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