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John_McMillan

Saddest day of the year
« on: November 11, 2004, 01:04:11 PM »
This afternoon, I removed my golf clubs and golf shoes from the trunk of my car.  Not until after the next Masters champion is crowned will I be able to play a spontaneous round of golf in Northern Michigan.

cary lichtenstein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2004, 01:06:51 PM »
John:

Cheer us, come on down Florida and bring your sticks ;D
Live Jupiter, Fl, was  4 handicap, played top 100 US, top 75 World. Great memories, no longer play, 4 back surgeries. I don't miss a lot of things about golf, life is simpler with out it. I miss my 60 degree wedge shots, don't miss nasty weather, icing, back spasms. Last course I played was Augusta

Michael Wharton-Palmer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2004, 01:07:24 PM »
My deepest sympathies, I cannot imagine such a prolonged break from this wonderful game.
Ever think of moving to warmer climes?

Craig Sweet

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2004, 02:11:26 PM »
For what it's worth, after the frost delay, we had a steady stream of golfers heading out today. It was a short Veterans Day work day at the course, and now I kick myself for not sticking around to play 18!

There is, praise the Lord, plenty of golf left!

Oh, and this is in Montana!
No one is above the law. LOCK HIM UP!!!

Evan Fleisher

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2004, 02:40:16 PM »
John,

Suck it up, man!  :o

Over here in Dubuque I absolutely REFUSE to take my sticks and shoes out fo the back of the van...you just never know when a good weather day might happen and you can sneak out and get in a few holes.

As long as there is no frost or snow on the ground at our club, we are freely allowed to knock it around, and I've done so on numerous occasions over the past few mild winters.

Don't give up hope, brother!!!  8)
Born Rochester, MN. Grew up Miami, FL. Live Cleveland, OH. Handicap 13.2. Have 26 & 23 year old girls and wife of 29 years. I'm a Senior Supply Chain Business Analyst for Vitamix. Diehard walker, but tolerate cart riders! Love to travel, always have my sticks with me. Mollydooker for life!

Bob_Huntley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2004, 03:03:05 PM »
Now I know why I live in California.

Bob

BCrosby

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2004, 03:04:08 PM »
And why I live in Georgia.

Bob

Scott_Burroughs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2004, 03:22:10 PM »
I already knew that's why I live in North Carolina.  Also, there's no frustration about paying dues during the winter months while the home course is closed.

When I saw the thread title, I thought you were just procrastinating from my saddest day of the year, when Daylight Savings ends (I call these months "Daylight Wastings").

John_Conley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #8 on: November 11, 2004, 04:28:17 PM »
J-Mac:

Dude do we see things differently!  College basketball starts TONIGHT and you call it the saddest day of the year.  I don't even know who Arafat is, so I can't get too choked up over his passing.  A guy I work with said he's a terrorist, so maybe it is something to celebrate?

I live in FL and play less than I did when I lived in the Midwest.  May your off-season be short and your recovery time shorter.

Dan Kelly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2004, 04:47:34 PM »
This afternoon, I removed my golf clubs and golf shoes from the trunk of my car.  Not until after the next Masters champion is crowned will I be able to play a spontaneous round of golf in Northern Michigan.

Are the courses closed? Are they crowned (oops! I meant "coated" -- or maybe "jacketed") with snow, already?

Then put those clubs back in the trunk.

Shefchik and I are hoping to play 72 holes some day next week, here in the Twin Cities. Feel free to drive down and join us!
« Last Edit: November 11, 2004, 05:07:55 PM by Dan Kelly »
"There's no money in doing less." -- Joe Hancock, 11/25/2010
"Rankings are silly and subjective..." -- Tom Doak, 3/12/2016

jim_lewis

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #10 on: November 11, 2004, 04:53:39 PM »
This thread reminds me of a crazy thought that has been bugging me ever since I got into the hobby of rating golf courses. One criterion for judging courses that is often mentioned on this site is walkability. Some also want to consider factors like cost, amount of dirt moved, ambiance, history, etc.  If those considerations deserve mention, why not also take into account how many days each year the course is playable?  That would mean that a course which is playable year round is superior to a course of similar design quality that is closed 3-5 months each winter. Putting aside other non-golf considerations (job, family ties, etc), who wouldn't perfer a course he can play nearly every day?

 I know this sounds like an idea John K. would advance, but I promise, I thought it up all on my own.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2004, 04:54:37 PM by jim_lewis »
"Crusty"  Jim
Freelance Curmudgeon

John_Conley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #11 on: November 11, 2004, 04:56:58 PM »
Crusty!  Great to see your name again.  You've been missed.

JOHN

Jim Franklin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #12 on: November 11, 2004, 05:05:48 PM »
Crusty -

That's not too far fetched as I have a friend that rates for GD and he rates Sand Hills very low because it is only open 4 1/2 months a year. I think he is nuts, but that's his opinion. It seems Seminole and Augusta were left off his wrath though.
Mr Hurricane

jim_lewis

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #13 on: November 11, 2004, 05:08:24 PM »
Thanks for the kind words, John.  Any more babies laely?

Jim:

Thanks for reminding me that my theory will apply also to courses that close in the summer. I think your friend who rates for GD is out of line, however. Until and unless the magazine changes its criteria, he is obligated to rate according to the criteria prescribed by the magazine.  I'm not 100% in agreement with the GW criteria, but until I can persuade Brad to change them, I will use his.  I haven't run the theory mentioned above by him yet, and I do not it expect it to be well recieved by golfers in the northern climates.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2004, 05:13:28 PM by jim_lewis »
"Crusty"  Jim
Freelance Curmudgeon

JakaB

Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2004, 05:18:45 PM »
Jim Lewis,

I think it is a great criteria....it has to do with two important factors of why you would want to join a club....attitude and drainage....

John_McMillan

Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #15 on: November 11, 2004, 07:48:48 PM »
I suspect that Tom Doak has figured out the endless summer option  - playing golf in Northern MI from May to September, and lining up Southern Hemisphere courses to build from November to February.

Sadly, for me, there must come an end to the season - if for no other reason than every year I chop down a Christmas tree and need the trunk space to haul it home.  

Bob_Huntley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #16 on: November 11, 2004, 08:09:27 PM »
I must say that when I saw 'Saddest Day of the Year'  I   thought  of Armistice Day... or Veterans Day in the USA.

November 11th was always an emotional day in Britain and the Colonies, when commemoration of the fallen was made.

There are a couple of poems we learned as children that still evoke a great deal of sadness when read.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
In Flanders Fields


In Flander's Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place,and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you from failing hands we throw
The Torch: be yours to hold it high!
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flander's Fields.
John McCray.


WE WILL REMEMBER THEM


John Jack R.I.P.




To The Fallen.



They shall grow not old
as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the gowing down of the sun
and in the morning
We will remember them.

 

Doug Siebert

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #17 on: November 12, 2004, 01:26:20 AM »
You year-rounders in southern climes don't know what you are missing.  Taking months off during the winter allows time for your bad habits to be forgotten.  Or at least that's what I'm counting on, since I dislocated my left shoulder last winter and my ball striking was worse than it has been in a couple decades as a result (I do have reason to believe that if I'd dislocated the right shoulder my game might have actually improved as a result since I couldn't fly the right elbow while it was partially healed)

So I played yesterday since it was in the low 60s, had my best ball striking day of the season (wouldn't ya know) but once winter arrives for good and the local courses close, I'm done until they open again.  No chasing those occasional mild days that hit the 50s in January for a quick nine on some cow pasture that opens for the day, no travelling south to play a bit.  I'm going to lose whatever caused me to lose my swing plane and be back to actually hitting solid iron shots on a consistent basis.  Or so the theory goes...  ;D
My hovercraft is full of eels.

tonyt

Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #18 on: November 13, 2004, 04:18:11 PM »
You year-rounders in southern climes don't know what you are missing.

Good try ;D

Let me make it official. With my Australian way of life ingrained since birth, I cannot fathom a sane human being's decision to live in this type of winter environment unless they were locked up with half a dozen of their favourite stunning Hollywood starlets or swimsuit models.

I can drive to the snow in winter. But the "charm" of clearing my driveway or the inability to just play golf any gosh darned day I want to is a wonderful lifestyle that others can keep.

John Foley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #19 on: November 13, 2004, 06:51:57 PM »
John,

Hoping not to jinx myselk, temps in the 40's all this upcoming week w/ a nice breeze :). Here is Upstate/Western NY (as long as the snow hasn't flown) this is a great time of the year to play golf.

Empty courses and a breezy November day. I do beleive that I'm coming down w/ a cold. :)
« Last Edit: November 13, 2004, 06:52:18 PM by john_foley »
Integrity in the moment of choice

Rick Shefchik

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #20 on: November 14, 2004, 02:39:23 PM »
Here in the Twin Cities, the forecast is for highs in the low '50s for the next four or five days. Almost too nice -- that generally means clear skies at night and lows in the 30s, which means frost until 10 a.m.; then everybody who hasn't held a club in their hands in the last three months wants to get out for "one last round" between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the courses that remain open. It's harder to get in a round on a 50 degree day in November than a 75 degree day in June.

Dan Kelly and I are hoping for clouds and a chance of rain on Tuesday. In that scenario, 72 holes will be a snap.
« Last Edit: November 15, 2004, 06:33:28 PM by Rick Shefchik »
"Golf is 20 percent mechanics and technique. The other 80 percent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness and conversation." - Grantland Rice

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #21 on: November 14, 2004, 09:54:09 PM »
I looks like today was my last day to play the great game.  But I went out with a bang for the 2004 season.  Last week, a golf orgy in Georgia with 18 Athens Friday, 18 Sat. and 27 Sun., Cusco, and 18 more Monday.  Then, 27 Sat., and 27 today until dark, when they closed for the year at my home course.  
« Last Edit: November 15, 2004, 08:22:42 PM by RJ_Daley »
No actual golf rounds were ruined or delayed, nor golf rules broken, in the taking of any photographs that may be displayed by the above forum user.

Dave_Miller

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Saddest day of the year
« Reply #22 on: November 15, 2004, 11:03:56 AM »
And why I live in Georgia.

Bob

And why I have a place in Florida ;D

Best
Dave