Musical Instrument Museum

April 2013

We visited the MIM in Phoenix.  Very cool place.  They have instruments from all over the world, all sorts of cultures, with video and audio of people playing them.  Including, of course, American Rock.  There was a Gibson electric guitar just like the one I had.  And a huge drum set:

My favorite instrument is the air guitar:

Match Play, round 2

Simpson d. Snedeker, 4 and 3.  These two seem to be quite friendly, even as opponents.  At one point, one of them said "For the next twelve holes, I don't like you" and the other replied "Why do you have to make this so personal?"

Snedeker lost it early with a couple of embarrassing disasters.  On 3, he hit his tee shot into the lake, took a drop and then hit another into the lake.  Simpson was on the green with a birdie putt.  Brandt could have holed out for double bogey, so he conceded the hole.  On 6 he was in a greenside bunker and took 2 to get out.  By then he was 4 down, and even though he never gave up, winning 8 and 10 to get back to only 2 down, Webb was playing well and wasn't to be caught today.

The pin placement on 2 was especially nasty.  Both golfers were above the hole, and it looked like anything that went as much as a foot past the cup could go off the green and down the fairway.  I was standing next to our group's rules official and remarked that the pin placement was quite severe.  Being a very reticent individual, he was silent for a few seconds, and then said "Thank you."  Simpson promptly drained his 40-foot birdie putt, and I said "Maybe not."  Rules Guy smiled.  The only time all day.

It turns out that Dustin Johnson is not the record holder.  I learned today that two years ago Ian Poulter set the record with 3 wild pees in a single round.

Round 2, tomorrow

It's 11:56, Snedeker v. Simpson.

Oh, and another story from today.  First, you have to know a little about how the walking scorer hand-held computer works.  For each shot, we click on things to indicate where the player is hitting from, like fairway, rough, or green.  Then when he strikes the ball, we click a big button, "shot hit".  Then we wait to see what happens.  If it goes in the hole, we click "in the hole" and if not, we click "new shot".

We also have a radio, so we can field questions from the trailer (which indicate either that we did something wrong, or the player did something unusual), and so we can report problems in scoring, or call for medical assistance or a rules official.  

So I hear a big roar from a couple holes away, and then on the radio, "Scoring, this is group 3, I have a problem.  Bubba hit his chip, and it went past the hole, so I hit "new shot", but it was too soon.  The ball started rolling back down the hill and went in the hole."

Match Play round 1

It was Dustin Johnson v. Peter Hansen, as expected.  Hansen won, 4 and 3.  It started out great, each player making two birdies in the first 4 holes.  On the 5th, 536 yards par 4 - yes, par 4,  Dustin drove it 418 down the middle and had about 108 to the front pin.  It's a little bit downhill, and the slight breeze was helping, but if you've never seen a 418-yard drive in person, it should be on your bucket list.  Hansen hit first from the fairway (his drive traveled only about 320) and put it to about 10 feet, drained the birdie putt and won the hole.

Dustin didn't make another birdie all day.  He hit it in the desert on 7, under a cactus but next to the home of a small desert resident.  The free drop didn't help much, and he had to punch out and made double bogey.

On 9 he hit it into the third row of the grandstand behind the green and made a very pretty up and down for par, but lost the hole when Hansen made a short birdie putt.  Hansen shot 32 on the front 9 and was 3 up, but Johnson hadn't played all that badly.  He shot even par, but had missed a couple of putts in the 6-12 foot range that could have had him only one down.

Johnson won the 11th with a par (366-yard drive) when Hansen hit his drive into an unplayable lie in the desert, and halved 12 with a sandie from a buried lie in the front bunker.  On 13 he made bogey, missing the green left, chipping long and rolling off the opposite side, then bogeyed 14 from the front bunker.  With Hansen dormie on 15 and laying up, Dustin hit driver into the left greenside bunker, hit a pretty good-looking shot onto the green that again rolled off the far side, and Hansen's 2-putt par halved the hole and won the match.

Johnson may have set an obscure PGA Tour record today.  I couldn't find anything on the web, so it's probably not something shotlink keeps track of.  On the 2nd hole, a par 5, his drive was in the fairway but Dustin headed down the left side and into the desert.  He stopped near a large saguaro, took his stance, and remained still for a while with his back to the fairway and hands near his belt buckle before returning to the match.  Since there are special "players only" blue boxes scattered around the course, inside the ropes, it must be unusual for a player not to be able to wait long enough, never mind that at most tournaments there would not be sufficient privacy anywhere else but inside the blue box.  But, anything can happen, so I figure he tied the record that time, and broke it on the 9th hole.

I may have been on TV on the 12th tee.  During Hansen's tee shot, he was directly between me and the cameraman.

Not sure about my group tomorrow.  The told me 12:01 (estimated), but the tee times are 11:56 (Snedeker v. Simpson) and 12:08 (Rose v. Els).

Accenture Match Play Championship - First Round

Barring last-minute changes, I'll be the walking scorer for match 11, #2 seed Dustin Johnson vs. Peter Hanson, on Wednesday at 9:05 MST (11:05 EST).

For Thursday I know the approximate tee time (12:01 MST) but not which match, yet.  Again, if nothing changes.

New golf book coming out

My New Book on Golfing Tips

You may not know it but I have been very busy over the past 2 years putting my thoughts and ideas together in a book about Golf.  I am very proud of the results and in order to market the publication, I am asking friends and family to be the first to own a copy. Here is the Table of Contents from my new book, "Winning Golf Strategies", which I believe gives the reader valuable playing tips and insider information that I have gained through my own years of experience in the game and observations of golfing partners.

Table Of Contents

 

Chapter 1 - How to properly line up your Fourth putt.

Chapter 2 - How to hit a Nike from the rough when you hit a Titleist from the tee.

Chapter 3 - How to avoid the water when you lie 8 in a bunker.

 

Chapter 4 - How to get more distance off the Shank.

Chapter 5 - When to give the Ranger the finger.

Chapter 6 - Using your shadow on the Greens to maximize earnings.

Chapter 7 - When to implement Handicap Management.

Chapter 8 - Proper excuses for drinking beer before 9 a.m.

Chapter 9 - How to urinate behind a 4" x 4" post, .... Undetected.

Chapter 10 - How to rationalize a 6 hour round.

Chapter 11 - How to find that ball that everyone else saw go in the water.

Chapter 12 - My favorite chapter is: Why your spouse doesn't care that you birdied the 5th.

Chapter 13 - How to let a Foursome play through your Twosome.

Chapter 14 - How to relax when you are hitting Three off the Tee.

Chapter 15 - When to suggest major swing corrections to your opponent.

Chapter 16 - God and the meaning of The Birdie-To-Bogey Putt.

Chapter 17 - When to regrip your Ball Retriever.

Chapter 18 - Use a strong grip on the Hand Wedge and Weak Slip on the Foot Wedge.

Chapter 19 - Why male golfers will pay $5.00 a beer from the Cart Girl and give her a $3 tip, but will balk at a $3.50 Beer at the 19th Hole and stiff the Bartender.

Hopefully you will find my book intriguing and purchase a copy.

(Stolen from Mike Dill, who stole it from his brother.  Who knows where it came from originally :)

An architect's view of MMT

This is brilliant, and most understandable to a non-economist.

neweconomicperspectives.org/2014/01/diagrams-dollars-modern-money-illustrated-part-1.html#comment-1047584