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About flashman70
- Birthday 11/30/1947
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Your Golf Game
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I always used the overlap until arthritis in the knuckle of my right ring finger made me switch to the two-handed or baseball grip. I think interlock restricts release of the hands a little more than the overlap. Being too wristy is what I have to watch out for with my current grip.
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Try the Makena North course. The Gold course is the top course at Wailea. For a less pricey experience the Dunes at Maui Lani course is a nice links style layout. I found the courses at Kaanapali to be just so so. I understand the Palmer course at Kapalua is very nice. I've never had time, but you can catch a ferry to Lanai and play the challenge at Manele. Enjoy Maui. Leave time for other stuff.
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Just got this and thought I'd pass it on if anyone else hasn't heard..... Subject: 1960 Masters Tournament It's a week away, but I can already tell you that Masters Sunday will be special. I know this because it's going to begin with Arnold Palmer winning the Masters. The 1960 Masters, that is. "I wanted two generations to see what the magic was all about," said CBS golf commentator Jim Nantz, the man who made this resurrection possible. We'll be able to re-live the '60 Masters, one of the more exciting finishes in history, because Nantz pried the original broadcast footage loose from the Augusta National vault, went to the incredible time and expense of having it colorized, and turned it into a one-hour show that CBS will air as the lead-in to its Sunday final-round Masters coverage. This is footage that has never been aired since its original broadcast. The best part is, it's not presented in a highlight package with talking heads. It's shown as if it was a live telecast, featuring host Jim McKay (who left CBS later to join some upstart show known as ABC's Wide World of Sports -- wonder what ever became of him?) with coverage of the last four holes. I watched a screening of the finished product and offer this advice: Don't miss it. The 1960 Masters had it all. A classic Arnold Palmer charge and Ken Venturi's agony of defeat. The old guard -- Hogan and Snead -- and a young gun -- some amateur named Nicklaus. There was a minor rules controversy. There was an innovative new scoring system for television invented by CBS director Frank Chirkinian. And there was the great man himself, Bobby Jones, the legendary founder of Augusta National and the Masters Tournament, holding court as the host of cabin festivities. This show is a slice of golf history and a classic piece of broadcast history. If you hate goose bumps or nostalgia, don't watch. This show, a labor of love for Nantz, is one "Wow!" after another. Here's a short list of reasons to watch: The gaffe that almost cost Palmer the Masters. I had read about, but never before seen the incident at the 16th hole. Palmer is one stroke behind Venturi, who has already finished. At the par-3 16th, he's got a 30-foot uphill putt to a back pin placement. He chose to leave the pin in when he putted -- yeah, that was still legal then. He rolled a superb putt that was dead-center but hit the pin flush and kicked out six inches. Watching the footage, I'd rate it a 90 percent chance that without the pin, Arnie's putt is in. You can see from his reaction that he realizes his tactic backfired and just might cost him the Masters. Arnold Palmer at 30 is a lot like Tiger Woods. He bashes the ball amazing distances and putts like a genius. At the 17th, Arnie's got a 20-foot uphill birdie putt. It looks as if he's left it short but the ball rolls out and barely topples in while announcer Jim McArthur makes a Verne Lundquist-type call: "It's up and up and up and up ..and in!" Palmer half runs, half dances to the cup to pull out the ball, like Tiger after that putt at Valhalla only without the finger-pointing. At 18, Palmer stiffs his 5-iron approach, spinning behind the hole and stopping it about five feet away. He makes the putt, of course, for the win. More about Arnie. He is repeatedly seen puffing like a chimney with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. It looked cool in 1960, now it makes you cringe. Palmer was paired with Billy Casper, who played first from the 18th fairway and hit a shot to three feet. Before Palmer hit, Casper walked over and said something encouraging, like knock it close. Can you imagine Tiger doing that to, say, Chris DiMarco? On the green, Palmer let Casper putt out first while he walked over just off the green and -- I'm not kidding, you'll see it on the video -- spread out on the grass. Ken Venturi comes through. Venturi makes a clutch par on the 18th to finish at five under par. When he taps in a testy two-footer, he holds his pose and pauses for a moment because he thought he had finally captured his Holy Grail, the Masters. "Old" Ben Hogan. Hogan is seen playing to the 18th green, a pretty good shot. McKay refers to him as "old Ben Hogan" because he's the ancient age of 47. Unfortunately, CBS never shows him putting out. The scoring flap. McKay earns bonus points for bringing up a scoring issue regarding Dow Finsterwald, who was paired with Venturi in the final round and in the thick of contention. Finsterwald dropped a ball and hit some practice putts after putting out on a green during the first round, an error he confessed to the next day. Instead of being disqualified for signing for an incorrect score, as he would be today, Masters officials assessed him a two-shot penalty and let him finish the tournament, which he nearly won. Two for the show. Groups weren't paired Sunday by score. So there were six pairings behind Palmer. The next group was Sam Snead and amateur Jack Nicklaus. Snead holes a 40-foot putt from the fringe. Then Nicklaus walks by the camera and McKay introduces him to viewers as the national amateur champion from Columbus, Ohio , and says he's been told this kid "has a great future." The myth about Nicklaus always making his putt on the 18th green? He sinks an 18-footer for birdie here, too. Pass the hedgeclippers. Augusta National looks surprisingly mangy compared to the way it's maintained now. Even on shots from the fairway, you wonder, "Didn't they mow the grass?" The areas around the bunkers were intentionally left rough and uncut, a very different look from the sharp-edged, perfectly manicured conditions today. The greens were still Bermuda grass and much, much slower. Ken and Mr. Jones. The post-round ceremony held in the cabin is presided over by Jones and you get to enjoy his thick Southern drawl. He actually isn't bad, much less stilted than some of his predecessors who froze up on camera, like Hord Hardin and Jack Stephens. Jones calls Venturi's effort "lion-hearted" and both Palmer and Venturi get to say a few emotional words. Six under. Chirkinian, who went on to direct 38 Masters telecasts for CBS, devised a new scoring system to keep track of what was going on in the past. Previously, the scoring was aggregate. So someone would finish at 279 and a player on the course would be said to be at 258 and you'd have to do the math in your head. Chirkinian came up with the score in relation to par -- plus or minus -- and it quickly became the game's standard. CBS also devised rudimentary graphics showing the scores. Don't tell Ted Turner. The colorizing, which had never been done to a sports telecast before, was remarkable. I thought it would've been fine in black and white but the show opens with black and white footage and then Nantz announces the colorization and when the screen changes from gray to green and Augusta 's colors come to life, it's a true goose-bump moment. Nantz showed the telecast to Palmer and Chirkinian in December and said both men were pretty emotional watching it again. Nantz brought cameras to film Arnie's reaction and interviews the obviously choked-up Arnie at the end. In February, Nantz premiered the finished product at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles . Bel-Air members attended, along with Palmer and Venturi, who is recovering from heart bypass surgery. Palmer and Nantz met with reporters the next day to discuss the telecast. "I can't tell you how important it is what Jim has done here," Palmer said. "We really had one of the great evenings of all time." Nantz said the project came about when he was being wooed by another network. In a meeting with CBS president Les Moonves, he was asked what else he wanted. Nantz pitched him his idea about doing a show leading into the final-round Masters telecast, and what he wanted to do with the show, which was resurrect footage from Augusta National's archives. "Do it," said Moonves. Nantz hopes to do a whole series of similar flashback shows. He kicked it off last year with a one-hour review of the 1986 Masters won by Nicklaus. Next year, he's planning to feature one of Gary Player's wins. This April, however, the spotlight belongs to Palmer. And plenty of good seats are still available.
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Reporter to Sam Snead: "Did (notoriously taciturn) Ben Hogan have anything to say to you during your 18 hole playoff?" Sam: "Absolutely." Reporter: "What?" Sam: "You're away."
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I'm 58 and played with blades when I was younger. But since approximately 1988 I've hit mostly Pings. No, they don't feel as good as a Mizuno when hit pure, but they sure do cover up my mis-hits. And I can tell you, I have more mis-hits than I do pure hits. I can still work the ball with my Ping i3's, I just have to exaggerate my closed or open stance a little bit to get the ball to turn left or right. There are cavity backs that have thin top lines, so one gets the impression of a blade, but for me, give me all the game improvement I can get. That said, I am about to go with hybrids for 3 and 4 irons (joining my 16' 2 iron hybrid). I'll probably go with G5s.
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Hard to go against the Mizunos.
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Very nice. Hopefully I'll get one more chance in my career to get to the Big Island - not that I couldn't do it on my own, but it's so much nicer on expense account.
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Only when the sun is out. Mine are clip-ons that fit my prescription glasses.
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Welcome. Have you played The Frog?
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You're a lucky guy. I played it a couple years ago and it was beautiful. Also played Silvertip and Stewart Creek over in Canmore. I posted pics over in the "eye candy" golf hole thread.
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How do I show people that golf on TV is Compelling?
flashman70 replied to leapbean's topic in The Grill Room
Include some pics from Natalie Gulbis' calendar. I think golf can sometimes be analogous to baseball. Neither will never be as exciting as constant action sports like football (used to be) or basketball, but both are compelling because of their potential for for sustained drama. In baseball it's the battle between pitcher and batter when the game is on the line. In golf it's battles down the stretch when two or more golfers are doing their best to win. Of course not every tournament has drama like this past weekend's tournament. The kid Wilson was amazing in how he refused to lose. I think it's hard to explain to folks that don't play how golf takes a toll on your spirit and can grind you down emotionally. As a player, you have an idea of what the pro must be going through with a 3' putt to win - especially if it's his first. Non-players will have a hard time "getting it". Golf can be inspiring, like watching Corey Pavin hit a perfect 4 wood to win the open or Watson chip in at Pebble or a thousand other great shots. It can also be painful, like watching Norman collapse at Augusta or Jean Vandeveldt in the Open championship. Good luck on your project. -
It would probably hurt your distance with those clubs some. I'm not sure if it would affect the shaft's performance significantly, though. A lond time ago Tommy Armour marketed a set of irons that were all basically the same length, so that you could use the same swinig all the way through the bag. I don't think they did very well in the market.
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I thought I had been so clever this winter. I got my boss to agree to me travelling out of my vacation home in SC (rather than HQ in NoVA). I left for SC on Jan 26 and did two trips out of there one to Columbia and one to Orlando. I got back to VA on Feb 12. Every since the weather has been awful! Sleet, snow, ice - all the stuff I really hate. As I write this I'm in a hotel in Minneapolis where the weather is only supposed to get worse as the week goes on. I could be stuck here until the weekend. I'm really ready for Spring.
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When I was about 12 my friend and I would play golf every day at the local muni during the summer. Several times we got matched up with a Catholic priest, Father Gotto. Now both of us were Protestants, but we respected the good father and enjoyed his company. Well, one day we're playing by ourselves and I hit a bad shot and let out a stream of profanity including words describing acts that I wouldn't engage in for several more years. As luck would have it, I looked around after this catharsis and guess who was staring at me - you guessed it - Father Gotto. I was never happier that I was a Protestant - and I never felt smaller.