MD/DC/VA Golfers - Twelve Monkeys Mental Divergence

[FAbb]

I think it's also a leap to say the tax payers are subsidizing the club. It's not like the tax payers are funding the course like they might truly subsidize something like construction of a sports stadium. The club just isn't paying the taxes some people, him obviously included, think that they should be.

 

RE: responsible for own safety - one time with City at TV-O, a grandma walked across the 10th fairway with a very young child to look at the swans in the pond. We're standing on the tee like, WTF? She noticed we were there, and thought it was ok anyway, like there was no chance they'd get hit by a golf ball. Dumb.

[FAbb]

St. Andrews is a public facility, right? There's just a wee bit stronger case to push for public use than say, privately owned land.

[TheCityGame]

I think it's also a leap to say the tax payers are subsidizing the club.

Money's a fungible object.

 

LA needs taxes. If someone who isn't paying that should be, then someone else is paying extra. Other people are paying their taxes. IOW, they're subsidizing the club.

 

The other point that Gladwell was making (IIRC) was that the original agreement said they'd start paying a fair share when the membership turned over by 50% and they've claimed that the membership has never turned over by 50% because they replace members piecemeal and they never actually turn over 50% at any point.

[FAbb]

Yeah, the whole thing just struck me as very off. It was hollow.

 

He draws a connection between the need to make a legal ruling, and some philosophical question. Then he brings in a philosopher to present multiple solutions, and claims that if philosophers haven't been able to come up with one answer to the question, it's outrageous that some group of lawyers could possibly rule on it. But, we're not talking about philosophers sitting around debating it over a session of "puff puff give." There was no option for them to throw up their hands and say there's not one answer. Even the philosopher talked about how specifics of the situation tilt you one way or the other - and Gladwell takes zero consideration that maybe a golf club is more than just a group of rich white men that individually use the facilities. The club offers a social scene. It runs a program of golf events for it's membership. It continues to exist and serve the same purpose, regardless of the pieces that make it up.

[Puppetmaster]

This guy sounds really sad. Like the architorturists, I bet he can't really enjoy anything in life. Sad!

 

He seems happy in his Twitter profile...

 

 

Bet he's a +2 with buttah blades forged by Miura's brother's neighbor's sub leaser, and some Fuji Tour Spec 500 MSI shafts just trolling.

 

No, he's just trolling.

[therealsneek]

Gladwell says a few times that he is upset about the lack of public green space in LA. He should really be upset at the city of LA for not preserving some green space. Other cities have been able to maintain large public parks for many years. St Andrews is awesome. I think almost everyone agrees with that. But that dynamic isn't going to work everywhere.

[Puppetmaster]

Btw, I've actually enjoyed a couple of his books, even if I don't agree with all his observations. Am I commie?

[Puppetmaster]

This guy sounds really sad. Like the architorturists, I bet he can't really enjoy anything in life. Sad!

 

He seems happy in his Twitter profile...

 

 

Bet he's a +2 with buttah blades forged by Miura's brother's neighbor's sub leaser, and some Fuji Tour Spec 500 MSI shafts just trolling.

 

No, he's just trolling.

 

Also, I'd love to see that mane under a tour visor, can one of you send him one for some selfies please?

[GooseHook]

 

RE: responsible for own safety - one time with City at TV-O, a grandma walked across the 10th fairway with a very young child to look at the swans in the pond. We're standing on the tee like, WTF? She noticed we were there, and thought it was ok anyway, like there was no chance they'd get hit by a golf ball. Dumb.

 

A round a PoSho one year, we were on the patio watching the final group come up 18. Someone (eagle maybe) was hitting their approach, and three toddlers started running and yelling down the hill towards the green. The parents seemed oblivious to the possible outcome.

 

That was the second weirdest thing about that- #1 had to be the 30" steel manhole cover on the 18th fringe.

[Puppetmaster]

RE: responsible for own safety - one time with City at TV-O, a grandma walked across the 10th fairway with a very young child to look at the swans in the pond. We're standing on the tee like, WTF? She noticed we were there, and thought it was ok anyway, like there was no chance they'd get hit by a golf ball. Dumb.

 

A round a PoSho one year, we were on the patio watching the final group come up 18. Someone (eagle maybe) was hitting their approach, and three toddlers started running and yelling down the hill towards the green. The parents seemed oblivious to the possible outcome.

 

That was the second weirdest thing about that- #1 had to be the 30" steel manhole cover on the 18th fringe.

 

I remember that, I think the kids didn't run down once, but several times actually. It was either the Trolls event or a DCGT event.

 

Also, didn't one of you hit a shot that looked to be about 5 yards short of the green that hit the manhole and bounced 10 yards over the practice green?

[FAbb]

Gladwell says a few times that he is upset about the lack of public green space in LA. He should really be upset at the city of LA for not preserving some green space. Other cities have been able to maintain large public parks for many years.

 

Right? He's not upset with the City for poor urban planning, but he's upset with private land owners who kept their space undeveloped and green but won't share it with him.

 

I'd honestly never heard of him before. Maybe he's really good on other subjects, but this was a whiney, hollow, reach of an argument - at best. 0/10 will not bang any other content from him.

[Puppetmaster]

Speaking of crappy content, one of the fun things I've done since coming back to WRX has been reading some recent posts by people that I blocked in the past. That "fun" of course, didn't last very long.

[TheCityGame]

Gladwell says a few times that he is upset about the lack of public green space in LA. He should really be upset at the city of LA for not preserving some green space. Other cities have been able to maintain large public parks for many years.

 

Right? He's not upset with the City for poor urban planning, but he's upset with private land owners who kept their space undeveloped and green but won't share it with him.

 

I'd honestly never heard of him before. Maybe he's really good on other subjects, but this was a whiney, hollow, reach of an argument - at best. 0/10 will not bang any other content from him.

You've never heard of Malcolm Gladwell?

 

Yes you have.

 

He's the guy who was responsible for the "10000 hours of practice" idea that the golf guy tried to implement. The "public" kind of misinterpreted what he said, but that's him. . .Outliers, Blink, The Tipping Point. Any of that ringing a bell?

[Puppetmaster]

Oh yeah what happened to that Dan Plan guy who tried to do the 10,000 hours thing and turn pro?

[TheCityGame]

Also, you'd be doing yourself a disservice to just "not bang" his content. Generally, he's a very thoughtful writer who comes at popular issues from a different perspective.

 

Long time writer for the New Yorker.

 

https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/malcolm-gladwell

[Puppetmaster]

Also, you'd be doing yourself a disservice to just "not bang" his content. Generally, he's a very thoughtful writer who comes at popular issues from a different perspective.

 

Long time writer for the New Yorker.

 

https://www.newyorke...alcolm-gladwell

 

As someone with a background in statistics, I can appreciate the perspectives for sure. Sort of like Freakonomics and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper, which I thought was a good read, if you like that sort of thing.

[FAbb]

You've never heard of Malcolm Gladwell?

 

Yes you have.

 

He's the guy who was responsible for the "10000 hours of practice" idea that the golf guy tried to implement. The "public" kind of misinterpreted what he said, but that's him. . .Outliers, Blink, The Tipping Point. Any of that ringing a bell?

 

Honestly, I haven't. Other than you and/or bangass mentioning that golf podcast at some point, I haven't. I haven't ready any of those works.

 

I'm not really a reader, though. I can't tell you for sure the last book I read that wasn't about golf. It was probably Fooled by Randomness, back around 2009.

[dcmidnight]

reading some recent posts by people that I blocked in the past

 

I hope you enjoyed some of my recent posts...

[TheCityGame]

It seems everyone that's studied the flagstick issue has come to the same conclusion. Has anyone seen a study/experiment that suggested its a disadvantage to keep the flag in? I can only find three: 1) Pelz's old study, which I believe was based on chips, since you couldn't putt with the stick in; 2) Bryson saying he rolled like 20 balls and concluded he should leave it in; and 3) [below]. I would think there would be more serious study of this.

 

I can see how it might make you uncomfortable, but it doesn't make the hole smaller--it makes the hole bigger:

 

With the flag out, at 1' past, the capture width of a hole is 2.6". At 2' past, it's 1.9". At 3', it's 1.4", and at 4' it's 0.9".

With the flag in, at 1' past, the capture width of a hole is 2.6". At 2' past, it's 1.9". At 3', it's 1.85", and at 4' it's 1.8". At 5', it's 1.7".

 

https://thesandtrap....e-flagstick-in/

this was totally crazy analysis, by the way. I appreciated it. That post would face a lot more getting made fun of on this site.

[dsc123]

Wait till Gladwell hears about HQ2.

 

 

[jhbangas]

CA's property tax system is absolutely, completely f****** stupid.

 

I haven't listened to the Gladwell podcast so I don't know how much of the history he covered or what is specific argument is regarding the LA Country Club and golf in general. Basically in 1978 California passed an initiative (Prop 13) that essentially froze property assessments and then capped property tax increases to tiny amounts. In effect, that means if you bought a house for $100K in 1978 and it's worth $10 million today, you are paying property taxes as if the house is still taxed as if it were only worth about $200K.

 

Here's an example from a big LATimes article on the issue. In other words, if I bought a house tomorrow for $500K, I'm paying more in property taxes than someone who owns a home now worth $5mil but purchased in 1978.

 

In San Francisco’s exclusive Presidio Heights neighborhood, a six-bedroom home with an elevator, a wine cellar, and a painted mural and crystal chandelier on the dining room ceiling is estimated by the real estate website Zillow to be worth nearly $10 million but is taxed based on a value from the 1970s that is just 3% of that figure. The owners, who inherited the property two years ago, recently listed it for $17,500 a month in rent.

 

The tax benefit can also be inherited. The same article uses the Bridges (Jeff, Beau, and family) house in Malibu that they inherited as an example.

 

The Bridges children had a $5,700 tax bill last year for their Malibu home now estimated by Zillow to be worth $6.8 million. If someone bought the home at that price today, they’d pay more than $76,000 annually in property taxes.

 

By comparison, a family buying a house last year for $350K paid $4,800 a year in property taxes even though their house is 20x LESS expensive than the inherited Bridges property.

 

https://www.latimes....-htmlstory.html

https://www.latimes....630-column.html

 

When you remember that property taxes are the primary revenue mechanism for local governments and the second largest school system in America is about to experience a massive teacher strike, and then you find out that the LACC is paying f***-all in property taxes... well I can understand why you might be disinclined to have a positive attitude toward private golf courses.

 

(Lawmaking by initiative is f****** crazy but that's an argument for a different day and different forum)

[Puppetmaster]

reading some recent posts by people that I blocked in the past

 

I hope you enjoyed some of my recent posts...

 

:busted_cop:

 

I do want to check out that Pinecrest facility at some point though, glad you discovered it.

[Terphack]

Beautiful day at HWiskey after a overcast gloomy start. That therapy worked wonders especially with a couple of additional 12 oz elixers. I have always enjoyed the course but was kinda bothered today because they were sanding the greens. I have no problem with maintenance being conducted but nobody gave us a heads up when we checked in let alone offered any type of discount. This was ok too except that approximately 6 holes had the cup installed in what is normally the fringe/collar of the green which created some really odd placements and led to putting not on green surface. Again, I get maintenance and it is winter but maybe a heads up would have been nice. Still had fun and enjoyed what ended up being a really nice January day.

[GooseHook]

Today was my first time putting with the flag in all day. Have to say, I have no opinion either way. I holed two putts that were longish downhillers that definitely would not have gone in otherwise, though.

 

If a caddy or playing partner is going to pull the flag, it will be like nothing ever changed. I'm more curious to see what my regular weekend group is going to do come summertime.

[Terphack]

We too left the flag in almost all day and it didn't bother me but one of my playing partners had a putt bounce back from the stick and sit about an inch away. Pretty sure it would have gone in without the pin in. I do believe leaving the flag in did help save time but what probably saved the most time was/is not marking your ball on the green unless absolutely necessary. Waiting while others mark, pickup and replace their ball when appropriate takes more time than pulling and replacing the flag IMHO

[dcmidnight]

Awesome practice day today. Other than every shot I hit being garbage - it was just great being out this time of year. With the wind chills in the 20s the next week or so, stayed until it was almost dark and hit a ton of putts.

 

Hope a bunch of you were able to get out!

[baddomes]

 

 

Today I hit the greatest shot of my career.

 

I hit a golf ball from where this picture was taken and it landed and stayed on the bridge to the right of the green. 6 iron.

 

 

[HighBoomingDraws]

Walked for the first time in my golfing career today for 9 holes. I can be a military golfer at times (left, right, left right) and a general sprayer, so I’ve always been apprehensive. I do run and hit the cardio machines at the gym a lot, so in hindsight that apprehension was stupid. I guess it was more worry about holding other folks up.

 

Got a caddy teck for Xmas, strapped it up, and headed out around 2:45 today at woodmore for 9. It was FINE. not a lot slower than riding, especially CPO. Now I won’t feel awkward playing with 3 walkers as a rider anymore, I’ll probably just push.

 

Apple Watch readings were great for the added steps and exercise. 18 shouldn’t be a problem at all after doing it for 9. My only worry is wanting to play more than 18. That’s a cart scenario IMO.

 

Still, when it’s warm and I’ve been hitting the gym with a decent consistency, I’ll still prefer riding in a 90 degree or scatter policy for carts all summer.

[SullGolf]

HBD walked? The push cart peer pressure is real.

 

No better time than the winter to be walking. Get some clicgear mitts and put some chemical hand warmers in there. You’ll thank me later.

[HighBoomingDraws]

I invested in a bulk purchase of those hand warmers you’ll find at a course from Costco. A million of em for $17 purchase. Executive membership for the win. It was real cool to walk. I look forward to that conversation I constantly miss zooming by to search the left rough for my snap hook.