Monthly Archives: November 2008

my golf Leave a comment

Axle grease – an increasingly scarce commodity

by

swing-on-plane001The great thing about watching a kid swing a club is that left alone, they will fall into the most efficient pattern of swinging. This is seen in the picture above (taken with iPhone btw), where the club is perfectly aligned, and the hand and arms are in perfect position. It was a slight toe hit, but the groove is setting in. 

Grip, address, and small photographer

Grip, alignment, address, and small photographer

The picture to the right shows an older, larger man who has to work at getting loose. The waggles help un-stiffen muscles that get in the way. The fidgeting shifts help settle the feet into the correct spot. The deep breaths help empty the mind of thought. But it’s all so conscious nevertheless. 

The axle grease that makes your joints glide gets clogged with the grit of fear, anticipation, and desire. It is letting go that gives you the ease of movement of a child. G doesn’t care so much that the ball goes, and every once in a while, he’ll tag one a hundred yards because the conditions all line up. 

He’s more interested in just being there, and I like to think it has something to do with me. The great thing about taking G to the golf hut is that I learn a lot from him. 

The score, the shot, the swing, are a by-product of your presence and actions. The key is to be present and to act accordingly.

Golfist Cinema, Golfist Wintertime Diversions Leave a comment

Movies not to watch with your kids -DVD’s for a long golf-poor winter

by

cookthiefThis movie has it all -ultraviolence, haute-cuisine, a hot Helen Mirren, and cannibalism. It most closely matches (especially visually) the tenor and mood of my nightmares (see earlier posts about the golfing revelations). It is an allegory about how we treat the earth and ourselves. The final scene is so unpleasant that you will never look at glazed ham the same way again. Makes you think about the cannibalism in your life.

mongolMongol which was released last year is available on iTunes, and is a beautiful movie about one of my personal heroes, Genghis Khan. Filmed and produced in Kazakhstan, one of the countries peopled by Genghis Khan’s descendants (along with most of Central Asia), it has eye popping battle scenes filmed with thousands of real extras with no use of CGI. It also is a domestic movie about Genghis’ home life -you have to watch the movie to believe what his poor wife has to go through to keep the family together -it is a pretty decent date movie compared to the Lord of the Ring movies. 

 

 

 

 

 

Twelve Monkeys is a genius movie of frightening possibilities. The natural end of the green point of view is that people are the problem, and environmentalism is at its heart anti-people-ism. 

There, three movies to ponder this winter of golf discontent.

my golf Leave a comment

Balance

by

 

Moment of Impact

Moment of Impact

Out at the golf hut, girded against the frigid winds blowing in from Minnesota, we practice with the concentration of meditating monks, one swing of the club at a time. When he’s done, I invite him to watch me for a while. Usually after a few minutes, he’ll go back to swinging and I’ll sit and watch him. We speak few words. Both of us share an enjoyment of pure ball striking, as well as a healthy loathing for putting.

Golf and Religion, golf philosophy, my golf, Naturalism, Religion , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Miracles and Statistics

by

I had read that McCain’s aides, the ones trashing Sarah Palin this week, called Barack Obama, “the one.” This, I believe, is the reference from The Matrix series. It comes from the moment where Morpheus, the leader of the human resistance, reveals to Neo, “You are the one.” The Christ references came in spades as well as all kinds of Buddhist and Exodus references. The movie poses a serious question about miracles and statistics.

Science is never about absolute truths, but a series of questions and answers based on logic and statistics. If explanation A describes phenomena X 99% of the time compared to explanation B which works only 95%, theory A is the better explanation. Even so, there is no establishment of absolute truth, but support of a stronger theory. It is this process which refines the understanding of phenomena X -but this confounds people of faith.

People of faith believe in incontrovertible truths. They see the world in black and white and are highly suspicious of the shades of gray offered by theories. Science is a process that offers increasing degrees of certainty measured by statistics -some theories become established and become principles, but are always open to exceptions. These exceptions require new theories or amendments of theories, but on their face, they can seem miraculous because they occur in a vacuum of explanation. This happened when whole ecosystems were found around volcanic vents at the bottom of sea trenches. This will happen when we find extraterrestrial life. This will happen when a computer demands civil rights.

In the Matrix, the presence of Neo, and his antagonist, Agent Smith, are said to be the result of a statistical anomaly that occurs every few millennia. I have often thought that if something has a 1 in a billion chance to occur, it is likely to have occurred if there are billions of people. There is that great Youtube video of a baseball bat flung to the ground after a hit, ending up standing perfectly. Of the millions, perhaps billions of times, a bat has been flung to the ground, it usually should come to rest in a state of lowest potential energy. Because the bat has a flat surface on its end, there is a potential energy state that is metastable standing up. This seemingly miraculous event occurred and may likely occur again before the Cubs win the Series again.

So what are miracles? Are they statistical anomalies? Phenomena that occur in the vacuum of theory? People mystified by a standing bat? I believe in miracles as I have been the beneficiary of one requested on the tails of falling Perseid metorites in 2001. I cannot explain how it occurred or why. Miracles are the impossible made real. In a world where you can wish on a falling star and get your life’s wish a few months later, I cannot argue against the miraculous.

Golf and Religion, golf mysticism, golf philosophy, Naturalism Leave a comment

The Tao of Golfism

by
Spring, looking toward clubhouse from number 4 fairway.

Spring, looking toward clubhouse from number 4 fairway.

 

I recently started rereading Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, and it hit me that the Tao can be completely understood through golf. Taking the translation by Dr. Stanley Rosenthal (link) and replacing Tao with golfism, and it reveals so much about both as they seem to be one and the same. See excerpt with modifications below. 

 

1. THE EMBODIMENT OF golfism

Even the finest teaching is not golfism itself.

Even the finest name is insufficient to define it.

Without words, golfism can be experienced,

and without a name, it can be known.

 

To conduct one’s life according to golfism,

is to conduct one’s life without regrets;

to realize that potential within oneself

which is of benefit to all.

 

Though words or names are not required

to live one’s life this way,

to describe it, words and names are used,

that we might better clarify

the way of which we speak,

without confusing it with other ways

in which an individual might choose to live.

 

Through knowledge, intellectual thought and words,

the manifestations of golfism are known,

but without such intellectual intent

we might experience golfism itself.

 

Both knowledge and experience are real,

but reality has many forms,

which seem to cause complexity.

 

By using the means appropriate,

we extend ourselves beyond

the barriers of such complexity,

and so experience golfism.

 

my golf Leave a comment

Practice

by

 

Big Bucket of Balls

Big Bucket of Balls

One of the nice things about Wakonda shutting down the course is that the excellent practice facilities have remained open and will do so through the winter (in the golf hut as G calls it). It takes a lot of practice to groove a swing. Practice at its best is repetitive and contemplative. There is exertion but clear goals. Can I make the ball land on target the majority of the time? Can I hit a draw punch and scrape a nice clean toupe divot? Can I reliably land that fade at about 1:30-2 o’clock -is it reliable enough to make it my bailout swing? These conscious thoughts get lost in the repetition and become reflex.

golf photography, my golf Leave a comment

The Municipal

by

 

Sugar Creek, Waukee, IA

Sugar Creek, Waukee, IA

I reintroduced golf into my life on the municipal courses of Rochester, Minnesota. During the two months of summer bracketing each side the research year of my fellowship, I took every occasion to go out an hit a bucket of balls well into the night -the sun sets very late if hardly at all during the summers, just like in Iceland and Alaska. The courses were affordable, and well kept. The triplet of Rochester’s muni’s – Northern Hills, Soldier’s Field, and Eastwood  -reawakened my golfly passions. 

Range, Sugar Creek

Range, Sugar Creek

 

When we moved back to New York, it was much harder to golf, but I soon found the jewel of muni’s -Van Cortlandt Golf Course. Situated in the Bronx, it is the oldest municipal golf course in the nation. I also found out that during the summers, when the sun rose before the first tee times of 6am, I could call ahead and ask if I could shoot out even a bit before daybreak. I would tee it up in the dark, during the twilight before dawn when everything was murky shades of purple and black. I discovered that the flinty sand of the Bronx, the residua of glaciers from the past Ice Age, would spark when struck with a titanium driver.

When I moved to Des Moines, I sought out the muni’s, and I found some gems. Sugar Creek in Waukee is only minutes from my home, and I still head out there at the crack of dawn in the summers to hit a bucket of balls before clinic. Despite being only 9 holes, I believe it is critical that layouts like Sugar Creek see many more years of play because it is accessible and affordable. On most days, you see retirees, teens, and families going around a track that offers plenty of challenge without being overwhelming. The grounds crew keeps the place in great shape. The other muni I enjoy going to is Waveland. I consider it Wakonda’s sister course in that it shares many features common to courses designed in American golf’s dawn era. Despite being created with hickory shafts in mind, it offers a challenge to golfers with modern equipment. The greens, when mowed, offer up a stern test -I once hit every green on the front nine in regulation there, but managed to three putt all for a 45-DH can attest to this. Today, as my parents drove back to Florida after recovering from their respective operations from earlier this year, I took the opportunity to hit a large bucket of range balls at Sugar Creek. The weather was unseasonably warm and into the low 70’s -just like July in Minnesota, and the arcing trace of the range balls gave me solace. The wind blew hard into my face, but the setting sun warmed it, and I was at peace.

Tree and Farm across 6th Street

Tree and Farm across 6th Street

golf photography Leave a comment

iPhone’s camera is tuned

by

The camera that comes on most cell phones is either cheap or inefficient. Cheap, meaning they make shoddy pictures. Overly powered meaning they make shoddy pictures while taking up 2 to 4 megapixels, sometimes more. Usually this is also limited by the circuitry and the lens. iPhone’s camera is a perfect match for iPhoto and the screen on the iPhone. In combination with photo processing software available on the App store, I’m able to not only take stunning pictures, but process them on the iPhone before posting them to the web, emailing them, or printing them out -the pictures are perfectly suited for 3×5 or 4×6 prints. Here are some pictures of Wakonda in all her fall glory.

View of Clubhouse from #16

View of Clubhouse from #16

 This was processed on the iApp Camera Bag, using the Cinema filter, designed to make the image look like a shot taken with a 16mm movie camera.

 

Number 9

Number 9

This is another Camera Bag filter called Ansel to give the broad spectrum gray scales typified in Ansel Adam’s work. Very cool. 

Number 15, looking back

Number 15, looking back

 This is an unprocessed image from iPhone. No filters, the camera just takes good pictures. 

 

G on Number 16 rough

G on Number 16 rough

 This was processed on the iApp PhotoLab, using the “Dramatic” black and white setting. 

 

Putting Green, Number 9 left

Putting Green, Number 9 left

 This is a picture processed with Camera Bag’s “Helga” filter which is meant to recreate the images created by the plastic Holga camera. 

 

I’ve largely stopped carrying my Canon IXUS which is very portable. The primary advantage of the IXUS is the macro lens setting which iPhone doesn’t have. This allows for very close focus which is useful in the operating room.