BERHAMPORE GOLF COURSE (PART TWO)

Berhampore Golf Course is a public course.

The more observant reader would have read about this in the previous post BERHAMPORE GOLF COURSE (PART ONE):

Established in 1916 and based at the Berhampore Golf Course in Wellington, NZ, Mornington Golf Club was founded as a public course to make golf accessible. Originally the Wellington Municipal Golf Club, it rebranded in 1919 and has operated for over 100 years on a challenging, hilly 18-hole layout in the Wellington Town Belt.

I mentioned that the course is very hilly, has lots of gorse in the rough and the fairways slope off to the left or the right up or down steep inclines. At the edges are pine plantations which invariably means a misplaced or even an OK drive rolls off into the pines or gorse bushes. Bummer.

An advantage however is that the difficulty of the course means that it is never crowded or not that I've discovered so far. I don't play on the weekends though. Most public golf courses are teeming with wannabe golfers who have yet to learn the rules or golfing etiquette, which can be frustrating for other golfers. Berhampore in comparison is easy to get on and have a game without booking.

A big downside though is well, the public. The hoi-polloi, the plebs, the rabble, the masses, the great unwashed, the riffraff, the proles - the public in other words.

Not that I mind that much - after all I'm a member of the hoi-polloi classes myself. It's what hoi-polloi brings though to public amenities. Many years ago I wrote a post on this: ET YOU'RE FUCKED - YOU CAN'T PHONE HOME

Too often phone boxes (things of the past), bus shelters, corner shops, public toilets, playgrounds, street furniture, and automated payment machines get graffitied, vandalised and trashed by the people who most likely depend on them the most.

The same goes for public golf courses where many of the users don't give a fuck about others and ignore basic forms of caring and social responsibility - yes etiquette. For golf club members, golf etiquette is in the members' handbooks alongside club rules and the rules of golf. Simply it covers things like:

• maintaining a brisk pace
• yelling "fore" for wild shots
• repairing pitch marks on greens and replacing divots on fairways
• raking bunkers
• staying quiet and still while others swing
• preparing for your shot before it is your turn.
• limit searching for a lost ball to 3 minutes
• calling through faster groups
• not hitting until the group in front is out of range.
• replacing the flag on the green
• keeping carts off greens and tees
• Not standing on or next to the green while marking the card
• etc.

It's common sense and decency really.

I'm not an etiquette crank and a lot of the 'rules' I ignore as I don't play in groups and avoid playing when the course is crowded but one thing that really pisses me off is players not repairing their pitch mark (the dent or hole that a ball makes when landing on the green). It's so easy to do but for some reason many players on municipal or public courses thing that it's not their responsibility. I'm unsure whether this is ignorance or indifference but at some point, if they play regularly they must notice that the greens are peppered with dents and look like the results of gunfire in Beirut (or Wainuiomata shopping centre after a Saturday night).

The greenkeeper(s) at Berhampore golf course do a great job keeping the course in as good condition as their resources allow so must get pissed off that a few of the greens look like colanders.

That's it for today. Look forward to BERHAMPORE GOLF COURSE (PART THREE) coming your way soon.

BERHAMPORE GOLF COURSE (PART ONE)

 I joined Mornington Golf Club this year for several reasons:

1. It was closest to where I live
2. It was familiar to me
3. It was affordable

The alternatives were either too far away, not interesting enough or too expensive. I was interested in joining Miramar Golf Club but new membership there is currently closed due to the airport annexing a third of their grounds. They haven't yet decided whether they should become a 9-hole course or a thirteen-hole course.

Mornington Golf Club uses the public Berhampore golf course as its course. 

Established in 1916 and based at the Berhampore Golf Course in Wellington, NZ, Mornington Golf Club was founded as a public course to make golf accessible. Originally the Wellington Municipal Golf Club, it rebranded in 1919 and has operated for over 100 years on a challenging, hilly 18-hole layout in the Wellington Town Belt.

Key Historical Highlights
Establishment (1915-1916): Founded following efforts by Dr. Robert A. Cameron to create a public course, which officially opened on October 30, 1915, as the Wellington Municipal Golf Club.
Renaming (1919): The men's club became known as the Mornington Golf Club, and the women's club merged to form the Mornington Ladies Golf Club.
Sunday Play Battles: Early in its history, the club was involved in legal battles to allow golf to be played on Sundays, which was eventually permitted.
Centenary (2016): The club celebrated its centenary over the Wellington Anniversary weekend in January 2016.
Community Hub: Known as a friendly,, multi-sport complex, the club now hosts various activities including disc golf and indoor bowls.
Located only five minutes from central Wellington, the course offers a hilly terrain with, historically, a largely unchanged, challenging layout.

 - Google AI Overview

I can attest to the "largely unchanged, challenging layout".

The original clubrooms next to Wakefield Park are now used by Wellington Soccer and the club has taken over the old and larger Mornington Bowling Club premises. Sadly the bowling club greens are now unused.

I used to play at Berhampore golf course when I was at school. 

At first my brother and I played with some Vogeltown friends when we were quite young. We bought an old set of clubs that would be valuable antiques now if they were still intact. They had hickory wood shafts and quaint Scottish names like 'Mashie',  MacTosh', Driving Iron', Niblick', 'Jigger', 'Blaster', 'Brassie', 'Baffy' and 'Spoon'. We had to scavenge in the gorse bushes to find balls to play with (golf balls back in the 1960s were comparatively much more expensive than they are today) and if we found some very good ones we would sell these to adult players for a half-crown.

Later, at college Chelman, Christiansen, Lyons, Romijn and occasional others would play most Saturday mornings - early at 7AM. It was an 18 hole course with 9 holes each side of Island Bay Parade then. I remember every Friday night really looking forward to the next morning and staying up too late watching on TV 'The Wild Wild West' and afterwards Sam Snead's golf programme hoping to get some tips. 

At university I used to occasionally play at Berhampore with Tony, Mike, Roger and sometimes Richard. I gave Tony some of the old antique golf clubs to play with to replace the hockey stick he had, having bought a few new Slazenger clubs for myself. This didn't make either of us better players. The course had changed to 13 holes on one side of the road and 5 holes on the other which never seemed as good. I guess that the fact that two of the holes on the 9 hole course on the East side of The Parade required hitting over Mount Albert Road from the tees worried some city traffic planners (and their lawyers) which forced the layout change.

The course always was a challenge being known as a 'goat track' and was, and still is host to what seems like Wellington's largest quota of gorse bushes. Initially I regretted joining as my golf play on my first outings was atrocious but the last couple of times I've improved and 'found my mojo'. I was thinking that the course is too challenging for me (almost every hole is severely uphill or downhill) but playing a few more times should increase my fitness and stamina.

I'll end this first part with an interesting historical fact.

Shelley's older relatives (maybe aunty and uncle or great aunty and great uncle) almost bought a house in either Emerson Street or Stanley Street next to Berhampore golf course.

I would never have known this if I hadn't taken one of Richard's Bass Bag tours of Wellington. This was one of the more interesting highlights of the tour of course.

A NEAR MISS

 I got up very early (for me) this morning and headed out to play 9 holes. I was at the golf course just after 6AM at the start of a beautiful day.

The golf course is in a lovely setting surrounded be water and hills with views out over the striking volcanic formations of Whangarei Heads.

There was only one other car in the car park and that golfer had set out to play the back 9 holes. I played the front 9. It's especially nice playing at this time of the morning as there is more birdlife activity and the colours of the trees, water and hills change rapidly as the sun rises. being first onto the greens is a treat as the track of the ball through the dew shows the line to the hole, or not as the case may be.

Not having anyone following is good as well as there is no pressure in having to move along and more care can be taken with shots and there is more time to look for golf balls. I played some great tee shots and was happy with my play. I didn't find any balls though and this song went through my head - to my changed lyrics.

No balls today, no golfers went astray
I stand here quite forlorn, in the early morning dawn
No balls today, it makes me very sad
But it'll make The Old Girl glad

Why can't she know, how much it means to me
To find some new balls, in creeks and under trees
Doesn't she know, it harks back to my past
When to play a round, I needed a ball fast

No balls today .......

All was good though - until disaster struck. Gather around folks and I'll tell you a scary story.

Just after the 7th hole (which I played brilliantly) I headed down a steep path to the 8th tee, pulling my golf trundler behind me. Suddenly a golf ball rolled between my feet and I just managed to stop it and picked it up. I was wondering where it came from as there were no golfers behind me. Looking back I was shocked to see that the lid to the seat/storage box on the trundler had flapped open due to the vibrations from going down the steep and bumpy path. The ball had bounced out!

I was horrified and walked back up the path to see if any more had bounced out. I couldn't see anything so, hopefully I didn't lose any. It was a near miss though.

  

      
                       A near miss

(image courtesy of Richard's bass Bag
- why should I get all the blame?)

LET'S TALK ABOUT LAZY BASTARDS 2

 In the previous post I talked about golf being ruined by lazy bastards using golf carts to get around.

The other day I played 9 holes and, on the 9th tee, caught up with (and I was walking) these lazy bastards.

Four men of about my age and younger playing a round together each with their own bloody golf cart.

Well, really!

"Well, really!"

LET'S TALK ABOUT LAZY BASTARDS

 

On Wednesday mornings, at my golf club there's a tournament named LOBs.

Apocryphally LOBs stands for Lazy Old Bastards but no-one really knows. One of the regulars told me that it stands for Lovely Old Blokes but I think he was just being optimistic.

I rejoined the golf club back in 2018 after I had my stroke as I see it as a way of keeping fit. There are a couple of fairways that are quite steep (one is named Heart Attack Hill) and I always play this one as it forces me to march up pulling my golf trundler behind me.

All good.

But, over the last few years there's been an 'explosion' in the use of battery powered golf carts with the club itself investing in quite a few that are rented out, and sheds have been built for members who own their own golf carts to house them there.

I've got no problem with the use of golf carts by the elderly and the infirm but, to me, it's a bloody joke that fit young people use these all the time on their rounds. It's not exactly a sport then, more like waving a stick about after hooning about in an oversized toy.

The outcome is that the old, leisurely round of golf is becoming something else with idiots racing along on their four wheels, putting pressure on anyone in front of them who carry their clubs or use trundlers. I wouldn't mind if they were considerate but sadly many of them are not and treat the fairways like a race track. 

Now there are some older people using these carts but by far the majority are young 'tradie' types - the ones who drive souped up 4WD utes. These fuel their speed and aggression desires making them a danger on the roads and now they are doing the same on the golf course. I'm getting sick of it and refuse to be hurried along,

It doesn't help when morons like Donald Trump are seen doing it - even driving over the greens.

QUARDLE OODLE ARDLE WARDLE DOODLE

 

I set the alarm for 6AM which was a bit over-ambitious as it was still dark when I was woken. I then reset it for 6.45 and got some extra sleep. At 7AM I headed out to the golf course.

It was a beautiful morning with the sun coming up with the promise of a lovely day. The marks in the grass showed where I walked and the dew-covered greens tracked the ball.

I played well and did a quick 9 holes before returning home and completing the 'trailer pad' before it got too hot.

There's something special about playing golf at dawn. Usually there's no-one else around and it's quiet apart from the birds waking up. This morning the overriding calls were from the magpies in the big pine trees.

THE MAGPIES - DENNIS GLOVER

THE MAGPIES

by Dennis Glover

When Tom and Elizabeth took the farm
The bracken made their bed
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Tom's hand was strong to the plough
and Elizabeth's lips were red
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Year in year out they worked
while the pines grew overhead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

But all the beautiful crops soon went
to the mortgage man instead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Elizabeth is dead now (it's long ago)
Old Tom's gone light in the head
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

The farm's still there. Mortgage corporations
couldn't give it away
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies say.

My mum used to recite that poem to us when we were kids. She was brought up in South  Canterbury - Eiffelton near Ashburton. There were huge macrocarpa hedges bordering the farms as well as very old, tall pine and other conifer plantations. The magpies would roost in the high branches and call out with that cry that Glover has captured so well.

The sound resonated with me as it did with my mother, when I holidayed at the old family dwelling.

I remember crisp frosty mornings with thick ice in the water pump reservoir, the stunning sight of the snowcapped Southern Alps in the distance and of course, the magpies saying quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle.

STRAIGHT UP

 

STRAIGHT UP

I played 9 holes on Friday and 7 on Sunday.

It was really hot even though I didn't hit the course until after 3.30PM each day.

I decided to try a new teeing off trick - one that I've been using for putting for a while. A few years ago I was playing with a good golfer and I noticed that when he was putting he used the writing on the golf ball to point towards the hole. I tried this and it made a real difference.

I kneel or lie down on the green and use my putter shaft to show a line from the ball to the hole. I then turn the ball so that the writing lines up with the shaft. The difference in accuracy is amazing.

Nowadays golf ball manufacturers are adding lines to golf balls for this purpose.

Callaway even have three lines on the ball so that the golfer can use the centre one for a straight putt and the left or right one if they can see that there is a 'break' in the green.

I now don't feel so silly of someone noticed me lining up the ball. I used to get funny looks.

Anyway. on the last two outings I applied this trick to my tee shots. I crouched or laid down and used the driver shaft to point down the fairway to where I wanted to go. I then lined up the line on the ball on the tee with the shaft. As I prepared to hit the ball I noticed that the perceived direction was different from what I had been doing. Effectively I had been hitting the ball slightly in the wrong direction, either to the left or the right. Using this trick I now began hitting the ball straight down the middle of the fairway.

Over the two days I managed to drive my best tee shots ever on nine different holes. It was amazing. I also used the technique on fairway wood shots and once again it helped with accuracy. I'm sold.

**************

A sad story. Look away now if you are of a sensitive nature.

Yesterday, after the first hole, I walked from the green to the second tee. This requires walking across a footbridge over a stream. As I was crossing I looked down and saw a gold ball in the water - a nice, white, shiny and new-looking golf ball. Beauty! I crossed the bridge, pulled out my telescopic golfball retriever and climbed down to the edge of the stream. I was able to easily retrieve the ball and carefully swung the expanded pole away from the water and above the deep grass I was standing in. Instead of doing what I normally do, that is keeping an eye on the ball while it is in the cradle at the end of the shaft, I concentrated on collapsing the sections of the telescopic shaft. When I turned my head I saw that the ball had disappeared from the cradle. It had fallen into the long grass somewhere but I didn't know exactly where. I started to search but saw that there were golfers on the first hole fairway so I had to make a move WITHOUT FINDING THE GOLF BALL!.

HOLES WITH ONE

 You might recall the presents I bought The Old Girl for Christmas and her birthday - a wheelbarrow, a sack trolley and some garden tools. Well, she bought me a new golf club for Christmas - a Universal adjustable club that can serve as an iron (numbers 1 through 9), a wedge (several settings) and a putter. See: ONE SHOT

We settled on the Universal not the Divnick basically because it was the only one that we found on Trade Me. This cost $200 which was a lot cheaper than buying new but a lot more than the full set of excellent Bridgestone clubs I bought for $156 back in October.

The Universal has an adjustable head that can change loft depending on the shot planned.

It also has a telescopic shaft that can be minimised for travelling with, and can fit     in a bag or backpack.

I went out and tried it this afternoon. It took a bit of fiddling to master changing the settings but I've mastered that now.

It also took a bit of practice to become familiar with the club at the different settings but I also mastered that and was able to practise until I was hitting some good shots.

The club is no serious substitute for the full set but as an easy tool for the occasional game it is great. I just had the club and a small shoulder bag with some balls, tees and my golfing glove and didn't have to haul a trundler along. I played a few holes and was able to par a fairly difficult par 4 hole and for the others I was 1 over par, two over par, two over par and three over par. Excellent for a first attempt..

The only trouble is that I think it needs a golf ball retrieving attachment.

If this could be added to the club easily I'd be in heaven.

As it was I found 6 golf balls in the streams but fetching them was difficult without a retriever. I ended up walking in the streams which were surprisingly deep getting my new shoes wet and with the water coming up over the bottom of my shorts (don't tell The Old Girl). Well, I couldn't leave those golf balls there could I?

ONE SHOT*

 I've had a bad back for the last few weeks and have been unable to play golf or tennis and even going for walks has been painful.

I finally went to a physiotherapist last week and now feel a lot better. I have another physio appointment this week and hopefully, after another deep tissue massage I should be right.

I was thinking about giving golf a try and might do this next week.

While thinking of it, the idea of hauling along a set of golf clubs, if the back precludes me from swinging, is a bit daunting. I thought about walking the golf course, and looking for golf balls obviously, but carrying a golf club for the odd hit to justify my being on the course.

Which club though?

There are so many variants and in order to play a couple of holes properly I'd need more than one club, surely.

"My name's not Shirley" - an old and corny joke favoured by Richard.

 

This is when I had the brainwave. Eureka! Another of my billion dollar ideas.

What if I invented an adjustable golf club that could telescope in and out and the club head changed depending on the shot to be played - from driver right down to putter? Brilliant!

I got the idea from my expandable hiking pole I use when walking.

Note: This is not a walking stick!

I got excited about this idea but before I told The Old Girl and before I commissioned engineers and applied for a patent I decided to check out the internet.

Bummer!

Some bastard has stolen my idea.

JS GOLF CLUB

How unfair is that?

Maybe I'll see about buying one.

* I've had a Jack Reacher theme running in recent posts.

FROM A WISE GUY*

.

Oscar Wilde said "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

OK, that's enough wisdom. Let's get to the important stuff.

I played 9 holes of golf today -the first for a week or more. When I got to the golf course the manager asked if I had phoned in for a reservation since COVID-19 Level Three rules require it. I told him that I hadn't and held up my phone and asked him if he wanted me to ring him. He laughed and said that he'd make an exception and signed me in.

It's a fankle having to book a tee time as I usually like to just turn upon a whim depending on the weather or what I'm doing at the time. I don't like being tied down to schedules. I've always been like this.

Anyway, I played some good shots including an outstanding 3-iron shot as my second to the second green. It landed on the green and rolled to the back. Beauty!

Another wise guy (not a wiseguy) recently wrote this:

Empathy & Reason.

These are two words that we really need to work on understanding at the moment. Over the past few days I've seen quite a few unrelated incidents where at least one of these words was missing.

Let's look at their meanings.

Empathy: (noun) The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Reason: (noun) Having sound judgement, based on logical thinking.

Yes, yes, anyone can claim to be exhibiting these two qualities. Maybe this is where one must use common sense and honesty.

Okay, you want some examples.

Okay, The restrictions put on us in this pandemic are IN NO WAY similar to what happened in the holocaust. Just as needing to have a licence to drive a motorcar or needing to be registered to practise as a medical doctor are in no way encroaching on your rights or liberties. The idea is to try and make things safer for everyone. This is using that word REASON.

If you are my brother-in-law and you ring just as my wife and I are sitting down to dinner and you are aware of the fact but rave on talk on for about thirty minutes or longer about yourself, you are not showing EMPATHY - though admittedly on a pretty low level.

If you inform people that they are going to a place called Hell because they won't follow your god who made Hell, because they have a sexual orientation that your god supposedly doesn't approve of, or because of some other 'sin' that bothers you, don't spend too much time worrying about your levels of empathy or your ability to reason because you are just a fucking idiot."

- Richard's Bass Bag

 

It's a bit long winded but he is a trumpet player and a schoolteacher so - there you go.

He wrote this as a response to a post that The Curmudgeon wrote referencing the Holocaust and the comment that Robert made to that post. You can find it HERE

How's your day going (not Robert because he doesn't like to be asked that)?

* Not a wiseguy 

 I felt bad about not posting today so looked through The Curmudgeon's posts and copied this one for you.

Enjoy!

BORED? THREE

Yes, I know - I said that I wouldn't do another 'Bored?' golf post but I thought you might like to know that I played golf again today.

The Old Girl suggested that I go.

"Why don't you go out and play with your new toys?" she asked today, obviously wanting to get me out of the house for a while because she had a couple of conference calls scheduled.

I took the hint and headed out after lunch.

The new clubs performed really well and I hit some great tee and fairway shots. I hit them so well though that I lost 3 balls - on the fairway. My usual shots had a tendency to slice so I'm used to looking to the right of the fairway to see where the balls go. These new clubs hit the ball straighter and slightly to the left (because I aim there) so I wasn't following the flight path properly. Three times in the first four holes my tee shot disappeared. The balls took off well but when I looked for them on the fairway they were nowhere to be seen - obviously suckered. My follow-up shots were good though and I enjoyed trying out the various clubs.



The irons hit the ball true and I was confident with the putter but ......THREE BALLS DOWN!

On the last hole I played, my favourite the par 4 that runs alongside the creek I spied three balls in the water. I quickly went down and, with my trusty ball retriever* fished them out. EVEN. I was happy.

But wait! There's more.

As I went down to the creek I was attacked by an aggressive pukeko.



This little bastard kept having a go at me and I had to chase him off several times. He would wait until my back was turned and then fly up at me. I had to extend the ball retriever and wave it about like a light sabre to get him away. I know that there must have been a nest nearby that he was protecting but ...... three golf balls! I knew what was my priority.












* The trusty ball retriever.

NO GOLF TODAY - MIST AND RAIN

 

Sorry folks but it's a bit rainy and overcast.

The sun is trying to break through though so maybe this afternoon I'll get a few holes in.

Stay posted!

GOLF IS RAINED OFF

 

NO GOLF TODAY DUE TO TORRENTIAL RAIN

THANKS TIGER

HOLD THAT TIGER - MILLS BROTHERS




I played 9 holes of golf yesterday afternoon.
Level - 3 allows golfing subject to a lot of rules.

You have to ring first for a tee time. These are staggered to allow distancing.
You have to play within your 'bubble'. This was easy as it was just me.
You have to check in with the club manager who ascertains that you are feeling well, that you have come directly from home and that you are going directly home afterwards.
Name and detail is recorded in a register along with check out time.



I've got no problem with this as the whole concept of lockdown is the ability to 'track and trace' contacts if there is a transfer of infection.


The manager leaves at 4PM and so checking in is all supposed to happen before this time. If golfing is to continue after this time the manager puts down an ascertained time of departure. This information is posted on the golf club's website.


I was pissed off to see, as I was playing my eighth hole, a couple of groups of guys arriving, after the manager had left and who set off to play in two lots of four. These idiots deliberately waited until after 4 PM so that they could play together (unlikely to be in their own bubbles) without having to go by the rules. This attitude annoys me. I'm not the greatest follower of laws and rules but I do understand these lockdown rules and why they are in place. These idiots obviously don't, just like the morons who rush to queue to buy hamburgers.


Anyway, back to Tiger.


I've been playing my Play Station game 2005 Tiger Woods PGA golf over the last couple of weeks and I believe that it has really helped my golf. It doesn't help the mechanics of the swing obviously but it does assist in my approach to each hole, club selection, use of spin and the general way I play. As a result I played some of the best golf ever (for me) with birdying two par 5s that I've had difficult with before and just missing an eagle by inches on a par 4.


I also played some of the worst golf ever on some of the other holes though. I lost 4 golf balls not by hitting them into creeks, lagoons, bushes or the sea but losing them on the fairway. The autumn leaves are covering a lot of the rough and the fairways due, I guess, to the fact that there aren't staff to clear them. When the golf ball runs under these it's difficult to find.


Because of the structured tee times and the fact that everyone hurries along I wasn't able to spend too much time looking for the lost balls. I also didn't have time to go down into the creeks fossicking for other lost balls. Bummer. This course now 'owes me' 4 golf balls.


I told the Old Girl this when I got home and she wasn't sympathetic!


"What do you mean the course owes you 4 balls" she said. "You've found hundreds of balls at that course".


She just doesn't understand.

GET (UN)KNOTTED

I played tennis this morning but gave up after an hour because my back was sore and I had difficulty turning my head. The problem is a kind of knot in my upper right back just below the shoulder. I looked it up on-line and found this:

Muscle knot treatment

Rest. Allow your body to rest if you have muscle knots.
Stretch. Gentle stretching that elongates your muscles can help you to release tension in your body.
Exercise. Aerobic exercise may help to relieve muscle knots.
Hot and cold therapy.
Use a muscle rub.
Trigger point pressure release.
Physical therapy.
Well, I'm not resting any more than I usually do. No doubt I'll nod off this afternoon while reading or watching TV.
I have tried stretching but find that lying flat out on the wooden floor helps better, The problem with this is it scares The Old Girl when she enters the room as she thinks that I've 'kicked the bucket'
I did get some exercise playing tennis and after that went to the golf course (see below).
I don't know about hot and cold therapy but do know that a hot bath with Epsom salts helped yesterday.
I don't know what a muscle rub is but suspect that The Old Girl will thump me if I ask her for a rub.
Ditto for "trigger point pressure release". It sounds rude.
I'm not going to go to get physical therapy. This would involve waiting around for ages for a physiotherapist who will then put a hot pack on your back and tell you to: - do all of those other things listed above.


**************


I bought a set of golf irons and bag last night on Trade Me. My current clubs are OK but I've broken the 4-iron and lost the 8-iron. I've been looking to replace these but buying them individually, even second hand, is expensive. The set I bought - 2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 irons plus sand wedge and pitching wedge cost $53. They are of good quality - Dunlop Maxfli but are old. The bag is nice quality leather although a bit worn.






I picked them up from the seller after tennis and went to the golf course to try them out. At home I have about a thousand golf balls but in this bag - nothing. I had to find a ball first to try out the clubs. I took an 8-iron and walked down to my favourite stream where, sure enough I found two good balls. I used these to hit two damned good 8-iron shots to the 4th green with one landing and rolling onto the green and the other embedding itself just next to the green. The course is extremely wet after all the rain we have had and it was muddy and slippery. I slipped over due to the fact that I was still wearing the flat-soled tennis shoes and managed to wrench both knees - my bad one and the other one (don't tell The Old Girl!)
Although I only hit two balls and only used the 8-iron, I'm happy with the clubs.


With my back giving me gyp and now some knee pain I'm going to have a long soak in a hot bath laced with Epsom salts and Radox. See: HERE




No doubt I'll nod off.