Another rhetorical question to start it all off. Sorry to all the purists out there.
Also, this may degenerate into a semi brag session, so I should apologize for that too. But, there is golf news, so I shall say no more about form and content and just provide some!
It's Friday evening as I type and I played Thursday at Wente from the Blue tees, which are a bit long for my current abilities. I start with a routine bogey as I can't get it up and down from a short side. But then simple pars on two and three and four. Ok, they were not that simple. I hit a tree on two, but go on in regulation. Blasted to a foot on three when I hit a fat shot into a short par 3, and then a lovely pitch up a hill and a three foot putt on 4.
Five is a short par 5 and I have a wedge in for my third shot, but it rolls out a bit. Not unexpected on this green. But I slam a putt in from 20 feet and I'm back to even par. That score holds up until 9, which is long and I find it difficult that day. There might have been a ball out of bounds, I don't tend to remember holes like that successfully. My father would term that "selective memory repression." I don't think that is a bad thing in the game of golf -- you can't let bad holes make furture holes worse. Let go, let go and expect better outcomes ahead! That's my motto.
We'll let the rest of Thursday slide away and we can talk of today. I looked at a couple of videos last night. One is from Athletic Motion Golf (AMG), which has a lot of data from professional and amateur swings. They had a nice video on the take away and the big three errors they see. AMG was also kind enough to provide some drills to help the golfers who can't get it right without a bit of help.
I'm a firm believer that if you take it back badly, you're not going to come back down well. So the information was quite useful. And it changed the way I've been taking it back. Golf is interesting that while repetitive, strange changes creep in slowly and take over. Then you wake up and decide that you have lost an important element and some ugly thing has taken its place. I was seeing this in my backswing. I was trying to get my arms out of it and the AMG people were saying that it really needs to be there! None of this "one piece takeaway" stuff.
Ok, I'm willing to change bad habits unless it's ice cream or licorice or something. And today I put that into play.
There were two elements I wanted to incorporate and one was the armsie takeaway and the other was the left hip moving dead left to start the downswing. And by the Golfing Gods o' Scotland it worked. While it was not my best scoring day ever, it was in the top couple of days in hitting the ball. I split fairways -- even with the driver!, hit shots close to pins and even putted pretty well. Three birdies on the day, distance control was excellent, contacts were in the middle of the club face, etc., etc. Ah, what a day to be alive!
I'll try to remember the changes and make sure I apply them next time out. Not the easiest of task, mind you. And as it always happens, the game gels on Friday and then I have a couple of days off to forget what I was doing! But I found an old Levenger note pad and I've kept it by my side for a week now. I've covered about 8 pages with notes and comments. Hopefully that will maintain some continuity going forward.
To the future! May all your swings be smooth and unhurried!
Friday, May 10, 2019
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
A Vital Topic
Today's topic are the evils of sun screen.
Yes, I know a lot of you think sun screen is the second coming and some of you might have noticed that I'm stating that there are more than one evil associated with sun creme with my use of a plural verb and subject, but there is a dark side to these oozie bits of body goo.
Firstly we should suggest that there may be a couple of good things about it. One being that the skin is protected from UV ray damage and yes, if you have delicate skin, this can be useful. Skin cancer is one issue and there are little things that seem to thrive in the sun and not covered.
However, the goo also blocks the skin from creating Vitamin D. We've all heard the horror stories that 30% of all Americans are short in their vitamin D levels and this is going to cause problems and please take our super-dooper vitamin D tablet, now, daily, and forever.
By the way, vitamin D is not a vitamin but a hormone. I understand that there are about 4 different types in the body. One of the interesting things that it "seems" to do is to protect you from heart attack! As one doctor put it, swapping heart attacks for skin cancer might be the best trade off; we can easily cure skin cancer. My prediction on all of this is that we have the first generations coming into late adulthood who have been spared that childhood beach back burn and who think that a bit of tan is the devil's work. We shall see if life long use of these chemicals will be an issue.
I also read a scientific paper's abstract the other day that measured how much of the active ingredients in sun screen were modifying body chemistry with their use. Of course they were slathering the subjects with daily usage and over 70% of their bodies. They did see the chemicals show up in the blood work. Dangerous? Hard to say, but the paper did suggest that more research was required! If you are not familiar with scientific papers, the last is always a request for more research funds. There are a lot of folks out there who are deathly afraid of chemicals, who always eat "organic" and whose bodies are very sensitive to strange ingestions, and those folks might want to tread carefully around the sun screen displays!
Finally, in a new area of interest, I've found and can confirm that there is another reason to avoid the use of these dangerous chemicals... I discovered this while slapping some on my face this morning. Yes, I use it, don't eat organic, but keep the old arms and legs out in the sun for proper vitamin D generation. I conclude from my inadvertent discovery, n = 1, that sun screen is dangerous because you can get this stuff in your eye and if that happens it will sting. It's close to two hours after my application to a lower lid and I'm still feeling a burning sensation!
Be careful out there my friends and moderation in all things! Ah, I guess, in moderation too.
Yes, I know a lot of you think sun screen is the second coming and some of you might have noticed that I'm stating that there are more than one evil associated with sun creme with my use of a plural verb and subject, but there is a dark side to these oozie bits of body goo.
Firstly we should suggest that there may be a couple of good things about it. One being that the skin is protected from UV ray damage and yes, if you have delicate skin, this can be useful. Skin cancer is one issue and there are little things that seem to thrive in the sun and not covered.
However, the goo also blocks the skin from creating Vitamin D. We've all heard the horror stories that 30% of all Americans are short in their vitamin D levels and this is going to cause problems and please take our super-dooper vitamin D tablet, now, daily, and forever.
By the way, vitamin D is not a vitamin but a hormone. I understand that there are about 4 different types in the body. One of the interesting things that it "seems" to do is to protect you from heart attack! As one doctor put it, swapping heart attacks for skin cancer might be the best trade off; we can easily cure skin cancer. My prediction on all of this is that we have the first generations coming into late adulthood who have been spared that childhood beach back burn and who think that a bit of tan is the devil's work. We shall see if life long use of these chemicals will be an issue.
I also read a scientific paper's abstract the other day that measured how much of the active ingredients in sun screen were modifying body chemistry with their use. Of course they were slathering the subjects with daily usage and over 70% of their bodies. They did see the chemicals show up in the blood work. Dangerous? Hard to say, but the paper did suggest that more research was required! If you are not familiar with scientific papers, the last is always a request for more research funds. There are a lot of folks out there who are deathly afraid of chemicals, who always eat "organic" and whose bodies are very sensitive to strange ingestions, and those folks might want to tread carefully around the sun screen displays!
Finally, in a new area of interest, I've found and can confirm that there is another reason to avoid the use of these dangerous chemicals... I discovered this while slapping some on my face this morning. Yes, I use it, don't eat organic, but keep the old arms and legs out in the sun for proper vitamin D generation. I conclude from my inadvertent discovery, n = 1, that sun screen is dangerous because you can get this stuff in your eye and if that happens it will sting. It's close to two hours after my application to a lower lid and I'm still feeling a burning sensation!
Be careful out there my friends and moderation in all things! Ah, I guess, in moderation too.
Saturday, May 4, 2019
LPGA Report
The LPGA was at the Lake Merced golf course, which is in Daly City. Paul, a golf instructor for the local community college, gave me a ticket and since Barb was off at plant places, off I went on the BART. I have a new Senior Bart card that I wanted to try out too. All in all, it was time for high adventure.
It took about an hour and a half to get there. I just missed the train from Pleasanton and spent 17,33 minutes waiting for the next one. The Bart cars were pretty empty on the way out. The tournament provided a shuttle service from the station to the course. It was couple of minute's drive and then I was on site.
I'd been to this course before when I went to see an American Junior Golf Association tournament. It's a hilly course with mostly Cyprus trees, wide fairways and Po Ana grass greens.
When I watch a tournament on site there are a couple of things I like to do. I will walk the course if I've not been there, I like to watch the players at the driving range, and find a good spot where there is a lot of action near a green. I wandered on to the course and walked over to the range. The ladies were warming up before going out. The range had distances out to 250 and the gals were getting there.
I'll get back to what I noticed there in a moment. From the range I wandered just a bit and found the back of the fifth green. From a virtual tour I just looked at, this is 420 yards long. The gals were playing it as a par 5. Now, that's a nice distance for me for a par 5, but I'm surprised that it wasn't a par four for the ladies. Most of the gals were getting there in two shots. The green is pretty fast and a lot of shots that landed on would run to the back and even off into the light rough.
There were traps to both sides of the green. The green is triangular in shape and the pin was placed in the back right corner. There are drop offs if you miss it right, so most of the shots were coming in left and a lot of those were catching the bunker.
The spectator ropes were placed very close to the edge of the green. It was a great place to watch and had everything I wanted so I settled in. I watched about 15 groups go through. I could see them with my useful binoculars hitting from the fairway, then whatever work they needed around the greens. There was a lot of chipping and pitching and many long sand shots. One gal rolled over the back on the short side and partly down the slope. She managed to flop the ball into the hole for an easy birdie.
I think I saw about two bogies, a few pars, many birdies and just the one eagle. Again, it was all of 420 yards and on a good day I could have gotten there in two. The gals were good around the green. It was pretty fast and the putts and chips didn't need a lot of effort to get the ball to the hole. The long bunker shots were usually played to the center of the green. One gal got aggressive and ran it through the green and ended up with the rare bogey.
I sat near a gal in her 70s who with her husband comes down from Humbolt county to watch the tournament every year. They are on site for all 4 days. She golfs about 2 or 3 times a week, has a grandson who plays. We exchanged some golf stories and watched each other's stuff while water was fetched or refreshments procured.
There is an old line supposedly by Mark Twain about the coldest Winter he ever spent was the Summer he spent in San Francisco. Lake Merced is a lot like that. I was quite cold on my prior visit, so this time I brought fleece, double walled wind breaker, long wind breaker pants, and my Winter hat. It worked well and I was comfortable. Most of the players were bundled up too. Long sleeve shirts, vests, long pants, hats, etc. Except for the gal from England who wore a couple of thin top layers and then fairly short shorts. Yipes! It may all come down to what you are used to, I guess. I saw her later on the range and she was still in minimal clothing.
After I watched all the groups go through, I went back to the range. I wanted to take some video, which was explicitly against the rules, but no one seemed to care, though there wasn't a lot of it going on. One of the things that struck me was how many of the gals were still working on technique. Now this is a bit obvious and every time I've been to a pro tournament there are players with aiming sticks and towels under their arms and such. There were a couple of coaches working with the gals and stressing things that I was aware of. It struck me, this time, that the need to investigate technique would have been dispensed with years ago. The gals are the best in the world, the assumption that you'd have to know it pretty well by the time you got to that level, but empirically this is wrong.
As I keep at this game, I find more and more things to think about and try. The gals have been at it longer than I have and supposedly at a deeper level. Of course there is the stereotype about the dumb jock who can do it, but doesn't know nor care how. A bit of the old savant, I guess. Coaching for tournament players is a profession; there must a need for it. So we can conclude that the pros to some degree don't know what they should be or are doing.
Here are the technical things that I noticed. The pros swing slowly. The shoulders turn, the arms come up and then there is very slow move back to the ball. It looks about 1/3 as fast as I think I swing. I'm determined to work on this. It should provide better contact and probably higher ball speed.
I ran across an article about releases and rolling the forearms looked to be useful. Of course I ran across another article that suggested that you don't want to do that. Don't roll and just rotate through the swing. The ladies don't seem to roll the forearms.
Finally let's talk about trying to spin a chip shot. If we think about how this is done with a tennis racket, we have a lot of motion that is in a different direction than the ultimate direction of the ball. The greater the difference between these two directions trades forward motion for spin. Many of the short shots the gals made around the greens was done not as a swing, but as a glancing blow to the ball and club would not be completing the swing -- it would be stuck into the ground. Its motion restricted to providing mostly spin.
So, next up are experiments in tempo, wrist release, and spin creation.
I had had enough and was ready to go home. I walked out, caught the shuttle back to the Bart station and was on my way. It was a nice day and it's been a long time since I was at a pro tournament. The gals put on a good show for me. They are not so far removed from my abilities that I can imagine being able to emulate their skills one day.
It took about an hour and a half to get there. I just missed the train from Pleasanton and spent 17,33 minutes waiting for the next one. The Bart cars were pretty empty on the way out. The tournament provided a shuttle service from the station to the course. It was couple of minute's drive and then I was on site.
I'd been to this course before when I went to see an American Junior Golf Association tournament. It's a hilly course with mostly Cyprus trees, wide fairways and Po Ana grass greens.
When I watch a tournament on site there are a couple of things I like to do. I will walk the course if I've not been there, I like to watch the players at the driving range, and find a good spot where there is a lot of action near a green. I wandered on to the course and walked over to the range. The ladies were warming up before going out. The range had distances out to 250 and the gals were getting there.
I'll get back to what I noticed there in a moment. From the range I wandered just a bit and found the back of the fifth green. From a virtual tour I just looked at, this is 420 yards long. The gals were playing it as a par 5. Now, that's a nice distance for me for a par 5, but I'm surprised that it wasn't a par four for the ladies. Most of the gals were getting there in two shots. The green is pretty fast and a lot of shots that landed on would run to the back and even off into the light rough.
There were traps to both sides of the green. The green is triangular in shape and the pin was placed in the back right corner. There are drop offs if you miss it right, so most of the shots were coming in left and a lot of those were catching the bunker.
The spectator ropes were placed very close to the edge of the green. It was a great place to watch and had everything I wanted so I settled in. I watched about 15 groups go through. I could see them with my useful binoculars hitting from the fairway, then whatever work they needed around the greens. There was a lot of chipping and pitching and many long sand shots. One gal rolled over the back on the short side and partly down the slope. She managed to flop the ball into the hole for an easy birdie.
I think I saw about two bogies, a few pars, many birdies and just the one eagle. Again, it was all of 420 yards and on a good day I could have gotten there in two. The gals were good around the green. It was pretty fast and the putts and chips didn't need a lot of effort to get the ball to the hole. The long bunker shots were usually played to the center of the green. One gal got aggressive and ran it through the green and ended up with the rare bogey.
I sat near a gal in her 70s who with her husband comes down from Humbolt county to watch the tournament every year. They are on site for all 4 days. She golfs about 2 or 3 times a week, has a grandson who plays. We exchanged some golf stories and watched each other's stuff while water was fetched or refreshments procured.
There is an old line supposedly by Mark Twain about the coldest Winter he ever spent was the Summer he spent in San Francisco. Lake Merced is a lot like that. I was quite cold on my prior visit, so this time I brought fleece, double walled wind breaker, long wind breaker pants, and my Winter hat. It worked well and I was comfortable. Most of the players were bundled up too. Long sleeve shirts, vests, long pants, hats, etc. Except for the gal from England who wore a couple of thin top layers and then fairly short shorts. Yipes! It may all come down to what you are used to, I guess. I saw her later on the range and she was still in minimal clothing.
After I watched all the groups go through, I went back to the range. I wanted to take some video, which was explicitly against the rules, but no one seemed to care, though there wasn't a lot of it going on. One of the things that struck me was how many of the gals were still working on technique. Now this is a bit obvious and every time I've been to a pro tournament there are players with aiming sticks and towels under their arms and such. There were a couple of coaches working with the gals and stressing things that I was aware of. It struck me, this time, that the need to investigate technique would have been dispensed with years ago. The gals are the best in the world, the assumption that you'd have to know it pretty well by the time you got to that level, but empirically this is wrong.
As I keep at this game, I find more and more things to think about and try. The gals have been at it longer than I have and supposedly at a deeper level. Of course there is the stereotype about the dumb jock who can do it, but doesn't know nor care how. A bit of the old savant, I guess. Coaching for tournament players is a profession; there must a need for it. So we can conclude that the pros to some degree don't know what they should be or are doing.
Here are the technical things that I noticed. The pros swing slowly. The shoulders turn, the arms come up and then there is very slow move back to the ball. It looks about 1/3 as fast as I think I swing. I'm determined to work on this. It should provide better contact and probably higher ball speed.
I ran across an article about releases and rolling the forearms looked to be useful. Of course I ran across another article that suggested that you don't want to do that. Don't roll and just rotate through the swing. The ladies don't seem to roll the forearms.
Finally let's talk about trying to spin a chip shot. If we think about how this is done with a tennis racket, we have a lot of motion that is in a different direction than the ultimate direction of the ball. The greater the difference between these two directions trades forward motion for spin. Many of the short shots the gals made around the greens was done not as a swing, but as a glancing blow to the ball and club would not be completing the swing -- it would be stuck into the ground. Its motion restricted to providing mostly spin.
So, next up are experiments in tempo, wrist release, and spin creation.
I had had enough and was ready to go home. I walked out, caught the shuttle back to the Bart station and was on my way. It was a nice day and it's been a long time since I was at a pro tournament. The gals put on a good show for me. They are not so far removed from my abilities that I can imagine being able to emulate their skills one day.
Monday, April 29, 2019
An Exceptional Day
Over the weekend I had a couple of range sessions where I simplified my golf swing.
I was hoping that I could carry this to the course. Swings change when you put a ball down and they change again when there are consequences to bad hits. I was delighted to find that all was going to work on course too.
I played some very flawless golf today in re the hitting of the ball. The path through the golf course was a broad, comfortable, yellow brick road. I was master of my fate for the most part. Now, it was not perfect and the problems that showed up were sometimes due to hitting the ball too well. How is that possible, I can hear you ask. Let's look at the second hole, par 5. It's about 480 yards and I started with a 4 wood down the middle, then a hybrid to 100 yards out. The pin is in the middle and there is a touch of breeze in my face. I took an extra club and promptly hit the ball over the back edge of the green. I got up and down just fine, but it was an interesting problem to have. Usually you can't hit a ball over a green when hitting into the wind. Hmm, new neural pathways were burning.
The next hole was a bit like the second. I hit a 4 iron and had 135 yards to the pin with a right to left wind. Over the past couple of sessions, I've recalibrated my irons and 130 is now the 9 iron. It was an eight not too many days ago. An effortless shot to the center of the green followed. Sadly the wind was not able to move the ball at all back to the pin.
And so it went through seven holes. I was one under par at that time and not really close to a bogey. Eight is like the 12th at the Masters. It's about 140 yards to the middle and there is a pond that lies in front of the green. You might have 6 feet between water and green and there is a trap right and one long right and then two green high on the left. There is no run up, you have to carry the water or bend the ball around. Now, a couple of the guys I play with excel in the "bend it around shot." In the "but wait there is more" category, it always seems to me that the water affects the ball flight and one more club is usually required.
Thus being as well informed as playing it 30 times or so, I hit my 150 yard club. The line is wonderful and once again it sails over the green and I'm up in the mounds at the back of the green. There is no trap or dogwood there, but it's a daunting flop to a down hill green and water beyond. I flop it well, but can't make the putt and I'm back to even. Again, it was an error due to hitting the ball too well...
During the back, some of the old habits came back. It's so hard to make changes. But I think I shot one over on the back for a 75 all day. It was a different round with different challenges. We shall see, it's a busy golf week ahead.
I was hoping that I could carry this to the course. Swings change when you put a ball down and they change again when there are consequences to bad hits. I was delighted to find that all was going to work on course too.
I played some very flawless golf today in re the hitting of the ball. The path through the golf course was a broad, comfortable, yellow brick road. I was master of my fate for the most part. Now, it was not perfect and the problems that showed up were sometimes due to hitting the ball too well. How is that possible, I can hear you ask. Let's look at the second hole, par 5. It's about 480 yards and I started with a 4 wood down the middle, then a hybrid to 100 yards out. The pin is in the middle and there is a touch of breeze in my face. I took an extra club and promptly hit the ball over the back edge of the green. I got up and down just fine, but it was an interesting problem to have. Usually you can't hit a ball over a green when hitting into the wind. Hmm, new neural pathways were burning.
The next hole was a bit like the second. I hit a 4 iron and had 135 yards to the pin with a right to left wind. Over the past couple of sessions, I've recalibrated my irons and 130 is now the 9 iron. It was an eight not too many days ago. An effortless shot to the center of the green followed. Sadly the wind was not able to move the ball at all back to the pin.
And so it went through seven holes. I was one under par at that time and not really close to a bogey. Eight is like the 12th at the Masters. It's about 140 yards to the middle and there is a pond that lies in front of the green. You might have 6 feet between water and green and there is a trap right and one long right and then two green high on the left. There is no run up, you have to carry the water or bend the ball around. Now, a couple of the guys I play with excel in the "bend it around shot." In the "but wait there is more" category, it always seems to me that the water affects the ball flight and one more club is usually required.
Thus being as well informed as playing it 30 times or so, I hit my 150 yard club. The line is wonderful and once again it sails over the green and I'm up in the mounds at the back of the green. There is no trap or dogwood there, but it's a daunting flop to a down hill green and water beyond. I flop it well, but can't make the putt and I'm back to even. Again, it was an error due to hitting the ball too well...
During the back, some of the old habits came back. It's so hard to make changes. But I think I shot one over on the back for a 75 all day. It was a different round with different challenges. We shall see, it's a busy golf week ahead.
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Golf Week in Review
It was a busy week. Got out twice on Monday, took Tuesday off, then played Wednesday through Friday. Then some pitch and putt Friday night and some putting challenge, bridge, and pickleball, again on Friday to round out a busy week. Oh, I did get to the range on Tuesday...
On Monday afternoon I played with Sonny and Walt over at a course called Monarch Bay. I've played it before but probably 25 years ago. I remembered next to nothing of the place. I did manage to rise to the occasion and was almost perfect around the greens. The longest up/down putt was probably 5 feet and I dropped with elan.
Of course, because golf is what it is, the next day I couldn't chip to save anyone's soul, much less my own.
There are developments in rest of the game, your reporter should pass on. The long game is getting better, albeit slowly. I had a very nice day at the range today and I'm working on getting my hands higher and closer to my head, aka, more upright. And, this is the important bit, make sure the lower body is stabilized before doing anything drastic with the upper body. It's that old conundrum of swinging slowly to hit the ball further. With the proper sequence of events the ball was going higher with all the clubs, club ball contact was very good, and directional control was all that anyone would want.
So the answer going forward is to be more patient while swinging. It's hard to do not being much of an athlete. Repetition and meditation are probably all that are required. The golfers' monastery has openings...
------
Brexit... I've long thought that the British were ready for self rule. Sadly it seems that the people in "control" don't think so and have been blocking the exit from the EU. A nation that once ruled large parts of the world are now bowing to their unelected overlords in Belgium.
And today I read that the Labour Party has officially declared that the world is in the midst of a "climate emergency." It seems that the 14 year old Greta Thunberg from Sweden was so convincing that it was going on; dear Greta actually skipped some school to drive home her point! She pointed out that in school they were shown pictures of starving polar bears! If that is not evidence that should awaken all nations, even those thousands of miles away, well, there probably just isn't any.
It seems that Greta wasn't told that all polar bears die of starvation. If you are the apex predator you live very nicely until you can't eat anymore. But, no, it must be due to too many cars on the M5 freeway. So the Labour party will want to get right on this and do what governments do when confronted with an emergency, and that is of course to raise taxes and restrict freedoms.
I don't know what the area of the UK is to that of the world. I do know that the US area is about one percent of the earth's surface. I suspect that the UK area is a bit smaller, it is not 4000 miles across for example. How much emergency will be averted by any action of the UK? Even if we were to scrape the UK free of all human beings, could we even measure the difference? I don't think so... But seeing that we haven't measured any emergency yet, it's kind of a mute point...
Oh and in this dangerously warming world, we are expecting snow this week in Chicago... And we are expecting maybe 8 inches. I lived there for 30 years and I don't think I saw snow in late April. I just checked and it seems that the last time it snowed over an inch was in 1940. There were some in May 1966, less than an inch, so it was in my time line, but not in my memory.
Here's my prediction in re climate: the next choke point of the human race is the next ice age, not some run away warming that is the current rage. Might see it in the next 30 years too. There are some Russian scientists that are expounding on this point.
Ok, that's about all for this post. Lot's of exciting things going on. I'm looking forward to the Democratic primaries; lots of excitement there!
On Monday afternoon I played with Sonny and Walt over at a course called Monarch Bay. I've played it before but probably 25 years ago. I remembered next to nothing of the place. I did manage to rise to the occasion and was almost perfect around the greens. The longest up/down putt was probably 5 feet and I dropped with elan.
Of course, because golf is what it is, the next day I couldn't chip to save anyone's soul, much less my own.
There are developments in rest of the game, your reporter should pass on. The long game is getting better, albeit slowly. I had a very nice day at the range today and I'm working on getting my hands higher and closer to my head, aka, more upright. And, this is the important bit, make sure the lower body is stabilized before doing anything drastic with the upper body. It's that old conundrum of swinging slowly to hit the ball further. With the proper sequence of events the ball was going higher with all the clubs, club ball contact was very good, and directional control was all that anyone would want.
So the answer going forward is to be more patient while swinging. It's hard to do not being much of an athlete. Repetition and meditation are probably all that are required. The golfers' monastery has openings...
------
Brexit... I've long thought that the British were ready for self rule. Sadly it seems that the people in "control" don't think so and have been blocking the exit from the EU. A nation that once ruled large parts of the world are now bowing to their unelected overlords in Belgium.
And today I read that the Labour Party has officially declared that the world is in the midst of a "climate emergency." It seems that the 14 year old Greta Thunberg from Sweden was so convincing that it was going on; dear Greta actually skipped some school to drive home her point! She pointed out that in school they were shown pictures of starving polar bears! If that is not evidence that should awaken all nations, even those thousands of miles away, well, there probably just isn't any.
It seems that Greta wasn't told that all polar bears die of starvation. If you are the apex predator you live very nicely until you can't eat anymore. But, no, it must be due to too many cars on the M5 freeway. So the Labour party will want to get right on this and do what governments do when confronted with an emergency, and that is of course to raise taxes and restrict freedoms.
I don't know what the area of the UK is to that of the world. I do know that the US area is about one percent of the earth's surface. I suspect that the UK area is a bit smaller, it is not 4000 miles across for example. How much emergency will be averted by any action of the UK? Even if we were to scrape the UK free of all human beings, could we even measure the difference? I don't think so... But seeing that we haven't measured any emergency yet, it's kind of a mute point...
Oh and in this dangerously warming world, we are expecting snow this week in Chicago... And we are expecting maybe 8 inches. I lived there for 30 years and I don't think I saw snow in late April. I just checked and it seems that the last time it snowed over an inch was in 1940. There were some in May 1966, less than an inch, so it was in my time line, but not in my memory.
Here's my prediction in re climate: the next choke point of the human race is the next ice age, not some run away warming that is the current rage. Might see it in the next 30 years too. There are some Russian scientists that are expounding on this point.
Ok, that's about all for this post. Lot's of exciting things going on. I'm looking forward to the Democratic primaries; lots of excitement there!
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Second Best Round Ever!
There were inklings out there... On Monday I shot one under for the back nine at Las Positas. That was rare. There were some miracle pars in there to make it happen. Hate to rely on that sort of thing.
Today I was applying some technique that I saw on Instagram. The video was shot from behind a player and on his downswing he dropped his hands right back where they started and continued to rotate his body to finish the shot. So no attempt to fling the arms or flip the wrists or much of anything else.
Hmm, I can do that and I don't think that is what I do for the most part. I'm used to slowing the body to allow the arms to swing out and hit the ball. However it looks from the clip that the arms are going to get to the ball without any help! And in practice it works and works well.
I shot a one over front nine with one birdie and a three putt. I was hitting the ball close and 15 feet was a long putt. Only missed a couple of greens and couldn't get it up and down once. I exploded out of a bunker and the ball leaped to land.
On the back nine I continued to hit the ball very solidly and rack up easy pars. There were some miracle ones too. Let me discuss 13, a 550 yard par 5. I hook the drive under a tree. Bang it out from there almost on the driving range. I punch out with a 7 iron and almost hit a tree and bounce through a sand trap. Then off a down hill lie I hit a pitching wedge to 15 feet and make a fast left to right slider, which if it hadn't gone in would have been 6 feet past the hole. Ted looked up and said with a touch of irony, "Nice Par!"
I couldn't get it up and down from a fairway bunker on 14, but then chipped in for birdie on 15, made a 5 footer for birdie on 16 and putted from the fringe, it dropped, for birdie on 17. On 18 I had a 20 footer for the fourth birdie in a row. Hit a great putt, but left it on the low side. It remained as a tap in for a one under 71. Second time under par for 18. All of 10 putts for the back nine -- Ted is my statistician and putts from off the green are not putts in his world view.
The swing is simpler with what I am trying to do. The distances are good and possibly a bit better. The sound of the club on the ball is different and inspirational.
Off to Wente tomorrow, hope it lasts!
Today I was applying some technique that I saw on Instagram. The video was shot from behind a player and on his downswing he dropped his hands right back where they started and continued to rotate his body to finish the shot. So no attempt to fling the arms or flip the wrists or much of anything else.
Hmm, I can do that and I don't think that is what I do for the most part. I'm used to slowing the body to allow the arms to swing out and hit the ball. However it looks from the clip that the arms are going to get to the ball without any help! And in practice it works and works well.
I shot a one over front nine with one birdie and a three putt. I was hitting the ball close and 15 feet was a long putt. Only missed a couple of greens and couldn't get it up and down once. I exploded out of a bunker and the ball leaped to land.
On the back nine I continued to hit the ball very solidly and rack up easy pars. There were some miracle ones too. Let me discuss 13, a 550 yard par 5. I hook the drive under a tree. Bang it out from there almost on the driving range. I punch out with a 7 iron and almost hit a tree and bounce through a sand trap. Then off a down hill lie I hit a pitching wedge to 15 feet and make a fast left to right slider, which if it hadn't gone in would have been 6 feet past the hole. Ted looked up and said with a touch of irony, "Nice Par!"
I couldn't get it up and down from a fairway bunker on 14, but then chipped in for birdie on 15, made a 5 footer for birdie on 16 and putted from the fringe, it dropped, for birdie on 17. On 18 I had a 20 footer for the fourth birdie in a row. Hit a great putt, but left it on the low side. It remained as a tap in for a one under 71. Second time under par for 18. All of 10 putts for the back nine -- Ted is my statistician and putts from off the green are not putts in his world view.
The swing is simpler with what I am trying to do. The distances are good and possibly a bit better. The sound of the club on the ball is different and inspirational.
Off to Wente tomorrow, hope it lasts!
Pickleball!
I'm not sure I've mentioned it in past posts, but I, for a forgotten reason, found the sport of pickleball.
The big problem I thought, was finding a court. But after that hurdle was solved, I found that finding someone to play with was the real problem. I approached Dave, with whom I used to work and we got out yesterday afternoon to bat it around. That was after 5 months of looking for a player!
PB uses a wiffle ball and is played on a court about 1/4 the size of a tennis court. Basically it is tennis for people who don't like to run anymore. Frequently there are doubles, which makes the running even less of an issue. The ball doesn't bounce much, so there was the tendency to be too far away from it due to expecting a tennis like bounce.
Also as the ball has little mass, you have to really bang it to get back over the net. But the lightness of the ball allows you hit some interesting back hand slap shots that wouldn't work with a tennis ball. The ball will curve and spin seems to useful to modify the bounce of the ball. Drop shots might be a big part of the game.
So Dave and I slapped it around and even had a few rallies. After an hour we were tuckered out and wheezing for breath. There is some running involved!
I've been told that pickleball is world's fastest growing sport. An interesting thing to say, but how would they know? World's hottest April! Oh, really? Well maybe since 1850 and even then you might wonder about methods of measurement and error bars. I'll be kind and call that marketing. But it seems like a nice sport and worth the modest investment in bats and balls. Dave and I have plans to get out again.
The big problem I thought, was finding a court. But after that hurdle was solved, I found that finding someone to play with was the real problem. I approached Dave, with whom I used to work and we got out yesterday afternoon to bat it around. That was after 5 months of looking for a player!
PB uses a wiffle ball and is played on a court about 1/4 the size of a tennis court. Basically it is tennis for people who don't like to run anymore. Frequently there are doubles, which makes the running even less of an issue. The ball doesn't bounce much, so there was the tendency to be too far away from it due to expecting a tennis like bounce.
Also as the ball has little mass, you have to really bang it to get back over the net. But the lightness of the ball allows you hit some interesting back hand slap shots that wouldn't work with a tennis ball. The ball will curve and spin seems to useful to modify the bounce of the ball. Drop shots might be a big part of the game.
So Dave and I slapped it around and even had a few rallies. After an hour we were tuckered out and wheezing for breath. There is some running involved!
I've been told that pickleball is world's fastest growing sport. An interesting thing to say, but how would they know? World's hottest April! Oh, really? Well maybe since 1850 and even then you might wonder about methods of measurement and error bars. I'll be kind and call that marketing. But it seems like a nice sport and worth the modest investment in bats and balls. Dave and I have plans to get out again.
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