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- SEMO and The Will To Do (You Really Want To See That Legal Notice?) – Part 1 (6/4/18)
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- Trying To Save A Tree From City “Improvements” (4/30/18)2
Golf Improvement Instructions Need Improvement
One of my hobbies is golf.
As with most hobbies, one can always improve. After self-analyzing my golf game, I've determined that I need to work on my driving. And I could use some improvement with my fairway woods. Oh, I definitely can't forget pitching and chipping. And then there is the whole putting thing.
OK, I confess. I generally suck at golf.
Anyone who has ever played with me will likely confirm that analysis. Some might be polite and give me credit for the occasional good shot. Really, the only thing I have a mastery of on a golf course is the cart.
I do consider myself a golf cart ace.
I would probably be better at golf if I played more. Unfortunately, with the other commitments in my life, playing is limited to the occasional scramble and a Tuesday night men's league.
This year my league partner and I are currently in the top 10 out of 30 teams. With 3 matches to go we're just 12 points behind first place and only 6 points out of third. Since there are four points available for each match, third place could be ours with a little luck.
Since we have a shot -- albeit a long one -- at a top five finish, I thought I might try improving our odds by working on what I consider the weakest portion of my game, chipping and pitching.
I've known this is my Achilles Heel for sometime. A couple years ago I even bought a David Leadbetter golf practice device to work on this area of my game. The DVD that came with it went into my house and the device stayed in its box out in the garage.
Or it did, until this past weekend when I decided I was going to practice my chipping and needed to assemble the apparatus. The device is a net about 4 feet tall with holes in it showing the ideal heights to aim a golf ball to make a chip, pitch and running shot. Plastic tubing holds it upright.
There were enough parts in the box that I felt compelled to consult the assembly instructions.
I found them a little... odd.
Initially, they looked like your standard assembly instructions.
There was the mandatory list of cautions. The first warning was to "Open package carefully." Hmmm, too late. If this was really critical, perhaps they should have put it on the outside of the box where I might have seen it BEFORE I opened the package.
It also said the training tool was for "indoor use only" and to "avoid direct sunlight." Interestingly, on the DVD Mr. Leadbetter demonstrates the proper way to chip while standing in front of his line of chipping practice devices on a sunny day at what appears to be driving-range.
Do as I say, not as I do, I guess.
There was also the disclaimer notifying me if I was somehow killed while using the device that the manufacturer was in no way liable. That seemed kind of unlikely considering this was just some polyester netting and a few pieces of PVC pipe.
But the oddest thing of the whole assembly instructions was the portion on how to store the device when you weren't using it. The instructions listed two ways. The first was named "Simple Folding Method" and the instructions assured me that if you followed them, you could fit the device beneath a bed or a sofa.
There was also listed a "Compact Folding Method." It took up a quarter of the entire set of instructions. However in all caps and in red, just to the right of that headline were the words "NOT RECOMMENDED."
I found this very, very odd.
If something is not recommended, then why show it at all in the instructions?
That's kind of like having a golf lesson and having the instructor show you all the ways you should not grip a club or where to not place your feet or how not to align yourself with the ball.
I don't need to know what not to do when golfing. If knowing what not to do was critical to my golf game, I would be an ace.
Just like I am at golf cart driving.
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