Wandering Through Germany…

…and learning how the people of that country dealt with the perpetration of the worst mass murder in the history of humans. 

My Bride and I just returned from a trip to the Netherlands to see our son and his family and also spent a week sightseeing in Germany. We were in Berlin for about three days and Frankfurt for about three days. 

According to DNA tests, both of us have some ancestors from that part of the world; in my case about 70% of mine is from Germany and the surrounding countries. I wasn’t surprised by that when the tests were run as an old family tree that had been passed along to me showed my earliest ancestor was my seven-times great grandfather, Johannes Keller. “Long John” as he was nicknamed (family lore has him at being six foot six inches tall) came to North America in 1730 at the age of 2. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary war and lived to the age of 102. I know this much to be true and I have some decent documentation to all of it. 

In any case, I was excited to go to Germany as I’d never been. I’d been told great things about Berlin and looked forward to seeing the sights. I hadn’t heard much about Frankfurt but we were staying there in preparation for taking a river boat cruise on the Rhine River to see the “parade of castles” that exist all along its length. 

We spent time on a hop on/hop off bus in Berlin to get a look at everything quickly and then spent 2 full days walking on our own. The Rick Steves books are always in hand when we go to Europe and his walking tours, as always, proved excellent for seeing the sights. We saw all the biggies on our walks – Brandenburg Gate, the remainder of the Berlin Wall, the Topography of Terror (home of the SS and Gestapo and their role in the rise of Naziism; it may be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. I was physically ill by the end of our visit) the various parks, and the iconic TV Tower which provided us an opportunity to have brunch while overlooking the city from 218 meters up! 

Brandenburg Gate

TV Tower

Memorial to the Jews Murdered in Europe

We spent several hours at the Memorial for the Jews Murdered in Europe – that is its official name – and I’ll come back to it in a moment. After three nights in Berlin, we boarded a train to Frankfurt for the next three days. 

The Frankfurt Bahnhof (railroad station) is the busiest one in Europe. Trains are running through it nearly 24 hours a day on 21 tracks and platforms. Our hotel was an easy five minute walk from the station and gave us a downtown look at the city. While it was a four star location, according to Rick Steves, its location made for a bit of excitement. 

The Red Light District was about a block away which gives the area a much seamier feel. Coupled with that, the area in front of the train station is packed with the illicit drug trade of the city. We watched wide open drug deals going down nearly all day, especially in the evening, in full view of a large police presence. 

Interestingly, I never felt unsafe and MB hit the nail on the head when she mentioned that everyone seemed to be in a good mood and she knew we wouldn’t get shot because access to guns in Germany (and nearly all of Europe for that matter) is almost non-existent. 

Our river boat cruise was very nice. Since it was near the end of the season, it was a very small group on board and the host was attentive to all of us. He was very funny, a very nice man with a wonderful knowledge of all things German and very informative for our tour of the castles of the Rhine. 

We also found a wonderful Irish bar in Frankfurt with real Irish food, good drinks, excellent servers and a huge number of fans watching the Frankfurt football team engage in battle with another team to whom they eventually lost. (The bar cleared out quickly afterwards.) 

We eventually boarded a train back to the Netherlands where we had one last dinner with our son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons before heading home the next morning. 

But I want to take a moment to talk about how Germany addresses their role in WWII and the Holocaust because I think there is a lesson for us. 

After visiting the Topography of Terror Museum and learning about the Nazi regime (and being totally disgusted) we viewed the Holocaust from the Jewish side. 

I mentioned before about the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This is a full city block that is covered in coffin sized stones of varying heights, 2,781 of them. The result is a series of walkways that are narrow and, in some cases, dwarfed by these stones. The sun casts interesting shadows throughout the course of the day. It makes for a quiet, very reflective stroll. You can almost feel the souls and hear the cries of the murdered Jews as you walk among the stones. 

Below ground, a museum exists – free to visit – that walks you through the holocaust from start to finish. Over the course of less than 15 years, the Nazis managed to murder over 6 million people; the vast majority were killed between 1941 and 1945. That’s two times the population of the city of Chicago. 

How was this carried out? 

Here’s my unknowledgeable take on it. Hitler, along with some of his cronies, determined that their Aryan race was superior to all others. In order to extend the life of the Third Reich, they decided that the Aryan Master Race must remain pure. To ensure that, they worked to eliminate the weakest they could think of and that was the Jewish population of the world. Hitler enlisted Heinrich Himmler to lead the genocide effort. It began with the passing of anti-Jewish laws in the 1930s, supplemented with an all-out propaganda campaign, continued with moving all Jews into “ghettos” and finally sending them to concentration camps where some were worked to death while others were simply murdered. 

Methods included lining people up and shooting them in cold blood, loading them into trucks with sealed compartments and pumping in the exhaust until they expired (a long, slow, painful death that took around 45 minutes) or herding them into specially designed gas chambers where they used hydrogen cyanide to quickly kill them. Since the Jews were forced to strip before entering the chamber, the bodies were either dumped into mass graves or were burned in giant burn pits. Some of those mass graves were eventually reopened by the Nazis and the bodies were stripped of gold fillings in their teeth prior to mass burning. 

I was brought up short reading about one town’s demise in the museum. Its population of 31,198 was completely murdered in one week. The Nazis came into town and began marching the townspeople out of town, lining them up and shooting them. Over 6,000 people per day, men, women, children, old and young, were lined up and murdered with machine guns. By the end of the week, the town was devoid of life. Why did they not just run away? Some were able to escape – that’s how we know this happened along with the Nazi’s diligent record keeping – but the town was locked down and people trying to escape were shot anyway. So, they waited and prayed and hoped for salvation that never came. 

In the final analysis, between 250,000 and 500,000 people were directly involved in the killing of the Jews, The German people have admitted this, worked to punish the perpetrators, made reparations to many survivors and the countries that they came from. They have also owned up to what happened and share it willingly in the hopes of it never happening again. Anywhere. May it be so. 

Why did I write this? There’s a part of me that wishes the United States would own up to slavery in the same way. Between 10 and 12.5 million African slaves were transported to the US over the course of about 100 years. (I had no idea it was that many until I just looked it up.) In 1790, slaves made up almost 18% of the US population, and yet they weren’t considered people, they were chattel. Like cows or horses. Yeah. 

In my life, I don’t recall seeing much in the way of apologies to families of former slaves. I haven’t seen any reparations. (Don’t give me that “40 acres and a mule” BS either.) 

Were some of those slaves murdered? No one knows the exact number, but the answer is yes, some were. In any case, their lives were horribly affected through their enslavement about which they had no control. 

I believe that there should be a way to officially apologize to the descendants of US slaves and provide reparations to them. 

They deserve nothing less.

What are your thoughts on this? Comments are open.

You Gotta Have Heart

It’s been four months ago now. 

I had a heart attack, August 27th. 

About 3:00 am. 

 Yep. Surprised me, too. 

 I mean, I’d been living a fairly healthy lifestyle for almost 15 years and had been eating far healthier since marrying MB in 2001. 

 I’ve been exercising in the form of cycling since 2012, go to the gym on an irregular basis, too. 

Turns out, you can’t outrun your genes. 

 My paternal grandfather, George Sylvester Keller, had six or seven heart attacks in his 60s and the last one killed him. 

 My father, Earl Webster Keller, was diagnosed with heart disease when he was 85. That’s not what killed him, though. Colon cancer is what got him but he did have a weak heart that he ignored. Guy still went to the gym three times a week until the cancer took him down. 

 My turn came in the middle of the night when I woke up with a racing heartbeat and heavy sweating, like I’d just finished a long climb on the bike. 

At first, I thought I’d had a nightmare or had finally suffered the anxiety attack I’d never had. I managed to go back to sleep, fitfully, and then got up around 6:00. I was drinking coffee when MB came into the den and asked if I was okay. I told her what had happened and we did the first thing that comes to mind these days; I took a Covid test. 

Negative result. 

 I then took my BP and it was elevated slightly. I felt tired which made sense having climbed Mt. Ventoux in my sleep. Told her I’d eat breakfast and take a shower but thought maybe going to the doctor was a good idea. (That really scared her as I don’t do that.) 

We eventually ended up in the ER where they ran me thru a series of tests and determined that my heart had had an “insult.” (My cardiologist is a funny guy.) I told him that was probably my liver flipping it off. (He laughed at that.) 

 (Side note – I’ve never gotten into the ER so quickly. If you want to see quick service, go into the ER complaining of possible heart issues when you’re an older male. I was in a small room with three nurses working on me in less than 2 minutes. MB wondered what had happened to me, I was gone so fast.)

Anyway, after two days of tests and two nights in the hospital, I ended up with a heart catheterization, a balloon angioplasty on my right coronary artery (99% blockage) and a stent. 

The good news – my cardiologist tells me I suffered no long-term damage to the heart muscle and that I’ll recover fully. 

The bad news – it’s going to take a little while. I’ve already had 3 months of cardiac PT and am taking a bunch of prescription medications with various side effects. But if that’s the worst of it, to stick around for another 25 years or so, I’m good with that. 

Here’s a recommendation for you. If you’re a male with a history of heart disease in your family, take the time to get a physical regularly especially if you’re over 40. And for goodness’ sake, exercise. Even regular walking will give your heart the boost it needs. 

Final note – as I was being released from the hospital, the doctor was walking through various things. MB mentioned that I liked bourbon and was a collector and how would this affect that. He said, “bourbon, in moderation, is not contra-indicated.” 

Now, that’s good news!

Sending the Old Man Home

Sending the Old Man Home

My father died last week. But I don’t really grieve for him.

He was diagnosed five years ago as potentially developing colon cancer and the surgeon wanted to remove it but dad wouldn’t let him. Said he’d seen a close friend go through it along with chemotherapy and radiation, living just barely, sick all the time, and made it for eighteen months. He decided that whatever time he had left, he was going to live it in his own way and go for quality over quantity.

It’s probably a judgement call on the part of the official but I’d say he got both.

He died at 90 and was in pretty good health, and damn good spirits, until about a week before he passed. He was married to the same woman, my mom, for over sixty-seven years and while they had their spats they were incredibly cute together; always holding hands when walking together and professing their love for each other constantly. (It looked like they weren’t happy because they’d both become considerably deaf and when you’re shouting at someone, it’s tough to sound endearing.)

He spent much of his working life, over 35 years, as a bricklayer. Some folks would call him a mason but he always called himself a bricklayer. If you’ve never seen one work, it’s worth watching up close. Bricklayers move heavy objects, brick and block and mortar, and place them with amazing precision to create walls, basements, buildings, homes, pathways, streets, patios – all of which will last for hundreds of years. When a master bricklayer is at work, there is no wasted motion, no extra effort is expended, and they create something amazing in an almost lyrical fashion. In my youth, I could watch him for hours and it was incredible. For about 8 years, he laid 1,500 bricks a day for 5 days a week; that’s nearly a half million bricks a year at about 4.5 pounds each – 2,250,000 pounds of brick and block and another half million pounds of mortar! And that was just in the 8 years – he did the job for almost 40.

He did it because he found the work fulfilling and he could get paid for it. He bought a house in Arlington VA, raised three sons, put food on the table, owned a truck and a car. Made a life. He didn’t make a lot of money (I was earning more at 20 years old than he was at 45) but he made enough. And when it was time to “knock off” for the day, he could go home and watch TV, read the evening newspaper, read a book from the library, or just sit and talk.

I admire that. A lot.

At fifty years of age, he went into business with my uncle buying into some restaurant franchises called Po Folks and moved to Columbia SC. Probably the boldest thing I ever saw him do. They ran them for about 5 years until my uncle ran off with a hostess from one store, absconded with the company funds (although it was never proven) and they had to get out of the business. He went right back to laying brick for another eight or so years before retiring.

After he retired, mom got him a job so she wouldn’t have to put out a contract on him.

He became a courier for a chain of optical stores in Columbia, working part time five days a week. The employees all got to know him as “Mr. Earl” and he became the unofficial mayor of the company. His job evolved into the official hugger; he would roll up to a store with the mail and all the young women would come out and hug him and talk to him for a few minutes before getting back to work. May have been the greatest retirement job I’ve ever heard of and, we’re convinced it kept him alive for years more than he should have been.

He knew everyone in the organization and everyone knew him. He kidded the founder of the company that he expected a gold watch when he made it to twenty-five years. When that man passed away from ALS, one of the last things he told his son before he left was to “be sure Earl gets his watch.” The company held a special event to celebrate his 25^th anniversary and present him with an engraved gold watch. He wore it proudly until the day he passed.

Five weeks ago, we convinced him to retire. We were concerned about his driving and that he might do harm to someone else and put the company in a bad spot. He retired on December 31^st. The send off they gave him was nothing short of amazing; each store took the time to shower him with gifts, pictures, and, of course, many hugs. He talked about it for weeks!

Three weeks later, he took a turn for the worse and wound up in the hospital where he refused treatment they were proposing, opting to go home and enter hospice. For the next few days, he entertained guests at the house who came to hug on Mr. Earl and tell him how much they loved him and how much of a difference he made in their work and, more importantly, their lives. He told me, over and over again, that he couldn’t believe how much love he was getting from all these people. He kept saying, “I was just being me. What was the big deal?”

You were the big deal, Pop. The real deal.

Dad appreciated a good joke, a wise crack, a sharp needling comment, the newspaper and its accompanying crossword puzzle, a good meal, and a glass of iced tea on a hot summer day.  He was a veteran of the Korean War in the Army and supported our veterans at every opportunity. He was a real Christian and believed he’d see us in the afterlife. The night before he died, I mentioned that if he got to the other side and it was a bit hotter than he was expecting that he should mention he was related to me and at least he’d get a good seat.

And maybe a glass of iced tea.

Rest well, Pop. You earned it.

The Happy Couple on their 65th Anniversary
Earl Keller 1932-2023

 

 

Ten years? How can that be?

 Today, December 22 2021, is the tenth anniversary of my first blog post.

In that time, I've written seventy nine posts, this is the eightieth, and received hundreds of comments and over 57,000 people have read what I've written! (Admittedly, my first thought has always been, "What is wrong with all of those people?" Because I don't have that many friends. Perhaps they're bots. Oh well.)

Averaging eight posts per year, or one every six weeks, is surprising; I've always felt as though I wasn't posting that often and I suppose it's been helped by several years when I turned very ambitious and cranked out content every few weeks. Most of those received an abundance of comments and views, too, so perhaps regularity increases quality - at least in my writing. (The current regularity is not changing any time soon; I'm still employed full-time and find it hard to make the time.)

I've even written, or started, another dozen or so posts that I ended up trashing and/or never finishing. Why? They were either unkind, uninteresting, no longer important (as fast as the news cycle is, this should come as no surprise) or I simply couldn't tie the ends together enough to make a sensible post. I suspect some of you are thinking, "That's at least half of the stuff he published!" The important thing about this is that most of them were unkind and I went back a day or so later and looked at the with fresh eyes and decided that the chance of hurting someone was too great.

I have a rule that I never shave or send an email when I'm angry. Probably a good idea to add "create a blog post" to that list, as well.

So, what's different from ten years ago?

We've gone from a slightly divided country that had elected its first president of color to electing an individual of questionable morals and values who made multiple stupid decisions in the role that have lead to much further divisiveness to electing a former VP (who was almost the vicitm of an insurrection on January 6th, 2021 begun by TFG, just before the inauguration) who is working very hard to put the pieces back together while being blamed for everything his predecssor did wrong. So, we're even more divided. 

There are many investigations going on about that insurrection, over 170 people have taken plea deals and been incarcerated but the people at the top - many of whom are Congressmen and Senators - are acting as if nothing happened. It was televised, for goodness sake! I'm not optimistic that people will pay for this but I'm hopeful; I especially hope it isn't too late.

A pandemic struck the world about two years ago and, despite creating the most effective vaccines ever made, we're still in the middle of it - facing another rising wave as I type this despite having three of the most effective vaccines ever created. In this country, it's due to the fact that there is a strong anti-vaccine cult, started by TFG's followers and TV pundits, who refuse to get it. (This despite nearly all of the leaders got it!) That means that almost 40% of our population is unvaccinated and that gives this virus the chance to morph into something new and more virulent and, potentially, more deadly. “Because I’m an American and I have my rights! You can’t force me to do something intelligent that helps everyone!”

In addition, the poorer countries of the world haven’t been able to get a decent vaccination program going and each of them becomes another Petri dish for the virus.

What else?

My bride and I moved from out in the country to a city house about four years ago. I love it! We walk everywhere and the lifestyle is so much to my liking that I really don’t like driving out to the mall. The only downside is that cycling is more difficult for me as country roads (my favorite ride) or the Capital Trail almost require driving to them. I’m figuring it out this year, in order to keep my sanity.

My kids have all graduated from various institutions and are gainfully employed. More importantly, I’m proud of every one of them and the adults they’ve become. They’re far more together than I was at their respective ages!

I began collecting bourbon about five years ago; about the time TFG got into office. (Coincidence? I think not!) While my blood pressure has dropped in that time, my collection has blossomed and mixology has become one of my hobbies.

I still play golf but not as often as I’d like. I still play tennis, also not as often as I’d like. I guess that’s all driven by my march to retirement which is just over the horizon by several years. I’m looking forward to having time to do exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it. Sounds like nirvana to me!

Maybe I’ll find time to write more blogposts, too!

Meanwhile, that so much for reading all of my raves and rants. While I write them for me, it means something that others care to read them!

Here’s to the next 10 years!

 

 

The Value of Common Sense

The Choice! 

The Shot!

The company I work for recently mandated vaccines for nearly every employee. Everyone has until sometime in December to provide proof of vaccination, or an accepted exemption for health or religious reasons, or face the loss of their jobs.

As you might imagine, there is reaction to this.

I don’t know exact numbers but if we follow national trends, there are probably a quarter of the company employees that are unvaccinated – that’s a disturbing figure but certainly reflects the current state of the country.

In any case, I suspect it to serve as motivation for many members of the team to go get a vaccination. I mean, there are some who’ve said, “I just haven’t had the time to go do it, yet.” (This is even though the company has allowed for 4 hours of paid leave, gratis, to go get it and sick leave if the vaccine makes you ill enough to miss work. And a $150 bonus for getting it. So, sure, you've been busy.)

So, that means we’ll see an uptick in vaccinations very soon.

But what about the rest?

I’ve heard some say that it’s their right to choose and that the company is taking away their choice.

That’s not true. They still have the choice to vaccinate or not. Like all choices, there are consequences. If you choose to remain unvaccinated, you’ll no longer be able to work here – that’s the consequence. (If you choose to drive drunk, your consequence could be a night in jail, loss of driving privileges, or causing someone’s death including your own. Choices have consequences!)

1st stage of drunkeness - Witty and Charming

So, why is a multi-billion-dollar company doing this? The uproar that is being created is big and it’s a distraction. I mean, why do that?

Well, the Biden Administration has mandated that all Federal Contractors must be vaccinated. We do a lot of business with them and we are the distributor of record, so it makes sense to do it. After all, choices have consequences and we couldn’t very well just give up all that business, could we?

In addition, we have a large investment in our employees; they’re considered to be our greatest asset. Requiring vaccinations for all is the most viable method for protecting them against the ravages of this virus.

In addition, the science and data provide irrefutable evidence that the best way to survive the virus is to vaccinate and that the vaccine is safe for damn near everyone. Does science change? Yes! When it does, it doesn’t mean that what we knew before was wrong, just that we’ve learned more which changes outcomes. Part of that evidence is that more people vaccinated means fewer opportunities for variants of the virus to occur, thus reducing spread and tamping down the damage – even to those who refuse to vaccinate!

Finally, it’s the right thing to do. For the company. For the country. For the world.

Just get the damn shot!

 

 

Buying Golf Clubs – It’s a whole new world!

Background

I’m a golfer. Have been for over fifty years. I took up the game at a very young age, around 7, despite the fact no one in my family played it. From the first time I hit a golf ball, I was hooked. The game was extremely important to me until I was a in my 30s when I began to focus more on my career. During that time, I managed to get my handicap down to as low as a 3 which would have put me near the top 5% of golfers who play and keep a handicap. In order to keep that level of play, one needs to work on one’s game and I was unable to do so. Today, I’m not very good and if I kept a handicap, it would be around 20 or so. Meaning, I suck.

That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the game! There are few things that feel as good as perfectly struck golf shot and I still hit those on occasion. And the camaraderie of playing with friends in the outdoors just adds to it. In the end, though, it’s the game that keeps us coming back for the torture of badly struck shots just so we can experience that perfectly hit feeling!

In over fifty years of playing, I’ve never really been a big “gear guy.” I know some people who buy and switch putters like empty beers, who buy a new set of clubs every year or two. I’ve owned three sets of clubs in my life (one was a starter set that I had for about 4 years) and have played with 5 putters in all that time.

The first top quality set of clubs I bought were a set of Wilson Staff that I purchased as

Wilson Staff 1974

a junior in high school in 1974. (I did replace the woods a few years later.) I used this

Francis Ouimet

set until 2001. My buddy Clyde used to refer to them as the “Francis Ouimet” signature set. (Non-golfers will want to know that Mr. Ouimet was a US Open champion back in 1913. Since he was an amateur and never turned pro, he wouldn’t have had a set of clubs with his name on them, making this an excellent joke!)

In 2001 I purchased a set of Wilson Fat Shaft irons from a shop called “Second Swing” that specialized in gently used equipment; remember those people who buy new

Dig the Fat Shaft!

clubs every year? Yeah. I’ve used those clubs for the past 20 years as they were state of the art back then and actually added some distance to my game.

Back in March, I took my first lesson in over 25 years and it became immediately apparent that my clubs were no longer my friends. They’re heavy, the shafts don’t really fit my swing anymore and my golf muscles aren’t what they used to be. Frankly, most of my muscles aren’t what they used to be, except for the legs from all the cycling over the last decade. Couple all that with new technology and it became apparent that I should go shopping.

Always get a recommendation

At dinner with a friend a few weeks later, he started telling me about getting fitted for new clubs. Mac and I have played golf together dozens of times over the 30 years of our friendship and his son, Christopher, is a top echelon amateur (plays in national events) so I greatly respect his opinion.

He told me that he’d had great luck with Mulligan’s Pro Shop which is based at a driving range, west of town. Matt and Jay, the owners, were highly skilled at fitting clubs and that there was no charge for the fitting process. He invited me to come to the range with him one weeknight to meet them and see what they had to offer.

I should point out that it’s possible to order golf clubs on the internet of the same quality that I’m talking about and, generally, at a discount of some kind. The issue is, the fit. Unless you know exactly what to order, you’ll be using clubs that are unlikely to fit you properly. There are literally dozens of shaft flexes, weights, lies, and lofts and they all vary by manufacturer’s model! Golf swings are as unique as golfers and unless you’re fitted by a professional, you could be making the game more difficult to play. As this is probably the last set of clubs I’m going to buy (see above) I’m going to make sure I’ve got the right ones!

I met Mac to hit balls a few days later. He was trying out his new Ping irons and invited me to hit a few just to see what I thought. Even as we’re different height, weight, and swing I could tell immediately how much easier his clubs were to hit.

Afterward, he introduced me to Matt and we chatted about what they did. He said they’d be glad to spend time with me but to be sure and make an appointment for a proper fitting after I’d hit clubs of different brands to determine what I liked and to start whinnying down the selections. I was welcome to come anytime that they were open to try what they had.

Fast forward two weeks and MB and I are back at the range and Matt is putting together test clubs for me to hit from six manufacturers. This first step is all about initial look and feel of the clubs. Let me explain.

When a golfer looks down at the ball at address just prior to the shot, the club is also in view as they aim. If the clubhead doesn’t fit the player’s eye (looks too fat, too thin, the score lines look weird, I can’t aim it very well, etc) that puts the shot at risk immediately because hitting a golf ball is a proactive rather than reactive move. One must be committed to it or the shot will rarely come off.

If the look is okay, the feel of the hit is the next critical element. I don’t know how to describe this very well except to say that two different brands of clubs will have a slight, almost imperceptible, difference in how they feel when striking the ball. If it’s a mis-hit, the difference can be jarring; my Fat Shafts when mis-hit in cold weather will leave my hands humming like a door chime. When struck perfectly, there is still a difference and each player has a feel that they prefer for feedback for the next shot.

Matt returned with clubs from Titleist, Callaway, Mizuno, Ping, Wilson, and Taylor Made. I was like a kid in a candy store! I took the time to hit shots with each of the clubs and came away with some winners and some losers.

Titleist T300

Mizuno JPX

Wilson D7

Titleist, Mizuno, and Wilson all fit my eye and had the feel I was looking for and it was apparent from the first swing. Callaway, Ping, and Taylor Made all had a good look to my eye but I could tell fairly quickly that I didn’t really like the feel compared to the others. (That said, if I were properly fitted with these three, it might have been a different story but with so many to choose from, why force yourself into something? It’s not like I’m getting a contract to play their clubs! I’m paying for these.)

After hitting shots for about an hour, I was ready to make the next step – sign up for a fitting. I went back inside and told Matt which clubs I wanted to test and fit for and made an appointment a few weeks later to do just that.

Time to Get Fit!

Last Monday was a big day. MB and I played with two friends in the Quinn Classic, a fundraiser for ALS, at Brandermill Country Club. I hadn’t played the course in at least 25 years and realized that it had gotten narrower over the years. While we had fun, it wasn’t a very impressive display of golf prowess. My highlights included two excellent bunker shots and a couple of par saving putts. Those are hardly spectacular when playing a scramble format, where everyone hits the same shot and the team takes the best one and all move to that spot and do it again until you hole out. When your best result is in a bunker, you suck. Fortunately, we had low expectations and it was a beautiful day to play golf with friends!

The evening was far more rewarding. I got to the shop at 5:00 and Matt was ready for me. I told him which clubs I was interested in fitting and he sent me out to the range to warm up.

After a few minutes, he showed up carrying one club with a small plastic tube filled with electronics attached to the shaft, just below the grip. This tool is called a “Shaft Maximizer” and it’s designed to provide data around your swing to recommend the proper shaft for your clubs. He had me hit a half dozen or so shots with it and then looked at the readout on an Ipad. I was surprised to find that my swing speed still supports the use of a stiff shaft in my clubs. At my age, I was convinced that a more flexible shaft would be better for me. We ended up agreeing to test both as I tried out the clubs to determine what was best and he assured me that there are multiple flexes available I could try.

TrackMan

Next, he went back in the shop and came back with clubs from my three chosen manufacturers and the Track Man. These clubs are "fitting clubs" that with a twist of a special tool, the fitter can adjust the length and lie of the clubs adding as much as a half inch and +/- 2 degrees of change to lie as well.

Track Man has revolutionized golf on many fronts, especially in equipment selection and fitting. Using “radar technology” it provides 26 parameters of data on each shot including clubhead speed, ball speed, launch angle, angle of attack, ball spin rate, and it shows a 3D flight of the ball! (By the way, it works for baseball, tennis, all kind of sports where a moving ball is used.) I had never seen one in action before and, as a bit of a data geek, was fascinated.

We began the session by my hitting each club about ten times to lay down some basic data and compare the performance to each other. The initial result showed that the Wilson club would need to be fitted with a 3^rd party shaft which would add a layer of complexity and cost that I didn’t want to indulge, so that one was right out.

The other two clubs, Mizuno and Titleist, were compared for another ten shots and the results were clear. The Mizuno I was able to hit farther but not consistently and this resulted in a bigger dispersion of shots, as much as twenty-three yards in distance, and the mishits were farther off-line, too. Looks like the Titleist is our winner!

The next step was dialing in the fit. Jay came out with a couple of different shafts and I hit a series of shots while he changed shafts and it became clear that the softest stiff shaft was perfect to get the most consistent ball flight, spin rate, and dispersion. It was interesting that while I couldn’t feel a difference, it was very measurable. I then hit another couple of dozen shots with that shaft while Jay adjusted the lie from normal to flat, going back and forth several times. With that, we came to realize that a proper fit for me was one degree flat. We also discussed an increase in grip size, something I’d forgotten over the years. Back in the day, technicians would add two extra layers of tape under the grip to make it easier to get my hands on the grip in comfort. This was a great catch on his part, all due to watching my hand action very carefully during the fitting.

The final fit had me hitting another dozen shots to get a final dispersion pattern to understand what the final clubs would do for me. The difference on screen was remarkable; the new clubs, in addition to being easier to hit, will be far more accurate. That should translate to better scores and more fun! I was impressed and excited by the possibilities!

Order up!

Jay and I went back into the shop to complete the transaction. He wrote up the order for Titleist for a set of T300 irons, 4-9 iron, pitching wedge, and gap wedge, and charged my credit card. Once that was done, he immediately called to place the order and let me know the current fulfillment time was six to seven weeks. (I knew that beforehand, so it wasn’t a surprise.)

I thanked Jay and Matt for their time and expertise. The fitting took about ninety minutes and including the prior hitting session, it was close to three hours. That’s real professional service, in my opinion.

I told them I’d be back later in the summer for a new driver and fairway woods!

 

What are we going to do?

 

We are now 100 days into a new Administration. As promised, a pandemic response bill has been passed getting money out to the states and to people who desperately need it. The vaccines that are proving to stop Covid 19 dead in its tracks

 are available to anyone over age 16. (Fact – over 88 million people fully vaccinated and 6,000 cases of Covid among those people and not one death. That’s 99.9932% effective!) President Joe Biden has an approval rating of >59%, something his predecessor never even got close to achieving.

Countries around the world are excited that America is back and are welcoming us back to negotiating tables, looking to us for leadership, and are hopeful again after one of the darkest years in the past 100.

Vaccines save lives!

And yet…

Almost 25% of Americans have stated that they “won’t get the vaccine.” Despite its success and its effectiveness, they’ve decided that having to get it violates their rights. That it will “change their DNA.” That they “don’t know what’s in it.” That it’s a “government project to plant a chip so we can be tracked.” That it “hasn’t been proven to be safe, yet.” That “vaccines take years to create, how could this one be ready in months?” That “the pandemic is a hoax, so I don’t need it.”

I wish I were making these up. I’ve personally heard people say these things.

For the world to rid itself of this virus, we need to reach herd immunity and the percentages I’ve seen for how many people must be vaccinated go from 70%-90%. In other words, we’re likely to be dealing with this virus for years instead of months, because some people believe their rights trump the rights of everyone else. (Pun intended.)

Vaccines work, they’re incredibly safe and remarkably effective. They’re the reason we don’t have polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, and a host of other diseases today. They’re one of the reasons that the life expectancy in the world has doubled in the last century. Doubled as in gone from mid-40s to upper-80s.

I guess we should be thankful that more people are educated than ever before or we’d really have some issues on this, huh? (I wish I had an answer for these people but I struggle to cure stupidity.)

And still…

Police kill, on average, three people per day. An inordinate percentage of them are people of color. Rarely does the officer that fired the shot face any kind of charges as, more frequently, the killing is “justified” in the course of duty.

Stop killing people!

(Yes, I know that Derek Chauvin was found guilty in the killing of George Floyd last week. There was video shot by a bystander showing him kneeling on the dead man’s neck for over nine minutes, even after he’d stopped breathing. When the jury came back with a verdict, the country was holding its collective breath for a conviction. Why? Because that’s what happens, nearly every time! When the ratio flips the other way, come back and talk to me about how police are being unfairly treated.)

I’m not advocating “defunding” the police. I’m advocating better training, money spent on mental health services, and a culture change for those who serve. Think it shouldn’t?

Policing began in this country shortly after slavery stopped, during Jim Crow. Well-armed people were hired to “bring back” workers who had skipped out of their jobs. They were unfairly treated and “tried” and essentially put right back into slavery in many cases. These groups of “arrestors” eventually formed police forces after being “deputized” by the local sheriffs who were unable to keep up with the population growth. To this day, America ensures that its police forces are armed with the best weapons available while most other countries don’t. Google it. France, Germany, England, Australia, Austria, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland are all among the Top 10 police forces in the world and none of them carry guns. (Oddly enough, citizens of those countries have tougher access to guns, too. Wonder if there is a correlation?)

And somehow…

There is a percentage of the population of this country that believes this new administration, with all the things it’s working to bring us – health and healthcare, financial security, improved and repaired infrastructure, a safer climate – is heading in the wrong direction.

This is not a small percentage, either. It’s nearly 50% of the population and far more than that in some states and areas. In other words, it’s large enough to elect some people to positions of power in our country that can have a deleterious impact to all the good that’s being done.

In fact, they elected that last guy President and, to this day, a good many of them think he’s the greatest we’ve ever had and that the election was stolen from him. Why? Because HE said so. There is no science or logic that can change their minds, at least none that I’ve been able to find.

So, what are we going to do to keep our country headed in the right direction?

It's up to all of us!