Random conversation thread

[oldschoolrocker]

Will talk to my youngest son and get back to you Scoot.

[oldschoolrocker]

Just finished 18. Windy and cold. These are the softest irons I have ever hit, bar none. Distances online with most other irons. The hostels offset on the scoring irons take some getting used to but all in all I see these getting serious bag time. Stiffed them on each 3 par for birdie putts. 50% on those putts .

[ScooterMcTavish]

Not sure what irons you're referencing OSR!

Might be suffering from the same issue I do - forgetting which thread I last posted in.

Nice to hear though. Got out for 9 today - greens were frozen, fairways were frozen, didn't keep score, shanked a couple at the beginning of my round, and not sure how well I would have scored were the conditions normal. Point being, a 50* day in November is a gift to be seized.

Don't think I'll be going out again this year.......

[oldschoolrocker]

Too many threads.. Too many irons...Too many random thoughts...

[Ironmaster Oddities]

A group of pregnant women were at LaMas class. Of course, their husbands were with them. The instructor asked how many of the women were getting stir-crazy due to their pregnancies. Every future mom raised her hand. The instructor indicated that they should exercise more. Also, since it was mid-june, they should get out of the house and walk a couple of miles every day.
Then she emphatically stated the husbands should accompany their wives and that it wold be a great way to spend time together, which would be difficult once the baby arrived. She asked if there were any questions.
Dead silence fell over the room.....Finally one chap in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, "would it be all right if she carries my golf bag while we are walking?"

[okesa]

[size=5]Having mentioned stings somewhere here I'm reminded of when I was a kid and got into a whole heap of trouble over trying to be helpful due to not properly understanding an overheard conversation.[/size]
[size=5]My dad had been working in the garden and stung by a bee and had come into the house to find some ointment to soothe it,your correspondent promptly and loudly advised the use of cider.[/size]
[size=5]My dad asked where on earth I'd heard that so I happily and helpfully explained "I heard Mrs (next door neighbour) telling her friend that if she got a p*i*k in her hand she couldn't wait to get in in cider."[/size]

[Soloman1]

A guy is invited to play at a very private club. He mistakenly heads into the ladies locker room after the round and takes a shower.
He realizes his mistake when he hears the voices outside the shower room. He only has a washcloth and isn't sure where to put it. He decides to cover his face and dash through the locker room.

First woman says, "Well, that's not my George."

Second woman says, "That's not my husband."

Third woman says, "He's not even a member."

[HoldenCornfield]

Two guys are playing a quick round of golf when they get stalled behind two women. One of the guys decides to walk up and ask if they can play through. He gets halfway there when he pauses, then turns around and walks back to his playing partner. "Hey, one of those gals is my wife and the other is my mistress and they don't know about each other. I can't let them see me, you'll have to go ask."

So the second guy goes forward, gets about halfway there, then pauses before turning around and walking back... "Umm, I can't say anything either..."

[okesa]

[size=5]True story;[/size]
[size=5]My pal and his brother teed it up with nobody else in sight,they soon caught up with two lady members who were using a buggy who took 3 1/4 hours to play 9 holes.[/size]
[size=5]One of the women came over and said;"We didn't hold you up did we?We would have called you through but we were in a rush to get round."[/size]

[Skip Castaneda]

Hey Scooter! How bout them Roughriders?!!! Go Green Machine! I'm a Rider Prider!

[ScooterMcTavish]

Hate the Riders and the Ticats. really, a -40*C blizzard that turns everyone into footballsicles would make me happy, including the stupid Rider fans.

[stixman]

I've got a story.
It rambles a bit, but there is a thread to be followed.
It starts today with me playing with our group of elders (The Slugs) on our usual Wednesday roll-up. The air temperature is 4 degrees and it's blowing 25 mph out of the NW. I took the view that such conditions were unfair to my persimmons and replaced them with the Titleist 909 D and F cans which had been lying unused since the end of last winter.
It didn't go well until the last couple of holes and then I accidentally 'caught one' on the 18th and playing from a well forward tee, designated Ladies, plonked it on the green 270 yards away. This sort of thing does not have a strong precedence for me so some banter ensued and the following story came out.
One of the guys playing in our threeball went by the name of Septimus, not the seventh son as you might have guessed but the last of thirteen, fathered by his Dad at the age of 72. Seppy is an oddball, very likeable in a roguish way.
He said that many years ago one July he had driven this same green with a 1 iron from the tips when it was hot and the fairway was bone hard. Unfortunately the green was occupied by a ladies 4 ball and his ball scampered through the legs of one of the party and disturbed her ball when she was about to putt.
Morecambe Golf Club had a proper Secretary then, a Major, an Hon Sec to boot, and he ruled the Club with a fist of iron..'Septimus!' he bawled from the balcony, 'In my office as soon as you like'.
The trembling and embarrassed Seppy hauled himself up the several of stairs to the loft which served as the Major's office.
'Septimus', he said, 'there's been a complaint. You are duly suspended from the Club for three days. Which days do you normally play?' Now Seppy has a bit of a stutter even today. 'Wwwwednesdays and S-ssssaturdays', he managed to get out.
The Major said 'I've got to keep these bloody women onside, so you are suspended next Tuesday, Thursday and Friday!'

Thus justice and honour were meted out in the same judgement, and you don't see a lot of that these days.

[okesa]

[size=5]On a similar thread,I was a member at a different local course and played one Saturday morning in the monthly medal.There were four elderly gents infront of us who were pegging it up on the yellow tees (medal tees are white) so thinking I was being helpful I walked over and mentioned it to them to be told "We're not playing the medal",which confused me somewhat as in my previous clubs the tee was reserved at prime time for competition use only.[/size]
[size=5]I was even more astonished when three women (I refuse to call them ladies,totally inappropriate,they looked to be related to the trio in the 'Scottish play'!) teed off immediately behind us.[/size]
[size=5]We were held up all the way round by the four in front and in the course of play the women behind hit through us on two occasions and then again on the 18th hole which was way too much for me to cope with and I blew my top,striding back up the fairway I gave them a bollocking about their complete lack of courtesy and disgraceful behaviour and how they should not under any circumstances be allowed on or near a golf course,that they sere the golfing equivalent of pariahs.[/size]
[size=5]I walked back and picked up my bag and noticed one of my playing partners standing open-mouthed and asked what was up?[/size]
[size=5]"Nobody has ever dared to say that before....they'll report you."[/size]
[size=5]I said that I couldn't give a toss because they were completely out of order,went in to the clubhouse got changed and entered my score,at which point the women came in,the main culprit coming over and asked to have a word outside.[/size]
[size=5]Now bear in mind this is Yorkshire,where men are men and so are a lot of the women but as she was about 10 stone and 5'4" I thought I might stand a chance of a draw but much to my surprise she apologised for her behaviour![/size]
[size=5]So boys,stand tall like the Duke and be strong![/size]

[Skip Castaneda]

[quote name='ScooterMcTavish' timestamp='1384973483' post='8178924']
Hate the Riders and the Ticats. really, a -40*C blizzard that turns everyone into footballsicles would make me happy, including the stupid Rider fans.
[/quote]
Are ya gonna watch the game?

[okesa]

[size=5]We have suffered some heavy showers recently including some snow and the course has not had any opportunity to dry out,add to that the bizarre decision of the greenstaff to mow the fairways (whaaaaat??!!) when the course has the consistency of a cheese soufflé and there is virtually no growth at all resulting in an area of ground that bears more resemblance to a rallycross course with huge clarts of mud and wheelmarks everywhere.[/size]
[size=5]OK,we play under winter rules whereby a ball on the fairway may be marked,lifted,cleaned and replaced within 6" of the original lie [i]BUT[/i] what happens when all you find is a sea of bare earth?[/size]
[size=5]Hit the beach.[/size]
[size=5][i]NO![/i]I don't mean taking out frustration by beating the wife,I mean go to the golden sands as Severiano used to at Pedrena.[/size]
[size=5]Scruffy old 7-iron and half a dozen yellow balls and for the last three days I've spent around 2 1/2 to 3 hours walking down the beach and back hitting shots on the way.There are a number of excellent sandbanks exposed at low tide which offer a good consistency to play off and receptive enough to stop the ball thus preventing it from running down into the sea,although I did lose two yesterday when the tide was coming in and swallowed them up.[/size]
[size=5]I'm really enjoying my sessions,it can be quite testing to 'nip' the ball neatly without too much sand and my 'course',although it seems to be one big bunker,does have its own proper bunker as seen below.[/size]
[size=5]Anyone else do this?[/size]

[oldschoolrocker]

Nice gig O. I live about 10 minutes from the ocean on the other side of the pond. Was thinking of rewarding myself, yard work all day, plus, I decided to go back in the workforce( have been doing a lot of nothing but tinkering and writing since my surgery) and in doing so will allow my wife to properly retire and paint, sculpt, in general create.
May take a club with me and a few balls and give it a go, but we have a lot of signs posted about staying away from the dunes, so I am a bit uncertain about all that. Either way if I get out I will take some pics.

[Pinsplitter59]

Re the photography question.
I was an advertising photographer for a long time. Taking good photos is really hard work!! Probably why I haven't taken many recently.
A few thoughts. I reckon since the arrival of the digital age I have taken a lot less good photos because easiness leads to laziness.
Zoom lenses are a curse because you don't learn about angle of view and depth of field and how it can make or break a photo.
If you go into DSLR and really want to improve I recommend you use only fixed focal length lenses, traditional 35mm focal lengths would be 20mm (wide landscapes), 24mm (general wide angle), 35mm can be nice for certain things, 90mm (maybe a macro) or 110mm for portraits, 180-200mm f2.8 for telephoto (tripod please). You don't need all of them obviously.
The point is that a fixed lens makes YOU move, so YOU have to look and see and position yourself then as you move around the subject you see different angles and see how the background changes and affects the shot.
And of course use manual control and learn about shutter speeds and apertures in the traditional way. You need some commitment because its a lot to carry around and even changing lenses is a hassle at times and a tripod helps almost any shot because all your attention can be on what's in the viewfinder.
let's go down memory lane then.
Promotional calendar for 1998 Aus Masters.
[attachment=1958758:Masters_Golf_2001.jpg]
Greg shows Jack where to go - Royal Melbourne GC (forget exact year, it when Jack said RM was a good members course and made everyone very mad.)
[attachment=1958760:Greg_Jack_RM.jpg]
prints from B&W negatives have a feel digital can never match.
[attachment=1958762:p0000000674.jpg]
And digital Jason Day at Aus Junior champs a few years ago.
[attachment=1958768:Juniors_3487w.JPG]
And just for fun, the difference between hand colouring a B&W print versus Photoshopping a digital image.
[attachment=1958772:Morris_790.jpg]

[oldschoolrocker]

Well, unbeknownst to me, my favorite beach spot is now charging for parking in the offseason. No problem I just drove down to the county park where parking is free. Except one hitch, they lock the gates at 5pm, so I only had 15 minutes once I got there. Note to self...do this in the morning!!![attachment=1958786:image.jpg][attachment=1958788:image.jpg][attachment=1958790:image.jpg]

You may have started a new trend O.

[Pinsplitter59]

ooops that would be 1988 Aus Masters. tempes fugit.
[attachment=1958810:feral-girl.jpg]

[okesa]

[size=5]Nice one OSR!That beach looks beautiful with its white sand but difficult to play full shots off whereas here,because the cliffs are mainly clay it tends to be a very firm surface,also being in a bay it's a gently shelving beach and the tide goes out a long way,I'll try to measure it today.[/size]
[size=5]Trendsetter?Moi?Do you mean posting pictures or wearing a badger as a scarf while doing my impression of Ernest Hemingway whilst wearing a Golfwrx visor despite the fact that I selected [u]not[/u] to watermark the images?LOL[/size]

[size=5]Pinsplitter,totally agree about b&w and touched on it somewhere else in regard to old films particularly John Ford and Akira Kurosawa who used the light and shadow in such an effective way that glorious Technicolour was unable to improve on as far as mood and texture were concerned.The old b&w shots of Monument Valley and desert landscapes of 'Rio Grande' and 'Fort Apache' were superb,I think the key to the attraction of b&w to me is that it allows the viewer to exercise their own imagination.Love your Morris woodie![/size]

[birly-shirly]

Great pics guys. Thanks for posting.

[freddiec]

Okesa, great stories. Gave me a laugh I desperately needed! (the coffee story). Keep em coming. Reminds me of the good ol' days as a kid working at the shop...

[ScooterMcTavish]

Great posts here too.

Okesa, you could practice your pitching by trying to get the ball through the gun slit in the old bunker there.

OSR, if you saw a sign to keep off the dunes, there must be some sort of ecological reason. In Florida, I was amused to see the signs on the beach to stay out of the dunes as not to disturb the sea oats.

Sea oats - I would imagine if beaches caught herpes, then the herpes would look like sea oats.

Pinsplitter - like the photos very much, and agree that the natural grain of film simply cannot be replicated digitally (I feel the same way about old movies too). This being stated, I had done a lot of amateur film photography with a Pentax K-1000, then later a Nikon FE, and always loved soft focus, depth of field, and scene composition.

Despite these SLR-like ultra-zoom digicams we have now (my wife has a nice one), the lack of control over depth of field, the pincushioning at long zooms, the poor flash, and the average quality of the photos just isn't appealing to my aesthetic sense.

This being said, my digital SLR sits in the cupboard awaiting Christmas, and ring converters are on the way to allow me to use all my old K mount lenses with the new camera.

[okesa]

[size=5]Are the dunes OOB because of coastal erosion?In the UK marram grass is planted to create a root structure that wil prevent dunes from shifting and being eroded.[/size]
[size=5]Scooter,yes,I have used the bunker/pillbox as a target but only once when I landed a ball on the roof and it ricocheted off never to be seen again.[/size]
[size=5]That particular pillbox is a great example of the finest of British military architecture,they built it with the entrances facing the direction that an enemy assault would come from![/size]
[size=5]I tried to imagine what it would have been like with Pzkw MkIV tanks coming up the beach peppering the place with their co-ax machine guns and the structure doesn't look as if it would withstand anything other than small arms fire,a hit from a 75mm or 88mm gun would probably blow it to bits.[/size]
[size=5]It's one of a number along the coast here then at intervals behind this line is another staggered line of similar pillboxes to provide defence in depth,sadly they are not being looked after which I think is a pity because they are a reminder of that dark period in 1940 when invasion was a very real threat.[/size]

[Kirasdad]

Well, fortunately bunkers and pillboxes weren't needed since the guys in the Spitfires took care of the rotters. My dad went over in '43 and loved England. He was an amateur photographer and he took pictures of the places he visited. I still have them in an old trunk. Went into France through Normandy a few days after the original invasion. He lasted five months before he got popped by the Germans twice in the same day, one slightly, the other much more serious. My mom got the telegram the day before Thanksgiving 1944. He survived obviously, or I wouldn't have come along twelve years later. He didn't say much about it in his letters written from the hospital other than "I forgot to duck" using humor to lessen her anxiety. She found out when he returned to the States that it had been a near thing, touch and go apparently. Never said a whole lot about it afterwards, at least to me, or my mom, as far as I know.

Great photos from everyone.

[ScooterMcTavish]

Will add photos after Christmas.

[MikeG]

Great pics OSR.

I miss the beach. Grew up in NJ...going to "the shore" was a summer ritual. Spent 15 of my 24 years in the Air Force on Okinawa, where the beach was never more than 20 minutes away. If the family ever got bored or restless, we could always go to the beach. Here in Nebraska? Errrr...well there's a big pond about a mile south of my place. We like it here, but I do miss the ocean.

[oldschoolrocker]

Thank you for your service Mike. 23 years myself. Retired Bubblehead.
To us and those like us, damn few left.

[MikeG]

Sign of the times OSR...not that we're the Doolittle Raiders, but those of us with 20+ years will become fewer and fewer. I figured from the many Bravo Zulus you throw around that you were a sailor. My son is a corpsman (HM2), and my son-in-law is in aviation maintenance (apologies, but I don't know his specific rating...AD I think). Navy's been good to both of them.

[oldschoolrocker]

What an epic day for college football Americana that is too you guys across the pond. If you are a sports nut it didn't get any better action wise. My two dogs in the hunt came out on top. Gamecocks, sorry JB, and Mizzou.