golf

[FogSailing]

Wow!! Sounds like a great day Burro. I'm glad it all went so well. Ain't life great!!!

FS

 

[alevin]

My major prof in grad school grew up on ranch SE MT. took a bunch of us on a road trip my first year to go to national professional society meeting in Rapid. We stopped in Forsyth to eat lunch enroute. people there were great to us. Spent a year of my life working the backcountry between WY state line and I84, back on the gravel and dirt roads. people were good out there. had a flat on the county blacktop headed out to the work area one day, work truck, almost no traffic, long sight distances. perfectly capable of changing it myself, was working on it when local rancher came along, insisted on doing the wrench turning to get it off and the spare on. I appreciated the kindness, maybe more because I was perfectly capable and told him so. he didn't care, wanted to do it for me anyway. I thanked him when he was done.

 

[burrocrat]

My major prof in grad school grew up on ranch SE MT. took a bunch of us on a road trip my first year to go to national professional society meeting in Rapid. We stopped in Forsyth to eat lunch enroute. people there were great to us. Spent a year of my life working the backcountry between WY state line and I84, back on the gravel and dirt roads. people were good out there. had a flat on the county blacktop headed out to the work area one day, work truck, almost no traffic, long sight distances. perfectly capable of changing it myself, was working on it when local rancher came along, insisted on doing the wrench turning to get it off and the spare on. I appreciated the kindness, maybe more because I was perfectly capable and told him so. he didn't care, wanted to do it for me anyway. I thanked him when he was done.

and he probably called you ma'am while he was doing it, thanked you when he was done and wished you a good day. some folks are good for some things and some folks are good for others. it don't make much difference out here, you do what you can, every effort counts.

 

[burrocrat]

i forgot to tell you about the best part of my lucky day! i got a free dime, it is from 1987 which is just 3 years after i lost my virginity, now don't that make you feel old.

anyways, i take my nike black golf shoes off when we get home and wouldn't you know it, there is a dime stuck to the bottom of the left foot, and it is heads up so that's how i know 1987, which means it was heads down (tails up my favorite when i stepped on it)! and it looks like blue gum that glued it to the bottom of my shoe but i didn't lick it to find out if peppermint or blue raspberry but it smells more like peppermint.

how lucky is that??!!

it is scratched up pretty good because i shuffle and drag my feet it is an old deckhand boat survival trick, never lift your feet never step in a bight or off you might go. even to this day if i am walking across a green lawn and the garden hose is stretched out with a loop in it i change my path mid-step, never step in the bight, it is like petting a rattlesnake no good can come from it. why would you pet a rattlesnake anyways?

but i got this free scuffed up 1987 dime. pretty damn cool huh? after i take my shoes out of the freezer in the morning and chip the gum out of the treads i am going to make that dime my new ball marker for the greens. sorry tsptalk silver, got me a fated dime now, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

[alevin]

And prairie goat is not bad eating, so long as the hunter didn't run it before taking it down. I learned a few stationary hunting techniques to get them to come up close voluntarily, from a goat hunter work colleague. I used a few of those tricks now and then since it was my job to keep track of a herd of 50 that year, daily.

sometimes I didn't have to do any tricks. I'd hear a cough behind me, turn around and a young buck would be staring at me from 20 feet away. other times I'd try to sneak up on a group hiding from the heat of day in a 10-ft deep gully, somehow they'd hear me no matter how quiet I was sneaking, and downwind at that. they'd always run away out the far end of the gully before I ever got close enough to peek over the edge at them. perfect hearing or 6th sense or something.

 

[PessOptimist]

You got me fired up. Not for golf but for completing my goal of seeing all 50 states. 47 so far and the three missing are the two Dakotas and Hawaii. Aloha may have to wait but ND is a possibility. It sounds great. But then I also wanted to take a job in Hinton, IA. SO squashed that dream. A friend may hold a record as the only weather maintenance person to ever volunteer to go to Minot, ND. He tells me he loved it. Found nothing about the weather that needed fixing. Also knew a person way back who was stationed at a place called Mickelson somewhere near Grand Forks. He also said he loved it. Must be something good up there.

PO

 

[burrocrat]

ok so i am refining our golf intro strategery a bit for how we ease into playing our first round. i welcome any advice or suggestions on how to go about this. absent of taking lessons, which i don't plan to do anytime soon until we just cannot figure it out on our own, for shizzle my wizzle this is the plot.

i am going to focus on just 4 clubs, and the putter eventually. the next time we go to the range i am only hitting the 3 wood, 5 hybrid, 6 iron, and 9 iron, and the putter obviously on the greens. i am going to learn how to hit these 4 clubs only until i get predictable results. next range trip this weekend just a large bucket of balls with these 4 clubs. 3rd range trip mid-next week another bucket of balls and then practice some putting. then we will play a 9 hole round next weekend or as soon as the weather cooperates. these 4 clubs should allow me to hit long holes with the 3 wood and medium holes with the 5 hybrid from the tees. 5 hybrid on long fairway 2nd shots. 6 iron or 9 iron depending on how close to the green. and then the putter. i bought a 16 piece set (11 clubs) to only play with 5. ha! i find that extremely funny.

we are going to hit off the red middle tees not the long blue ones or short white ones. and we are not going to keep score. just hit until we get to the green, not in a hurry, then putt, not in a hurry. i am more concerned about getting reliable direction and distance with these clubs, then i will start to expand my horizon. i am not sure what the kid is going to do, he likes to just try to crush the driver so i'm cool with that.

also i think i need to take some gatorade with a strong mix of russian cough syrup instead of several cans of beer because the extra liquid volume might get uncomfortable near about the 7th hole unless they have portapotties midway, and i have been doing pretty good so far these last few years keeping my name out of the local paper for indecent exposure.

 

[FogSailing]

Hi Burro. That plan is as sound as any good golf plan. I assume those clubs work best for you so that is the reason for your focus. I especially think working the 3 wood instead of the driver is a very smart approach for the 1st year. Play with the driver on the range until you feel comfortable with it. My favorite clubs are my pitching wedge, 9 iron, 7 iron, 4 hybrid, 3 fairway utility, and my 3 wood. I'd say my putter but that is where I lose the most strokes. Have fun. Sounds like a good plan.

FS

 

[burrocrat]

oh i just watched probably the greatest golf movie of all time! tin cup. i had never heard of it before, it is a good one, you got to see it.

i lost interest in kevin costner movies after he let a spoiled whitney houston walk all over him in bodyguard, but this is a great movie and he is a pretty good actor. you got to hand it to him for his determination. brilliant.

 

[alevin]

I loved watching Tin Cup, saw it a couple years ago. great story.

 

[PessOptimist]

Caddyshack is the greatest golf movie. Comedy genre I suppose. Tincup is also great and I have enjoyed watching it many times. Bagger Vance and Happy Gilmore should also be checked out imho.

PO

 

[jpcavin]

 

[Buster]

Danny Willet won his first major championship with a score of 283 (−5), three strokes ahead of runners-up Lee Westwood and last years Master's Champion Jordan Spieth..Jordan's demise started with sucking water in his last round with two consecutive pond shots..the beginning of his end.

 

[FogSailing]

That was a real shock to see Jordan Spieth have such a horrible hole. If only the golf balls could learn to swim. But it was a great Master's. Loved following it this year.

FS

 

[burrocrat]

so i am still into the golf, but i haven't had any chances to get back out there since our first range visit. for the last entire week it has been cloudy and overcast and raining a nice soft slow rain. that is very good and perfect timing as the moisture will set the grass for grazing and hay off as soon as the sun comes out and warms thing up and a few days later the crop guys can start putting the money in the ground bigtime with a chance of success. so this year is starting off great from my agriculture perspective.

but it sucks bigtime from my golf perspective. actually the sun came out yesterday and most of today and the whole entire prairie just lit up in 36 hours, green time, from grey to tan to sort of growing to a vibrant strong full of life total deep green as far as the eye can see, set against a brilliant blue sky and some puffy white clouds. that is beauty right there, what a wonderful planet we are so lucky to live on. off to the races, this is my favorite time of year.

unfortunately, wednesday yesterday is when the junior high golf team practices at the driving range. who plays school sports on wednesdays? no other sports do that, it is always catholic ccd day and no football or basketball or nothing. but them damn golf heathen apostates hit the course right after school on wednesdays and my kid refuses to shoot when the rich golf nerds are around. i don't blame him a bit. and also we can't golf on thursdays after work or school either because that is men's day when they just string kegs of beer all along the course and range and nobody under 21 can play.

so i hope to get out again for our 2nd driving range session tomorrow or on the weekend to practice my 4-club (3w, 5h, 6i, 9i) strategery. and then early next week to split a bucket of balls and work on chip shots and putting. then next weekend i want to play our first 9-hole round. i am so excited.

but the weather lately has been ticking me off. if i wanted perpetual grey gloom and misty drizzling raining drizzling misty doom, i would've just stayed in the specific northwest. i used to could handle that oppressive sky for 4 months november through march, but now a week of it makes me almost crazy. almost. but in the next few days we are going to go smack the **** out of some balls. yeah.

 

[burrocrat]

i wonder if tom has ever considered getting some golf balls made up with the tsptalk logo? i would definitely pick a sleeve of those over another coffee mug when i get lucky and win the monthly tracker or guess the pretend employment numbers.

View attachment 38021

 

[burrocrat]

i love this game. today sucked, but that is how it goes sometimes. 20+ mph winds blowing straight in my face at the range today, wind and rain and maybe a last blast of snow predicted for the next few days. soon enough it will turn to warm and sun, but the wind will usually be around.

the running joke when a newbie to the region asks 'so does the wind always blow this way out here?', the response is 'naah, sometimes it blows the other way'. it takes a sick sense of humor to deal with the weather and live on the northern plains, but that is just the way we like it, it keeps the riff-raff out.

 

[FogSailing]

Hi Burro: I went out and hit the range on Friday. Spent about 2 hours out there driving, chipping and putting. The driving is giving me problems this week so I went to my 3 wood and put the driver back in the bag. Stinkin Driver....

Glad you went and had a good time..

FS

 

[jpcavin]

Funny, I took my daughter to her first golf lesson on Saturday.

Mostly practiced form and chipping? Is that what it's called? Don't know what's considered good for a 6 year old first timer but she never gave up trying and even laughed at herself a few times. I was so proud of her.

PGA instructor was pretty cool too. Even let her keep the club and a bucket of balls so she could practice during the week.

Afterwards, we went out for ice cream as promised.

https://vimeo.com/163989282

https://vimeo.com/163989377


Ok, so TapaTalk isn't the best avenue for posting videos...Sorry about that.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[burrocrat]

PGA instructor was pretty cool too. Even let her keep the club and a bucket of balls so she could practice during the week.

Afterwards, we went out for ice cream as promised.

i'll have to remember that, i don't think my instructor would let me take the club and balls home. what kind of ice cream did he order?

all kidding aside, that is really cool jcpcavin. it looks like she is having fun too. i notice she is doing something deliberate on her swings, she is turning her body after the club swings through and following it around. you might have a natural there.