Shindig

Wow, now there's a name I haven't thought about in a long time.

I have a half dozen or so books from that series, but they're all normal sized. I don't think I've had a book that small since I was in elementary school. Nice find!

It's one thing to book a larger tee time and then cancel appropriately, with enough space that a busy course can fill the spot. But expecting them to just not charge you and not fill the spot? Problem for both reasons. Er, I want to clarify that statement I started with. It's okay if you legitimately think you'll get someone else. My group has players who will often book a foursome, then email 8-10 of us and ask who wants to play; first three responses get in. In the rare case that fewer than three respond, the appropriate number of slots are cancelled well in advance. I likewise really enjoy that you do this. I had trouble getting on courses when I started, and if it weren't for starters and this practice, I'm not sure how often I'd have gotten out -- this was back when just about every regulation public course near me didn't take tee times for singles.

I had no idea; that's awesome, thank you!

I remember hearing that, probably as far back as I think (I can check if anyone is interested) I saw it in one of Stan Utley's books, which I would have read about fifteen years ago for the first time. The other hand is, I wonder how much of a good idea it is -- do bunkers have a lower expected remaining strokes than various forms of rough? I would guess not, but that doesn't mean they don't aim for their misses to go into bunkers (similar to how many pros will "lay up to a full wedge" based on that outdated view).

260 days until the first round of the 2024 Masters, but who is counting? I love the "avoiding bunkers" as a strategy -- not least because last summer, that was probably part of how I won my flight of my club championship (zero bunkers in 54 holes). Mark the date: July 23, 2023, I have to retire one of what I thought was a clever, if awkwardly phrased, trivia point (because I learned it is incorrect). In retrospect, it makes sense that some left handed people would play right-handed clubs, given the greater availability. Thanks!

Everyone's making putts on the 18th green today.

I don't dislike Harman. I wonder if they'd have done the waggle count if it were, say, McIlroy or Spieth. Speaking of which, McIlroy horseshoed a par putt as I typed that.

Mixed news for Rahm, as he holed his approach shot, but it was a sprinkler head not the cup. (For anyone who didn't see it, the sprinkler head kept the ball near the green, so this was a good break)

I haven't done this, but I have heard of players putting deliberately shorter shafts in their drivers. I think TaylorMade had a driver with a deliberately short shaft at some point, maybe a decade ago. If I wanted this at some point, I'd probably just use an Anthony Kim grip when playing, although I recognize that isn't the same thing. A decade ago, before I had my first fitted driver, I did have a period of time where I used that AK grip on driver shots; I was also (somehow) of the belief that I should have a shorter driver shaft and this was before I recognized just how overrated fairways are -- even worse, back then, a 200 yard drive was a great one for me, so giving up distance for the fairway was not a good trade.

Most years around this time, I wake up and have some coffee, and watch major championship golf. It's a great combination. I tuned in just in time to see what was apparently the second consecutive birdie for Harman. Wow, that waggle count. Thirteen. Remember when the crowd counted for Sergio at the Open a number of years ago?

I remember Mickelson's win; I liked him back then. However, he, like Bob Charles, is a right handed person who won the British while playing left handed. Hmm. Now I wonder what his reason for playing left-handed is. I understand Phil's and I guess I never looked into Bob Charles's.

Maybe people don't want to see him become the first left handed person to win a British Open? 🤷‍♂️ Actually, I'm not even sure that'd be the case if he wins, as it is possible a left handed person won the British Open playing right-handed. Two players, both right-handed people, have won the British Open while playing left handed, and they're the only to who showed up on a quick Google search. (Okay, I mostly wanted to say that trivia point sometime this week)

I have often said that the golden age of major championship golf (aka, the years when I was getting into golf, naturally), the Open Championship's strategy of giving some of the gardeners a few weeks off from maintaining the second cut was the best. It is nice to see three people who I wanted to see win last year's British in the top 11 of the leaderboard this year. Oooh, and it was nice to see a spectator wearing a New Orleans Saints hat. And I don't even like the Saints, I just love seeing NFL apparel overseas.

You caused me to check the leaderboard to see how bad things had gotten; nicely done.

Amusingly perhaps, I walk and I've thought about getting a few mini flags for my bag for this purpose. I tend to walk faster than my typical group and I typically hit past them, so being able to do this would be nice.

I'll have to keep that shot in mind for the future Also is it my imagination or is "Tour" misspelled in both the name and address?

Probably some variation of the expression "if the foo [omitted], wear it." Actually, it dawns on me after hitting "send" that there might not actually be a type of bird called a "foo bird."

And we have an early candidate for the most noted drop of the championship. It appears a bird confused Viktor Hovland for Ian Poulter. I don't know how you could make that confusion, Ian isn't even in the field this week. Viktor Hovland’s got pooped on by a bird during the British Open The mics were fully on when Hovland realized that a seagull had ruined one of his much-ripped outfits.

What I think really helped me do this was having a plan and deciding to stick to it. In my club championship last year (3 rounds, with a cut after 36 holes), I had two things I focused on: * Don't hit into the sand -- I planned every approach around this, and hit zero sand across 54 holes. Sometimes this meant I had very long birdie putts, and sometimes I 3-putted. But I didn't have any of the disasters that come with sand. This goes back to shot zones and planning as if sand were water. * Have putter in hand for par attempt. I had 53 par attempts during the tournament (one accidental birdie), 52 of which were made with my putter. I only made two double bogeys all tournament -- not bad for someone playing in D flight and only five sixes all tournament, with never anything worse than six on any hole. This all goes back to the key rule for short game shots, described in the book. On the rare occasion where I missed the green short-sided, I mentally moved the pin back several yards and chipped to that -- sure, I was less likely to make my par putt, but I was also a lot more likely to have a par putt. I'll take that trade-off for most ways it can happen. I practiced that strategy for most of the summer leading in, and it helped a lot. It meant doing things like knowing the shape of my finish patterns and figuring out where I'd maximize the chance of it being on the green while avoiding the sand. For example, when the pin was forward, I was aiming past the pin: even with my putting, I'd rather have 30-40 foot putt for birdie than a chip. Now I need to get back to that strategy.

I should take this opportunity to admit that I can't read Over 2023, it's 6.5

I think it was the NLU crew a few years ago that gave this event a different suggested name, but it went out of style.

Every now and then, I'll forget about this when I play with someone I don't know who turns out to have a handicap in the low single digits. They'll hit shots that I think are great, but are clearly under their standard. It happens to me also; I especially remember the summer my handicap dropped from 19 to 14, and by the end of the summer, I had 'bad' shots that I would have considered good shots a few months prior, and would hear "great shot!" Maybe that's something I should figure out: when to say "great shot." On a related note, one of my favorite stories from two years ago was when a friend gave me a look during a tournament that said he wasn't about to say great shot. It was the club championship two years ago, and I told him after a practice round that I'd be aiming well past any forward pin all tournament and left of any right-side pin. Sure enough, we're in the same group on the first day, and on the first par-3, the pin is front-right. I aim middle of the green and mis-hit the shot, which resulted in having a one-foot birdie putt. The other two in the group told me it was a great shot (I said thank you) but he just gave me that look.

Over my last 10 rounds, 6.7.

The "spend more time with families" excuse was common when former PGA/DP World Tour players defected to the other one.