First off, Weston Hills Country Club is nestled amoung some very nice homes. The course itself is actually rather hilly for a Florida course, somewhat like what I've played in South Carolina with waste areas and the like dotting the fairways. As many courses down here do, there's a reasonable amount of water to add to the challenge.

It's in rather good shape, but we certainly found the greens to be very slow. Nearly every putt has some break to it, so reading the proper line is even more critical.

This was the 4-ball scramble format, popular for such events. If you're not familiar, each player tees off and then the best ball is selected for the position of where the next shot is played from. Continue until you hole out, then repeat. I like these formats, because for one they're generally low stress. The idea is to have fun. I also like it, because when you can get one shot "safe" it allows the other players to have some chance at "going for it" and trying something different.

As for my personal game, I definately had more drives I was happy with today than Saturday. That part of the new swing changes worked well for me in this round. The interesting thing today though, was that I wasn't as happy with some of my iron play. On Par 3's I did reasonably well, but many of my other approach shots I wasn't happy with. Not sure what the deal is, but I'll work on it and move on.

One thing that certainly came into focus today was the fact that for whatever reason, I tend to line up right of the target when I entirely believe I am lined up square. I don't know what to make of that other than I know I can't see it myself. *sigh* A high priority item to work on.

Overall we ended up with a 66, 6 under par. Not the worst, but not a winner either.

A good day today, nice weather but for a touch of rain. All for a good cause, so everyone's a winner.

So after my first Pro meeting on Thursday, I was set to play Saturday morning. I decided before we teed off that I wasn't going to keep score. It would have been pointless considering what I was working on. For the front nine at least, that proved to be a very good decision.

Needless to say I had what I'd describe as a horrid front nine. Comfort level was next to nil, and frankly I was thinking about too much stuff. I was pretty happy to get the front over with.

Starting on the back I think I finally was getting comfortable with the changes, or starting to at least. I had a string of 4 pars on the back nine, and a couple of those were looks at birdie (even if a bit far). All in all my iron play at least was more consistent. A very good thing.

I probably had one or two drives I was happy with, one in particular that I was really happy with leaving me about 105 to the pin on a 371 yard par 4, for 266 yards on the drive. Other than that, they weren't terribly good but I can't say that given what we're doing, I should have expected much else.

Since I'll be heading to COMMON on Thursday this week, and won't be back until the 1st, it'll be a couple weeks until the next session. But, I do play again tomorrow in a charity scramble so we'll see how that goes.

I tend to really like the "better ball" type of events because the pressure's kinda off. They're a more enjoyable day since if you have one ball that's in good shape the other players can go for it a bit more easily.

So that's it for now, summary after tomorrow's round.

I met with my teaching pro Tom today for our first session. I've decided to stop trying to correct things on my own and have a professional tell my where I suck instead. They're quite good at that.

So the problems are:

1. I tried to fix this on my own and managed to screw it up....not so worse than it was, just in new and different ways. Brilliant.

2. Too much lower body action, in particular my left knee & foot decided to go all crazy on me and move about. What the heck is that....ahh but see #3 for why.

3. My thought from the blog entry a couple days ago where I talked about that full shoulder turn....yea that was stupid (see #1). I was already there, but couldn't tell since of course I can't really see what I am doing. The result was in order to really pull that off, yep, you guessed it. The left knee moved because the left foot was off the ground a TON more than it ever should be. A little bit is ok, many pros have done that over the years, but yeowsers.

4. Cascading down here, the next issue was my takeaway itself, somehow I'd decided a new & fun way to do that which amazingly I am able to get the thing relatively back on plane coming down...but it's way too much inside on the takeaway. So we're fixing that. In fact I think I was doing it better some time ago when I decided to change it for some dumb reason. Go figure.

So there are a few other minor things to work on, but overall I know my fundamentals don't totally stink (no Charles Barkley here), it's all the tweaky stuff that we do to try and "fix" something which really hoses things up. Thus the professional consultation. : )

So we'll see how it goes. I am, right now, happy with what we've talked about. It makes sense and I have some path to work on.

I plan on entering more information here as the sessions happen. Oh and did I mention I am scheduled to play on Saturday and Monday? LOL yea that could be interesting. Just have to keep the swing thoughts to a minimum.

Ok, first off this is a terrible title I know. : )

So it shouldn't be a secret that I am dedicating myself to improving my golf game once & for all. Of course it's a never ending process, but I am looking to make some significant strides this year. Florida weather certainly helps with that.

I figured I would post some updates along the way, talk about what I am working on and the like.

On my Golf Page I have the current equipment list, and it hasn't changed since I posted it. I have however, taken up changing my grips since the original Cleveland-branded Golf Pride Tour Velvets were ready to go.

At this point I have installed Golf Pride New Decade Midsize (red) grips on nearly everything. My 60 degree wedge has a standard New Decade red. So far I love these grips, although I might very well change out a couple of them, opting to play with a standard grip over a couple wraps of build-up tape.

If you've never been sized for grips, I'd highly recommend it. The grip is very often overlooked. Smaller hands need smaller grips, larger hands...you get the idea. But this isn't all of it. A too large grip can cause a slice. Too small, a hook. For those who have arthritis, they might need a larger grip for comfort, even up to a Jumbo. It is also not uncommon to have different grips on different clubs. You might want a bit more action on the short irons and opt for standards there, midsize everywhere else or some other combination.

I tried several grips when I looked at replacing mine, included the much talked about Winn Grips. Personally - of the ones I tried, I like the Golf Pride. However, I did swing a driver outfitted with a Jumbo Winn DSI the other day and it felt really good.

Anyway, Golf Pride generally says look to your glove size for grip size. A good metric, although not necessarily precise. Generally your gloved hand fingers should just brush the palm of your hand when you grip the club. For me, standard grips had my fingers jammed into my palm. Thus the change. We'll see how it goes.

So what else am I working on? Well besides the simple matter of consistency in "routine," the one swing thought for my driver is "make a full turn." I discovered that I was rushing to get to the downswing and not making a full shoulder turn. The result was a slice, because I was late in the release. My body got through the ball way before the club could square for impact. Making this fuller, more CONTROLLED turn (i.e. even somewhat slower) has helped correct this problem, without really sacrificing distance.

In fact when you've noticed over Masters weekend, when Phil Mickelson was sending his drives off-line, he was rehearsing exactly that - the shift & timing of getting the body/shoulders/arms around at the same time to get the club square. In two seconds or less, the golf swing is a precision movement.

I am planning on getting back together with a pro in the near future to work on some of this & hopefully pull up some consistency in the swing. I'd expect it to make a big difference.

Of course I continue to spend some time on the short game, as everyone should - but right now getting the full swing under control is my main goal.

Fun stuff. More later.

So here you are, in a room of 100 people (Group A). Of those 100, ninety of them agree on Product X and are very positive and engaged when speaking of X. The remaining 10 people (Group B) point out only the negatives of X, claim it "sucks" mainly because it doesn't do everything exactly the same as Product Y. Group B declare Group A are sheeple, drinking the Kool-Aid and need to wake up.

Group B, when asked to help the developer of Product X, Vendor Z, by discussing their concerns, react by saying "we've said what we don't like, Vendor Z isn't listening." Group B also seems to insist on posting to their blog an endless stream of obscenity, and claiming that Group A just needs to "deal with it."

For some reason Group B is greatly annoyed when they aren't having their ego stroked and rump kissed by everyone, especially the large corporation Vendor Z. All the while, Group B claim that they're "just saying what needs to be said."

Sound familiar? We've seen it recently in LotusLand when talking about the Lotus Notes 8.5 for Mac client. We've seen it on Midrange-L regarding the IBM i platform. We've also seen it on the blogs of certain people who think they're the divine enlightened ones because they are the only people with the guts to tell the truth and call out a vendor.

The gist of the argument seems to be that those who express the negative argument among a relative sea of positives are somehow automatically the only ones speaking the truth. Certainly there might be some truth to this in some cases. However, overall it's bunk.

Folks who go against the grain always seem to believe they're the only intelligent, thoughtful ones. I am sure in some ways I am guilty of this, as are many of us who are devotees of a particular product - be it from IBM,Apple, Microsoft, whatever. However, it still doesn't mean that those who voice the negative opinion against the general consensus are, by default, the only correct voices.

That's not saying it's verboten to call out a vendor for doing something stupid. It's how you do it that will ultimately determine if they're willing to listen to your comments. In the case of the Notes for Mac client discussion, certainly the author has some valid points...assuming everyone else is seeing the same thing he is, and I have reason to believe they aren't. But, due to the combative nature of the site, the post and pretty well everything surrounding the discussion, it's pretty clear the argument (and having someone suck-up to him) is what he's after, not a solution.

Before my current two week trip to Texas I decided to pick up a Sprint Mobile Broadband adapter. I figured this is a business trip and I'll be online every evening most likely, costing me around $12 a day.

With the adapter costing me $0 (with contract, no biggie - been with Sprint for how long now?) it seemed a good idea. Sure I'll have to deal with the $59 monthly fee long term but still, I think it was worth it. I refuse to pay for wireless in an airport and now, anywhere I go (assuming Sprint coverage) I'll be set. I almost got the PCMCIA card (or rather the ExpressCard with a PCMCIA slot adapter), but opted for the USB model because 1. It was free 2. I can take it to any PC.

Overall the speeds have been more than acceptable. I won't be hauling down the Domino 8.5 install image over it, but for general mail/web/small download it works great.

So if you're interested, it is the 598U from Sierra Wireless. We'll see how this works long term, but so far it is just what I needed.

As I write this entry, Regina and I are in our campsite inside turn 3-4 of the Daytona International Speedway. Posting comes courtesy of my Palm Treo.

Tomorrow begins the Rolex 24 at Daytona. This is our 3rd year at this event and again our first race of the year.

Yes, we camp out and yes it can get chilly at night....by our standards at least...but nonetheless it's a great weekend.

We expect to see some IndyCar drivers here among the generally three or four driver teams (about 50 teams this year.

So, I may post here over the weekend or check my Twitter feed (see sidebar right) for updates.

So here we are, election eve. The candidates are busy with last minute rallies of their supporters, robo-calls, and a flurry of advertising designed to get you to cast your all important vote for them.

The thing is though is that so much of it's based on misdirection, outright falsehoods - i.e. politics as usual. For a couple of candidates who harp on being agents of change, and mavericks it's the same ol', same ol'.

Understand this. The Founders of our Republic were the real mavericks. The real change agents. Their lives were literally on the line for what the spoke, what they wrote and the risks they took are nearly impossible to imagine today.

Instead we see very little other than negative attack ads, and people who are so pathetically full of themselves that they make comments along the lines that anyone who doesn't agree with them are un-American. THIS my friends is where our political system, our parties, our Republic has gone.

Yes, politics over the years has been ruthless. Nasty. Our candidates today have absolutely nothing of the abuse that was thrown upon candidates of yesteryear. During a course in college at IU, a course entitled "The Presidents and the Press" we heard of a case where a candidate was disparaged in the press by being referred to as "a practicing thespian."

Now let's think about that. Today, most of us wouldn't think twice about that statement. But at the time, this was a derogatory comment, not because of what a thespian is, but rather for the fact that most people had no idea what that meant. Redirection, spin, fear.

Sound familiar?

Today's candidates, while certainly different on a number of issues, are at the heart of it very close on a number of issues, and absolutely opposed on many others. However, this election hasn't really been about issues. It never is. It's about showing how bad for us the other guy (or gal) is, and why you shouldn't vote for them.

Notice what I say there. That we shouldn't vote for the other candidate, NOT why you SHOULD vote for them. That's the politics of fear, uncertainty and doubt. FUD at it's finest, and it's all crap. Palin's been especially good on embracing her 'pit bull' role. Some of the backhanded comments have been absolutely amazing, and not in a good way.

For someone who's telling us she's an outsider, she's clearly a very quick study because all the usual Washington rhetoric is there with her. She has no problem taking things out of context and twisting them around into negative attacks. All while scolding Joe Biden for being hung up on the past. Yep you're an outsider alright. I don't know what's worse: the fact that so many people blindly buy it, or that she's really trying to sell it.

Then we have Obama's - I believe - short lived ad talking about McCain not being able to use a computer. Nevermind he can't physically get his arms in place to do that. Nice one. I clearly don't agree with many statements Obama's made on economic issues, and yes I think that he might be more left than perhaps is good.

I have some issues with circumstances around his connections, however, I also understand how politics works and that peripheral associations do not necessarily mean continual contact or that the person of question is going to be in such a consultative role in any administration.

Obama's short career in the Senate offers up questions. Today we learn that he has some aunt living illegally in the US? And that she's been on the list to be deported for four years? Apparently Obama's unaware of her issues and that he said he supports the law being upheld. This seems to me to put him in a corner.

I also do not care for the possible impact of changes to labor union laws that might occur. I am personally not at all interested in having, joining or being forced to be a part of a union. I don't want to see them implemented just for the sake of creating more unions. They may have their place in some workplaces but keep them out of mine.

The simple fact of our economy places both candidates onto a wall of shame for voting YEA on the financial bailout in my book. Yes I know there are many economists who believe it was necessary, and it is entirely possible that if Lehman Bros, weren't allowed to fail then perhaps things would have been different in September. Maybe not.

Let's talk about this whole issue of experience that so many of the McCain ads have focused on. It's crap. All of it. First off, there isn't one candidate on either ticket who has sat in an executive office and made the choice to send 250,000 men & women into harm's way. McCain hasn't done it since he's never been POTUS, nor a Governor, and Obama's not done it either because he's also never been POTUS or a Governor. In fact sadly Palin is the only one who "might" have had that experience as Governor if she's deployed her Guard.

While I absolutely respect John McCain's service & sacrifice, it doesn't immediately make him more qualified. He's made statements recently and ran TV ads indicating that his experience sitting on the deck of a carrier waiting to get the GO order meaning he's addressed conflict and has experience in crisis. Sorry but that isn't leadership in the sense of what we're talking about here. That's taking an order. Entirely different things. Sorry Senator McCain but no, you haven't had crisis experience in an executive "buck stops here" role.

By the way, show me where Reagan, Geo H.W. Bush, Clinton, or Geo W. Bush had that experience. They didn't. No one does unless they've been the highest ranked member of the Armed Forces, or President. The closest they get is commanding the state National Guard, and if you weren't Governor then you don't have that either.

Now, take General Petraeus or perhaps Dwight Eisenhower, entirely different thing.

So we're down to this. Who to vote for? I feel myself wanting to vote against Palin. I don't care for her stance on a number of issues. But at the same time I have some serious questions about Obama's economic policy.

I think it comes down to me not being completely happy casting my vote for either candidate. Hopefully Florida gets this right tomorrow. The state has a history of mucking things up as we all well know.

We shall see. Either way, this is a historic time for our Nation. I will fly my flag with pride as we move to the polls tomorrow.

This week is one of the nuttiest for us as of late.

On Tuesday we flew up to Orlando to meet up with Regina's father and some other family to spend a few days at Disney World. We had a 6:00 AM flight arriving at MCO around 6:35 AM. Twenty minutes earlier than expected. Cool!...sortof.

Regina's father had driven from Illinois along with a few others and met us at the airport where we then drove back to the Walt Disney World Dolphin hotel. Nicely there was a room available as soon as we got there at 7:45 AM or so. Pretty nice considering normally the checkin is in the afternoon.

We met back up around 9 to head off to Disney's Hollywood Studios park. They've changed the name from MGM due to the number of studios Disney owns now. It was nice to go see the park during the day since the only other time I'd been there was the Wednesday night party for Lotusphere.

I'd say the favorite attraction of the day was the "Lights, Motors, Action" stunt show. Some very trick specialty cars and bikes doing some pretty killer stunts. Add in the fact that it rained pretty heavily right before the show (and during part of it) and it's even more interesting.

Disney's also creating a new American Idol interactive show, so Jordan Sparks was there filming a video for that project. Kinda neat to watch how that went down. It's possible some of us in the crowd are in the video since they shot it in an open area of the park with visitors all around.

About midday, Regina's brother Adam arrived at the park having dropped off the moving truck containing Regina's grandmother's household items at the Dolphin. More on that later.

I mentioned it rained...well it rained twice, heavily. Ponchos are your friend. Luckily Wednesday would be better.

At the end of the day was the Fantasmic show, which features a story of Mickey fighting all of the evil characters of Disney. Lights, video, music, lasers flames, fireworks....good stuff. I won't say more you have to see it for yourself. One thing though, I've never seen video projected onto water vapor before. Neat stuff.

On Wednesday we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Again this is a park I've been to before, but only via Lotusphere and only at night. The Lotusphere experience there was less than entirely positive since it rained all night and the animals weren't out so there wasn't as much to see.

This time though we had the chance to see the various safari tours and attractions where we saw all of Animal Kingdom's creatures. It's pretty amazing how they get all of that into the park. When you're on the safari ride it really doesn't look like you're at the park because you can't see anything but that ride's landscape. Of course the Lions were sleeping...but the Tigers on the walking tour were up and active.

It was Regina's father Harold's birthday, so Regina got him a "Today's my birthday" pin to wear around the park. He was then greeted by many of the park staff wishing him a happy birthday. Embarrasment day for him. ;-)

We finished off the day with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe at the park. All in all a nice couple of days at Disney. But this was just the beginning!

I really cannot wait to watch the debate tonight and I am very happy it's still a go.

Of course the Democrats will proclaim Obama wins, and Republicans will claim McCain wins. Honestly there's no point in even asking each side afterwards since we already know their answers.

I am still not convinced that having either Obama or McCain in D.C. this week mattered one iota. Neither one are on the banking committees and really did not NEED to be in Washington to hash out the details of our US banking bailout.

The funnier thing is that even in principal, President Bush's plan along with Henry Paulson seems to have created quite a bit of animosity in the Republican party.

I had a gut feeling all along that John McCain would be at Ole Miss tonight. There was no way he was really going to skip it, especially with Obama planning to be there.

I suspect they'll both head back to D.C. after the debate, sometime this weekend.

Now, who will perform better tonight? Well that's hard to say. Obama's a good orator, but usually that's only when he has a teleprompter or written speech in front of him. McCain usually seems to like to use cards with notes, and has in the past needed to refer to a card in order to thow a zinger Obama's direction.

It is going to be interesting, it is going to be fun, and I can't wait.