sjduffers

And still, you missed the big event, when Kilauea erupted in May 2018. Check this out, for an eye opener! 😉 I was on the island when it happened (and also when the crazy nuclear holocaust warning/alarm was sent, but that's another story...) Photo: Unfazed man plays as volcano erupts An erupting volcano is a serious hazard, but it's reasonable to assume these guys only want to know if said hazard is lateral.

You'll have to go to the Kona side of the Big Island to find better golf, such as the Kona Country Club (only 1 course reopened instead of the two that were there), Makalei (a very steep side of the hill, with huge elevation changes, not everyone's cup of tea, but fun once in a while), Makani, as you found out, or go towards the Kohala resorts (Mauna Lani North and South, Mauna Kea, Hapuna, Waikoloa Beach or Waikoloa Kings courses, and also Waikoloa Village up on the hill by Waikoloa Rd). Sure those can set you back a lot more than $100 (try $300 at Mauna Kea!), but there are deals to be had here and there... Of find a golf buddy that has access to a number of private courses on the island. 😉 [Hint: you probably won't find that while playing the Hilo muni...] FWIW, the Volcano Golf Course is still closed, after a fire destroyed the club house and the operator of the course let it go. The owners (Kamehameha schools, i.e. native hawaiians) are trying to find another company to run it, though. Volcano Golf Course pau: Business shuts down, surprising Kamehameha Schools | Hawaii Tribune-Herald <p>The Volcano Golf Course and Country Club has permanently closed, leaving the future of a beloved Big Island destination in doubt.</p>

Thanks. I would suggest you ask them to redo your lenses and position that transition lower so you don't have to do the bobble head thing all the time. It really bothered me (like when in traffic I had to lower my head to see from the top part of the lenses, in order to see properly something close, like the license plate of a car in front...), and so I did. It did help with golf too, a lot!

I have been wearing progressive lenses for a while (10+ years?), including for golf but I have them made such that the neutral position is for the long distance and only if I lower my eyes and/or look through the bottom of the glasses does the near correction kick in. The default is to have the area where the transition happens much higher, like in the middle. I had to have multiple sets of lenses remade because of that until they finally figured it out and put a note in my file... Still, I had adapted well enough to play golf, even if during some portion of the stroke the ball is not clearly in focus, in part because of the narrower field of vision with progressive lenses, in part because of the change in the area of lens correction depending on what my head does. Low light (as we are facing now if attempting to play in the afternoon) was causing all kinds of problems too as for me I think the confortable area of transition varies with the light level. Not sure why, but it seems to be the case. Anyway, I had my most recent sunglasses done with distance correction only and I use those to play golf now, at least until the light level becomes too low (so that problem is not really addressed), and now the golf ball stays in focus the whole time, to the point that it becomes weird when I switch glasses at the end of the round (low light) or after, and I feel that my vision is actually worse with the progressives. It's hard to explain.

And one more today at the home course. A beautiful hybrid on the par 3 #4 from 180yds, left me with a slight right-to-left putt really uphill, about 6ft and I rolled it in the middle of the hole. Only 7 more to go, but I feel there are probably only 2 or 3 that are gettable, unless something of a fluke happens. We'll see...

It serves me well to rant. I just completed the away challenge today, with a birdie at the dreaded #14. I had a terrible drive, with about 200 yards left, flushed a 5 wood over the fairway bunker that's at 150yds out, and a tree, and put the ball about 5 ft from the pin. I easily rolled the putt in: it was almost straight. The second shot is what did it: I couldn't believe the ball was that close to the hole! Now, to make some progress on the home course... There is still time in this season, but with the standard time returning next week, not much time in the day: it will be dark at 5:00, and all the courses are still super busy: I didn't go to the home course today because the soonest that I could book was 1:45. Next week, it's not going to work, at all.

I have been stuck on both the home course (which I haven't played as much as usual) and on the away courses. I have 8 more to go on the home course and just #14 on the away composite. I had several good opportunities that stopped on the lip, both putting and chipping. It's kind of annoying at this point. On the home front, I am not sure why I can't make any progress on the sheet, as some of those holes left are gettable, particularly #1 (but I don't warm up and am just happy with a par there), but I haven't got them, lol! It's not like I am suddenly making fewer birdies, but they are not on the holes I need them on.

Once during our associate club's once a month tournament, I made a violent but completely out of sync swing, that injured my left lats and left me unable to keep playing that day (except for chipping and putting, which I did after withdrawing, just to stay around), and for the next month or so. That was a stupid move! I don't know what prompted it, but it did hurt.

Bunker hole out, no question. It was luck and it wasn't even for par, as I recall. Many years before I got my first eagle (a chip-in on a short par 5).

<rant> One course I frequent often (my "home" in the Birdies Challenge) did several things after reopening. Each one may not be bad per se, but the combination is painful, to me and I am sure many others. 1. They no longer renew their pre-paid rounds cards, which was giving a discount, from $32 to $25 to walk after 11:00am on week-days. I was using that. They had to honor whatever was left on the cards, but under the guise of the pro-shop is closed, and we won't touch the cards to limit the virus transmission, they won't renew them. So, mine ran out 2 or 3 weeks after they re-opened in May. Strike 1 2. They raised their mid-day rate (was $32 as I mentioned) to $38, many times more than the typical $2 or $3 they raise the rates by every year. The senior rate is now $33, up from $28, is good all day and starts at age 62. I am just over 61 and don't qualify, yet. Strike 2 3. They pushed the threshold of the mid-day rate from 11:00am to 1:30pm. There are plenty of wide-open tee times between noon and 1:30, so they obviously overdid it. Strike 3 4. I wrote the general manager to complain about all this and that my rate had nearly doubled since before the COVID shutdown, as the walking rate at 11:00 is now $43 (up from $36 regular tee times before the shutdown). My cost went from $25 to $43 in the space of two months. Add that when it gets above 95F, a cart (not shared) is pretty much necessary, and that's another $16. We have had several weeks of 100F weather and more is around the corner... FYI, the guy never bothered responding. Some classy operation! It's too bad because I like the course, the conditions and the staff. You will also note that when "golf was in decline", courses closing and old guys not coming as much, and young ones not partaking in the game in big numbers, guys like me are what kept the lights on and those places running. This is what we get in return. Btw, I only expected him to respond and grandfather me as a senior... because I am at a number of other places. Heck, maybe I'll write him another note and just ask him to do just that. </rant>

Mine is -1 at 33 (par 34, with 3 par 3s and 1 par 5). Quickly went +4 (40) on the back 9, though...

@bkuehn1952, First off, congrats for finishing the composite challenge. That has got to be a really good feeling, knowing that on a miracle day, you could shoot 18 under par (or better), even if it's on a combination of courses and not just a single one. Now, for the kicker, you have no idea how close I came to beat you by a few hours. Yesterday afternoon, I was not even thinking about this when I got onto #14, pushed my drive a bit right, ended on the hillside of a bunker and missed the green (by maybe 3 yards) short and right. A nice semi-high chip to the right of the pin, which checked nicely and started rolling gently to the left towards the hole ended up being right in line with the cup and about 1.5" short! Not even one more f***ing rotation!! 😜 So no luck for me, but I already had holed out a chip for birdie earlier in the round, and generally my chipping was really on point that day, with many tap-ins pars after only getting 2 GIRs for the whole round. Ups and downs they say. That, it was. Again, kudos on your success. Now focus on finishing the home course. 👍

All the brand markings, lines and my own red dots. The key was to get my eyes to look at the white dimples with no distractions. YMMV, of course. Yup! 👍

I don't care what people draw on their balls, lines (sometimes many, many lines) or something else. I do care about the amount of time is takes to prepare for and hit a putt, and very rarely people using a line are quick. They do exist, but they are rare. I used to use a line some years ago and when taking a lesson I casually remarked to the pro that I was lipping out a lot of putts. He had me show him and so I "aligned" the line on the ball to my intended path, and proceeded to lip out the putt (from 15ft or so), we repeated the exercise a few times and he finally told me: "you're lining it up that way! Just use the white part of the ball and use your subconscious brain to do the alignment for you". So, I did. And I have been making many more putts ever since. That aside in the lesson alone has paid huge dividends and lowered my scores measurably.

I went back to look at my stats and in the last 8 years or so, I had managed to birdie every hole (which I wasn't sure of when I said my 50s above), and hole out a par 4, for a total of -19. If I remember correctly, I also had an eagle on one of the par 5s on that course before I started keeping the stats, so that's -20 or 52.