howellhandmade

The PlaneMate makes me think of the martial arts maxim that force meets force blindly. Meeting the resistance of the band, you reach for width on the takeaway. Meeting the resistance of the band after impact, you push your hand path low and left. When the band is gone, that push takes you to a full follow through. I think it’s a brilliant invention.

Perhaps a bit of availability heuristic at work here, but it seems that loud music and whooping and hollering tend to go together.

Strewth, I could use 12” also, have considered buying long long pants and having them hemmed into shorts. For long pants, the best fitting I have found are UnderArmour Showdown, which come in 36” inseam even in smaller waist sizes. They are usually around $70; I’ll pick up another pair now and then when coupons come along.

Had the same issue of the battery suddenly dying when below 50% with a G10, which is basically a G20 without a watch band. My G20, though, has been quite linear and I get about the advertised 10 hours of GPS use out of a charge. I just put it on the charger with 16% remaining. I usually charge before playing if it’s less than 40%.

I have an S20. It works very well, no complaints other than aesthetics. I’m intrigued by the the S40, but one of the best things about the S20 is that when not golfing it uses practically no battery — 1% a day. I wear it all the time and when I’m not golfing I can basically forget about it. So, at least three rounds without charging, almost regardless of how many days between rounds. The 10-day watch mode battery life of the S40 pales in comparison.

If you press and hold the “ok” button, upper right, the screen will light.

Heh heh. I was thinking of factors that attract me to the things I hit the ball with, not the places I play golf. Did the best I could but probably mucked up your survey as it seems pretty Ireland-centric.

All right, I’ll explain the last part. “Rolling coal” is when drivers of diesel pickups modify their fuel systems in order to purposely emit large clouds of sooty exhaust. If you search YouTube there are plenty of illustrations; a favorite pastime of coal rollers is to get in front of, say, a Prius and engulf it. Turned up to 11 is a reference to the movie Spinal Tap, I suppose I’m dating myself one direction or the other. What you say about more people listening to music than I realize may very well be true. Or it may be that the golfers at your course are somewhat more considerate than the ones at mine. Or that the topography of your course better isolates holes acoustically. There have been rounds where the group in front or behind mine played music that was only inaudible when the course put several hundred yards or a hill between us. All of which is moot if we agree that music that IS loud enough to reach (and annoy) other groups, no matter how common or uncommon it is, qualifies as bad manners. As with many things, there is a line: alcohol on the course, fine. Becoming intoxicated and obnoxious, not fine. Enjoying the social aspect of a round of golf, fine. Letting a gap open up and refusing to let faster groups through, not fine. At least, that’s what I think. I suppose what constitutes a reasonable volume level, or degree of intoxication, or pace of play, is subjective and personal. Slow players never think they are slow, misbehaving drunks just think they’re entitled to have a little fun, and so with music.

Fitting very tall golfers is its own topic and it’s no surprise that GG “workers” would have no idea what to do. But we especially suffer with the short irons and wedges, while drivers are already plenty long. For the very tall golfer, finding an iron/wedge length and lie that improves posture and matches lie to swing plane is low hanging fruit. There may be swing weight implications, and some manufacturers (Mizuno) are more accommodating than others.

I’m puzzled by the strong response in favor of music on the course. Two-thirds listen to music on the course themselves? Two-thirds don’t mind having to listen to other peoples’ music while playing? In theory, if I can’t hear your music it doesn’t exist so I don’t mind. In practice, just about everyone who feels that a round of golf is lacking without tunes seems to leave the volume on 11 and it pisses me right off. It’s noise pollution: self-indulgent, anti-social, the golf equivalent of rolling coal.

I would love to find longer-inseam shorts. I have a 36” inseam, and it’s hard to find 11” or over inseams in shorts. UA, for instance, only has one model right now that is 11”, which is barely long enough.

I would offer that the value of iron fitting increases as the golfer deviates from average build, to the point of being most important for someone like me at 6’4” with long legs.

I’m Apple in most things, since my first Mac Plus in 1985 or so. But I’ve never gotten an Apple watch, partly my iPhone is enough of a virtual leash and partly because I can’t see it without “cheaters.” I use a Garmin G20, though. Three rounds on a charge seems about right, but if you don’t use it for golf it only drains about 1% per day, so if you go a few days between rounds you won’t charge it before one round, get to the course for the next and find you only have 7% battery. The information on the primary screen (middle/back/front) is readable in sunlight without glasses, and the Garmin golf app seems pretty solid. I use it to track my driving distance, but it’s sometimes fun to scroll through the round and relive the better holes.

Hey, I played your course last summer. Moved my daughter’s stuff to college in Vancouver. Drove from Pittsburgh to Colorado to visit my mom, then on to Vancouver, then back to Pittsburgh. Played every morning, then drove for 8-10 hours. Really enjoyed the front nine up through the smelter ruins. Will be doing it again this year and Old Works is one that I intend to play again. On my trip, if I liked the course, I bought a shirt.

I play the clarinet in an orchestra. Work is mostly inside, no heavy lifting.