Monday, February 27, 2006

It's Golf season again!....kinda

It's almost my favorite time of the year. Spring (a.k.a. Golf Season). I love it. The time of the year when it is warm and a little breezy. You can go outside and enjoy nature and smack a golf ball around into a little hole.

I got my first taste of the season this weekend. Tried out my new sticks for the 1st time, and I have to say, I am not excited about the new sticks. I kept asking myself during the rounds I played, why I switched in the first place. Luckily, I still have my old sticks, which aren't that old and I may keep them in play until I feel more comfortable with them.

I think I know what the problems are. First my old sticks were Hogan Apex Plus ('99) and the new ones are Cleveland TA7 tours. Hogans are forged...Clevelands are cast. (takes care of the difference in feel...seem to like the forged better so far) The lofts are very different. I know the hogan lofts...PW 46 deg and up 4deg for each iron. I am pretty sure the TA7's have a PW loft of 48deg, but I am not sure, but that would account for the loss of distance I am experiencing. Some of it is due to the slightly chilly weather, but I took both on the course with me and hit them both everytime I had a PW yardage and the hogan was 6-8 yds longer. I dont want to be hitting one more club all the time, since I am used to the yardages of the hogans.

What I am trying to say is that I may be holding off on the switch....in fact I more than likely will not switch for now...I just am not comfortable with them just yet, and until I am, I just can't make it.
Overall though, I wasa happy with the way I played this weekend, shot a couple respectable rounds for my first of the season, 77 and 77 (+6 and +5). I played the first round at Montgomery Bell par71 and the second at Greystone GC par72. I was more impressed with the greystone round, as that course is much more difficult and the wind was howling pretty good all day. Like I said, I was happy. I struck the ball nicely, and hit a lot of quality shots. Need to work on some things as I took so much time off, ex. short game in general and hitting greens...which I attribute some to the new irons), but all in all good weekend.

I am just happy to be playing again.

I watched a good bit Golf this weekend as well. THe match play was on...I personally love this event. Match play is so fun to watch & play. it is mano y mano. You vs. Me. nowhere to hide. Tiger is always fun to watch. He put an absolute beating on Stephen Ames (9&8) after Ames made a few comments about the way Tiger had been playing....Note to stevey, never question a man who is considered by some to be the greatest golfer ever and he just turned 30. Anyway Tiger fought through and won his 2nd round match but couldn't beat Chad Campbell in the 3rd rnd. I watch pieces of the weekend matches but didnt see all the final and consolation match (I tivo'd it) but I plan on watching the rest tonite.

Anyway thats long enough, I plan on layin down some opinions on sports, college hoops, NBA, MLB, and the upcoming football draft. As an interesting side note on an upcoming entry, The NFL combine gives all the athletes the Wunderlich (sp?) test, essentially it is an IQ test and Vince Young reportedly scored a 6. Yes I said 6, anything under a 10 and you are considered to have a learning disability....this is distressing to me as I am a Tennessee Titans fan and I know he was projected to us at #3. can this be....please tell me there is something wrong and it was not a correct test or something, but I dont think we can afford to waste a number 3 pick on a kid who might just be a little bit slow....if you know what i mean, for god sakes he has to play QB....anyway enough on that I will do some research and get back to you.

That's all for now, hit em long and straight.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

WELCOME

Well I finally decided to start a blog. I read so many of these on a daily basis, I just figured I would jump in the deep end and see how the water was.

I am an auditor from Tennessee, I am married and have a little boy on the way, he is due in late March. We have named him Zachary Layne. I am very excited and will keep you posted when he gets here.

I am an avid golfer and play a little poker. Ok, so I play a lot of poker, but not as much as most. I started playing about a year or so ago. I made a deposit into Pokerstars for $50 and promptly lost it and reloaded. Sure enough, I busted again. Then I thought, you know, I should probably try and learn about the game before just jumping in. I knew the rules and how to play, but I didn't know how to play if you know what I mean. I bought a few poker books, and read them, and in July of 2005, decided I would try and become a serious part-time player. I deposited $100 on PS with the intention of grinding it out in the low limit Sit and Go's and cash games.

Things have progressed nicely. I have had some success in Multi-table tourneys and SnG's and I am still working on my cash game strategy. But I am not in a hurry. I am in this for the long haul. I have no intentions of going Pro and quitting my day job. I enjoy poker as a hobby and I hope that one day I can make it a nice little secondary income.

I recently got back to my roots by playing more and more SnG's and have had a fair amount of success. I built the BR up a little. I have and adequate BR to play the tournies and cash games I want. I like to play $11 - $33 SnG's (especially the turbos....they are juicy), along with $1/2 NL holdem.

My goals for this year are simple. (1) I want to win a MTT. (2) I want to cash in a tourney for more than $4,000 (#1 might take care of #2). (3) I want to become a better NL player. And most importantly, (4) I want to become a better Limit Holdem player. I feel it is a safer game, with less variance and I am always looking for less variance. I am going to start at $2/4 on Stars and try and work my way up. Once I feel I can handle multi-tabling the $2/4 and I feel I am a consistent winner at that level, I will move to the next. I hope to feel confident enough to be multi-tabling 5/10 or 10/20 by years end.

I will continue to play SnG's, as they are my bread and butter and they tend to make up for the variance in NL and Limit. I will play in the occasional MTT, and I hope to satellite into the Big Sunday Tourneys and try for the big score for cheap.

And as for my golf game. It is pretty good. I finished the year last year with a handicap of 4. I was playing really well at the end of my season, and winter came and I just don't enjoy playing in the cold, so I take off from November to February. I have started swinging and hitting balls this year and I am very happy. I am playing with a virtually whole new set this year. i just purchased a new Driver (Cobra Xspeed 8.5') and I am playing a new set of Cleveland TA7 irons. I am very excited about the upcoming season and look forward to keeping you all aprised of the amatuer golf in Tennessee. I will be attempting to qualify for all the major amatuer events in the state this year.

Anyway, this is a little long winded I know, but I felt like I needed to let you all know a little about myself. As for the title of the Blog, it is one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein, "Only 2 things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." I love this quote and I am sure you will hear me rant and rave a little about the human stupidity in everyday life.

Until next time, stay loose in golf, tight in poker and watch out for the limper under the gun!