MD/DC/VA Golfers - Twelve Monkeys Mental Divergence

[dcmidnight]

They would make it -120 or -130. They're basically shaving an extra 10-40 cents or more *per side*.

 

Take a standard hockey game that might be -130 / +120 on both moneylines. They might make it -160 / -120. To anyone that knows even one tiny shred about handicapping, its an abomination. But - I spent some time in those lines at William Hill and some people just dont give AF.

[TheCityGame]

OH, yeah, that's insane. People don't realize what taking a line from -110 to -120 does, much less 130 or 140. 

 

it basically turns a point spread from "some people can beat this and a lot of people can at least lose their money slowly" to "flush your money down the toilet". 

 

[moose557]

8 hours ago, TheCityGame said:

So, on a straight point spread bet, normally -110 on either side, what does GAMBET do?

I think it is -118.  Nats just partnered with MGM and they have an app but like DC said you have to be in or next to the stadium to use it.  

 

Everything I am reading is saying it should be up and running in Maryland by the start of next NFL season which will be great.  

[mizuno player]

On 2/3/2021 at 7:11 PM, SullGolf said:

One of my cars is dead-dead right now.  I've probably put 100 miles on it in the last 10 months.

 

I have one of those little battery pack jumpers, but any time I've needed to use it the battery was really dead and it didn't work.  I'm not sure if I have a dud or if my batteries have just been really dead.

That type of driving or lack of driving in your case will kill a battery prematurely. You can still get a pro-rated price for a new one. Depending on how many month battery you have? 

 

With all the electronics on newer cars they draw decent amount of juice while just sitting. It needs to be driven or run awhile to properly charge it back up via the alternator. 

 

Years ago my mom worked less than 10 miles round trip to work. I replaced her battery every 2-3 years. Was always in a state of discharge. 

 

If you continue to drive like this I would buy a cheap battery tender. It will keep a full charge on the battery while it sits. 

[GooseHook]

So ,it's National Pizza Day. Everyone here seems to be food people, and I'm curious as to what your at-home methods are? I've always loved cooking but baking, not so much, but pizza is still my favorite and I'm trying to shift away from paying $20 for delivery when I can make a good pizza for a few bucks. I'm pizza-style agnostic, anything from a flat square to a full on deep dish works. I'm mainly experimenting with pan-type pizzas at the moment since we're not going to get an upgraded grill or any type of oven until we move. 

 

Version 1 of my home dough went pretty well, using a variation of Kenji's Fool Proof Pan Pizza recipe. I only slightly tweaked the salt level and added garlic powder. Results were outstanding in a sheet pan, almost like a foccacia crust, but in the cast iron pan I found that the browning to cook-thru ratio didn't make for an ideal slice. 

[SullGolf]

Over the summer I made quite a few out of Ken Forkish's book, including his pan variant.  For sauce he's a big advocate of San Marzano tomatoes, and I loved it. 

 

I can't shape pizza dough very well, which takes way from the aesthetic.  Tastes great though.

[dcmidnight]

I finally bought a pizza stone for the smoker - stone/giant spatula for $30 - and thats how we've done a few. Its awesome - even though I've screwed it up each time. The mistake I made the first time was not putting the stone on for long enough to get super hot before the pizza went on. Secondly, I have to figure out an easier way to make it on the spatula and then transfer it to the stone. First time we tried spray but that really just let the dough slide around too much. I think sprinkling cornmeal on there might be the way to go - but even then its not like it slides off nice and easy. Plus I put way too many toppings on which gets the thing super heavy.

 

But I dont care, when that crust gets nice and crispy its all good.

 

I dont make our own dough though, thats a step more than I'm willing to commit to. MV was doing make your own pizza kits for a while and after that my wife found some at Trader Joes.

Edited February 10, 2021 by dcmidnight

[TheCityGame]

14 hours ago, GooseHook said:

So ,it's National Pizza Day. Everyone here seems to be food people, and I'm curious as to what your at-home methods are? I've always loved cooking but baking, not so much, but pizza is still my favorite and I'm trying to shift away from paying $20 for delivery when I can make a good pizza for a few bucks. I'm pizza-style agnostic, anything from a flat square to a full on deep dish works. I'm mainly experimenting with pan-type pizzas at the moment since we're not going to get an upgraded grill or any type of oven until we move. 

 

Version 1 of my home dough went pretty well, using a variation of Kenji's Fool Proof Pan Pizza recipe. I only slightly tweaked the salt level and added garlic powder. Results were outstanding in a sheet pan, almost like a foccacia crust, but in the cast iron pan I found that the browning to cook-thru ratio didn't make for an ideal slice. 

More than anything, experiment, change variables, pay attention to what you did. And then things will still turn out different than the time before because the kitchen is warmer or the yeast is more active, or whatever. After a while you get a feel for it, but basically pizza at home can differ time to time. 

 

Figure out oven temps. If I get my oven too hot (like 525), the crust gets dark before the toppings melt or the crust cooks. If I go back to like 490 or 495, it seems better. I think it's a myth that you need screaming hot ovens. I've made pizzas on grills that were at 600+ and usually, I get it to burn before it cooks through, but that's also because the heat is coming from very close to the stone and below. When pizza places get their ovens to 600, they have very good control/understanding of where the heat comes from and can rotate pizzas while they cook.

 

As far as pan pizzas go, over the last year I've made a lot of bread because #sourdough and so I've done a lot of playing around with discards and one thing I've come to accept. . .not everything fits a description. Put dough in a pan, cover it with toppings and cook it.  Boom. Food. if it's screwed up for some reason, change it next time. If the dough is thicker, you don't want to go too hot because you need the dough to cook through before the toppings burn. 

 

For tomato sauce, I usually use some kind of crushed tomatoes, or I use whole peeled tomatoes and smash 'em up with a hand blender. Usually, I cook it down a bit and add some olive oil and herbs, but I don't get too fancy with it. Flavor your pizza with the toppings. 

 

Cheese, I like Mozz, parm. reggiano, then some combination of asiago/fontina/romano or whatever. Don't be afraid to use soft smelly cheeses on pizza. Burrata can work in place of mozzerella. I make some pizzas with alternate sauces. My "signature" (laugh, but read on) is fig jelly in place of sauce (thin layer), topped with blue cheese, bacon, caramelized onions. Made a pizza with gorgonzola and butternut squash and crispy sage leaves. I like pickled jalapenos, pickled onions on pizza. Pizza often lacks "acidity" (outside the sauce) so something piquant adds a nice zing.

 

Overall, I say just play around and don't strive for anything perfect or "authentic" and see where it goes. It's bread and toppings. It's never going to turn out as something you can't eat unless you just burn the heck out of it.

 

 

[dcmidnight]

12 minutes ago, TheCityGame said:

More than anything, experiment, change variables, pay attention to what you did. And then things will still turn out different than the time before because the kitchen is warmer or the yeast is more active, or whatever.

 

I feel the same about smoking too. If you monitor the temps, its almost impossible to truly ruin food. I love experimenting with different stuff and the worst that happens is you get a pizza you wont make again. I dont think I've ever made something that was inedible.

 

I am intrigued by the temp discussion about cooking it hot enough to crisp the crust but not burn the ingredients. I remember seeing a place in Baltimore on tv that cooked in a coal fired pizza oven, thing cooked at like 1000* and cooked a pizza in a minute.

[TheCityGame]

17 minutes ago, dcmidnight said:

 

I feel the same about smoking too. If you monitor the temps, its almost impossible to truly ruin food. I love experimenting with different stuff and the worst that happens is you get a pizza you wont make again. I dont think I've ever made something that was inedible.

 

I am intrigued by the temp discussion about cooking it hot enough to crisp the crust but not burn the ingredients. I remember seeing a place in Baltimore on tv that cooked in a coal fired pizza oven, thing cooked at like 1000* and cooked a pizza in a minute.

This is how I break it down. 

 

First of all, when you see pizza ovens (coal and wood fired) that are at 1000 degrees, that's sometimes an oven that has wood on one side, a chimney. . .a big open door that they slide pizzas in and out of. And you'll see them put the pizza in, maybe on the other side of the fire, and they keep lifting and rotating it. I don't think the surface they're cooking on is 1000 and they're moving the pie a lot.

 

Second, the variable that goes along with "heat" is thickness. Like if you have a 1 inch thick dense dough and a 1000 degree oven, that's going to burn before the dough is cooked through. A flat, thin, airy dough. . .that can cook in a minute, so that's not going to burn before it's done.

 

A commercial wood-oven compared to a grill has way better heat distribution for pizza. On a grill, all the heat is from below, close to the stone. In a big wood oven, the heat is on the same level as the pizza, rises, and reflects off the roof. It's much different. I don't think the floor of a 1000 degree wood-oven has a floor that is nearly that hot, but in a 1000 degree grill, you're just blasting the cooking surface from below. if you want pepperoni to curl up, and cheese and crust to get a little singed, you need heat from above (or the side).

 

There are probably other 1000 degree oven videos out there, but for instance, this 1000 degree oven rotates. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GooseHook]

1 hour ago, TheCityGame said:

More than anything, experiment, change variables, pay attention to what you did. And then things will still turn out different than the time before because the kitchen is warmer or the yeast is more active, or whatever. After a while you get a feel for it, but basically pizza at home can differ time to time. 

 

Figure out oven temps. If I get my oven too hot (like 525), the crust gets dark before the toppings melt or the crust cooks. If I go back to like 490 or 495, it seems better. I think it's a myth that you need screaming hot ovens. I've made pizzas on grills that were at 600+ and usually, I get it to burn before it cooks through, but that's also because the heat is coming from very close to the stone and below. When pizza places get their ovens to 600, they have very good control/understanding of where the heat comes from and can rotate pizzas while they cook.

 

As far as pan pizzas go, over the last year I've made a lot of bread because #sourdough and so I've done a lot of playing around with discards and one thing I've come to accept. . .not everything fits a description. Put dough in a pan, cover it with toppings and cook it.  Boom. Food. if it's screwed up for some reason, change it next time. If the dough is thicker, you don't want to go too hot because you need the dough to cook through before the toppings burn. 

 

For tomato sauce, I usually use some kind of crushed tomatoes, or I use whole peeled tomatoes and smash 'em up with a hand blender. Usually, I cook it down a bit and add some olive oil and herbs, but I don't get too fancy with it. Flavor your pizza with the toppings. 

 

Cheese, I like Mozz, parm. reggiano, then some combination of asiago/fontina/romano or whatever. Don't be afraid to use soft smelly cheeses on pizza. Burrata can work in place of mozzerella. I make some pizzas with alternate sauces. My "signature" (laugh, but read on) is fig jelly in place of sauce (thin layer), topped with blue cheese, bacon, caramelized onions. Made a pizza with gorgonzola and butternut squash and crispy sage leaves. I like pickled jalapenos, pickled onions on pizza. Pizza often lacks "acidity" (outside the sauce) so something piquant adds a nice zing.

 

Overall, I say just play around and don't strive for anything perfect or "authentic" and see where it goes. It's bread and toppings. It's never going to turn out as something you can't eat unless you just burn the heck out of it.

 

 

 

 

Agree that the oven is going to be a major variable in experimentation. In an iron skillet, my first method worked relatively well by "pre-frying" the bottom of the crust on the range top before going in the oven. Low broiler was not ideal, I definitely needed an oven at 500 or somewhere thereabout to bake the whole thing through. 

 

In my next version I'm stepping up the cheese to a blend of Parm Reggiano, mozz, and provolone. Ricotta is great for the thinner sheet pan and stone pizzas though. My sauce is already on point, I slightly reduce some crushed San Marzano tomatoes with herbs and half an onion, plus a little butter and olive oil. Not so chunky but it has a lot of body.  

 

It's nice to have access to some really good ingredients living so close to DiPasquale's! Yeast is a really tough thing to find in stores right now, hopefully it makes a comeback this year. 

[Terphack]

33 minutes ago, GooseHook said:

 

 

 

 

It's nice to have access to some really good ingredients living so close to DiPasquale's!

Love me some DiPasquale's!   The Real Italian and the large meatball sub are awesome.  Good thing I don't live close or I would need some fatter pants.

[GooseHook]

21 minutes ago, Terphack said:

Love me some DiPasquale's!   The Real Italian and the large meatball sub are awesome.  Good thing I don't live close or I would need some fatter pants.

 

That large meatball sub is the stuff of legend. Only firsthand knowledge of it can truly describe it!

[dcmidnight]

I never thought of pre-broiling the dough a little to make it easier to build on and easier to slide on/off the spatula. Thanks!

[GooseHook]

5 minutes ago, dcmidnight said:

I never thought of pre-broiling the dough a little to make it easier to build on and easier to slide on/off the spatula. Thanks!

 

More of a pan-fry, I figured with a thick crust pizza in a thick skillet it would help to brown the oiled crust up in the skillet before finishing the pizza off in the oven. It worked pretty well, just needs more practice. 

[ALTSean]

Is February over yet?  Not the best forecast for golf for this long weekend.  Sunday may be playable, but that's probably it.  I'm signed for the Hive event in March so at least there is that to look forward to on the golf calendar.  

 

 

[TheCityGame]

This has been the February from Hades. Usually by the end of February, you start getting some nice days. 

 

Fortunately, that mess that just destroyed the "mid south" missed us to the north ("Winter Storm Uri" for Weather Channel fans). 

 

Not going to be so lucky with the next one, it looks ("Viola"). Ice and crud all day Thursday. But, if that turns into mostly rain, and the system early next week is mostly rain, we should get a warm up late next week and maybe playing the weekend of the 28th. My coursse is going to be a swamp, though.

[dcmidnight]

I guess this "pays us back" for not having winter at all last year. Although at least temp wise, it has not been terrible. I work with some folks in the midwest that have mostly been below freezing for the last couple weeks and down near 0 at night.

 

I still haven't swung more than a wedge in going on two months. If everything goes well I'll hopefully give it a shot in the simulator next week. Last cortisone shot seems to have helped and my strength is almost back to equal in both arms. Not terribly optimistic given how long this has dragged out but at least its not getting worse.

[Ocgolfrick]

MeatMike 1.0 texted me late Saturday night to see if I would be interested playing Sunday, but I told him to give me to the AM to look at conditions. I wake up, eat breakfast, walk outside in my front yard and sink a half inch.  There is just nowhere left for the water to go at least here on the Lower Shore.  Everything is just so saturated.  No, I did not play.

I have excelled in one department over the soaking wet February- weight gain.

[ALTSean]

With a 3 day weekend for Presidents' Day, I went out late afternoon yesterday just to chip and putt out of principal.  Saturday and Sunday were not playable and our courses were closed until at least mid afternoon and even then, I think they only opened up a couple holes.  Today's weather looks decent, but this job thing may get in the way.  

 

If you need some golf reading material to pass the time not playing, check out Tom Coyne's books if you have not already.  I just finished "A Course Called Ireland" and started "A Course Called Scotland."  They are a good mix of golf, personal stories, some history, and more golf.  The mere fact that he was able to go on a 4 month Irish golf trip while married and then a 2 month Scotland golf trip while married with kids, is in itself amazing.  

[SullGolf]

It's definitely been a miserable, wet, and dark couple of weeks.  All of the clouds have masked the fact that the days are actually getting longer.  Only 26 more days until daylight saving kicks back over.  Sunset will be 7:15 then.

[aiyyer]

9 hours ago, SullGolf said:

It's definitely been a miserable, wet, and dark couple of weeks.  All of the clouds have masked the fact that the days are actually getting longer.  Only 26 more days until daylight saving kicks back over.  Sunset will be 7:15 then.

Sully, that was darkly poetic. Time to cheer up and let’s start posting some golf photos.

 2 Saturdays ago, we sneaked in a round at Royal New Kent. It’s been a miserable, wet and dark week after that..

[dcmidnight]

My one regret last year was not getting down to play RNK.

[gregh729]

I really didn't go very far to play last year. I did my normal two weekends to the beach with the guys and that was it. Most of my rounds were at LB, Worthington, or PB Dye. All of them are within 20 min from home

[SullGolf]

RNK looks awesome.  Great pics.  Need to get down there some time.

[XHoop24]

12 hours ago, aiyyer said:

Sully, that was darkly poetic. Time to cheer up and let’s start posting some golf photos.

 2 Saturdays ago, we sneaked in a round at Royal New Kent. It’s been a miserable, wet and dark week after that..

Nice pics @aiyyer - how does the course play? Looks like it might be a real ballbuster if you're hitting it a bit offline. How'd you score your ball that day?

[aiyyer]

Like most Stranz courses, it’s a bit easier than it looks and  once you get past the visual mumbo jumbo. I think i shot a 91 but should have been closer to 84/86. We waited a lot on the back and sort of lost interest.

When we played 36 as a large group last year shot 90 something and a 79. If you hit your drives straight and  to beyond the crap, it usually opens up. Huge greens - so 3 putts can become pretty routine. Personally I like visually intimidating courses as I tend to focus better! Also a huge contrast to Worthington where I usually play. Great accommodating staff and is a quick ride especially during Covid traffic.

The layout is more refined/restrained from a Stranz design aesthetic and not as zany as Tobacco Road- which I love also. Closer to True Blue.

Front nine feels really secluded and has some great holes. 18 is the one hole that I don’t like there. 
The clubhouse architecture is total crap and the range is adequate but not good.

 

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by aiyyer

[misplacedtexan83]

I’ll say this about RNK it’s an unforgiving water down version of TR. 

 

The big difference is lack of waste bunkers instead He puts the most thorny vegetation possible. So chance of getting away with an aggressive is very slim
 

Assuming or hoping a lot of that is dormant during Winter. 
 

Would love to head back down and play it again— big strantz fan 

Edited February 17, 2021 by misplacedtexan83

[aiyyer]

6 hours ago, misplacedtexan83 said:

I’ll say this about RNK it’s an unforgiving water down version of TR. 

 

The big difference is lack of waste bunkers instead He puts the most thorny vegetation possible. So chance of getting away with an aggressive is very slim
 

Assuming or hoping a lot of that is dormant during Winter. 
 

Would love to head back down and play it again— big strantz fan 

Royal New Kent was inspired by Royal County Down in Northern Ireland and is draped in fescue and dotted with the kind of bunkers that require Sherpa porters to find your way home again”.

Mr. Tex also insisted on walking the course and most of my first round last year was spent trying to find him in the thorny vegetation!! Crazy course to walk with some  ridiculous transfers. Much belated respect. 
I also feel like extensive waste bunkers are not really native or conducive to the Virginia location though. There are enough crazy bunkers to make up for it though - 10 for example. Every par 5 at RNK is great. 
From a design standpoint -  Caledonia, Stonehouse, RNK, True Blue, Tobacco, Tot Hill, was the chronological order of courses in his design career. Got lucky last year and played Tobacco, RNK, True Blue and Caledonia and am a huge Stranz fan. It’s a cliche but his courses are really American whatever that means. A big rake in the butt to good old Ross next door at #2.
Stranz also reminds me of a golf Quentin Tarantino. Got his design language figured out early (Pulp Fiction) and then spent the rest of his short career trying to outstranz Stranz.

Caledonia is unique, compact and visually pretty but both RNK and True Blue, I think, are better examples of his design idiom. True Blue is sensationally great (good score there!) and has all the Tobacco stuff without going ZZTop overboard and is my favorite Stranz course.

Got carried away. 

[Ocgolfrick]

Every great partnership has a "big ideas" guy and a guy who actually handles all the details.  Sherlock Holmes had Watson. Washington had Jefferson.  Stalin had Trotsky.  

 

And now I- I have @Sterling_247.

 

The Big Idea:  Let's have a Hive Event at Royal New Kent. Heck, let's make it 36 holes. Let's get crazy and have an option to play another Strantz design- Stonehouse the next day.  And to top it all of, let's try to do that drafting of partners we always talk about- make somebody get that "Fat Kid picked last for kickball" treatment.

 

@Sterling_247:  OkeyDokey.

 

So OcGolfRick and Sterling247 are proud to bring you:  

The Mike Strantz Experience.  

36 holes Saturday May 29th

20 spots available

 

Bonus Sunday Round at Stonehouse May 30th 8 spots available.  

 

Signups available now! Details on the page.  Anything else ask away!

 

https://sites.google.com/view/thehivegolfclub/unofficial-event-rnk?authuser=0