OT: Nats, Wiz, O's, Ravens, Terps, Navy, Gtown, Mystics, Golf, Fall 2020-Spring 2021

In line trying to get Nats Opening Day tickets it's not easy

Everyone is just snatching them up and these are all half plan holders too lol

 

Well . . . .

 

I think I am going to wait for a weekday matinee game

 

Ok....You guys know who Trace Adkins is. Right? Country singer with a real deep voice. Funny as hell. Great friend. He is 6-6 250lbs. We call him Wile E. Coyote for his knack for accidents. He loves golf but is terrible. I am running a country music radio station in Sarasota and he is visiting. We go out to play golf. Mid round he gets out of the golf cart to go look for his ball. He walks over behind a bush. I cant see him. I am at worst parallel to the green from him. Suddenly I hear that high speed buzz a golf ball makes, then a ping off the post in front of me of the golf cart.

He had gotten disoriented, turned 90 degrees toward me and hit the ball thru the bush. It missed me by no more than a foot.

Randy Owen of Alabama is a much better golfer. Vince Gill is about scratch last time I saw him play

Anyone ever play with a legit touring pro?

 

yeah the prices are ridiculous

330 for opening day but then everything dips to like 70 on stubhub or 20 for season plan holders

 

I was in Phoenix visiting family a few years back (gosh, like 20 now?!? .... ugh, I’m old) and played a 4 some with my father in law (at the time), brother in law, and a random 4th.

random 4th turned out to be an old geezer. Near 70. Was carted w him.

I’m a young guy and can hit the ball a mile back then, and can usually score low 80’s. Occasional 70’s, as well as occasional 90’s. That day was a “90’s” day. I’d scuffed another pitch and was pretty PO’s at myself, muttering along under my breath when the old geezer comes up to me and says (will never ever ever forget it).

“it’s your loft that’s hurting you today” he says.

“My loft? I’m stroking under the ball? I’m opening up my club face with my wrists? I’m dipping the left shoulder??” I say.

“no son (love being called son by someone I’ve just met). It’s your loft. Your “Lack Of f***ing Talent”.

oh. Mike drop. I’m out.

 

Here's one where I'm a remote agitator.

One of my good friends works for Callaway. Since Alice Cooper is on staff and was in town for a show they asked my friend to hook him up with a round of golf.

When I heard about the round I started thinking of a what might get Alice going. Then I remembered his bitter feud with Gene Simmons of Kiss.

So I told my pal "when you get to the long par 5, if Alice wants to lay up say 'you know, Gene Simmons had this same shot last near and he got on in 2'".

Sure enough Alice goes for the iron to play it safe and my buddy delivers the line. Without skipping a beat Alice looks at my friend and says "Gene Simmons is bald and wears a wig!"

Pretty sure he didn't lay up.

 

I have not played with any Tour Pros. I do once or twice a year play with a former big program college golfer.....to this day, still amazed at the sound the ball makes off his club face. Everything seems easy to him as I observe it.

I met Luke Wilson at Shadow Creek after a round....that was wild.

I’ve got some craaaaaaazy Vegas golf stories that I cannot disclose here....lol.


One of my current semi-regulars (playing partners) is a former foreign National Team Soccer Captain....pretty neat. Some ex-United guys occasionally...

 

Imagine this 4 some. Alice Cooper, Paul Harvey, Glen Campbell, and Pat Boone.

 

The audiobook I posted above is worth it for Cooper's stories and impressions of Peter Sellers and Salvador Dali, iirc.

 

Used to caddy at Bel Air in LA when I was a kid. Looped for Ray Bolger (scarecrow in Wizard of Oz), Fred MacMurray (my 3 Sons dad and notorious in the caddy shack for being a tightwad - I saved the doddering fool from being beaned by his playing partner and he still stiffed me) and a guy who played in a regular group with NBA legend Jerry West (all scratch golfers who played for 5-10K changing hands each round, which was serious $ back in the 70s). Assistant caddy master was a guy by the name of Rod Kanehl, who was a legend with the original '62 NY Mets.

 

Real life caddy stories. Nice.

"Pick up that blood"

 

Trace Adkins is an awesome dude. He came out to Iraq during my first deployment and played an USO concert. Long story short, in the middle of a song, a couple of mortars are shot into our base. As the booms stop, and sirens stop, and I'm laying on the ground, the first thing I hear is Trace Adkins voice from the stage. "If its ok with you I don't feel like letting those guys ruin my concert!" And he starts playing again. It was pretty cool for a celebrity that didn't need to be there.

 

Johnny Grubb ( 1 time all star and 1984 world series champion) played at my course.

 

Trace is one of the good guys. There is no doubt.

 

I love golf so much it’s stupid.

I’ve been in my first major decline since I started playing in earnest about three years ago. I went from never having broken 100 in my younger days (was a total hack and just out there for the beers and laughs). to shooting a 3 over 75 at the end of last summer.

I just came in from shanking 200 balls into my net out back and cursing my lot in life to find these golf gems in the Wizards thread, which immediately lifted my spirits. Good times. I love you all.

 

Everyone’s story is cool. The common theme is once you get to play regularly, you really can score pretty well.

I haven’t played regularly since the birth of my almost 8yr old (followed by 2 more at regular intervals). Shoulder surgery 2mo ago finally has my wing feeling like it used to, so I’m hopeful.

and no one fret about plateau’s, they are what they are. Heck, I was as good at 13 (constantly shooting in the low 80’s) as I ever was.

then went to boarding school for 9th grade, and didn’t really play again until after college. Here and there. I’ve been able to maintain by form and abilities, but not the short game (to @kicksavedave ’s point) gets awfully rusty, and the scores takes a while to come back. Putting usually stays ok, it’s the 100 or so yards and under that crushes me. Anything that I can take a full swing on is usually a ok quickly....hence all my wedges! Nothing like a full swing 64 degree to add to your arsenal.

But the “feel” aspect? Yikes!

 

Have any of you seen the Tour live? I've only gone a few times.

• Champions Tour (or whatever it was called then) back in 99 or 2000 at Hobbit's Glen in Columbia, MD. (Christie)
  
• 2005 US Open at Pinehurst (Michael Campbell, with Tiger in the hunt and Gore as the Cinderella story)
• 2011 US Open at Congressional (Rory slaughters the field for his first Major)

For the old guys what stood out was how freakishly good they were with a wedge into the green. It wasn't uncommon to see 3 balls just piled on top of each other near the flag, at least on a few of the shorter par 4s. And the FISZZZZZZZ of Jim Thorpe's low, climbing drives speeding by will never leave my head.

2005 at Pinehurst was an eye opener. First time I saw the big boys really mash it, and how they moved through the course. We followed Tiger most of the time and the crowds were a dozen deep or more so it was hard to see unless you planned ahead and staked out turf. At one point his mom was right next to me--very small lady. Funny how she moved around without people knowing who she was, elbowing through the gallery. I remember looking up every 15 min or so seeing another private plane taking off, probably for the next tourney.

2011 at Congressional was less adventurous as we just staked out a spot by 18 green and watched everyone come in, so we'd be there for Rory's ceremony, which was cool. But there was a tee box nearby we could sneak to, and that's where I saw guys like Dustin just murdering the ball unbelievable distances. I'd always been the longest guy in nearly every group I played in so I never got to see what it looked like from the outside, but this was obviously several levels above. Amazing stuff.


Going to hit the range today because work is for chumps.

 

Ever tried Pelz's "Short Game Bible"? I'm not sure I agree with every single word but overall it's pretty good, and the general concept of mastering clockface positions for partial shots is sound, if you can repeat it. The pros either use clockface or a percentage of what they perceive is full power. Probably personal preference. And picking the right club.

 

And I will tell you one thing about the short game that I've been working on.

When you set up for a little pitch shot, make sure your glove/top hand (left for righties) is the firm one and in control, and let your lower hand (right for righties) merely push the club for power using the first and longest bone on your index finger and no pressure or anything at all from the rest of that finger or the thumb.

In other words, for righties, grip the shit out of it with your left hand and totally relax the right but ESPECIALLY that pointer/thumb "pincer" on the right hand which will take over if you let it. That first long bone of the right hand (proximal phalange) should be behind the shaft and driving in on the downswing.

Hogan warned against that pincer for his full swing but he was always trying to avoid a hook so to him the right hand was all pushing/power anyway. This is basically a mini version of what Hogan probably did, and didn't talk much about other than a mention in 5 Lessons. And for short game it's like magic around the green, because you have a much more stable club and nothing from the right hand changing the angle of attack for those chili dips and skulls.

T'his is also similar to what some try to achieve with DiMarco's "claw" putting, but not exactly.

 

I haven’t read it. But I certainly try that when within 25 yards or so. And I find it far easier to do from the rough than the fairway. Probably more in my head than anything (like most of golf once you get to a certain place and repeatable swing plane)

 

I’ve been to a few....my most memorable was the 95 US Sr Open......my Dad and I were standing by the green when Arnold hit his hole in one.....it was an insane moment.

later we ended up right before we were leaving, waiting at 17 tee.....saw Jack and Weiskopf tee off like 10 feet away.....was amazing.

Ryder Cup is what I really want to attend. 100% I will wear my Ovechkin jersey to be visible on TV.

 

If that was at Congressional, I was there too. Didn't see his hole in one, but was camped out on one hole to watch all the groups go by. Even then, Arnie's Army was massive compared to everyone else. I wanna say Ray Floyd was leading at the time, and Arnie had more fans following him than anyone.

 

Never read that one, but the books I found the best we all of Harvey Penick's books, the Little Red Book and his other two follow-ups. They are much more about strategy and mindset than they are about specific swing techniques, although there's plenty of technical stuff there too. One of the things he talks about a lot is pace and tempo, and how your daily routine prior to the round will govern your pace and tempo on the course. He tells you to slow down your morning prep, your drive to the course, your putting on the golf shoes, do everything slowly and deliberately to se you mind to a calm place which leads to relaxed swings and better results. I think we all know how tension kills a golf game. I took it to heart and practiced slowing everything down and it helped a ton.

Later on, I had a roommate who we played golf together, he used to get amped up before golf like it was a football game. Fist pumps, rushing to the range, the works. He had a good game, good swing, but made too many mistakes and his putting was inconsistent. I walked him through Penick's "slow down" approach and he tried it one day with me. He shot his first round in the 70s (a 78) and he was ecstatic. He bought all the beers at the 19th that day

Footnote, Ben Crenshaw winning the Masters right after Penick died (Penick was Crenshaw's coach since he was a kid) was the closest I will ever come to believing in ghosts. What an incredible golf moment!