Clubhouse Grille (*** NO LIV DISCUSSIONS ***) (*** NO POLITICS/RELIGION ***)

[tolmij]

Watching the news on TV this morning and it presented the best and worst of the human race. Many people are taking in strangers who have lost everything, shops and restaurants are feeding those in need for free. BUT one story made my blood boil and wish someone massive harm. A woman several years ago rescued a horse and has looked after it since, that horse carried her out of the fire zone not knowing how it would finish they both came through safely, her family had gone by car earlier so she was on her own. Due to the work they did around the house the fire stopped short and the house was safe, they were away for two days in total and could then get back to the house ,when they arrived they found someone had broken in, stolen Christmas gifts, stolen their water tank pump and so all their water had emptied out, but they had also totally trashed the house, emptied drawers and cupboards smashed furniture and damaged walls. Me not normally a violent person would like to see the American way used, shoot on sight, not to kill them but to permanently disable them, not a good thought but the scum that do this should be given a life time reminder of their actions.

[scotee]

I have carried a GHIN handicap with our club association for years. Ours in inactive over the winter. I saw a sign at the club announcing the new "world handicap" fee for this year at $41 and another $20 for the mens association fee. Not sure what the change will be or if the USGA and GHIN are still involved. Must be an attempt to globalize golf handicaps. I have heard that the European system was different than the US one but I don't know the differences.

Found this: https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/1790425/new-world-handicaps-2020#latest

And this:https://www.golfdigest.com/story/voices-the-flaw-in-the-new-world-handicap-system-dean-knuth

[tolmij]

Correct, globalisation of handicap is now a reality, so when you come over here for a game you cannot pretend it is higher than it is. ?

[tolmij]

Tried a second edit to make this comment and it would not let me.

 

so, globalisation is just another way of saying we are going to screw you for more money.??

[scotee]

Not a problem for a couple of old OGAers. On my way as soon as I win the lottery. (or you send me a ticket)

[Gauchograd99]

Pretty much the only reason I keep a handicap is because I want to play certain courses in Scotland/UK one day and that has been a requirement. Well, it doesn't hurt to see a nice single digit on the card to shut up the guy on course or in the golf store who wants to offer his opinion on why you missed a shot just left of the green.

[tolmij]

Bush fires are now critical, many towns have been deserted because there are not enough people to fight the fires, some Queensland fire fighters have gone down to help those in New South Wales, the Queenslanders have only done 50 days non stop, the NSW fire fighters are now at 100 days. The picture below was taken mid morning in an area where it is now impossible to leave. At last the government has now mobilised the whole armed forces including the army reserves unless their property is at risk.

 

This is not photo shopped.

[scotee]

.So frightening Tol. Thoughts and prayer down that way! We had friends lose everything to the Paradise California fire. It is so devastating.

[scomac2002]

Saw a post on Fb this morning that a volunteer of the RFS has been charged with arson for setting 7 fires!

[Conrad1953]

Not to minimize what is going on down under........

On the lighter side, the PGA Tour is back in action this week with the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui.

I've always enjoyed tuning into this one. Scotster, I think I remember you saying you've played this course. It

must be a blast to play...............especially the grip and rip tee shot on 18.

[scomac2002]

And in further news I got a message in my inbox this morning that Golftown is holding their annual clearance sale. So I go on the website looking to see if there are any deals on something that I might find useful. Some grips perhaps?

No dice. I think I found one on sale and that was reduced to $11.99 from the magical price of $17.99! WTF? When did swing grips go to those prices or $65 putter grips for a FatCat?

They had some smoking hot deals on used Titleist bags for $170... USED!! WTF?

It wasn't all that long ago that you could get a nice set of new irons for $600 when they were moving out old stock before the new models arrived. Now I see irons at $1600 for a set or $2800 for a set! Who can afford these prices? The game of kings once again, I guess...

No wonder a YouTube channel based solely on the concept of thrifting golf clubs has become an overnight sensation. I have no idea how Golftown will stay in business once the Boomer generation has retired from playing the game because I don't see the Amazon generation ever supporting anything that is charging those sorts of prices. Maybe it won't even matter if all the golf courses get converted to housing, shopping malls and parkland. After all that seems to be the business model of a lot of the course consolidators, at least the ones operating in this region. Buy them up, get them rezoned and then sell them off at huge profit to developers.

[scomac2002]

And speaking of the YouTube channel mentioned above; Stacked Golf features John and Ashley, a you couple from Florida who met while in college in Indiana.

John's a pretty good player. He played college golf. Ashley is new to the game, but she's also the highlight of the channel with her bubbly personality.

The format is pretty basic. They thrift. They go to yard sales. They go to tag sales. They have even bought clubs at auction.

It's as much about the characters they meet as it is about the club finds and then they go to the course and hit what they've bought. This is where it gets interesting.

They bought a bunch of ladies clubs in a recent video and then hit the course to give them a go. As I said before, John's a pretty good player. He's hitting these ladies clubs dead straight and every bit as far as he would hit a men's club with a stiff shaft. I've seen Ashley hit men's clubs just as well as the ladies clubs she would normally play. WTF? Is this whole shaft business a bunch of hooey?

Every club that is in their bags they have thrifted since they started this channel. John's got a Razr X Black driver, a couple of Adams LS fairways, forged Adams CMB irons, tour issued Vokey wedges and one of a half dozen TP Mills putters in rotation. Ashley is using a ladies TM driver, a couple of Tight Lies fairways and hybrid along with a set of G30 irons. Her secret weapon is the Square Strike chipper. Being the world's best putter, it really doesn't matter what she uses, she makes 'em all. She was using a gimmick putter for a while that stood up on it's own. She called it the frying pan. Didn't matter she could drain 'em with that thing too!

That's just the best of what they've scored. It doesn't count the clubs that they've flipped or given away. I'm not sure how long this is going to last before it gets stale, but one thing is certain, the thrifting in Florida is unreal. To top that off, they don't buy new balls either. They thrift recycled Z Stars and find tees and practice balls in bags that they buy. Ashley said that she paid $10 for a good bag one day in a thrift and found a $20 bill in one of the pockets when she got home!

Perhaps the highlight of all the videos I've seen with these two was the day they met a couple of fellows in a parking lot to buy a couple of bags of clubs that were listed on Craigslist. The older guy said that the clubs belonged to a fellow that had abandoned his daughter for another woman when she was 4 months pregnant. They were selling all of his stuff that he left behind to help her out. They bought both bags for twice as much as the guy asked. I'd say they scored some serious social media points there! John got his driver and fairway out of the one bag and then flipped the rest as they were some pretty solid sticks.

[tolmij]

Minimise away as much as you want Conrad, life is too short to be permanently serious.

[BIG STU]

I have been keeping up with the happenings in your country via the world press. I can not imagine how horrible it it. My prayers are with your whole country.

A couple of years back when we had the massive Hurricane and massive flooding we had similar stories of looting. The big Waccamaw river flooded and folks had trouble getting to their homes a week later. People were actually going up the river on boats looting people's homes. Law enforcement had few boats because they were strung out all over the area. But folks came together lending Law enforcement boats and teaming up with law enforcement to prevent looting. With our laws here we had armed citizens patrolling with sworn officers in prevention. Down on my end in the inlet citizens caught a couple of people looting. They were darn near beat to death before Law Enforcement was notified. Due to our Governor declaring a state of emergency certain laws go into effect. Now we can not shoot looters on site ( too bad) but the penalties for looting are more harsh if committed during this time. In my park a lot of folks pulled out and us that stayed patrolled the streets of the park armed and worked with our county police. We had no looting. Yeah I can not stand a thief anyhow and it really makes it bad when there is a disaster involved. Trust me there will be a special spot in you know where for thieves like that

[BIG STU]

We had a few courses that tried that a while back--- One course ( since closed) was a rinky dink little fun track to play but it was only like 57 or 5800 yards from the tips. Well one of my buds from out of town showed up and had his daughter who now is on the Symtra Tour. She was in high school at the time and had a legitimate 2 hdcp. He had a 2 also. Well about the 4th hole this ranger rode up and asked if we saw the sign? well are you folks a 5 or better? The daughter showed her card and my bud showed his. Then he looked at me and said what about you? I told him I do not keep an amateur handicap. He asked why? Of course I could not resist I showed him my card from The Grand Strand Tour ( mini tour) and my Sunbelt Senior Tour card. That old sour puss grumbled and rode on. I noticed throughout that round quite a few people were watching us from like the woods and other holes. When we finished we never went back. That course is gone now. I think they thought they were something they were not. One time before that I had met some guys from Mass that were here I guess on a Motel economy golf package. We had played the day before at the course I am a member of now. they had booked this one the next day and invited me. One of my buds was the starter and put us off on #10. We were on the back tees and this group of retirees rode right past us to the senior tees. We yelled at them and one of them told me "they were members of the golf association there" I told him I did not care if he was a member of the French Foreign Legion the starter told us to tee off. The starter saw the problem and rode down there and informed them of what was what. I told them now move your ancient butts before we hit. It was funny they tried to hit into us all day on the par 4s and 5s. That was another problem with that course the Men's Association thought they owned the course. In fact the ranger wanting to see hdcp cards that day was one of the members of that group. Besides it being short and a goat track to boot they wondered why they got no play and they finally closed.

[BIG STU]

I do stuff like that all the time with clubs I find in the bins at work. I will play them-- I just have to watch out for my back now because some of the older sticks have too heavy and stiff shafts for me to hit without hurting my back.

[tolmij]

Unfortunately some are only fire fighters because fires turn them on, setting fires is their way of having pleasure. They should be burned at the stake.

[scomac2002]

Well, I'll say this much: The ***** that are setting fires, looting and profiteering during this disaster of Biblical proportions could do with a bit of Biblical justice.

They say that old school justice was barbarous. Many years ago I ran across a retired prison guard who worked at the maximum security penitentiary up here when they used to give out the lash. The fellow said in the 30 years he worked there he never had a repeat customer. Could be that modern justice is just plain soft.

[tolmij]

Don’t know what it is like over with you, but they are treated with kid gloves in Australia. They complain so the food is improved, larger TV, and so on. Last year we even had someone repeat offend so he could be in prison for Christmas,better food and accomodation he said.

[tolmij]

like you Stu, I cannot stand anyone that takes things that do not belong to them, if I had my way the chopping off of the offending hand would be mandatory. We work hard for many years and then some low life thinks they can help themselves.

[BIG STU]

LOL back when I ran the towing company I did the towing for some Russian guys here. They rebuilt wrecked cars and sold them--- They always paid and never complained about the tow fees. but then again we cut them some slack because we did so much business with them. I personally was sorta adopted by them as a brother. One of them his shop was broken into and a bunch of expensive tools were stolen. He did go to the Police but of course that did not do much good. He told me that in Russia if they caught one stealing they would cut their hand off. I told him if that was the case here that there would be a lot of people running around Myrtle Beach with NO hands. Yep the dopeheads around here will steal anything not tied down and will steal from their own Mother if opportunity presents itself

[BIG STU]

Yep that will get me riled up in a flash. Firefighters setting fires---- I was a Volunteer FF on and off for over 20 years---- I did it to help others---- It always broke my heart to see other folks stuff destroyed or dealing with the innocent death caused by a drunk driver or someone's inattention or dead out recklessness

[billh17]

It is good to see that a lot of folks share my views on justice !

I agree Stu, the only person worse than a thief is an arsonist

and a liar. I fully understand the heartbreak from seeing the

accidents. The picture never leaves your mind. It is always there.

Thank you for your time spent as a volunteer.

[tolmij]

You have my greatest admiration Stu, those of you that volunteer for fire fighting deserve all the praise you can get. We have watched them on TV and some have done three months now without a day off.

my father was working in what was called a reserve occupation during the Second World War, he was operating a drop forge manufacturing parts for tanks so they would not let him join up, it was also not allowed to move jobs so he volunteered at night when the air raids were on rescuing people from bombed houses with his local fire brigade. The stories he told us were horrific.

[tolmij]

News from last night, a fire started close to homes in a very dry area, it flared up quickly but was put out also quickly. The point here is the residents saw the youths lighting the fire, they could not catch then as they had other priorities, you would think with 3000 houses already lost these idiots would use their half a brain to think maybe I should not be doing this. They started the fire using fire crackers.

[tolmij]

A map of Australia superimposed onto America showing the bush fires.

Currently 399 active fires.

[tolmij]

Giving serious thought to a game of golf next week, started on pain killers to try and play, we shall see.

 

busy day today in the studio, getting back into it after a too long pause, life has been one long pause this past few weeks. Stay safe Grillers, quiet in here the past two days, everyone hibernating for winter ?

[scomac2002]

I think that with what all is going on in your part of the world a little kibitzing about golf and life in general seems not particularly important. Perhaps this is the right time for that to take one's mind off of all the terrible things that are happening. WE all need to remind ourselves that life can and will be normal again. That doesn't downplay the severity of what is transpiring.

[scomac2002]

Nice article on the front page about going minimalist, although in true WRX fashion they talk about custom built half sets of clubs at bespoke prices. The main pic for the article is interesting in that it included a persimmon 4W with a half set of forged blades along with a modern driver and basic Anser style putter. Very much a mixing of eras yet all new clubs. It's a sort of high end version of what I talked about with a Bag for All Seasons over on the Classics section combining a few interesting clubs from different eras into a set that could be played anywhere at anytime.

[tolmij]

One satisfying element is how America and Canada in general has responded with donations, billions of dollars have been given by those that are normally self centred showing that they have not forgotten they are just the same as everyone else. Australia will recover, it is going to take years but let’s hope this is a wake up call to governments the world over that there are more important things than their own egos. The only other potential problem is how all this will be distributed, a few years ago we had massive floods and money was donated by the government into a recovery fund for those that lost everything, two years on no one has received a cent, the money sat there gathering dust. The organisation’s handling this have good reputations, let’s hope it stays that way. Another satisfying action is the insurance companies are paying out very fast.

In some states there are the greater majority with no insurance, this is a result of a 100% tax on premiums, the state governments have done this they say to fund the emergency services, the result is many working class families just could not afford insurance which is expensive without the tax. Many have lost everything and literally only have the clothes they are wearing. Hopefully this will change.

 

thanks to Grillers for your good thoughts and prayers, we have been safe up to now, the closest we have had is around five miles away and the local brigades doused them within the hour. We still have our emergency kit at the ready and cages for the animals, our only regret is we would have to set the chickens loose to fend for themselves.