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Jim Franklin

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I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« on: June 23, 2008, 08:18:57 AM »
I was talking to one of our assistants and a guy that has worked at some high end places and we were talking about Golf Digest. He said it was ashame that Pine Valley gives a free membership to any GD rater that rates them #1. Wow, I was floored that he actually believed that. He said that was the only reason PV was #1. You wonder where these rumors get legs.
Mr Hurricane

Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2008, 08:33:13 AM »
Dear Golf Digest,

I was wondering if you need any new raters.

Mark Smolens

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2008, 09:31:43 AM »
Doesn't say much for the intelligence level of your assistant pro -- sounds like he should be giving lessons to Jack Crisham's public course buddy.

Jim Franklin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2008, 09:44:41 AM »
Doesn't say much for the intelligence level of your assistant pro -- sounds like he should be giving lessons to Jack Crisham's public course buddy.

I thought the same thing at first and then I wondered who told him and who did they tell etc... Are there that many conspiracy therorists out there that would believe that garbage?
Mr Hurricane

Matthew Hunt

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2008, 09:47:37 AM »
I heard that Golf Digest and GOLF jointly own Pine Valley.

Bill Shamleffer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2008, 09:48:49 AM »
I was talking to one of our assistants and a guy that has worked at some high end places and we were talking about Golf Digest. He said it was ashame that Pine Valley gives a free membership to any GD rater that rates them #1. Wow, I was floored that he actually believed that. He said that was the only reason PV was #1. You wonder where these rumors get legs.

Jim,

Is it possible this person has a very dry sense of humor and was being facetious?
“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet.”  Damon Runyon

Bart Bradley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2008, 10:56:46 AM »
Hey Jim:

I'll vote Baltimore CC #1 for a free membership  ;)

Bart

Garland Bayley

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Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2008, 12:47:15 PM »
With that information, then by reason Sand Hills must be giving away free memberships for voting as best modern.  Where do apply for that rating gig?
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

john_stiles

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2008, 12:51:59 PM »
Think  co-number 1s ..............

Jim Franklin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2008, 12:55:08 PM »
I was talking to one of our assistants and a guy that has worked at some high end places and we were talking about Golf Digest. He said it was ashame that Pine Valley gives a free membership to any GD rater that rates them #1. Wow, I was floored that he actually believed that. He said that was the only reason PV was #1. You wonder where these rumors get legs.

Jim,

Is it possible this person has a very dry sense of humor and was being facetious?

I do not think so. He seemed shocked that I said differently and was actually happy it was not the case. I also do not know the guy well enough for him to joke around with. Our assistants all say "Mr" no matter how many times I tell them that "Mr" is my father. I think he truly believed this.
Mr Hurricane

Dan King

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2008, 01:02:07 PM »
Is there that big a difference between getting a free membership and being allowed to play the course for free? I'm sure there are, such as member/guests, etc... But should the general public really see a difference between free membership and free rounds?

Cheers,
Dan King
Quote
A friend that you buy with presents will be bought from you.
 Thomas Fuller

John Kavanaugh

Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2008, 01:16:48 PM »
Is there that big a difference between getting a free membership and being allowed to play the course for free? I'm sure there are, such as member/guests, etc... But should the general public really see a difference between free membership and free rounds?

Cheers,
Dan King
Quote
A friend that you buy with presents will be bought from you.
 Thomas Fuller

Dan,

The difference is that members have to pay for carts.

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2008, 02:40:35 PM »
Jim F,

Nah, the craziest thing I heard this weekend is Los Angeles Mayor Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa blaming President Bush for California's $4.50+/gal. gasoline UNTIL I tuned into gca.com and found the following precious bit of wisdom:

"Mike, haven't the times changed? If you know from experience that it takes plus 8-10 years for a return on your investment then that technology is old and inefficient. Since you are a rocket scientist you should know that photovoltaics have gone a long way since then and can be produced for dirt cheap and literally pasted on anything, anywhere. They just need mass produced.

"And with an administration who doesn't care about energy independence and only cares about helping out his oil buddies and war profiteers we have really screwed ourselves over right about now."

This brought to mind all the fuel supplements, carburetor enhancements, and countless gadgets advertised over the past 40+ years promising to double and triple gas mileage.  None of them worked, but that didn't stop the conspiracy theory aficionados from charging that existing quasi perpetual motion technology was being kept from the public by the evil BIG OIL in cahoots with the greedy monopolists in Detroit.  Amazing that despite all the evolution and turmoil, how little some things change.

Regarding ranking inducements,  there are all sorts of crazy notions out there.  One I heard four or five years ago had a new club in the northeast closely controlling which raters were allowed to play its course in an attempt to bolster the rating, while another in the southwest was taking the opposite approach- opening its doors to any and all raters with the hope of being better received.  It was rumored that principals at both clubs were pointing fingers at each other for trying to game the rating process.  Crazy, huh!   

cary lichtenstein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #13 on: June 23, 2008, 03:14:32 PM »
Not so crazy, that's how I got my membership at Pine Valley ;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

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #14 on: June 23, 2008, 03:49:20 PM »
Speaking of the craziest things you hear... Lou, did you hear the one about the congressmen and dept of Interior guys who were the guests of the oil execs at the big fancy golf club, offshore?  It is a riot!

Here are some snippets of the results of the big golf outting (s)...
Oil Execs To Congress: 'Don't Blame Us'
Companies Earned Combined $123B Last Year...Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP America, Chevron and Conoco-Phillips earned a combined $123 billion last year, in part because of rising prices. The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming wants to know why, with such big profits, the oil industry is trying to hold on to $18 billion in tax breaks....The House has approved legislation to end the tax breaks, but it hasn't made it through the Senate.

President George W. Bush has threatened to veto any such bill that does.


I know, I know, you can't make this stuff up, it is tooooooo funnnny

Another crazy one is the time the Shell guys told congress that they were closing the Bakersfield refinery down because it wasn't profitable or competitive in producing a margin of profit on the 70000 gallons a day they were churning out at $2 a gallon, so they needed to shut it down, causing less available on the market to buy.  (that equals more price, you know...)  And it is so funny that Flying J bought it and are now expanding it.  And funnier how the GAO did a real audit and found that under Shell hit turns out that Bakersfield was among the most profitable of refineries that they had.  Those crazy whacky bean counters over there at Shell, huh.  Go figure...   ::)

Any of them crazy whacky oil boys members at Pine Valley...?  I'm sure they would NEVER allow a shady scheme like free rounds for raters or congressmen-exec branch guys to occur at their club, if they belong...
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.

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #15 on: June 23, 2008, 04:00:31 PM »
Another crazy one is the time the Shell guys told congress that they were closing the Bakersfield refinery down because it wasn't profitable or competitive in producing a margin of profit on the 70000 gallons a day they were churning out at $2 a gallon, so they needed to shut it down, causing less available on the market to buy.  (that equals more price, you know...)  And it is so funny that Flying J bought it and are now expanding it.  And funnier how the GAO did a real audit and found that under Shell hit turns out that Bakersfield was among the most profitable of refineries that they had.  Those crazy whacky bean counters over there at Shell, huh.  Go figure...   ::)

Do you actually believe any of this?
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Craig Van Egmond

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #16 on: June 23, 2008, 04:01:59 PM »

RJ,

     Still driving that slow sipping Suburban?   ;)

RJ_Daley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #17 on: June 23, 2008, 04:30:00 PM »
Naw, I gave it to my truck driving son... I got a steal on a Lincoln Town Car 4 years old, 28000 miles, $14.5K!  It gets 8 -10 gallons per mile better than the Bronco, and I drive it even less... so that balances out better... 12 year old Toyota rice burner mini-pick up 4 banger for me around town, 11 year old 6cyl 2.3L for the little lady.  Hey, we are poor! 

Yes George I do...although correction, (they told the lie to California legislature and various commissions-not congress in the two news reports I read) any proof it isn't so?
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.

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #18 on: June 23, 2008, 04:37:27 PM »
This place is full of conspiracy theroy nuts!!!! I mean c'mon, closing down refineries, taking plants off-line..this is all sillyness.

Its not like a power company would ever do something like this.  Something like take several power plants off-line on the west coast, to greatly reduce supply, so they can charge thier west coast friends an arm and a leg.  And then get on the horn and chuckle about it to thier friends, meanwhile emptying the coffers of the richest state in America. Furthemore there is no way a man who is the President of the Unites States of America would sit idly by and just let all this happen because he happens to be friends with these guys.  I mean this stuff never happens and is preposterous to even suggest it!!

So why would anyone even speculate this could happen with big oil.


P.S.  If you haven't seen the movie " Smartest Guys in the Room", this is a must see!!  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/

JohnV

Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #19 on: June 23, 2008, 04:37:54 PM »
Another crazy one is the time the Shell guys told congress that they were closing the Bakersfield refinery down because it wasn't profitable or competitive in producing a margin of profit on the 70000 gallons a day they were churning out at $2 a gallon, so they needed to shut it down, causing less available on the market to buy.  (that equals more price, you know...)  And it is so funny that Flying J bought it and are now expanding it.  And funnier how the GAO did a real audit and found that under Shell hit turns out that Bakersfield was among the most profitable of refineries that they had.  Those crazy whacky bean counters over there at Shell, huh.  Go figure...   ::)

Do you actually believe any of this?

Yes.  Looking around the Internet a little (5 minutes or less) and you'll find a few articles from 2005 on Shell's plans and Flying J's purchase.  While I admit that the SF Chrnoicle is probably a little left wing for those of you raised on the Pitsburgh Tribune-Review, Bloomberg usually wouldn't be considered so anti-buisniess. ;)  Didn't find the GAO audit.

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #20 on: June 23, 2008, 04:48:43 PM »
If it is true, they are opening themselves up to a gigantic lawsuit. No one - not the most evil capitalist alive :) - closes down his most profitable refinery in an attempt to drive up prices. Just doesn't happen. It's like the PV story that started this thread. Any reasonably skeptical person can see the holes in this story, I don't care what the SF Chronicle says.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #21 on: June 23, 2008, 04:52:13 PM »
Dick,

The horror.  We are such stupids.  Crazy too.  You have made the point:  for some, getting a membership at Pine Valley in return for submitting a favorable rating makes total sense, just as believing that greatly restricting the supply of oil, gas, coal, and nuclear energy has absolutely nothing to do with the rising prices for gasoline, diesel fuel, electricity, food, etc.         

Well, it looks like your man is going to teach those greedy profiteering bastards a lesson (them and the "only 3% of taxpayers" who make more than $250,000 per year).  Maybe Obama will direct a huge government contract to one of Nobel Laureate Al Gore's private equity investments for a couple of billion of those cheap mass manufactured solar strips, and distribute a couple to each household.  Perhaps they'll be designed with velcro so we can attach them to our backs to power our bicycles for our daily commute, and then pull them off to attach to our push carts on the golf course.  We'll really show them who is bigger, BIG OIL or BIG GOVERNMENT!

By the way, you may wish to study the principles "bean counters" utilize for a bit for understanding as well as context.  A profit margin of $140,000 per day is a lot of money until all the other costs below the line, liability, scale, and ROI are considered.  Relative to BIG HOLLYWOOD AND BIG ENTERTAINMENT, those bastards in BIG OIL have a lot to learn in terms of profit margin, political influence, and duplicity.  Is there a single BIG OIL CEO who makes half of what Oprah, Spielberg, and many other entertainment moguls take home?  As you say, crazy!   

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #22 on: June 23, 2008, 04:52:33 PM »
George,

Curious what your take on Enron is with the power scandal in california.  They had several plants taken off-line, and make oodles more money in the process.  Why could this not be applicable in the case of Shell?

But more importantly, do you believe that Enron was just an isolated incident and everyone else are Boy Scounts?

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #23 on: June 23, 2008, 04:59:30 PM »
Kalen,

I have a greater justifcation based on our single round of golf together for believing that you are a cheat than you do for suggesting that Enron is representative of industry.  I don't and neither should you.     

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: I heard the craziest thing this weekend...
« Reply #24 on: June 23, 2008, 05:19:24 PM »
George,

Curious what your take on Enron is with the power scandal in california.  They had several plants taken off-line, and make oodles more money in the process.  Why could this not be applicable in the case of Shell?

But more importantly, do you believe that Enron was just an isolated incident and everyone else are Boy Scounts?

There are criminals everywhere. You find them and bring them to justice - you don't damn the entire business community any more than you imprison all citizens to eradicate crime. Only lefties in foreign countries do that.

The power scandal in California was/is entirely of its own making. You don't make a business profitable by shutting down profitable branches.  Just doesn't happen, at least not on purpose. I suppose there are nimrods out there who mistakenly close down their most profitable operations, but they penalize themselves by losing their own money. If taxpayer money is involved, that's just another instance of why it shouldn't be.

When it comes to any business or mention of the word profit, the Great American University can claim it's greatest success - it has turned a nation of bright individuals into people who will believe anything written by anyone, as long as it feeds their own biases.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

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