Norfolk BLM757 Breonna Taylor March September 23, 2020

 Video and photographs from the September 23, 2020 Breonna Taylor march in downtown Norfolk, VA.

How I Edit Film Scans in Photoshop

In this video I walk through my editing process for the image I posted on Instagram today. This was a difficult image to process because a portion of the image was badly underexposed. I really like how the final product turned out and hope you'll come along with me on the editing journey.

Waterfalls, Landscape Photography, and Silliness in Shenandoah National Park

 Today we're going to Shenandoah National Park to get some photos in the snow. I went up there on December 22 on a quick trip because I knew the snow would melt by the weekend after Christmas. I always enjoy going to Shenandoah and see some new stuff every time I go. Come along on this journey with me.

How I Edited My Best Photo of 2020 Using Photoshop

In this video I walk through my editing process for the image I posted on Instagram today. This was a difficult image to process because a portion of the image was badly underexposed. I really like how the final product turned out and hope you'll come along with me on the editing journey. I took this image back in January of 2020...you remember, back before a raging disease shut down the world. This is from Jockey's Ridge State Park in North Carolina. For this I was using the Canon EOS Rebel K2 camera and the basic 28-90 kit lens. This is my favorite image of the year for 2020.

Nine Hole Course Ranking

This started out as a Page but since I'm changing how those are set-up, I'm moving it to a regular post that I will update as I manage to play more nine hole courses.

Since I've played many nine hole courses lately, some of which have been very good, I'm doing a separate ranking of nine hole courses. For a book recently published giving a top 25 list for nine hole courses, click here. I don't agree with every ranking in the book, and I've spoke with the author about that. Anyway, here's my ranking.

1. Sweetens Cove (7)

2. Hooper (6)

3. Fundy (5)
4. Cascades (5)

5. Bellows Falls (5)

6. Skyway(4)

7. Kahuku (4)

8. Fenwick (4)

9. Tipton Oaks (Sand Greens) (3)

10. Hyatt Hills (3)
11. Midland CC (3)

12. Lambert's Point; NLE (3)

13. Northwoods (3)

14. Diablo Hills (3)

15. Green Acres (2)

16. Minerals (2)
17. Meadowbrook (1)

18. Fishhook (2)

19. Fletcher's Landing; NLE (1)

20. Pine Grove Springs; NLE (1)

21. Cantiague Park (1)

22. Galway (1)

Changing Directions

 When I started this blog, shockingly ten years ago, I started because I'd just been thrown off the GolfClubAtlas discussion forum because I posted too much. Strange, I thought forums were for posting. But I initially wanted to focus on how to make golf courses more affordable, looking at the blog address, I'm sure that's no surprise. However, since then I've diversified a bit. I started writing course reviews. I have a number of those although I haven't done one in a couple years. I've started a wrestling podcast. I've started a photography and backpacking YouTube page. With all that, I've ended up with a tremendous backlog of content. Course reviews for at least 10 or 15 really solid courses. Fifty podcast episodes. Thirteen photography and backpacking videos. So, starting this week, I'm going to be posting that back content. I'm not sure how much I will post, looking at both my older content and new content that I'll be putting out. But it's coming. I'll also be working on the website to have a dedicated home page and the pages tabs at the top will have listings for the content that's being published in the various categories. Thanks for the views and support since I started this page, it's much appreciated. I hope you'll continue to give support in all the categories I'm producing.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling April 13, 1987 | Friday Evening's Undercard Episode 5

I've started a new project, doing some podcast work with an old friend talking about professional wrestling. I'll be coming back with more golf content, but also posting up some new podcast content. Hope you'll listen. This episode, as indicated in the title, covers the April 13, 1987 edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, with stars like Macho Man Randy Savage, Junkyard Dog, Demolition, The Hart Foundation, and many more being covered on the show.



WWF Prime Time Wrestling April 13, 1987 | Friday Evening's Undercard Episode 5

Public Courses from Macdonald School Designers

Charles Blair Macdonald, Seth Raynor, and Charles Banks designed courses using what came to be called Template holes. Few of these courses exist and even fewer are open to the public. This is a list of all the public courses designed by those three, plus a few other courses designed to be tributes to the work of these designers.

CB Macdonald
Downers Grove Park District Golf Course, Downers Grove, IL (9 holes)
Greenbrier (Old White)

Seth Raynor
Greenbrier (Old White), White Sulphur Springs, WV
Hotchkiss School Golf Course, Lakeville, CT
Thousand Islands Country Club (Old), Wellesley Island, NY

Charles Banks
Francis Byrne Golf Course, West Orange, NJ
Hendricks Field Golf Course, Belleville, NJ
Hotchkiss School Golf Course, Lakeville, CT (9 holes)
Knoll Country Club (West), Parsippany, NJ (Limited Public Accessibility)

Of these, The Old White is by far the best.

Downers Grove is pretty much Macdonald in name only at this point, having most of the classic features stripped away according to reports.

Thousand Islands claims to be Raynor, but this is disputed by the Raynor Society.

Hotchkiss School has degraded over time, but still makes the Top 25 nine holes courses in Anthony Pioppi's book indicating its quality.

Francis Byrne is degraded but still has a number of excellent Template variations. The Road, Biarritz, Bottle, and Raynor Prize Dogleg holes are all stellar. There's also a Cape hole that could be incredible with a relatively inexpensive restoration. This course could be incredible with just an inexpensive restoration of original bunkering.

Bethpage (Black) - Farmingdale, NY

This is a high quality course that deserves all the accolades that it gets. Always maintained in great condition, great variety, not much that hasn't been said about this course.

Variety of Design: Very good. The par 5s have great variety with two being close to reachable and one requiring two excellent shots to put in position to hit to the green. The par 3s also have solid variety, one being a long iron/hybrid, two with mid/long irons, and one short iron. The par 4s, while good holes, lack variety...they're all either long or longer. Directionally, 4 holes dogleg Right, 3 holes dogleg left, and 7 are straight, excluding par 3s. 7 out of 10

Flow of the Course: While no hole on the Black can be called easy, some are easier than others, some offer the opportunity to score, and some require the player to play conservative. The first two holes are relatively easy, 3 is difficult, 4 gives a birdie chance, 5 is extremely difficult, 6 and 7 offer birdie chances if one hits quality shots, the stretch from 8 to 12 are unrelenting, 13 and 14 offer scoring chances, 15-17 are difficult, and 18 offers a decent scoring chance to close out the round. 8 out of 10

Course Conditioning: Excellent. Fairways and greens are near perfect. 9.5 out of 10

Walkability: Course is walking-only. That said, the walk is not easy. There are some substantial hills, but the green-to-tee transitions are usually short. 6.5 out of 10

Atmosphere: Incredible. Everyone going to the tee feels a bit of anxiety and excitement. 9 out of 10.

Total: 79.5 out of 100