Robert Hagge

Big fan of Robert Hagge http://www.vonhagge.com/intro.htm

But I’ve always heard he was a difficult person, er, in person . . .

He never gets mentioned with the Tier 1 course designers, which is unfair. The quality of the list of his courses just in Texas is mind-blowing:

Walden On Lake Conroe http://www.waldengolf.com/walden.html

Crown Colony in Lufkin   http://www.crown-colony.com/

TPC Woodlands             http://www.thewoodlandscc.com/fw/main/The_East_Course-1601.html

The Cliffs on Possum Kingdom http://www.thecliffsresort.com/Leisure/Golf.aspx

 

But, again, his association with Bruce Devlin is not mentioned at all in this article, which is indicative of the falling out they had, after collaborating on these amazing designs.

 

Playing on these courses totally shaped my POV on course design and the Essence of Golf: A von Hagge / Devlin course has no dud holes – there may be sleepers – but every hole is interesting & challenging.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/glf/7265654.html

 

Robert von Hagge's golf courses a lasting legacy

Creations keep his memory alive

By TODD HVEEM
Copyright 2010 For the Chronicle

Oct. 26, 2010, 10:52PM

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Golf course architect Robert von Hagge may have died earlier this month, but his accomplishments live on as legendary landmarks.

"Robert von Hagge had a charismatic aura that shone upon everyone who knew him," said von Hagge's friend and brother-in-law Ron Randall. "He was a brilliant artist and a generous and caring human being who made everyone he came into contact with a better person.

"Robert had such presence and charm. You could listen to his stories indefinitely because they were filled with such humor and often celebrities. He wasn't a name dropper, it just so happened they were people he was associated with."

Von Hagge, who was a member at Northgate Country Club, designed more than 250 golf courses in 16 countries, including the Tournament Course at The Woodlands Country Club, site of last week's Administaff Small Business Classic.

Les Bordes a masterpiece

 

curves, hooks, & slices

I like to send Mr Science mind-candy when I find it on the web …

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130777556

but Mr Science Says:

 

They're making a convoluted scenario out of a high-school geometry problem.
 
The path of the ball is a simple circular curve.  It doesn't "fall off the table" at the end, it simply continues accelerating in the same direction at the same rate.
 
Consider a circular automobile race track.  You stand just outside the outer wall watching cars go by.  As a car comes into your view, almost 90 degrees away around the circle, it is traveling straight toward a point off to your left, like the curve ball (or fast ball) just released by the pitcher.  In fact, you can't tell if that car is going to stay on the track, or hit the wall because it fails to hold the curve.
 
As the car gets closer to you, you begin to see that it is in fact turning, and will stay on the track.  It's not moving much sideways, but still coming closer very quickly, and is now coming straight at you.  Like that curve ball when it's halfway to the plate.
 
Then, as the car gets close to you, you begin to see that it's no longer coming toward you very much, but is turning very quickly and will pass by you without hitting you or going off the track.  Like the curve ball when it's 2 feet in front of the plate, and "falling off" the table. 
 
The driver of the car hasn't moved his steering wheel the whole time.  He's turning at a constant rate, the same as the circular track.  The same as the curve ball, the direction of motion is changing at a constant rate.
 
The batter isn't moving, but the path of the ball is changing as it comes toward him, and his perception of the sideways motion is the sine of the angle between his sightline and the path of the ball.  When the ball is coming straight at him, the angle is 0 and the sine is 0.  It looks just like a fastball.  The longer you wait, the more the path of the ball changes, and the larger is the angle and the sine of the angle.  That's the math that explains why a ball that is following a circular path of constant radius seems to "fall off the table" when it gets very close to the batter. 
 
That's also why your draw gradually turns into a duck hook as it approaches the edge of the fairway. 

I’m trying not to take it personally, but that “your draw” conclusion stings a little bit . . . 8^D . . . .

of Tangential Interest

Subject: from 92 Stories, a collection by James Thurber

From a story entitled “Miscellaneous Mentation”

…To substitute walking under ladders for not walking under ladders is a distinction without a difference. For here we have, in effect, a person who was afraid to walk under ladders, and is now afraid not to. In the first place he avoided ladders because he feared the very fear that that would put into him. This the psychologists call phobophobia (they really do). But *now* he is afraid of the very fear he had of being afraid and hence is a victim of what I can only cal phobophobophobia, and is in even deeper than he was before.

I am shocked, *shocked*, that this concept has not been more widely propagated and understood:

-          every sportsman should immediately recognize this, particularly golfers, in that what debilitates us is not the fear of hitting the ball in the water (which is an ordinary hazard of the game), nor even fear of the fear of hitting the ball into the water (which we could avoid by laying up short of the hazard), but *fear of the fear of the fear of hitting the ball into the water* which is where we chunk or skull the ball leaving the obstacle still before us…

-          every technical participant should also immediately recognize this, particularly programmers, in the same way where we *fear the fear of the fear of making a mistake* which leads inexorably to the bureaucratization of maintenance procedures to the point where nothing can be done, due to the embedded nestings of  “from-now-on” restrictions.

-          In stock market trading, as well as in programming, this stultification is known also as “paralysis by analysis” and in that arena leads to loss-of-profits due to the *fear of the fear of the fear of losing money* which, in the main, usually does guarantee the loss of more money.

I have no answers, I have only this quaint belief that naming something gives you a handle on it, and *phobophobophobia* seems like a useful handle to me.

 

New Zero-Day Attack Riddles Adobe Reader

By Sidney Hill
TechNewsWorld
09/09/10 10:36 AM PT

Adobe software is everywhere. It's even more ubiquitous than Windows, and perhaps even more vulnerable to hacker schemes. The latest threat, which comes disguised as a golf lesson, consists of code that "can do almost whatever it wants," said ESET's Randy Abrams. "It can download malicious bots; it can load keystroke-tracking software, or any number of things."

 

<Snip>

 

The dangerous code is being unleashed via PDF files that users are enticed to open by a phishing email offering courses from David Leadbetter, a world-renowned golf instructor. When the PDF file is opened, it downloads a hidden program that attacks the user's system.

"This code can do almost whatever it wants," said Randy Abrams, director of technical education with ESET. "It can download malicious bots; it can load keystroke-tracking software, or any number of things."

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/70791.html?wlc=1284058573&wlc=1284099882

One bodacious hole . . .

http://www.legend-resort.com/

Golfer Starts Fire by chipping

IRVINE – After over seven hours of fighting the fire, a blaze probably sparked when a golfer chipped a rock with his club near Shady Canyon in Irvine was completely contained by 7:30 p.m., Orange County Fire Authority Captain Greg McKeown said.

Almost 200 firefighters battled the 12-acre blaze near the Shady Canyon Golf Course on Saturday, officials said.

The fire was reported at 12:07 p.m. as a hillside fire near the golf course. It burned through dense, heavy brush.

McKeown said two crews would remain throughout the night to prevent spot fires from flaring up. Another hand crew will return Sunday to mop up, he said.

At no point were the nearby multimillion-dollar homes in the gated Shady Canyon Golf Course at risk, McKeown said.

McKeown said the fire likely was sparked when a golfer – who knocked his golf ball into the grass that borders the fairway – struck a rock with his club trying to get the ball out of the rough.

Two other fires near Antonio Parkway and Ortega Highway that broke out at 12:30 p.m. were also extinguished.

 

 

http://www.ocregister.com/news/fire-264139-mckeown-canyon.html

 

1)   HEY! That’s a 2 shot penalty, idnt’t?

2)   I tho’t my chipping was bad, but geez . . .

Ai Miyazato wins Safeway Classic, leaps to No. 1

PORTLAND, Ore. - Ai Miyazato reclaimed the top spot in the world rankings, winning the LPGA Safeway Classic on Sunday for her fifth victory of the year.

The Japanese star closed with an even-par 72 to finish at 11 under, two strokes in front of Cristie Kerr, ranked No. 1 going into the event, and Na Yeon Choi.

<snip>

The Safeway Classic, in its second year at Pumpkin Ridge, was marred Saturday when veteran Juli Inkster, in strong position to contend in the final round, was disqualified.

The 50-year-old Hall of Famer was used a weighted training aid on her club to stay loose while waiting for 30 minutes to make the turn at the 10th hole. That broke rule 14-3, which meant disqualification.

Inkster had finished in a three-way tie for second at 8 under with Kim and Choi after two rounds. But that was erased when she used the "doughnut" training aid to practice her swing before making the backed-up turn, and the image flashed on television.


LPGA Director of Tournament Competitions Sue Witters said a viewer watching the broadcast brought the violation to the attention of tournament officials via email. By that time, Inkster was almost done with her round.

"I had a 30-minute wait and I needed to loosen up," Inkster said in a statement. "It had no effect on my game whatsoever, but it is what it is. I'm very disappointed."

I freaking HATE people that call in from watching on TV to report rules violations . . . I mean . . . it's a Gentleman (and Gentlewoman's) game, or idn't?
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/golf/articles/2010/08/22/20100822ai-miyazato-wins-safeway-classic.html#ixzz0xPJ7N9v1

14-3. Artificial Devices, Unusual Equipment and Unusual Use of Equipment

The United States Golf Association (USGA) reserves the right, at any time, to change the Rules relating to artificial devices, unusual equipment and the unusual use of equipment, and make or change the interpretations relating to these Rules.

A player in doubt as to whether use of an item would constitute a breach of Rule 14-3 should consult the USGA.

A manufacturer should submit to the USGA a sample of an item to be manufactured for a ruling as to whether its use during a stipulated round would cause a player to be in breach of Rule 14-3. The sample becomes the property of the USGA for reference purposes. If a manufacturer fails to submit a sample or, having submitted a sample, fails to await a ruling before manufacturing and/or marketing the item, the manufacturer assumes the risk of a ruling that use of the item would be contrary to the Rules.

Except as provided in the Rules, during a stipulated round the player must not use any artificial device or unusual equipment, or use any equipment in an unusual manner:

a. That might assist him in making a stroke or in his play; orb. For the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play; orc. That might assist him in gripping the club, except that:

(i) plain gloves may be worn;(ii) resin, powder and drying or moisturizing agents may be used; and(iii) a towel or handkerchief may be wrapped around the grip.

Exceptions:

1. A player is not in breach of this Rule if (a) the equipment or device is designed for or has the effect of alleviating a medical condition, (b) the player has a legitimate medical reason to use the equipment or device, and (c) the Committee is satisfied that its use does not give the player any undue advantage over other players.

2. A player is not in breach of this Rule if he uses equipment in a traditionally accepted manner.

Penalty for Breach of Rule 14-3: Disqualification.

Note: The Committee may make a Local Rule allowing players to use devices that measure or gauge distance only.

http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules-of-Golf/Rule-14/#scrollTop:rules_browse_left=0.3087431693989071