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

[BIG STU]

And if I remember correctly it gave you a strong left hand grip. I know my old man sold a ton of those Sam Snead Blue Ridge clubs with those grips

[BIG STU]

Now having to do what I am doing now is boring but I have no choice---- I was having a great time before my accident being semi retired---- Was walking 5 or 6 holes a day with the minimalist vintage set and then riding 18 or 36 with my buds. Even the days I worked I got back in about 10 or 11 and went to the course and walked 6 holes or so. I had lost about 10 lbs without trying and had gotten my body flexible and loose again and was feeling good both physically and mentally. Then Wham! Most of my days consist of sitting around the house either on here or watching TV. I will go and putt some with the broom handle but after 10 or 12 putts I am done and hurting. Told my wife last night in the last 6 weeks I have watched more TV than I ever had in the 63 years of my life. But I am doing it exactly like the sawbones are telling me to do because I realize the seriousness of my situation.

[Sean2]

I hope you feel better soon Stu. I broke a bone in my back last fall, and having to just sit around was driving me a bit batty. There is only so much you can read, only so much TV you can watch.

[tolmij]

My problem was the condition did not fully evolve immediately, it started with a shoulder, then a hip then an ankle and so on. i had several xrays and scans but nothing definite was showing, it was only when I literally could not get out of bed the doctor could diagnose what it was. The other problem the condition cannot be diagnosed with blood tests etc and is done by a series of elimination tests for every other condition it could be. The first day I was on the medication It was like a miracle, the next morning I got out of bed as if nothing was wrong, the medication I take has to be reduced gradually over 12 months or it will come back. So next week should be my first golf game since last year when it first started. I think it may be a high scoring round, if I bother to count.

[Conrad1953]

I decided to have some fun during my round today so I played the first few holes with a blue ball, then switched to a red ball, then

to a green ball, then back to a red ball, then to a yellow ball and lastly a white ball. I was curious how I would adapt visually to each

ball. These new matte balls really glow in bright sunlight. You almost have to wear sunglasses to behold them.

 

To top it off I was also playing 4 different balls; Maxfli Softfli, Callaway SuperSoft, Srixon Soft Feel and Srixon Q Star Tour. The Softfli;

at 35 compression is supposed to be the softest of the ones I played but it was not. It actually felt the hardest, which tells me the cover

is likely the reason. It must have the hardest cover. The SuperSoft; at 38 compression, is a ball I am well familiar with as I have played

with it many times. No surprise there.

 

The Srixons played the best for me by far. The softest feeling ball of all was the 60 compression Soft Feel, with the gradient core. My

guess is the cover is very soft and that made it feel softer than the lower compression balls. Of course, the Q Star Tour is a different

animal than the other 3 as it's a 3 piece ball with a urethane cover.........and it, by far was the best ball for me. It's a 72 compression

ball and it feels almost as soft as the Soft Feel with all clubs. It's just a great all around ball.

 

As far as the colors go...............................blue definitely glows the coolest on the green but it is the hardest to find out on the course

and that's a strike against it. The red looks wild and for me, is almost distracting. The bright green is the easiest to spot out on the

course because it glows like kryptonite out there, lol. I like the green the best of all the colorful balls. I did not bother trying orange

or pink just because. The Q Star Tour is only available in white and yellow and I now have 7 dozen in white on hand.

 

My game has been slowly coming around. Only had 2 birds in 18 holes today but one was on 18 to get me in under 80 for the

first time in quite awhile......par 72..........so it was a good day.........for my level of play......no blow ups for a change. Playing again

Thursday at a different course. Feels good to be playing regularly after so many years of sporadic play.

[scotee]

Nice Radster! Breaking the 80 barrier is good golf. I played with a guy last week that played one of those red matte balls. Up close it almost glows and vibrates but at distance I really have a hard time seeing that one. It's white or yellow/green for me.

[scomac2002]

Impressive game @Conrad1953! I envy you to have been off from the game for many years and then to be able to come back to the level you are at in this short time frame is impressive indeed.

[scomac2002]

With the ramifications of COVID 19 on greenhouse production and demand earlier in the year the supply of bedding plants was quite tight this year. Easter orders were cancelled and then the lockdown meant that spring planting didn't get near the volume of product in the pipeline at most of the local greenhouses. I was fortunate to get an early start this year with the yard work and as such had a good choice of plants to choose from until the supply quickly dried up by the end of May. What wasn't expected would be the demand would be better for gardening products this season than it has been in several years as it was one of the few things that a person could do and you didn't necessarily need property to do it what with the advent of container gardening and community gardens in public space.

Fortunately agriculture is very good at adapting and once the demand became clear, extra help was hired and further crops of bedding plants were started. The landscaper that did our work last fall had laid off half his crew in March and had no intentions of doing construction this year under the restraints of a lockdown. Come forward two months and he's got a full crew back to work and a back log of work and quotes for new projects. This week I noticed that the local garden center began to get in fresh crops of annuals and perennials, s we're in the process now of finishing off the front yard makeover to add in a bit of colour to the trees, evergreens and shrubs. Unfortunately that seemed to be a siren call to the local rabbit population as a border planting of Salvia were pruned off within hours of putting them in the ground yesterday! It almost looked as though someone had deliberately walked through the bed and kicked the plants over and broke them off. I could see footprints and then I remembered that I had been moving plant pots around to get a feel for placement of some Cleomes that I had bought. More lessons for the novice gardener I guess...

[Sean2]

Nice shooting Conrad!

I hit what I feel is my first real full-swing golf shot yesterday. Normally I hit my 11-wood (25º) around 155 yards. Yesterday I hit one 192 yards. I was able to keep my back to the target, something I have been trying to do for a long time. It's a hard move for me to make. I am not sure if it requires athleticism, or trust that the club head will catch up to the ball (it felt like it was way behind me). In any case, I will keep plugging away at it and hopefully see more good results.

[tolmij]

No rabbits where we live but DW had plenty of seedlings coming through and the local magpies decided they looked tasty. When we saw them they were showing two chicks how to dig them up, I chased them off but eventually I had to cover them up to stop them.

[Conrad1953]

Thanks Scotster! Red balls would be good for angry golf, lol, though I tend to think of the colorful balls in terms of fruits...cause...

after all, I am from SoCal...so the red balls would be strawberries, the orange would be kumquats, blue would be blueberries, green

would be apples. etc. etc.......nature boy golf.....or just plain fruit golf, except when I nut the ball.Thanks Sco though the time hasn't been THAT short since I'm a year and a half into retirement.Thanks Sean! I hear you on the full swing thing since you're coming off a back injury. It's not easy to take a full swing if you're concerned

it might cause a re-injury or another injury. A 192 yard 11 wood is a pretty good poke. Seems to me you'll be knocking your driver WAY

past that pretty soon...............and will have to move back a set of tees when you're driving all the par 4 greens from the senior tees.

[Conrad1953]

We've been having some unusually mild weather around here lately. The mornings have been cool with temps in the low 60s, daytime

highs in the mid 80s and low humidity and breezy. More like April/May than mid June. I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

[Michael C.]

Nice round, Radro!!

[Conrad1953]

Thanks broschmacker!

[Sean2]

I can only hope, Conrad. :-)

[Conrad1953]

Bill asked me to let everyone know he's doing A OK and on the road to a full recovery and can start playing golf again August 1st. Great news!

[scomac2002]

That is good news. I'm going to remind myself the next time that I'm out that getting out is what's important.

[tolmij]

That is a score I dream of, well done now lets see a par round. ?

[Fellaheen51]

Indeed!! Excellent news. I was concerned about his well being, not having read anything since his Mrs. posted a couple of weeks back. Saying prayers for our buddy. Anser'ed. If you have further communication, please extend our all the best.

And also adding my congrats on a most excellent round. Would surmise that you have your swing things synced quite nicely.

[Michael C.]

Great news it is!!

[Fellaheen51]

Really bad day at the golf office yesterday. Nothing was in sync, ball striking was for shizzles. It's been a long time since I had wanted a round to be done with. When enough was enough. To many swing adjustments going on in my head as the round descended into darkness. Became all discombobulated, barely being able to hit the ball. This after a large bucket at the range on Monday working on some swing things and felt that some issues had been sorted out. Best to forget about it and move on till the next time. Stupid golf. It was a absolutely perfect weather day though.

______________________________________________

By spirits were marginally lifted when I arrived home. As there was a box on the front porch.

A couple of years back, bought a partial set of Ping ISI's at a rummage sale dirt cheap. Had been intrigued by the wonky shape, wondered how they hit a golf ball. But never got around to doing so. This spring, finally installed some fresh grips and gave a couple of them a spin. Was very surprised how nicely they played. Given that they had stiff steel shafts and were black dots. Had been passively perusing around for a complete set in my color code (green) that was inexpensive. The "typicals" were way more than I wanted to pay.

Then a week or so back, noticed a listing on the Bay. Really poor listing title (Vintage Karsten irons), stuck in wrong section, with the description calling them 1ST. But the seller had added good pictures that were the identifier. And when I discovered them, the listing was going to end in 2 hours. Thought about it, then decided why not, let's throw a bid out there and see what happens. Lo and behold won the bid. Had funded up the PayPal account recently with a few liquidations, so the capital was there waiting to be deployed.

Ping BeNi ISI's (3 - PW), matching serial numbers, green dot, Z-Z65 shafts, in VGUC. Paid waaay less than FMV due to the poor listing. Kinda excited to give these a spin. Maltby (If one takes any credence in the system) has ISI's rated as SGI with numbers equal to the current G series irons. They need new grips and may play them at standard length to test initially. Can always add extensions later if they feel too short. Messing around with playing irons at shorter lengths than customary. Don't know how the stiff shafts are going to play out. The old Ping bromide of LW, stiff shafts for everyone concept is suspect for this old guy. May swap in a Nippon 950 regular from the Hogans to test at some point. Perhaps a future full (5 - W) reshaft with some YTBD pulls if I want to go with regular flex.

Kinda been wanting a backup set around that wasn't a MB iron. Just as an option. When I had the rummaged 7 and 8 iron out for a spin, hit them quite well. Framed the ball nicely, wanted to go straight, good relative distance, a lower trajectory than my typically high, liked how the soles responded from turf (absent all that notorious Ping bounce). All the offset even looked pleasing to the eye. Did I mention they looked quite "unusual"? Now browsing around for a matching S2 (54.5*) or S3 (57*) SW at a good price.

Anyhow. Play really bad golf, let's try some different irons. Why not some old school Pings? Had tried a partial set of E2's before but they didn't do much for me. If this experiment doesn't quite pan out as anticipated, can always sell them off and easily recoup my investment. The new old implements:

[SixtySomePing]

Hi all, we have had nice weather too Rad, and the latest local news is that the Memorial Tournament will be played July 16th - 19th with real fans at the course. They are making a big deal of it and the local news outlets are doing interviews at Muirfield asking about how it will work, how they will ensure that everyone will be the safest possible concerning COVID, what will be different, what to expect, etc...https://abc6onyourside.com/sports/content/update-on-muirfield-golf-tournaments-june-15-2020?fbclid=IwAR2q-gZi8tIqfMpSlRra4r9swZ-OmCBg7KFo9Rp4nUoSrINh5j6EcaO7PxQ

 

[tolmij]

Excellent news, hope to see him eating in the grille soon.

[Conrad1953]

Ha! Those are beautifully ugly! I love the industrial look of the old Ping irons.

 

The golf game comes and goes sometimes. In my experience it's usually something small that creeps in but feels large

when you're suffering out on the course. I would probably blame the range time if it was me. I'm good for about 5-10

minutes on the range. Longer than that bad sh** starts to happen and can be grooved if I don't walk away quickly, lol.

 

Golf shots are meant to be hit in 2-5 minute gaps not 2-5 per minute. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

[Fellaheen51]

Ha. That's the problem with a bucket of range balls. A small one isn't quite enough, a large is too many. And 2/3 of the way through, begin rapid firing them off just to be done with it. (After all, I paid for them, might as well use them all.) And the swing gets sloppy.

The swing was so bad yesterday, I ached last night. From my hips to my arms. Kinda in golf shape by this time of year. Rare to never have bod repercussions after playing. Whatever I was doing was way out of kilter. All best forgotten quickly.

Yeah, the old school Ping "industrial' look is uniquely different. Compared with much of the aesthetic in many of the current crop of iron designs (don't want to look at no speed bars). I have an increased preference towards the wonkiness of old Pings. Think I remember reading somewhere that the ISI's were the last irons that Karsten, ever the "mad engineer", had design involvement with.

[BIG STU]

From what I saw this morning on GC the LPGA is also going to play back to back events in Ohio too

[Qqq123xx]

Did you have Purple Haze playing in the background?

[Sean2]

I could use some Purple Haze...reality isn't all that it is cracked up to be, lol.

[Conrad1953]

Top Flite makes purple balls for the ladies. I think you should up your game and bring some to the course next time you play.

Guaranteed you will be a ladies magnet............as long as you are man enough to take the hazing that will be coming from the

guys.......it could be worth it.

[tolmij]

Good news folks, Sunday the 21st June is the equinox. What does that mean, SUMMER IS ON THE WAY ????