Hairyducked Idiot

Is this some kind of freaky anime thing where a much larger man had to eat that Manny Ramirez to become Manny Ramirez as we know him?

According to my score keeping app, that 45 was a net six-under 23 with my handicap strokes

Continuing to get better bit by bit. I've gone from 51 to 47 to this morning 45 on that par-29 9-hole course. I managed double or better on every hole until the 9th, where I took a disappointing triple thanks to a badly bladed chip. 1) I hit zero greens in regulation, but I was very close most of the time, lots of short chip-ons. Then it was a matter of whether I two-putted for bogey or three-putted for double. I had three different par putts come to rest hanging over the edge but not drop. I was tempted to blow on them. 2) I managed a 5 and a 6 on the par-4s, which had been my nemeses. I still don't trust the driver, but I went easy hybrid-iron-chip to reach the green for both of them. 3) I got it down to 23 (edit: 22) putts, which isn't great but it's an improvement for me. And that's with literally five coming to a stop on the edge without dropping. No four-putts. 4) I drilled one straight into the creek that you're supposed to clear, hit a rock, popped up, landed just off the green 12 feet from the hole.

I wanted Pace gone after last offseason. It is what it is at this point.

The QBs are gonna be who they are. Whether this could be a playoff season or a high pick hinges around the d-line staying healthy

Jesus Christ, Kyle Hendricks is *30*?!?!

I got some video of myself on the course and somewhere along the way I developed a massive reverse pivot. I didn't even realize I was doing it, but after every swing all my weight would be on my back foot. I'd lift my front foot and fall backwards. It was darn near a full Jordan fadeaway. What seems to be helping for now is 1) putting my weight a little more on my front foot rather than balanced in address 2) making the first move of my downswing be rolling my back foot to the inside, almost like getting on my inside edge in hockey skates.

It fixed Willson, so you're welcome Not worth it.

Two bad QBs for the fans to argue over, an aging defense that used to be good enough to drag us to the playoffs but probably isn't anymore. An offensive line that needed more attention than it got. I'm so tired of this season. I've seen this season at least 40 times and I'm only 38 years old.

I don't know how official the app I'm using is, but my handicap through 36 holes of golf appears to be 52.

This is literally the worst opening post to a game thread we have ever had.

Totally worth it.

not to derail but that was lowkey the best scene on the show.

Oof, Chris Duncan in the OF is an easy list topper there for me. Todd Hundley in the OF is close too. oh man somehow i had completely forgotten about todd hundley the outfielder I can never find video clips of it on the internet. It was so bad.

47 (+18) for me today back at the 9-hole course near me, four shots better than last time. Tried to pull driver on the two par-4s, both went about 30 yards. First one popped straight up, second one topped hard and left. At least after the second one (after chipping an iron out of the deep-ish rough and back into play) I hit a beautiful 190-yard 5-hybrid that stopped just short of the green. If I try to do a correct swing with the hybrid I can’t hit it, but if I do this weird rockback and let my weight follow through like a hockey shot, I can drill it. It's the only club that works for, and it won't work any other way. I hit real tee shots on the six of the seven par 3s. Three greens hit, three missed by small-ish amounts. That's a big improvement. I hit a lot of fantastic chip shots and a lot of terrible putts. I can't read the greens at all. Every little 4-footer has some weird wobble or bend at the last minute that I didn't see coming. +11 on the 7 par 3s and +7 on the two par-4s. Both par-4s are ridiculously generous, with wide fairways and huge light rough areas out to the right to catch all the beginner slices. If I could just make real contact on the drives and stop 4-putting twice a day, that's 7 shots right there.

We need to focus on developing from the farm system and getting a consistent pipeline from the minor leagues. That’s something we have never tried before and it’s the only way to have sustained success.

Remember when we tried a SBTB game thread a few years ago and someone posted new class gifs and tanked the season?

Took nephew for his first 9-hole today. I was exhausted after playing yesterday and was a general travesty. He steps up to the red tee box on the first hole, 100 yards out. Drills his three wood to a yard shot of the green. Chipped on and missed his par putt by an inch. Bogeyed his next hole too. He had some bad holes too, but dang that kid has talent. Edit to add, here’s where he put that first shot from 100 yards: Here’s how close he came to par on his first hole https://streamable.com/a5t58c

I'm really soured on driving range mats now. Grass just doesn't feel the same at all, either for chips or irons. I think I only skulled two chips. And since I only hit 3 GIR, I was hitting a lot of chips. I left a lot of them way short, I was expecting them to roll more than they did. I feel like I set a good baseline and have a lot of ways to gain strokes quickly 1) Bring a real tee shot. Even the 5-hybrid would have been great. Fairways are a lot wider than I was imagining, and 175 yards rolling into the rough would have been better for me than a lot of the 110s I plunked into the middle of the fairway. Hitting a driver might have legitimately saved me 12 shots on the 5 par-4s. 2) Chip more confidently 3) Keep practicing putting. I had 11 2-putts, 5 3-putts, 2 4-putts for 45 total. Some of it's just getting used to the pressure. A 5-footer for bogey feels a million times harder than a 5-footer on the practice range that you'll forget in 30 seconds. Edit: I will also note that I went 5-for-5 hitting fairways and am now in possession of a lifetime 100% FIR stat.

Well, it's in the books. I shot a 99 on a par-59, 18-hole executive course. I got paired up with a dad with his 8-year-old kid. The kid moved pretty slow and they didn't really care if I just hit whenever I wanted while he futzed around. There was a slow group in front of us and no one behind us, so it all worked out really well. The first hole is a super easy 110-yarder to get you warmed up. I stepped up, fatted it and almost sent the divot further than the ball. Then I skulled a wedge but it rolled up on the green anyway. Two-putted for bogey, away we went. There were plenty of other bad golfers on the course. I probably wasn't even the worst one in eyesight most of the time. Even the dad, who hit some pretty good shots, also hit some squibs. I had a lot of problems with ball striking. Grass is definitely less forgiving than mats. I hit a lot of low line drives about 80% of the target distance, a few ground balls and a few good shots. And even my solid shots didn't go as far as I wanted. I didn't bring anything below a 7 iron because I just don't trust them, but even like a 150-yard ground ball 5 would have been a useful shot to have on the par-4s. The nice thing was that everything stayed straight and went the direction I was aiming. The dad and son dropped out after 9, so I was playing by myself. The course was surprisingly empty, it's always booked up online. There was a three-some in front of me that offered to let me play through, but there was no one behind me and I didn't mind the rest. Fatigue and thirst was definitely a factor on the back 9. Highlights included: Back to back pars on 7th and 8th. I dropped a beauty of an 8-iron within 10 feet of the hole on the 7th, left the birdie putt a foot short. Then I got a line drive to run up on the green on the 8th and managed a long two-putt. Putting a bunker shot to within a foot of the hole on the 9th. Having a 20-foot birdie putt lip out on the 13th. Then missing the 4-footer for par. Playing the entire round with the same ball (although it was close, I had at one stop a few feet short of the water). Lowlights: Forgetting to bring water and almost dying before I found the concession cart on the 15th. Short game was a little shakier than I expected. I hit a lot of good putts and chips, but more bad ones than I thought I would, and needed two shots to get out of a bunker once.

First real tee time tomorrow. I was going to play a regular, public par-71 course, but my yips with the longer clubs convinced me to start with an executive par-59 instead. Did one last range session tonight, hit about 250 balls, and successfully lowered my own expectations so much that it can't possibly be a disappointment, which is good. I started out doing amazing, just peppering the target areas with my 7-PW, felt pretty good about myself. About halfway through, I broke out the hybrids, still struggled with it, went back to the high irons and lost the feel for them entirely. The more I tried to adjust things to fix it, the worse it got. I started pulling, then I started opening the face and hitting a weird push-slice (how do you even slice an 8-iron). Then I started hitting so far behind the ball I was barely making contact, then I started topping everything. I'm going to assume I got a little psyched out and tired and can reset tomorrow. Most of the course is just dinky little 110-yard par 3s, so even a topped 70-yard worm burner can get me close enough to chip on, and I feel really confident in my chipping and putting.

The best predictor of future injury is still past injury. Never extend anyone. Betting on decline is always better value

The real reverse jinx fueling Kyle Hendricks’ career is me calling him a meaningless non-entity when we traded for him

Bears pundit twitter slowly coming to terms with the fact that the guy who lost jobs to Keenum and Minshew isn’t a slam dunk to beat out a still-crappy Trubisky.

Irons are steel, driver and hybrids are graphite, everything is standard stiffness. I haven’t checked since overhauling my swing, but a few weeks ago my club speed was 80-90 mph, nothing too explosive