Club Praha Tournaj - B Prvni Misto

Yeh, I did it again. 1st place in the B group, finishing with a 39-50=89 . . . Prizes included a Bohemian Crystal Trophy, a Club Praha Coffee mug, a Club Praha golf shirt, a darkovou kartu (a gift card) to a sushi restaurant, some tees & ballmark tools, and an umbrella . . . I traded the umbrella for some balls instead to a fellow who needed an umbrella . . . 8^) . . .they lowered my handicap to 21 . . . it needs to be 20 or less to get into the A group . . .8^( . . . really, that's more important to me than winning a B flight tournaj . . . but I wanted that coffee cup, B-a-a-a-a-a-d!

Still no birdies in the Czech Republic . . . missed opportunities on: 3,5,6,7,10,11,14, and I mean from an average of 8 ft . . . as close as 4 ft. . . 8^( . . . I can't bore you .. . I can't bore myself with another rendition of how I shot 39 on the front but 50 on the back, except to say that I was unlucky in the extreme on the back, and I putted lights-out (was lucky in the extreme(?)) on the front. . . on the par 3 #3/12, I had come up short of the pin on the back shelf, with the ball rolling back off the steep slope the first time, so I pureed the tee shot the second time over the back, OB, for a double bogey. . . on the par5 #4/13, I made a 6 ft putt for bogey the first time and missed from 12 ft for double bogey the second time. . . on the par4 #5/14 I missed from 8ft from both sides for birdie . . . on the par4 #6/15 I missed birdie from 10ft on the front and bogey from 12ft on the back after blowing a half-wedge over the green . . . on the par4 #7/16 I missed birdie from 22ft on the front, then missed bogey from 15ft, after 3 shots in a bunker filled with bees that hurt my concentration . . .foozled the front shot at the par3 #8/17 for a bogey, then scrambled for a great 4 on the back when my tee-shot hung up on the hill . . . foozled a fairway wood on the par5 #9/18 on the front to cost me a bogey on the front, then came up short on the 4th shot on the back 9 to wind up with a triplebogey . . .

it was just weird to have played so well on the front, and starting the back, to fall apart so incompletely . . . to stop making the putts, leaving them short 3 inches . . . on #12, my double bogey putt stopped on the lip . . . I counted, 1-2-3 and it fell in . . . 8^D . . . my partners were amazed, but the wind was helping me, and I felt I was within the rules . . .

there was weird stuff happening all the time on the back 9, stuff I can't remember . . . like our playing parter Vlast rattled the pin on #6 from 70m . . . ball fell down 6 ft away . . . when he missed his putt (as Kvjetaak & I had both missed ours) he muttered some imprecations in Czech that I did not understand, but would dearly love to be able to draw on when I am similarly provoked . . . 8^D . . .

I was driving the ball lights out still, but wound up in some weird lies . . . in impossibly thick rough on #4, in a cuppy lie in the middle of the fairway on #6, behind a tree on #7, at the top of the 2nd slope by the green on #8, in the dense trees on #9 after landing on the fairway . . .

kvjetaak fell apart completely on the back, losing his concentration . . . on #16 he foozled his drive . . . but he couldn't find his ball . . ."It's in the bunker," I told him . . . "The BUNKER!" he shouted, hybrid in hand . . . I could predict the next 4 shots . . .
foozle in the bunker,
foozle in the bunker,
foozle out of the bunker, but behind him from hitting the lip . . .
great shot back into the fairway . . . 8^D . . .

been there, done that, got the scorecard to prove it . . .

he went into this funk where he was lipping out all his putts. . . really, like 5 of the last 9 holes, he lipped out . . . only ever seen anything like it with him . . .

So, the 2nd time thru #5/14, I used a broken tee for the par 3, then I looked at it after I'd hit and I noticed that the tee was hollow and that there was paper rolled up in it.

I had to get Mrs Kvjetaak, caddying for Kvjetaak, to open it and read it for me, since I did not have my bifocals . . .
I'm not sure these people are worthy of the notice, but here it is, just for the oddity factor of it . . .

World's longest course: 842 miles

by Dennis Passa - Jul. 29, 2009 08:32 PM
Associated Press

BRISBANE, Australia - Hit a few loose shots or 3-putt the first green at Nullarbor Links and you'll have plenty of time to think about your errant ways before teeing off at the second.

That's because No. 2 is 42 miles down the highway.

Billed as the world's longest golf course, Nullarbor is set to open next month - an 842-mile trek through the desolate outback of Australia's Nullarbor Plain, starting at Ceduna in the state of South Australia and finishing at the mining town of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/golf/articles/2009/07/29/20090729longgolf0730.html

reminds me of a Hoss Santee story about a similar course in Arizona, “The Bar Z” or something like it . . . wisht I still had that book, it was hi-larious . . . sold it with my 300 other golf books when I moved to Arizona, so I wouldn't have to move them, again.

Golf clubs - brand or clones?

Kvjetaak asks me . . .

 

I’m in middle of investigation what would be the procedure for my golf future; as my TopFlite clubs are not building my confidence anymore (after I broke 3 clubs) I’m looking around to find my future clubs and there comes the dilemma:

 

I need to decide whether it would be better to buy me iron set from world known brand or their clones. The clones clubs are using exactly same process of creation the same materials but still using let’s say 2 years old technologies (which is still quite enough I think)

 

http://www.pinemeadowgolf.com/golf-clubs/irons/ this is the Clone brand I thinking about; especially Pinemeadow Excel Mid Launch Plus Irons which are clones of Callaway X-18 or Pinemeadow Command Q Irons clones of Taylor Made R7 CGB Max Irons.

 

Or should I go for the known brands such as Callaway and such? What do you think?

 

 

I used clone clubs for a long time, because I was too cheap to buy name brands.

The quality can vary a great deal . . . and the imperfections can be hidden in ways you will never discover . . . but experience,

if you see what I mean . . .

 

The shaft is the most important part, and I think the clone club makers save money there.

 

 

I never heard of pine meadow clubs (not that that means anything).

 

Now I will use only name brand (cobra) that I buy used on ebay, or from golfsmith. I have a complete replacement set with me of irons, but not of woods, except for PW, which I broke & lost both, so I am using the PW from my clone set from the 1980s . . . I’m not that in love with it, but it is a survivor . . . 8^D . . .

 

If you can get the clone clubs made custom for you, by a good club maker, I think they can be fine.

If you are “handy” and can make them yourself, with the attention to the details important to you, then you will be fine.

But I think it is chancy to buy clone clubs that have been mass produced, off the rack.

 

It is possible that you are tall enough that you need longer clubs, customized.

 

I read years ago that the good players, the pros, don’t keep “sets” but evaluate each club on its own and wind up with mixed-sets . . . but now with their sponsorship deals, I’m not sure that is the case anymore . . . plus now I think custom sets tuned to the player and to each other (harmonics) are much more common . . . in the 90s I switched from one clone set to another clone set 2 or 3 clubs at a time . . . over 5 or 6 years . . . just as an economy thingy . . . but I could hit the new clubs several yards further than the old clubs, which made club selection tricky at times . . . but it was a kind of training exercise and a very difficult time for me, I could not hit my woods at all, so I used a 1iron off the tee, then a 2 or 3 iron as necessary . . . I got to where I could hit the bejabbers out of the 1,2,3 irons . . . often as far as other’s drivers & 3woods . . .that was an interesting lesson . . .

 

I also like to play only with balls I find, rather than buying them -- although, winning new balls in a tournaj is very nice also . . .

 

Because I believe – want to believe – as Mr Science has always said -- that it’s the Indian, not the Arrow.

 

But then once you have a swing that’s repeatable, it is undeniable that the new technology does make a difference. . . . the new technology helps only a VERY little until you have a repeatable swing and can hit the sweet spot.

 

When I replaced my lost 7iron out of my last set of Cobra-clones, with an actual cobra, I was amazed how much better it played – not that it was better because it was not a clone, but because it was a newer club, but it hit higher and a little further than my old 7iron, to the point that I went looking for a full set to match the 7iron, then bought 2! . . . 8^D . . . I paid US$150 for the first one, then $US99 for the second . . . I’d paid $us35 for the 7iron alone . . .

 

I’ve seen so many duffers with great clubs and no game I’ve lost count . . . it’s very common with rich old guys who can buy $700 drivers but can’t hit 200 yds straight in the fairway . . . but I love those guys, because after a while they get discouraged and buy new clubs and trade in the old clubs, then I buy them used – in good shape – for ¼ the cost.

 

But I have no advice for you . . . 8^D . . .

 

Good luck!

Sotek - The Czech Pukka

http://books.google.com/books?id=sgvQTjkugo0C&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110&dq=sotek+folklore&source=bl&ots=KIGbYK2c-C&sig=yg73IzAlxDECZo1_4JWfV8PW-IA&hl=en&ei=FlxpSsOUE4X6_AaWyaW5Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1

 

The first Scottish professional soldier came to Moravia as early as July 1619, but other Scots had arrived in central and eastern Europe several decades earlier not as soldiers but as peddlers. In Bohemia and Moravia the inhabitants referred to them as ‘soti’, and the diminutive form ‘sotek’ gave rise to a comic figure in folklore, a ‘little devil’. . . .

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=C6M9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=sotek+folklore&source=bl&ots=_LF1RpUl6z&sig=2ZmW1mfiExOTxmmMzmaNFT7kc9k&hl=en&ei=FlxpSsOUE4X6_AaWyaW5Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4

 

A host of European sprites and elves – brownies, Kobolds, Spanzifankerl and Golden Dove, Lauterfresser and Chick of the Devil – appear from a cockerel’s egg which as been brooded in the armpit. Be sure not to talk or laugh until it is read, warn the Pomeranians, or the Kobold will not survive. Some take on semi-human form. Coqwergi is a Swis dwarf known in the Valias Alps, and the Czech sotek appears as a little boy with claws on hands and feet. Hungarians feared lidercz, their will-o’-the-siwp, and smashed any small eggs as a precaution. But for the most part these are amiable, helpful sprites, whose names reflect their nature. The Tyrolese were especially fond of Lauterfresser, who lived on a diet of raw eggs, because he helped to build up one’s strength.

 

<Regretably -- just by myself, for my own selfish reasons – Sotek seems to have been co-opted by various Internet Trolls and Implemented as a Deity in at least one Interactive Internet Game, without particular reverence for the historical basis of the character, so I can’t be responsible for nor bothered by these intrusions. For me, and thus for you, as my reader, Sotek is the Czech Pukka, which is the European Kokopelli, alleged troublemaker, but really, the innocent and misunderstood victim of tragic-comic circumstances, someone who does not look for trouble, but somehow always winds up in trouble, just as in Golf, if you see how I mean . . . . >

 

http://www.archive.org/stream/mythologyallrac00carngoog/mythologyallrac00carngoog_djvu.txt

 

The old Bohemian word Setek or Sotek may be compared, in point of meaning, with the Ded or Deduska. The Setek is 

believed to resemble a small boy with claws, instead of nails, on his hands and feet, and he generally stays in the sheep-shed, 

though he also hides in the flour, or in the peas, or on a wild pear, while in winter he sits on the oven and warms himself. 

The Setek protects the flocks from disease and brings good harvests and money; and he is also said to be able to go without 

eating and drinking for nine years, returning, after the lapse of this time, to the place of his birth, where he annoys the 

imnates. He may be bred out of an egg carried for nine days in the arm-pit. 

In the belief of the Styrian Slovenians the Setek of olden times was a good spirit, about the size of a thumb, who gen- 

erally haunted places where salt was kept, or lived in stables near young cattle. Unless a portion of all that was boiled or 

roasted was put aside for him, he caused the fire in the oven to go out, or made the pans crack, or caused the cows to yield 

blood instead of milk, etc. Being of very small size, he could hide in any place and play tricks on those who teased him. 

Another designation of the family genius was Skfitek ("Hobgoblin") which was derived from the German Sckrat.  

Like the Russian DMuika Domovoy (pp. 240-43), the Czech Djadek is in reality an ancestral spirit raised to the dignity of guardian of the household, after clay statues found in Sileaia. 

Setek 

While the Djadek (Plae XXVIII) is an ancestral spirit, the §etek, like the SkHtek (pp. 244-45), though now degraded to the low estate of a hobgoblin, is in origin a divine being who was the special protector of the household . . . or Sckratt. This goblin, who appeared in the shape of a small boy, usually lived behind the oven or in the stable, favouring the household and sharing the joys and sorrows of the family; and he liked to do some work in the home, such as weaving on the loom, sweeping the floor, or tending the flocks. 

In order to court his favour the household set aside a portion of their meals for his consumption, especially on Thursdays and at Christmas dinner, when three bits from every dish were assigned to him. If they failed to do this, he was angry and stormed about, worrying people, damaging the flocks, and  doing all sorts of harm to the master of the house. 

His memory still lives in popular tradition, and he was represented by a wooden statue, with arms crossed on its breast and wearing a crown upon its head. This image stood, as a rule, on a chiffonier in a corner behind the table; and in any absence of the family the SkHtek was placed on a chiffonier or on a table to guard the house. The Slovaks call this spirit Skrata or Skriatek and conceive him as a drenched chicken; while in Poland he is known as Skrzatek, Skrzat, or Skrzot, and is represented as a bird (again most frequently a drenched chicken) dragging its wings and tail behind it. He often transforms himself into a small bird emitting sparks from its body, and he may be bred from an egg of a peculiar shape carried for a certain length of time beneath one's arm-pit. He haunts the corn-loft and steals corn; in bad weather he also visits human dwellings; and those who give him shelter under their roofs will profit by his presence, for he brings the householder grain and will make him rich. 

The Slovenians in Styria likewise believe that the Skrat (Skratec) brings money and com. He assumes different shapes, looking now like a young lad, and now like an old man or woman, or he can transform himself into a cat, dog, goose, etc.; but since he is covered with hair, he takes great pains to hide his body. He likes to dwell in mountains and dense forests, and does not allow people to shout there; by day he perches on a beech-tree or takes his rest in dark caves; at night he haunts villages and smithies, where he forges and hammers until the dawn. 

This goblin may be hired for one's services or bred from an egg of a black hen; but to gain his assistance it is necessary to promise him one's own self, as well as one's wife and children, and such an agreement must be signed in one's own blood. In return for all this the skrat will bring whatsoever a man may wish, placing these things on the window-sill, although when he carries money, he comes in the shape of a fiery broom, flying down the chimney. Since millet gruel is his favourite dish, it must be placed on the window-sill  whenever he brings anything. 

a Divine Line Rossie I . . .

crikey, I hope it's not a ladies putter . .. the handle is white . . .

I just went thru the rack of putters at GolfProfi heuristically weighting them . . . this was actually the 2nd heaviest . . . the heaviest looked like my slazenger, and felt ok when I practiced with it, but I'd already fallen in love with the way the Odyssey looked from above.

Played with it the day I bought it, and did putt much better, but the rest of my game was so awful, it made no difference . . . I kept slicing everything and coming up out of my kokopelli crouch . . . on the last hole I realized it was because my grip was very weak, rather than the very strong I usually use . . . so, armed with these factors, I am going into tomorrow's tournament very confident:

• new putter, heavier
• knowledge that yardage is to the front not the middle of the green
• 27 handicap, at least 10 strokes higher than my vanity would admit

I ought to break 90.

I ought to par the par 5s.

I ought to birdie the par3s and a couple of 4s.

I ought to have no blow-up holes.

Uvidime se v Sobota Touraj!

Oh #@#%$@#%@#% Meterage

I just found out that the yardages/meterages in the Czech Republic are measured from the FRONT OF THE GREEN, not the Middle of the green, like in the US . . .

NO WONDER I’ve been coming up short every shot . . . even the ones I hit pure!

This knowledge is going to save me 9 strokes an 18 . . . .

8^D

Putter Head Weight

Head Weight

There is no standard head weight for a putter. It can be anything nowadays. The relationship between the length, the head weight, and the overall weight of the putter varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and by model.

Most mass-produced putter heads are weighted for a standard off-the-shelf 35-inch putter and weigh around 330 to 350 grams. In theory the head weight should change to keep the same relationship of head weight to grip weight when you either shorten or lengthen the putter.

For the technically minded the head weight is used to calculate the swingweight of the putter. Swingweight is the relationship between the weight of the grip end of the club and the head end and is measured on a 14-inch fulcrum (balance) scale. It has an impact on your tempo and feel.

There is a school of thought that you should use a heavy putter to putt on slow greens and a light putter to putt on fast greens. There are some putters on the market with adjustable head weights, but to me this is just an added complication.

Shortening the shaft stiffens it and changes the overall weight of the putter, but I have found that the change in feel is not that great. It is far more important that your putter is exactly the right length for you, otherwise you are never going to putt consistently.

If you are not 100% satisfied with the balance of your altered putter, the club fitter can change it to suit you by either adjusting the weight under the grip or by applying lead tape to the putter head.

In summary, if your putter head is too light, you could find yourself flicking at the ball with too quick a tempo. A putter with more head weight will promote a slower and more consistent tempo. However, too heavy a head can lead to less touch.

 

http://www.better-golf-by-putting-better.com/putter-fitting.html