeMore putter. It's a mallet, but asymmetrical, as the toe end has a bit more mass than the heel section.
I used it today at the muni course and made 4 birdies. I had a ten footer to shot one under par, but pulled it a bit. I've never been under par, so this round matched my personal best.
I hit a lot of greens. I took a penalty stroke on 9 when I hit a tee shot through the fairway into the pond. I've never been in the pond before. I'll have to rethink the club for this hole. That penalty stroke saw me around in even par. I had two birdies on the front and the only other bogey was a plugged bunker shot that I couldn't get up and down.
What I am trying to do with the swing for the last couple of days is basically do as little as possible. Slow backswing and slow down swing. I'm letting the arms and hands and club just do what the centripetal forces require them to do, i.e., move out away from the body and eventually give the ball a wack. I find that as long as my shoulders stay on plane, I am good to go. Two rounds like this and I'm all smiles.
I've found this swing is making me longer and straighter, which is a nice combination. The tee shots are matching my short irons, which is all I want. The duck hooks have gone away and the miss is now a bit of a push. Oh, I pulled one today and that cost a stroke, but otherwise it's a new game for me.
So empirically I should gobble up this putter with all these birdies.. It's used and not very expensive. But I'll try it for a couple more rounds and then decide. I found it was pretty deadly on the shorter putts, but maybe a bit light for longer ones. I had some trouble getting longer putts to the hole.
Ted and I have an early round tomorrow at 6:45. It will probably be cool for a few holes. Then Friday is a foursome with the gang at 9:00. The weather has been variable this last week. There is some wind and allergies are up, but it's very cool for the most part. It's comfortable and all, but a fleece is required for the early holes.
What's nice about early tee times is that the pace of play is usually quite fast. We played today in about 4 hours with very little waiting. What a pleasure. The "hit, walk, and wait" type of play drives me nuts and tends to allow my back to tighten up.
As you can see there is not a lot of news and my bragging is probably pretty boring. But as the technical exploration seems to have ended for a bit, there is not much else.
I guess I might add the odd thoughts on the slower swing with better contact. I'm not losing any distance. This would indicate that contact is much more important to distance than swing speed. Or perhaps it would be better expressed that the contact has to come first and then worry about distance. I find that one can play pretty well with a straight and consistent ball flight.
Ok, that's it for now. I'll drop a line as new things come up. Thanks for reading.
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