The Golf Thread

[BigAl]

I'll be playing Troon Lochgreen tomorrow.

Who knows if one of the Sky camera men at the Ladies Open swing their camera round I'll be on your screens.

Should pick us up anywhere on holes four through to eight 

[360]

3 hours ago, rocket_scientist said:

We were having a foursome with Old Guy Campbell, the oldest foursome in the world - against a couple of old guys. 

Bet you were 

[Donofanewera]

4 hours ago, rocket_scientist said:

I liked the original course but the new(ish) layout - and the club and the members - does nothing for me.

They’d not let you join either 

[rocket_scientist]

DJ -11 thru 11 but appears to have stalled a bit now. Amazing day of golf.

Ross Fisher 1 under today through 15 dropped 4 in the last 3 to allow the +4's to play the weekend.

Hoping for a W this week and would be surprised if it didn't land

[Donofanewera]

Wank?

[ayrshire_don74]

didnt bother with prestwick.. playing troon fullarton later wee bounce game

[BigAl]

13 hours ago, ayrshire_don74 said:

didnt bother with prestwick.. playing troon fullarton later wee bounce game

You must have been on there when i was playing Lochgreen.

Went out at 1pm, just home now, pished, fa's winning in the wifies  gowf ?

[ayrshire_don74]

16 hours ago, BigAl said:

You must have been on there when i was playing Lochgreen.

Went out at 1pm, just home now, pished, fa's winning in the wifies  gowf ?

 

 

popov

[Donofanewera]

2 hours ago, ayrshire_don74 said:

 

 

popov

Great in rentaghost

[royal deeside cowie]

I couldn't watch the end of the golf. Popov reminded me too much of my ex wife in her early years. There was some bad blood when we parted ways, I try to erase her from my mind and seeing Popov brought the memories flooding back. The only memories worth revisiting are memories of the sex. The sex was a revelation, brother. 

[rocket_scientist]

9 minutes ago, royal deeside cowie said:

I couldn't watch the end of the golf. Popov reminded me too much of my ex wife in her early years. There was some bad blood when we parted ways, I try to erase her from my mind and seeing Popov brought the memories flooding back. The only memories worth revisiting are memories of the sex. The sex was a revelation, brother. 

Let me help you here brother.

Your judgements have room to improve. That's ok, we all have strengths and weaknesses but it's how we think and it's our frames of references that determines how we judge. A great psychologist such as yourself already knows that our outlooks and critical thinking are determined by our genetics and our environmental backgrounds but you are haemorrhaging here.

The three picks on this thread were unfortunate. Not only did you lose your ponies, you never got them out of the traps but that's not important, being sponsiones ludicrae.

Picking the wrong wife was unfortunate too but hey, almost half of you do. I'm sure you've reflected well upon it and whilst there being "bad blood" was unfortunate also, you will have learned how immature you both were and will have worked out how the gross misunderstandings occurred.

Where your bad judgements on betting and partners MIGHT have been unfortunate however, your bad judgements in how you post are not.

To recount "memories of the sex" as being a "revelation", following the misfortune you spoke of, turns the stomach of most on this forum. I am unable to quantify "most" of course but it will be the majority. You see, this place isn't like another you may have experienced, where drug-taking, how much beer we drink, how debauched we can be are reasons for celebration. Basic decency as a concept still exists in society for the majority of us. Your speaking about "the sex with an ex" is pathos in extremis, like you are trying to find mitigation after fucking up with your life-choice or like you are trying to boast that you once had a couple of shags that were great.

You should retire to the shit pubs you prefer (when the government let you), more bad judgements of course - perhaps you are afraid to mix with real men in real pubs? - and consider how you can get it so wrong so often. Your "revisiting" of old "memories" and having to discontinue watching a live sporting event because of it is very sad and yet another indication that your tragic life and continuously-failing judgements have roots in something very deep.

[hercule poirot]

Have you ever been circumcised Squeakerino?

I was booked in for the operation but I was feeling under par so I missed the cut.

[rocket_scientist]

On 18/08/2020 at 20:28, rocket_scientist said:

1. I don't know you personally, true, but you underestimate how much EVERYBODY knows you from your words and your posting. Wherever you "got to", it will be admin, HR or H&S, some fucking nothingness like that?

2. You analyse my reaction to your overt aggression? It was you who is so tragic you decided to attack a total stranger, unprovoked, and you only had the balls to do it when backed up by two others. You don't know what passive aggressive means. You can look stuff up on google but you don't understand fuck all.

3. Tup is like each and every one of us, a human being with strengths and weaknesses. But he's not a sad fuck. You've racked up more sadness in two weeks than he can do in a a hundred lifetimes. Can you even explain your sick behaviour?

You lost your LA privileges detective. You can't just run away like a little girl, hiding in keyboard warrior anonymity and inventing shit and repeating it.

WHY DID YOU SEND A PM? Was this also a bad attempt at humour?

We do love a tryer though so keep up the great comedy: -

22 minutes ago, hercule poirot said:

Have you ever been circumcised Squeakerino?

I was booked in for the operation but I was feeling under par so I missed the cut.

At least this "joke" was vaguely on topic but to go to the off-topic you introduced, other than medical necessity, circumcision is sick.. and therefore Jewry is sick, as is EVERY organised world religion.

[royal deeside cowie]

The issue of sex being worth sacrifice was discussed at length with myself, Manboobs and Fridge a few weeks ago. Allow me to pare down the findings of the group into a couple of simple sentences, brother:

Good sex is like good wine. Once you pop the cork you need to savour every drop. 

[rocket_scientist]

You must be going from memory again.

Sitting in a shit pub all day and night won't find any half-decent, let alone good wine. You might pay for retsina down at the docks but an aficionado or a real enthusiast pops many corks, tastes many flavours and savours the best stuff to it's fullest.

[hercule poirot]

31 minutes ago, rocket_scientist said:

You lost your LA privileges detective. You can't just run away like a little girl, hiding in keyboard warrior anonymity and inventing shit and repeating it.

WHY DID YOU SEND A PM? Was this also a bad attempt at humour?

We do love a tryer though so keep up the great comedy: -

At least this "joke" was vaguely on topic but to go to the off-topic you introduced, other than medical necessity, circumcision is sick.. and therefore Jewry is sick, as is EVERY organised world religion.

I agree with you re: religion. 

But the main thrust of my quip is very much golf related. Reason being, most of the golf world's top players have been under the knife. Hence why I was asking you if you'd followed suit.

[rocket_scientist]

1 minute ago, hercule poirot said:

...most of the golf world's top players have been under the knife. Hence why I was asking you if you'd followed suit.

How the fuck do you know that?

And as I'm not in the OWGR, why would I be too?

What type of fucking whack job wants to know about another man's penis? For the record, I'm not, nor is my son, nor do I know anyone that has needed the operation for medical reasons but asking the question is pretty sick, no? If you had ever played football, you would know that the vast majority of us have NOT been circumcised and it is quite a rare thing in the NE.

When are you going to explain your PM? Do you think we will all forget? Or are you man enough to admit you made a mistake and apologise?

[Donofanewera]

You boys should meet up

[rocket_scientist]

A client has withdrawn this week because he's not enjoying the "bubble" on tour. With them being allowed apartments for Valderrama and with the major at Winged Foot next month, it's the right decision I reckon. I would hate that level of social control too and even if my job required me to endure it, you can't perform well if you're not 100% happy or comfortable, not in this game which is so mental, particularly at the top level. 

[RicoS321]

30 minutes ago, rocket_scientist said:

A client has withdrawn this week because he's not enjoying the "bubble" on tour. With them being allowed apartments for Valderrama and with the major at Winged Foot next month, it's the right decision I reckon. I would hate that level of social control too and even if my job required me to endure it, you can't perform well if you're not 100% happy or comfortable, not in this game which is so mental, particularly at the top level. 

Yes, it's strange. Footballers were classed as "priviliged" by the first minister. These people are being paid to perform for us. We don't own them, but act as if we do. Ronnie's attitude in the snooker was refreshing - he clearly gets it. I think it's great that players can look beyond the sport they play and see what's best for them and their families. It'll be interesting to see how they are treated because of that decision. It's just a shame that shop workers and delivery drivers aren't usually in a financial position to make a similar choice. You can imagine the level of outrage if one of those priviliged golfers breaks a lockdown rule whilst on tour.

[rocket_scientist]

The cricketer who broke the bubble cos he diverted home for a shag was getting slated for his "recklessness" and "irresponsibility", despite not being infected, not picking up the virus and not infecting anyone. A simple apology got him off the hook.

What did Ronnie O'Sullivan do? I can't watch snooker but I did love his comments about how bad the emerging young players are. Funny as fuck. Golf in the UK has a similar issue coming up as the standard of amateur golf has never been lower. 

[RicoS321]

1 hour ago, rocket_scientist said:

The cricketer who broke the bubble cos he diverted home for a shag was getting slated for his "recklessness" and "irresponsibility", despite not being infected, not picking up the virus and not infecting anyone. A simple apology got him off the hook.

What did Ronnie O'Sullivan do? I can't watch snooker but I did love his comments about how bad the emerging young players are. Funny as fuck. Golf in the UK has a similar issue coming up as the standard of amateur golf has never been lower. 

It wasn't really his speech at the WC - although the bit about it being better without fans was interesting - just the fact that he no longer lets snooker be the number one priority in his life and that he approaches it on his own terms. He can afford to be in that position of course. His points about the youngsters was fantastic simply because he didn't tow the line. What was more interesting was the interviewer's response. There was virtually no follow up because they were so shocked at not hearing the same bland comentary that follows distinct lines. He raised a really interesting point that deserved a lot more digging and a lot more discussion. Instead we got the "black" of Ronnie's view versus the "white" of Ken and the guys in the studio who disagreed. No attempt to understand what he was saying, look at the point in detail and come to a supported point of view. He said that he'd have to lose an arm or a leg to lose against players outside the top 50, but there was no discussion on whether players should get better over time in a sport like snooker (or golf), or whether there are too many professionals in the game, or whether, even, the pursuit of perfection in the game added anything to the spectacle anyway. I expect the questions are the same for golf?

[rocket_scientist]

I don't know the reasons why the standard in snooker is on the decline, if indeed R O'S is correct on this but the reason for amateur golf going backwards is very simple. Unfortunately the governing bodies were in denial about this over 10 years ago and I suspect that the reason why Scottish football has gone backwards too may be exactly the same.

If you put shit in (to anything), you get shit out. If you don't put enough in in the first place, you will get more shit, not less. 

[RicoS321]

9 minutes ago, rocket_scientist said:

I don't know the reasons why the standard in snooker is on the decline, if indeed R O'S is correct on this but the reason for amateur golf going backwards is very simple. Unfortunately the governing bodies were in denial about this over 10 years ago and I suspect that the reason why Scottish football has gone backwards too may be exactly the same.

If you put shit in (to anything), you get shit out. If you don't put enough in in the first place, you will get more shit, not less. 

I don't think that the standard in snooker is on the decline, and of course that's what all the commentators all talked about. I don't think that was his point. I read it as that there were too many professionals. Beyond the top 50, you're looking at amateurs. I suppose it's supply and demand and the point at which you can cut off the flow of players and still maintain a good top level. The secondary point about him, John Higgins and Mark Williams still winning at their age would suggest that the sport hasn't improved, but the question is whether an improvement beyond their level is something that can happen (in the sport as a whole) or is desirable and should be aspired to. I'd say that snooker has maintained a fairly high level whilst still bringing in fans and money at a level of a much greater sport (in theory, based on the fact that they're just hitting ba's around with a stick). Golf is perhaps slightly different in terms of technological improvements to clubs and balls and the like, but when yer talking snooker there is no valid reason for a player today to be better than a player twenty years ago and no real reason for the sport as a whole to be better than when Higgins, O'Sullivan and Williams began playing. Why should that be the case? If Usain Bolt's 100M record isn't broken for 20 years, will the sport be in decline? I don't know. Going back to the original example of the golfer choosing not to play, at what point do we think we should stop pushing sports people to perform better (for us)? I expect cycling could answer that. Does your level of analysis, that I expect wasn't close to being available 20 years ago, take things too far in golf? Does playing 14 hours a day? Where's the limit and when do we think that it's just a game?

[rocket_scientist]

2 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Golf is perhaps slightly different in terms of technological improvements to clubs and balls and the like, but when yer talking snooker there is no valid reason for a player today to be better than a player twenty years ago and no real reason for the sport as a whole to be better than when Higgins, O'Sullivan and Williams began playing. Why should that be the case? If Usain Bolt's 100M record isn't broken for 20 years, will the sport be in decline? I don't know.

Going back to the original example of the golfer choosing not to play, at what point do we think we should stop pushing sports people to perform better (for us)? I expect cycling could answer that.

Does your level of analysis, that I expect wasn't close to being available 20 years ago, take things too far in golf? Does playing 14 hours a day? Where's the limit and when do we think that it's just a game?

As I said, I know nothing of snooker but you are raising a whole bunch of different points so I need to deal with them separately;

I was talking about UK amateur golf and Scottish football being in decline. This is demonstrable and provable by any and every measurement criteria that we care to throw at it.

Yes the technological improvements (and strength and conditioning and other factors) make the ball go further in golf, progressively so over the last 30 years (whereupon this remains the biggest issue facing the R & A today) but I'm not looking at whether sports are, or should, improve in future years, I'm only talking about the declining standards that we are getting in UK amateur golf - which will inevitably come through to UK professional golf - and in Scottish football in general. This is wholly down to having less participants at school-age level, not just what the authorities might spin but on the street, in the parks, on the golf courses. Without a healthy grass roots feeding in, there is always going to be less quality coming out.

I don't think anybody should be "pushing sports people to perform better" other than dedicated coaching teams working with the consent of the individual, who must be motivated to want to succeed. It's just that there are less of them around in football (Scotland) and golf (UK) these days. And performing "for us", I don't get. We are paying customers in football and if the product isn't good enough, less of us will go. I have no idea what you mean by cycling being able to answer that, not because you're wrong, simply because I have no idea (it, like snooker, not being an area of interest for me).

My "level of analysis" wasn't available 15 years ago but it can't possibly "take things too far". It is a very simple tool that is now used in 98 countries and the only thing that we do is measure performance in golf. Well, it's a very complicated bit of software engineering - being able to capture the infinite possibilities that can, and do, occur in the game into a use-able, user-friendly format with maximum mathematical click economy built in, on both web and App functions - but to the golfer, it performs a very simple set of tasks and produces uncomplicated data output that fits our core objective, albeit it takes a wee bit of effort to understand the full power of the information capability, this being a game where our pros produce over 5,000 individual pieces of data every year, and often considerably more than that.

There are some things in golf that do go too far in my opinion, where over-use of science blinds the user to the reality and obfuscates the simplicity of the objectives of the game (and of its seven different shot types) but performance measurement in the way that we do it does not do this. It only takes 5.5 minutes online and less than 5 minutes on the App to capture the total shots played in a round, helped by certain defaults, both of clubs used by distances from and all putts less than 6 feet being holed, unless we miss them where two additional clicks are required.

As for 14 hours a day etc., different golfers do very different things in practise and it is important to tailor each preparation and planning structure for the individual. One size does not fit all in golf, despite some over the years trying to impose this.

It's not a game for the professional athlete, it's a business and like every business, they get managed differently. In golf however, it's important to empower the golfer to own their own ambitions and their planning and preparation etc., before reflecting and measuring on what they can do better next time. Golf being a game of "never-perfect", there is ALWAYS something that can improve.