Will I Ever Quit?

I wonder if I will ever quit doing something that I do very frequently. This something is telling myself that I will need to tell Jennifer about something I have heard or learned about when I get back to the house.

I do it very frequently. I will be talking with someone and get a juicy piece of Sun City or Mesquite gossip. The first thing that goes thru my mind is that I tell myself I will need to tell Jennifer this when I get back to the house.

For example Mesquite was supposed to be getting a new Smith’s grocery store (something that this little town really needs). Supposedly the mayor announced that this project is now on hold, an outfall of the LA Wildfires, as the major investors in this project were affected by the LA fires and so their focus and funds are being redirected. At Saturday morning’s putting tourney, this and other Sun City building issues were the main topic of discussion as we waited for play to begin. The first thing that went thru my head was I need to tell Jennifer about this when I get home.

I sometime laugh about this, because she often accused me of not telling her things. I often did, but obviously when I did she must have had that “frequency” tuned out in her hearing and it would go in one ear and out the other. Maybe I just not tell her in a manner that was interesting enough that such that it would stick. However, there were times I did not. So I was not totally innocent, but I feel in my defense I was “not guilty” as charged more than I was guilty. I do know that we would have a heated discussion about this. I will tell you what I sure wish we could.

Yesterday I went to a World Long Drive regional qualifying event. I have been to the World Championship event before, that event was a much bigger and had more bling than this one.

The participants in these events are interesting. The majority of the guys are big (6’ plus) with good toned body’s. Some like to strut their stuff in tight form fitting clothing as they walk around the event. However you also have smaller guys who are not near as muscle bound and/or tattooed up.

The point in this event is to drive a golf ball as far as you can. However that ball has to land and stay on a grid layed out on the field. The participants get 2 and 1/2 minutes to hit six golf balls. The one they hit the longest that lands and stays within the grid is their mark. It is kind of similar to the track and field javelin event.

Each participant has a spotting/measuring team assigned to them. There is a spotter directly behind the participant. They have a radio that they can communicate with two guys that are out in the landing zone (one on each side of the grid) who radio back the approximate distance of the ball.

It is interesting to see how the techniques of the participants in these events differ. There is a lot of testosterone being emitted during these events. A lot of these guys holler and scream like silver back gorillas when they hit a good ball. Some guys have a baseball type technique. Other guys twist up like a spring.

This is not your typical type golf event where people are quiet. They have music blaring as these guys are hitting their six shots and they have computer displays showing the distance of each guys longest ball. The crowds holler and hoot, boo and hiss as the guys are hitting. Yesterday, they guys were hitting in the high 300 yd to mid 400 yd distance. The longest drive of the day was 419 yds.

Below is a photo of a group of participants in a preliminary round. It just so happens that the guy who won this event is in the photo. He is the guy in the green shirt and khaki pants.

They have preliminary rounds and the guys get points for how they finish in these rounds and then they narrow the field to 8 guys. When they get to the eight guys they narrow it down to 2 participants in each round and it is a match play type playoff.

Anyway the guy that won was one of the smallest guys in the competition. He was of Asian descent and was sneaky long. During the preliminary rounds he had several 400+ drives. If you lined all the participants against a wall and would be asked to pick the winner soley on looks. He would not be in the top 32 choices (there were 32 participants in the “Pro” category).

His winning drive in the championship was 386 yards. The wind was shortening some of the drives especially in the midddle rounds. However it had pretty much gotten calm during the final round, but the drives were mostly under 400 yards. I think some of that because these guys were getting understandably tired.

Anyway it was a interesting afternoon. Jennifer would have said it was like watching paint dry, but I found it interesting and entertaining. As I left the event, the first thing I thought was I need to tell Jennifer about it when I get home.

Well enough for today.