As we noted in the previous post, the replacement shoes came the other day.
On occasion in life you run across things that are remarkable in their ability to exude luxury. I can remember the 25 cubic foot refrigerator that opened new vistas in the harsh arena of cool and cold storage.
Then today I'm out with one of the new pairs of shoes. It was cold and windy; the dew point was not in play and the course sprinklers had not been run last night. And I was a bit cold. Could have used another layer. But my feet were wrapped in warmth and dry to boot -- hmm, interesting word there!
I cruised around the course and felt warm all the way. The highest accolade one can have for an article of clothing is that after a bit of time you don't know you are wearing it. That happened too.
New shoes can break in in a number of ways. I have experienced shoes that do not crease nicely over the toes. But the new ones have nicely begun to wear without any toe joint problems. Another wonderful trait.
To suggest I'm happy would be an understatement.
I also treated myself to some cedar shoe trees this Xmas. I put the trees into the new shoes. They seemed happy together. I intend to rotate the shoes as I use them.
I'm also going to buy some silicone spray that provides some water proofing but it also helps to make the leather more slippery. That will keep them cleaner even if the water proofing is not helped.
That is the shoe saga for the moment.
I have a couple of days off as the holidays once again interfere with the golfing. Very sad.
Friday, December 28, 2018
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Warranties in a Post Modern World
I'm not sure I know what the post modern world really means. But it comes up a lot in the climate debate. I suspect it is not a compliment.
As close readers of the blog and those with whom I play golf will remember that I'm having issues with leaky golf shoes.
Now wet feet are not too bad. It is getting cold however and then there is the proliferation of animals on the course. Animals bring with them, or actually leave little bits of themselves all over the course. Add in some copious sprinkling and I see the course as a large, wet, thinly layered bio sphere. Probably not one you want to put in the trunk of your car nor bring home with you or, most scarily, bring with you to lunch.
We should probably talk of cross contamination. When I worked at an unnamed national laboratory, we have a lot of things that you didn't want to spread around. Cross contamination is the method by which you move material from one place to the next to the third by a intermediate means. Means might include hands, or gloves or shoes or golf towel. We didn't have a lot of golf towels at the lab, but we had plenty of other things.
Cross contamination does occur at the course. And, drawing a bit on bridge, it happens in spades. Every ball that comes onto a green is usually cleaned before being putted. The material that gets wiped off the ball goes on the towel. You handle the towel with your hands. Clubs are wiped off after every shot and they've been ripping through turf and water and mud and everything else.
When you pull the granola bar out of your bag, you are moving that material to the zipper, the outside of the wrapper on the bar and if you dare to handle the bar on its way to your mouth, then the material is now internal.
Then you finish the day and put your stuff away and wipe stuff off. Slap the shoes together to remove loose impediments and place them in the trunk. Grab the door handle, gear shift lever, steering wheel, radio knob, etc. The icky stuff is everywhere.
We thus have evidence that stuff is not really dangerous since golfers are not dropping like fly and there are no warnings from the CDC on every course with the handy "take along gallon of hand sanitizer" available at no charge.
But if your shoes leak then after a bit there is a certain aroma that can build up in them. I get nasty looks from Barb as the fragrance migrates to my street shoes off my wet feet.
You can get sprays from Amazon to kill bacteria on athletic wear. It seems that the one that is popular smells like bubble gum and smells strongly! I think I'll pass on that one.
But the leaky shoes are a problem. I've been buying New Balance shoes and their waterproof shoes are made by a third party, Klone Lab. I contacted New Balnace (NB) and they referred me to the lab and with two emails I have two new pairs of shoes on the way. They can't get here too soon! They have a two year waterproof warranty - most useful and generous.
I asked my man, Ricky, at Klone why the shoes are leaking. He said that leaving them in the trunk where extreme heat can get at them was one reason. Other than that he had no response. Now I do leave them in the back of my hatch back, but I don't think it gets that hot. I've been getting about 9 months out of the shoes and then they leak.
Last time I sent some shoes back I had to supply invoices and pictures and eventually the shoes. This time it was just an email with the invoices pasted into the email body. Nice!
Then, it was a tough week for gear, my golf watch has a fancy charging cable. The watch is water resistant and the method they have to supplying energy to its internal battery is a clip on cable that interacts with the watch internals vial 4 tiny pins. The watch has 4 recessed contacts and the spring loaded pins on the cable can extend into the holes and make contact with the pins tightly enough that charging is possible. One of the pins no longer will extend. Either the spring broke or something. It's buried deeply inside a molded cable so I can't look at it.
I couple of emails and a phone call to Bushnell and a new cable is one way. I had a nice chat with Kim, ex-navy, and it seems we share some common world views.
There is a third party cable on Amazon for $15. A reasonable price to play, but feedback suggested that this cable might not be a good solution... There is talk of a fried watch and just not working. So kudos to Bushnell for supplying the part gratis.
It's nice to have a couple of manufacturers standing behind and going a bit beyond their duties to back their products. If they hadn't I would have sought other suppliers, so it's in their long term interest to keep this avid customer happy.
Sadly, I kind of need all this right now, but I have a few days of no golf to allow the powers of the USPS to get things to my door. I'm looking forward to tossing the old golf shoes away and so is Barb.
As close readers of the blog and those with whom I play golf will remember that I'm having issues with leaky golf shoes.
Now wet feet are not too bad. It is getting cold however and then there is the proliferation of animals on the course. Animals bring with them, or actually leave little bits of themselves all over the course. Add in some copious sprinkling and I see the course as a large, wet, thinly layered bio sphere. Probably not one you want to put in the trunk of your car nor bring home with you or, most scarily, bring with you to lunch.
We should probably talk of cross contamination. When I worked at an unnamed national laboratory, we have a lot of things that you didn't want to spread around. Cross contamination is the method by which you move material from one place to the next to the third by a intermediate means. Means might include hands, or gloves or shoes or golf towel. We didn't have a lot of golf towels at the lab, but we had plenty of other things.
Cross contamination does occur at the course. And, drawing a bit on bridge, it happens in spades. Every ball that comes onto a green is usually cleaned before being putted. The material that gets wiped off the ball goes on the towel. You handle the towel with your hands. Clubs are wiped off after every shot and they've been ripping through turf and water and mud and everything else.
When you pull the granola bar out of your bag, you are moving that material to the zipper, the outside of the wrapper on the bar and if you dare to handle the bar on its way to your mouth, then the material is now internal.
Then you finish the day and put your stuff away and wipe stuff off. Slap the shoes together to remove loose impediments and place them in the trunk. Grab the door handle, gear shift lever, steering wheel, radio knob, etc. The icky stuff is everywhere.
We thus have evidence that stuff is not really dangerous since golfers are not dropping like fly and there are no warnings from the CDC on every course with the handy "take along gallon of hand sanitizer" available at no charge.
But if your shoes leak then after a bit there is a certain aroma that can build up in them. I get nasty looks from Barb as the fragrance migrates to my street shoes off my wet feet.
You can get sprays from Amazon to kill bacteria on athletic wear. It seems that the one that is popular smells like bubble gum and smells strongly! I think I'll pass on that one.
But the leaky shoes are a problem. I've been buying New Balance shoes and their waterproof shoes are made by a third party, Klone Lab. I contacted New Balnace (NB) and they referred me to the lab and with two emails I have two new pairs of shoes on the way. They can't get here too soon! They have a two year waterproof warranty - most useful and generous.
I asked my man, Ricky, at Klone why the shoes are leaking. He said that leaving them in the trunk where extreme heat can get at them was one reason. Other than that he had no response. Now I do leave them in the back of my hatch back, but I don't think it gets that hot. I've been getting about 9 months out of the shoes and then they leak.
Last time I sent some shoes back I had to supply invoices and pictures and eventually the shoes. This time it was just an email with the invoices pasted into the email body. Nice!
Then, it was a tough week for gear, my golf watch has a fancy charging cable. The watch is water resistant and the method they have to supplying energy to its internal battery is a clip on cable that interacts with the watch internals vial 4 tiny pins. The watch has 4 recessed contacts and the spring loaded pins on the cable can extend into the holes and make contact with the pins tightly enough that charging is possible. One of the pins no longer will extend. Either the spring broke or something. It's buried deeply inside a molded cable so I can't look at it.
I couple of emails and a phone call to Bushnell and a new cable is one way. I had a nice chat with Kim, ex-navy, and it seems we share some common world views.
There is a third party cable on Amazon for $15. A reasonable price to play, but feedback suggested that this cable might not be a good solution... There is talk of a fried watch and just not working. So kudos to Bushnell for supplying the part gratis.
It's nice to have a couple of manufacturers standing behind and going a bit beyond their duties to back their products. If they hadn't I would have sought other suppliers, so it's in their long term interest to keep this avid customer happy.
Sadly, I kind of need all this right now, but I have a few days of no golf to allow the powers of the USPS to get things to my door. I'm looking forward to tossing the old golf shoes away and so is Barb.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
New Direction
I took a few golf days off as Barb and I journeyed to Santa Monica. Oh, there was some pitching and putting practice on Saturday. Jay and I went out to one of the LA county courses. It's one we had played before.
On the 18th hole there is a plaque that records Arnold Palmer taking a 12 on the 18th hole during the 1953 LA Open. He sliced three onto the driving range and then hooked three over the boundary fence. Jay and I both parred the hole, I might mention.
I told the story to Jimmy at the local course. Jimmy is an Irishman who has lived all over the world. When he finally ended up the US he landed in the LA area.
Jimmy is 90 this year and has managed to shoot his age a number of times. He didn't start golf at an early age. He learned hurley as a child. This sport is a lot like shinty. And if you've not traveled enough to come across either of those sports, it's field hockey for men and found in Ireland and Scotland. Jimmy has a long swing and gets the club well above his head. He has not lost the ability to swing it around and hits a nice long ball considering his age.
As I was saying, I told the story about the plaque to Jimmy. And he was there! He saw Arnie play all those shots. He was in sales at the time and would take customers to the golf tournaments. He played a lot of golf in the LA area.
He and his pals would also journey out and play other courses in California. He recalls playing Torrey Pines in San Diego. It seems the weekend greens fees were $2.50 back in the day.
Jimmy is fun to play with. He has some interesting stories of bygone times. In his early adulthood he would leave home to some other country, find some work, do that for a time, then return home. Then repeat. He worked in accounting and sales and some manual labor too. He finally ended up California, got married, had 5 children. He raised them right and one of the daughters comes out and plays golf with him during the summer.
But, back to the topic of the post.
I was playing at Wente yesterday and I was eager to put some of the ball striking changes that have occurred to use. Wente is a tough course for me. It's probably 5 stokes harder than my usual course. It's longer and the greens are bent grass. Bent grass rolls nicely, but it gets in the way of gravity. To my eye, balls break up hill. Then there is the speed. In one direction the greens will be lightening fast. In others, deathly slow. I can't see it. But Phil, known as Mr. Two Putt, knows these like he planted the grass. It is very difficult for me to score there. I've broken 80 twice, but it was a lot of work.
Yesterday I tested the new swing thoughts. One the first hole I managed to hit a driver onto the fairway! Well, this is nice. Note that there is a canyon just to the right and a vineyard to the left. I hit an iron in from 150, which is about 30 yards closer than I usually am. I'm short, but decide that smooth bump and run to a close pin seems like a good shot selection. This comes off quite well and actually goes in the hole. Hmm, birdie to start. I can get used to this.
The second hole is a bit strange. It's short, but you need to hit a left to right shot to avoid a huge Sycamore tree near the tee and then bend it right to avoid the rough and another bushy tree out about 175 yards. There is a small shoot that avoids disaster here. If you are left there is chunky bark under the bushy tree and the tree hangs so low that there is no path to hit the ball up in the air.
It was a magic day and I hit the hybrid down the left with a nice fade that takes it out into the middle of the fairway. It feels good to be a golfer that seems to know what he is doing.
The green is trapped in front and there are more Sycamore trees that, octopus like, wave thick white arms to block the high approaches to the green. The pin is tucked way to the right and the trees are blocking any kind of direct path in.
But it's a day of "can do." It's still cold and I decide to fade a short iron in. This comes off as well. But it's a shallow green and hard to hold. I'm in the back, but I've found the corner of the green where the pin is. A par for this hole with two putts.
I won't bore you, dear readers, with a hole by hole recitation of the rest of the round. But I'll mention that ball striking with a couple of exceptions, goes like a wondrous dream. Need to move it right to left and hit it 190 yards? No problem. How about a 4 iron with a slight fade to get close to the pin on the long par 5? Ok! A smooth 7 iron on a par 3 goes right over the pin -- a deviation of a fraction of a degree.
Now, there was a black cloud to all of this. I was caught up a bit in three putt city. The approach shots I hit to 10 feet were all two putts and longer putts frequently turned to three putts as I couldn't get the speeds right.
But I came off the course feeling very good. The long game has jelled into trustworthy friend that is always willing to help.
When I was playing a lot of bridge, I longed for the day when I didn't make stupid errors and could concentrate on playing the game. Golf is kind of the same thing. If the mistakes are small, then you are playing a different game. Shot placement and strategy are the important parameters, not "I'll hit this and hope it works out."
I feel I'm on the edge of a new game. It's quite different from the old one. Challenges are similar, but different. I'm afraid that that it might be more a putting game. A portion of the game that held lessor interest than the other parts. Well, I must adapt and change my thinking, I think. I think there be rewards there.
O brave new world,
That has such challenges in't. -- apologies to old Willie!
On the 18th hole there is a plaque that records Arnold Palmer taking a 12 on the 18th hole during the 1953 LA Open. He sliced three onto the driving range and then hooked three over the boundary fence. Jay and I both parred the hole, I might mention.
I told the story to Jimmy at the local course. Jimmy is an Irishman who has lived all over the world. When he finally ended up the US he landed in the LA area.
Jimmy is 90 this year and has managed to shoot his age a number of times. He didn't start golf at an early age. He learned hurley as a child. This sport is a lot like shinty. And if you've not traveled enough to come across either of those sports, it's field hockey for men and found in Ireland and Scotland. Jimmy has a long swing and gets the club well above his head. He has not lost the ability to swing it around and hits a nice long ball considering his age.
As I was saying, I told the story about the plaque to Jimmy. And he was there! He saw Arnie play all those shots. He was in sales at the time and would take customers to the golf tournaments. He played a lot of golf in the LA area.
He and his pals would also journey out and play other courses in California. He recalls playing Torrey Pines in San Diego. It seems the weekend greens fees were $2.50 back in the day.
Jimmy is fun to play with. He has some interesting stories of bygone times. In his early adulthood he would leave home to some other country, find some work, do that for a time, then return home. Then repeat. He worked in accounting and sales and some manual labor too. He finally ended up California, got married, had 5 children. He raised them right and one of the daughters comes out and plays golf with him during the summer.
But, back to the topic of the post.
I was playing at Wente yesterday and I was eager to put some of the ball striking changes that have occurred to use. Wente is a tough course for me. It's probably 5 stokes harder than my usual course. It's longer and the greens are bent grass. Bent grass rolls nicely, but it gets in the way of gravity. To my eye, balls break up hill. Then there is the speed. In one direction the greens will be lightening fast. In others, deathly slow. I can't see it. But Phil, known as Mr. Two Putt, knows these like he planted the grass. It is very difficult for me to score there. I've broken 80 twice, but it was a lot of work.
Yesterday I tested the new swing thoughts. One the first hole I managed to hit a driver onto the fairway! Well, this is nice. Note that there is a canyon just to the right and a vineyard to the left. I hit an iron in from 150, which is about 30 yards closer than I usually am. I'm short, but decide that smooth bump and run to a close pin seems like a good shot selection. This comes off quite well and actually goes in the hole. Hmm, birdie to start. I can get used to this.
The second hole is a bit strange. It's short, but you need to hit a left to right shot to avoid a huge Sycamore tree near the tee and then bend it right to avoid the rough and another bushy tree out about 175 yards. There is a small shoot that avoids disaster here. If you are left there is chunky bark under the bushy tree and the tree hangs so low that there is no path to hit the ball up in the air.
It was a magic day and I hit the hybrid down the left with a nice fade that takes it out into the middle of the fairway. It feels good to be a golfer that seems to know what he is doing.
The green is trapped in front and there are more Sycamore trees that, octopus like, wave thick white arms to block the high approaches to the green. The pin is tucked way to the right and the trees are blocking any kind of direct path in.
But it's a day of "can do." It's still cold and I decide to fade a short iron in. This comes off as well. But it's a shallow green and hard to hold. I'm in the back, but I've found the corner of the green where the pin is. A par for this hole with two putts.
I won't bore you, dear readers, with a hole by hole recitation of the rest of the round. But I'll mention that ball striking with a couple of exceptions, goes like a wondrous dream. Need to move it right to left and hit it 190 yards? No problem. How about a 4 iron with a slight fade to get close to the pin on the long par 5? Ok! A smooth 7 iron on a par 3 goes right over the pin -- a deviation of a fraction of a degree.
Now, there was a black cloud to all of this. I was caught up a bit in three putt city. The approach shots I hit to 10 feet were all two putts and longer putts frequently turned to three putts as I couldn't get the speeds right.
But I came off the course feeling very good. The long game has jelled into trustworthy friend that is always willing to help.
When I was playing a lot of bridge, I longed for the day when I didn't make stupid errors and could concentrate on playing the game. Golf is kind of the same thing. If the mistakes are small, then you are playing a different game. Shot placement and strategy are the important parameters, not "I'll hit this and hope it works out."
I feel I'm on the edge of a new game. It's quite different from the old one. Challenges are similar, but different. I'm afraid that that it might be more a putting game. A portion of the game that held lessor interest than the other parts. Well, I must adapt and change my thinking, I think. I think there be rewards there.
O brave new world,
That has such challenges in't. -- apologies to old Willie!
Monday, November 19, 2018
Last Round for a Week
The last couple of rounds have been near to God. The ball is going where it is supposed to. I walk up to a shot and have no wonder just that quiet confidence of someone who has learned his trade.
Well, there was always the driver that decided that he just didn't like to be one of many in the bag.
But let me roll back just a bit.
There is always another YouTube video expounding different aspects of the swing. The video makers that I tend to believe is Athletic Motion Golf, AMG. What separates them from the crowd is that they are detailing what they have learned. They collect data from professionals and good amateurs and discuss and point out the differences between the two. And there are differences.
One of the aspects of the swing is the hip bump. What this is the first move in the down swing is to push the left hip forward and then to rotate. This is a common understanding.
AMG took a look at this. And found that it's not a good idea. It causes a lot of problems. It's not what the pros do.
What they do see and like, is for the entire body to make a first move towards the left side. They talk of it as a slide down hill to get it all started.
What this does is to load the left side and maintain the spine angle and finally provide a solid platform and location from which to rotate.
I've worked with Glenn, a local pro, who wanted me to just take a backswing and then rotate the shoulders. I had trouble with this. It seemed to work, but it just didn't feel right and I was still not hitting the driver well.
The other problem is trying to remember all the stuff I'm trying to do. I long for old days when the memory never slept and it sucked up everything.
So today I'm determined to try this torso glide followed by a rotation.
I shoot one over on the front using the driver just twice. One bogey was a thin shot into a bunker that I couldn't get up and down and the other was a three putt where I ran the ball well past the hole. There was a birdie in there with a nice 10 footer down hill.
Drive one was on the screws and hit the fairway and turned a semi long hole into a birdie chance. The next time was a par 5 where the drive really didn't matter much. I got to the green with a wedge even as the driver was short and hooking.
The back nine started with 3 regulation pars (on in regulation and two putts). Then came the par 5 at 550 yards. I hauled out the driver and hooked it into a bunker. I needed a nine iron to clear the lip and over hanging tree. That left me with 250 yards in and it was too far to get there in regulation.
I got on in 4 and two putted. But I realized what I was doing with the driver. I was not rotating the shoulders properly, but getting shoulders off plane to get the club back. When I came down I needed to make large adjustments to get back to the ball. I needed to take the club back, like an iron, more upright and under the plane.
Meanwhile I'm using the fall and rotate method for everything and I'll hitting the ball like a minor deity.
So on 14, armored with this realization, I hit the driver and it goes well with a touch of push and finds the fairway bunker. "Hit a fade 6 iron," Steve says. He was right, that was the shot. I catch it thin and hit the face of the bunker and it goes 30 yards.
But now I am in my wheelhouse -- 130 out. I don't need all of an 8 iron and hit a little fade in. It runs about 10 feet past as the pin is in a devilish position with a downhill slope. But I put a good stroke on it and in it goes. A par for the story books. Well, not really. Getting up and down with a short iron is not an unexpected event.
The 16th is another driver hole and now I hit it down the left side of the fairway. Good strike, not perfect, but it has a lot of perfect elements in it. We have a short iron in. I hit a thin shot, it goes over the green and I get cute and don't get it up and down.
17 can be a driver or 4 wood. I'm pumped. I've figured this out. I grab the big stick and hit it well. A fat 8 iron leaves me with a challenging two putt but I manage.
Then we are on 18, a par 5. The ball is crushed down the middle with a tiny draw setting up a routine second shot with a great angle to the dog leg.
I hit it too well. It goes through the fairway and into a culvert with really large rocks. They might have been stones. They might have been rejected for paving stones for being too large.
To make a long story short I take a drop and then hit a feeble wedge. On line, but short. It gets messy from there.
I'm shooting my usual 76 with a nasty back nine. But my doubts about the driver are erased. Bring on the next round!
There is irony in the world as we are traveling for the rest of the week. The clubs will stay home and think about prior rounds. I'll be clubless and thinking of future rounds.
Happy Thanksgiving all.
Well, there was always the driver that decided that he just didn't like to be one of many in the bag.
But let me roll back just a bit.
There is always another YouTube video expounding different aspects of the swing. The video makers that I tend to believe is Athletic Motion Golf, AMG. What separates them from the crowd is that they are detailing what they have learned. They collect data from professionals and good amateurs and discuss and point out the differences between the two. And there are differences.
One of the aspects of the swing is the hip bump. What this is the first move in the down swing is to push the left hip forward and then to rotate. This is a common understanding.
AMG took a look at this. And found that it's not a good idea. It causes a lot of problems. It's not what the pros do.
What they do see and like, is for the entire body to make a first move towards the left side. They talk of it as a slide down hill to get it all started.
What this does is to load the left side and maintain the spine angle and finally provide a solid platform and location from which to rotate.
I've worked with Glenn, a local pro, who wanted me to just take a backswing and then rotate the shoulders. I had trouble with this. It seemed to work, but it just didn't feel right and I was still not hitting the driver well.
The other problem is trying to remember all the stuff I'm trying to do. I long for old days when the memory never slept and it sucked up everything.
So today I'm determined to try this torso glide followed by a rotation.
I shoot one over on the front using the driver just twice. One bogey was a thin shot into a bunker that I couldn't get up and down and the other was a three putt where I ran the ball well past the hole. There was a birdie in there with a nice 10 footer down hill.
Drive one was on the screws and hit the fairway and turned a semi long hole into a birdie chance. The next time was a par 5 where the drive really didn't matter much. I got to the green with a wedge even as the driver was short and hooking.
The back nine started with 3 regulation pars (on in regulation and two putts). Then came the par 5 at 550 yards. I hauled out the driver and hooked it into a bunker. I needed a nine iron to clear the lip and over hanging tree. That left me with 250 yards in and it was too far to get there in regulation.
I got on in 4 and two putted. But I realized what I was doing with the driver. I was not rotating the shoulders properly, but getting shoulders off plane to get the club back. When I came down I needed to make large adjustments to get back to the ball. I needed to take the club back, like an iron, more upright and under the plane.
Meanwhile I'm using the fall and rotate method for everything and I'll hitting the ball like a minor deity.
So on 14, armored with this realization, I hit the driver and it goes well with a touch of push and finds the fairway bunker. "Hit a fade 6 iron," Steve says. He was right, that was the shot. I catch it thin and hit the face of the bunker and it goes 30 yards.
But now I am in my wheelhouse -- 130 out. I don't need all of an 8 iron and hit a little fade in. It runs about 10 feet past as the pin is in a devilish position with a downhill slope. But I put a good stroke on it and in it goes. A par for the story books. Well, not really. Getting up and down with a short iron is not an unexpected event.
The 16th is another driver hole and now I hit it down the left side of the fairway. Good strike, not perfect, but it has a lot of perfect elements in it. We have a short iron in. I hit a thin shot, it goes over the green and I get cute and don't get it up and down.
17 can be a driver or 4 wood. I'm pumped. I've figured this out. I grab the big stick and hit it well. A fat 8 iron leaves me with a challenging two putt but I manage.
Then we are on 18, a par 5. The ball is crushed down the middle with a tiny draw setting up a routine second shot with a great angle to the dog leg.
I hit it too well. It goes through the fairway and into a culvert with really large rocks. They might have been stones. They might have been rejected for paving stones for being too large.
To make a long story short I take a drop and then hit a feeble wedge. On line, but short. It gets messy from there.
I'm shooting my usual 76 with a nasty back nine. But my doubts about the driver are erased. Bring on the next round!
There is irony in the world as we are traveling for the rest of the week. The clubs will stay home and think about prior rounds. I'll be clubless and thinking of future rounds.
Happy Thanksgiving all.
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Putter Thoughts
The long game continues to improve. I've become quite fond of it and look forward to more improvement.
I mentioned that I might steer this towards putting a bit. It's a topic that hasn't interested me over the years, but now with more holes being fairway then green then putts, I need to spend some time on this topic to keep my game improving.
I've been lusting for an Evnroll putter for a while. I play golf with Sonny, who changes equipment like I change socks. He bought an Evnroll after I talked it up. Then he traded it for a different model or Evnroll.
Sonny was in love for a few rounds but then put it away and went back to a Scotty Cameron that he's had for a while.
I asked him why he switched back and he said that he wanted to see a deeper putter.
The model he has is called ER1 and has the classic look of a Ping Anser putter. It's not very deep and not too long. By deep I'm referring to the amount of material that extends backwards from the ball impact position.
Sonny is quite generous as lending out his equipment and sells his unwanted gear to his playing partners. I asked to borrow and I've had it for a week or so.
I played with the ER1 for three rounds. I've also come to the same conclusion that Sonny did and that I like to have more visual mass behind the ball.
If the putter is "deeper' then I tend to drag the head into the ball and don't twist it at all. With the Anser shape there is a tendency to shut the face at impact.
I'll be returning it to Sonny soon.
Of course Evnroll has mallet type putters too, so I'm not necessarily saving any money yet!
There is some technology in the putters by Evnroll. The face has asymetric grooves that provide more contact the further from the "sweet" spot you hit the ball. Thus the grooves are weakest at the sweet spot and there really isn't one happy spot. Guerin Rife, the designer, has found that amateurs and professionals don't hit putts in the sweet spot much.
Now for the grooves to really be a factor, you have to do a lot of things right. Your path and face angle and speed have to be reasonable. Putts hit off the sweet spot with a putter without the grooves will be sprayed to the sides and be shorter. The grooves tend to funnel the ball back on line and have them go the full distance.
I like the contact feeling with the putters. It does feel a bit thin, but the ball rolls well and seems happy.
I made some putts with the ER1. I think I made about 5 putts of long length on Friday. There were a couple of saves and 3 birdies. It wasn't too bad. But I think I would have done better with a mallet.
The main problems with making more putts was due to speed issues. On occasion the guy who selects the pin placements can put them in some devilish locations. Then if you get above the pin, you are in trouble. That happened a couple of times on Friday.
Otherwise, all is going well in golf and in life. Though I've still not found a pickleball player...
I mentioned that I might steer this towards putting a bit. It's a topic that hasn't interested me over the years, but now with more holes being fairway then green then putts, I need to spend some time on this topic to keep my game improving.
I've been lusting for an Evnroll putter for a while. I play golf with Sonny, who changes equipment like I change socks. He bought an Evnroll after I talked it up. Then he traded it for a different model or Evnroll.
Sonny was in love for a few rounds but then put it away and went back to a Scotty Cameron that he's had for a while.
I asked him why he switched back and he said that he wanted to see a deeper putter.
The model he has is called ER1 and has the classic look of a Ping Anser putter. It's not very deep and not too long. By deep I'm referring to the amount of material that extends backwards from the ball impact position.
Sonny is quite generous as lending out his equipment and sells his unwanted gear to his playing partners. I asked to borrow and I've had it for a week or so.
I played with the ER1 for three rounds. I've also come to the same conclusion that Sonny did and that I like to have more visual mass behind the ball.
If the putter is "deeper' then I tend to drag the head into the ball and don't twist it at all. With the Anser shape there is a tendency to shut the face at impact.
I'll be returning it to Sonny soon.
Of course Evnroll has mallet type putters too, so I'm not necessarily saving any money yet!
There is some technology in the putters by Evnroll. The face has asymetric grooves that provide more contact the further from the "sweet" spot you hit the ball. Thus the grooves are weakest at the sweet spot and there really isn't one happy spot. Guerin Rife, the designer, has found that amateurs and professionals don't hit putts in the sweet spot much.
Now for the grooves to really be a factor, you have to do a lot of things right. Your path and face angle and speed have to be reasonable. Putts hit off the sweet spot with a putter without the grooves will be sprayed to the sides and be shorter. The grooves tend to funnel the ball back on line and have them go the full distance.
I like the contact feeling with the putters. It does feel a bit thin, but the ball rolls well and seems happy.
I made some putts with the ER1. I think I made about 5 putts of long length on Friday. There were a couple of saves and 3 birdies. It wasn't too bad. But I think I would have done better with a mallet.
The main problems with making more putts was due to speed issues. On occasion the guy who selects the pin placements can put them in some devilish locations. Then if you get above the pin, you are in trouble. That happened a couple of times on Friday.
Otherwise, all is going well in golf and in life. Though I've still not found a pickleball player...
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Some Numbers
I'm sure that I will return to the long game at some point. Golly, nothing in golf seems to last more than round and half, so I'll be back.
But I was thinking about the levers and radii in golf and thought I'd provide some actual numbers.
I'm making some assumptions here. I could look all this up and I may, but let me jot down some actual numbers and calculations and then I'll expound about the whole thing.
My numbers: Middle neck to shoulder joint: 9 inches, Shoulder to start of fingers: 26 and length of a normal driver from middle of hand position to center of the club face: 42 inches.
The diameters can be calculated if we could spin these items into a fill circle. But since about 90 degrees is all I want to for my shoulders let's start there.
A 90 degree arc for my shoulder is about 14 inches.
The arms are going to have a longer arc since they are getting somewhere over the right shoulder and then extending down to the ball. I'll be generous and say that it's 170 degrees or 170/360 * the diameter. That number is about 77 inches.
The final number is that of the club. For the driver we have 3/4 of a diameter as we will get the club close to parallel above the shoulders. That number is about 198 inches.
Let's look at ratios of these numbers. The idea that I move shoulders back and coil the arms and club around the body and then we will spin back and unwind everything. If the time is the same, i.e., the shoulders are finished rotating at the same time the arms and shoulders are, we can calculate the speed attained by the club head as a multiplicand of the shoulders. We can talk about how valid this all is in a moment.
The distance the club head moves is about 14 times the shoulder movement. Note that the swing centroid is at the left shoulder.
If we can move the shoulders at 8 miles an hour we should get about 110 at the club head. Raise your hand if you'd like to have a club head swing of 110 MPH? I'd love to see 100...
Caveats and there are always caveats. 1) It might be hard to move the shoulders at 8 MPH, not sure. It seems certain people can. 2) If the "swing" times are not the same then the end speeds will not be correct. But if the energy is the same and we get some whip at the end, it may be that parts are slower initially and then faster later.
I'm inclined to think that this might be fairly accurate at least as a model for the swing. I believe that since at impact the hands and club are pretty much in line with the left shoulder. So the end positions and times are pretty much the same.
The shoulders have to start it all. But the arms stay against the chest for a time and don't have the full diameter on the downswing. Now this is probably a good thing in re building club head speed. The arms unfold after the shoulders have moved a bit. Then the club swings out in the same manner.
The natural release method tells us to let the angular acceleration do this for us. We don't want to "help" the arms or club come out and swing around. See Tutelman.com and his swing section for more information.
I've managed to play with this a couple of rounds. The swing has simplified to a small shoulder movement back and down and then forward. Everything else is on its own. I'm really happy with contact and direction.
I had another nice range session today and I'm still a happy camper. Big test will be Tuesday at the long course. I play tomorrow too, Monday.
Sorry for the disjointed post here, but I wanted to get something out.
But I was thinking about the levers and radii in golf and thought I'd provide some actual numbers.
I'm making some assumptions here. I could look all this up and I may, but let me jot down some actual numbers and calculations and then I'll expound about the whole thing.
My numbers: Middle neck to shoulder joint: 9 inches, Shoulder to start of fingers: 26 and length of a normal driver from middle of hand position to center of the club face: 42 inches.
The diameters can be calculated if we could spin these items into a fill circle. But since about 90 degrees is all I want to for my shoulders let's start there.
A 90 degree arc for my shoulder is about 14 inches.
The arms are going to have a longer arc since they are getting somewhere over the right shoulder and then extending down to the ball. I'll be generous and say that it's 170 degrees or 170/360 * the diameter. That number is about 77 inches.
The final number is that of the club. For the driver we have 3/4 of a diameter as we will get the club close to parallel above the shoulders. That number is about 198 inches.
Let's look at ratios of these numbers. The idea that I move shoulders back and coil the arms and club around the body and then we will spin back and unwind everything. If the time is the same, i.e., the shoulders are finished rotating at the same time the arms and shoulders are, we can calculate the speed attained by the club head as a multiplicand of the shoulders. We can talk about how valid this all is in a moment.
The distance the club head moves is about 14 times the shoulder movement. Note that the swing centroid is at the left shoulder.
If we can move the shoulders at 8 miles an hour we should get about 110 at the club head. Raise your hand if you'd like to have a club head swing of 110 MPH? I'd love to see 100...
Caveats and there are always caveats. 1) It might be hard to move the shoulders at 8 MPH, not sure. It seems certain people can. 2) If the "swing" times are not the same then the end speeds will not be correct. But if the energy is the same and we get some whip at the end, it may be that parts are slower initially and then faster later.
I'm inclined to think that this might be fairly accurate at least as a model for the swing. I believe that since at impact the hands and club are pretty much in line with the left shoulder. So the end positions and times are pretty much the same.
The shoulders have to start it all. But the arms stay against the chest for a time and don't have the full diameter on the downswing. Now this is probably a good thing in re building club head speed. The arms unfold after the shoulders have moved a bit. Then the club swings out in the same manner.
The natural release method tells us to let the angular acceleration do this for us. We don't want to "help" the arms or club come out and swing around. See Tutelman.com and his swing section for more information.
I've managed to play with this a couple of rounds. The swing has simplified to a small shoulder movement back and down and then forward. Everything else is on its own. I'm really happy with contact and direction.
I had another nice range session today and I'm still a happy camper. Big test will be Tuesday at the long course. I play tomorrow too, Monday.
Sorry for the disjointed post here, but I wanted to get something out.
Friday, November 9, 2018
It's a Wrap
Ok, I think I talked about the magic 7 iron that took place on Wednesday.
I went to the range to make sure I could repeat it.
I played today and was able to play with this new technique. I did realize that I have to turn away from the ball and not slide. The slide I was doing was not much, but it was enough. Also I was only doing it with the driver.
I realized that late in the round. However when the smoke cleared and that's saying something with the Camp fire filling the sky, I had two drives that got me in trouble and 10 or so that split the fairway.
On the front there are a couple of holes that are usually tough because they are just long enough that I struggle to get to the greens. Today they all dissolved into birdie opportunities as the driver was serving me well.
My iron game was spot on and the shots were more solid than usual.
If I can keep this up, then the long game need not be discussed again. I think we will have to alter the topics and probably move to putting.
I'd talk chipping, but I miss so few greens, who cares? And in all modesty, my chipping and pitching and sand play are pretty solid.
We might as well jump in to putting. I ran across an interesting putting video on Youtube the other day. The lead "expert" was talking about what they have seen with the putters (people) they have looked at.
His finding was that people are better at line than they think and not as good with distance control. Today I was working on distance and not paying much attention to line. It seems to be a reasonable way to putt. The only three putt I had was when I got the speed wrong.
Working on speed with just a modest interest in line seems to be for me a fairly low Angst way to putt. There is a lot of speed adjustment done subconsciously. I take a few free practice swings to "feel" the line and then step in and hit it. This is basically how I pitch and chip. The feeling is the club just swinging and catching the ball along the way. No interest in trying to hit the ball.
I will keep working on this and report back.
The front nine today was even par, with a birdie on the par 5 second and a three putt birdie on the 5th. All the other holes were straight forward and pretty simple. I did have a nice sand shot on the 8th hole green side bunker and my playing partners just kicked the ball back.
The back was not a lot of drama. Got in trouble with wayward tee shots on two holes, otherwise I hit all the rest and two putted.
It's been a good week. I think I've figured out how to swing properly and easily. I'm expecting this to continue as the big mistakes are gone. My swing thoughts are just move the arms with the shoulders, get the left should under the chin, then move it back to the setup position, which is all of 5 inches -- a simple swing! If I just do that without trying to swing hard, the ball goes straight, long, and up in the air. The very thing we are looking for!
I went to the range to make sure I could repeat it.
I played today and was able to play with this new technique. I did realize that I have to turn away from the ball and not slide. The slide I was doing was not much, but it was enough. Also I was only doing it with the driver.
I realized that late in the round. However when the smoke cleared and that's saying something with the Camp fire filling the sky, I had two drives that got me in trouble and 10 or so that split the fairway.
On the front there are a couple of holes that are usually tough because they are just long enough that I struggle to get to the greens. Today they all dissolved into birdie opportunities as the driver was serving me well.
My iron game was spot on and the shots were more solid than usual.
If I can keep this up, then the long game need not be discussed again. I think we will have to alter the topics and probably move to putting.
I'd talk chipping, but I miss so few greens, who cares? And in all modesty, my chipping and pitching and sand play are pretty solid.
We might as well jump in to putting. I ran across an interesting putting video on Youtube the other day. The lead "expert" was talking about what they have seen with the putters (people) they have looked at.
His finding was that people are better at line than they think and not as good with distance control. Today I was working on distance and not paying much attention to line. It seems to be a reasonable way to putt. The only three putt I had was when I got the speed wrong.
Working on speed with just a modest interest in line seems to be for me a fairly low Angst way to putt. There is a lot of speed adjustment done subconsciously. I take a few free practice swings to "feel" the line and then step in and hit it. This is basically how I pitch and chip. The feeling is the club just swinging and catching the ball along the way. No interest in trying to hit the ball.
I will keep working on this and report back.
The front nine today was even par, with a birdie on the par 5 second and a three putt birdie on the 5th. All the other holes were straight forward and pretty simple. I did have a nice sand shot on the 8th hole green side bunker and my playing partners just kicked the ball back.
The back was not a lot of drama. Got in trouble with wayward tee shots on two holes, otherwise I hit all the rest and two putted.
It's been a good week. I think I've figured out how to swing properly and easily. I'm expecting this to continue as the big mistakes are gone. My swing thoughts are just move the arms with the shoulders, get the left should under the chin, then move it back to the setup position, which is all of 5 inches -- a simple swing! If I just do that without trying to swing hard, the ball goes straight, long, and up in the air. The very thing we are looking for!
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