My First Long Drive Competition

Ad and I got up at 7:30am on Saturday - typically a cardinal sin in our house - and headed to Little River Golf Course to compete in the Sandhills Shootout. It was to be my first long drive competition after working for a few weeks (well, 3 lessons).

Not knowing what to expect, I was pretty nervous. To boot, the weather in the morning was pretty crappy. For the last few days we'd had storms, and the morning was no different. So the grid was completely soaked, meaning your ball was going to roll no where. When we got there, it was raining on and off. I went ahead and decided to hit some golf balls to warm up...even though I wasn't going to hit until around 3 and it wasn't even 11am yet. I was hitting the ball fairly well which helped my confidence.



The tournament started. After watching 22 other players hit, it was my turn. The furthest ball hit to that point was 361 yards. In my group of four hitters, the top 2 distances advanced. I'm pretty sure the first ball I hit was my best. I didn't try and hit it hard just wanting to get it in the 60 yard wide grid (balls that landed outside the grid were out of bounds). Straight as an arrow, and good contact. 349 yards with my Alpha 8.5 loft driver! Holy cow, I thought I was hitting balls around 310...not FLYING them close to 350 yards. Another huge boost to my confidence.

Then my nerves started to get to me. My hands started to shake. They shook so bad, I could barely put the ball on the tee! My next few drives, I didn't make good contact. The final ball wasn't bad, sailing about 330. It turns out that I, and a Canadian named Gabriel (who's obviously crazy for driving 16 hours from Canada to compete!), had tied. Both of us had a 3 ball shootout. He hit one 350, and all three of my shots went OB. I learned a good lesson. It's important to get the first one in the grid, even if it isn't that great a shot. It puts a bunch more pressure on your competition - as I found out! That put me into an elimination match with the event coordinator, Lance.

I learned another valuable lesson. Don't practice too much or you'll wear yourself out! I hit too many balls on the practice range prior to and during the event. I was exhausted during my elimination match. Probably a combination of the adrenaline wearing off from the first match which was 20 minutes before, and over practicing.



For my own benefit, I decided to list a few tips and issues with my mechanics that I need to work on before next months long drive competition.

1) Quality not Quantity. You can have a 155mph swing, but if you don't hit it on the sweet spot, it doesn't matter.

2) My hand position in my backswing was pretty low. I think coming down on the ball with a higher angle of attack will help with distance.

3) Keeping my head up will help prevent fighting against my front side.

4) Most of my power comes from hip turn. I had very poor hip turn, and need to work on my flexibility.

5) Listening to my ipod was a huge help. It helped to relax me, and keep me focused.

6) Warming up. All you need is just enough to get you warm. The rest of the time is about relaxing and having a good time. You should feel like you want to hit a bucket of balls at the end of the competition.


Here's a complete slideshow of the event...

Beer, Beer, Beer, Tiddley, Beer, Beer, Beer

Brewing is in full swing at Hob Knob Brewery. To say this has become an obsession would be an understatement. Knowing me though, I've had numerous obsession's in the past, so we'll see how long this one survives! Still, this one has had a pretty firm hold on me over the last year I've been brewing, and I think it *might* be a safe bet to say that I might be starting a nanobrewery sometime next year that I can run out of my garage on the weekends. A nanobrewery is a 1-2bbl system, with 1bbl (beer barrel) being 31 gallons. I figure I already brew 5 gallon batches on the weekend, so won't be much difference between that and a 31 gallon batch - just bigger equipment.

I'm reading a bunch of stuff on brewing, including "Starting Your Own Brewery", by the brewer's association, which has loads of great information. I just started my own hop garden with 7 plants - 2 cascade hops, 2 fuggle english hops, 1 jumbo nugget, 1 zues, and 1 golden. Besides that, every new trinket I find for the (now upgraded to 10g) brewery, opens up a new world of wonderment and curiousness. This Saturday, I'll be stewarding the local US Open Beer Championship for my local home brew club, the Carolina Brewmasters.

The beers I've been brewing have gotten better and better looking - especially now that the system has a complete 5 to 1 micron filtering system. Here's the latest - a golden ale:


I'm working on a honey brown ale right behind the golden ale. Here's a shot in the brew kettle!


After fermenting, she sits in the secondary to clear and age. By the way, that born on date b.s. the big box breweries put out...complete hogwash. A good beer needs to mature. So I'll leave most beers around 4 weeks in this secondary 'carboy' (unless the kegerator is running low! :D)


And last but not least...it's time to enjoy.


I plan on doing a lot of brewing, especially since I just got my all grain system and filtration system. To all my buddies, I'm looking for honest feedback (I might even create a feedback form lol), to identify recipes that are good and bad. You won't hurt my feelings if you say the beer sucks, but it's important that I get a general feel with how well my brews are received. Finally, make sure you guys come on up for a good brew! :)

Long Time, No Posts?!?

So my last post was around the time I started to get sick. I'm still trying to overcome a lot of the complications from the illness. All signs point to it being a combination of stress, anxiety, panic disorder, depression, and ADD. I can tell you guys that that stuff, especially the panic disorder and depression is no joke. It's seriously some of the hardest stuff I've been through in my entire life. Some days it was a battle to just get out of bed. Thanks to all my friends and family who showed a tremendous amount of support.

Stuff is getting better and better by the day. I've been reading books like it's going out of style that have been helping. In fact, I truly recommend "Self-Coaching" by Joseph Luciani. Great book. I just bought a copy after finishing the one the library let me borrow. All...yes ALL of my relationships have improved. Family, friends, even strangers.

Enter the BRN (Big Red Nose). One of the books I recently absorbed in a matter of days(I'm patting myself on the back, because honestly, I used to hate reading), was Patch Adam's "Gesundheit". One of his recommendations was to simply clown around. It was a bit out of my element, but I took his advice, and ordered a simple clown nose. The reactions it got were the most heart warming thing I'd had in months. One girl laughed so hard, I got a free dinner out of it at Boston Market. Other people did everything from crack a smile to bend over laughing. Making other people happy was a key to overcoming the anxiety, and the depression.

It was so much fun, even hoser got in on the action (ok...in all seriousness, it took like 20 tries to get this pic!)



Hangin with the fam has been great too. Last Friday was a beautiful day in the park with my sis and niece. Cute as cute can be!



That kid has a limitless supply of energy, and she can wear out 10 adults before she will. Not sure how Karen keeps up! Props to being a great mom! I consider myself to be in 'relatively' good shape, and I was worn out in 30 minutes between playing "BOING!" and "Airplane" and "Tree Climber"!! Great times though!

Don't worry,



to come!!!! I plan to keep up to date with the blog on a more consistent basis.

Jeff's Hilarious Images Thread

MOAR IMAGES

My First Brew Is Almost Done!

I really haven't posted much in a while because I've been so busy! First batch of lakeside ale is set to come out of the fermenter, and age a bit more in the carboy. Phil, at the elks, was nice enough to outfit me (albeit a few months ago...sorry it took me so long to get started!) with about 50% of the stuff I needed to start brewing. Phil was nice enough to give me some kegs, tubing, cooling tubs, kettle, and a bunch of other stuff. From there, I took about a 30 minute trip over to Belmont, and picked up the remainder of the things I needed to get started from Alternative Beverage. I picked up my CO2 tank and regulator, along with my tap. I also got all the ingredients for my first batch which I affectionately dubbed, "Lakeside Ale"! It's supposed to be very similar to New Castle if you've had that beer.

I was surprised at just how easy the entire process was (save the sanitation). Alternative Bev provides you with these ingredient kits that include all of your grains/hops/muslin bags/and other odds and ends. From there its as easy as making something from Betty Crocker, and waiting.

You start out by "mashing" your beer. Mashing is the process of soaking malted barley, other grains, etc., in order to convert starch into sugars as part of the brewing process. The concoction that is produced provides both the flavor and the sugars for the yeast to eat and live out their amazingly short life span.

Mashing the grains in my kettle:



After chilling the concoction that is produced in the mashing process, you are left with wort. Wort is basically young (unfermented) beer.

From there, I added it to my fermentation bucket. After about 10 days, it's almost done fermenting.

Just look at that color!



Next, the beer went into the carboy to age and settle for another 2 weeks. I'll be starting on my second brew (a sierra nevada!)

Aging to Pefection



From there, I force carbonate using my CO2 tank from alternative beverage, and wait about a week.

And last, but certainly not least, the final product!



Even hoser took a break from her normal scotch and enjoyed a bit of ale...



The consensus from a few friends and family is in: 8/10. Let's home my sierra that's in the fermenter right now, makes a jump up to 9 or even 10/10!!

Hawai'i July 4th-11th, 2010

We came down for a business convention on the big island in Hawaii. This year, to hopefully recruit more customers, I was allowed to bring an additional salesman. My buddy Dave...aka Super Dave...aka Supa Deezahhh...who came along.

The flight from Charlotte to Phoenix was comfortable enough on the Airbus A321. The nightmare flight from Phoenix to Kona was another story. Super dave was lucky enough to sit 2 seats in front of me. His row had extra leg room as it was the area between coach and first class. The dolts who installed the seats took leg room from my row which amount to about 4-6 inches of leg room (a BIG deal when your stuck in your seat for 6+ hours!) Did I mention that they also decided not to leave any room behind the seats so you can't recline the seat either? Result...the boeing 757 was the equivalent of being flown over in a coffin. To boot, the punk kid who sat next to me had obviously been preparing for the flight with a steady diet of beans, effectively turning our small cabin into a gas chamber. I frequently took refuge in the bathroom, both for stretch breaks and some clean air. Finally, the plane landed, I was able to inhale again. Here's super dave climbing down the stairs...we got off directly on the tarmac!



With the time change being in our favor, we took off from Charlotte at 7:45am, and we landed in Kona at 1:45pm. The funny thing is that we weren't able to buy lunch until we landed in Hawaii, so we had a steady diet of eggs! We were definately ready for something with a little more sustenance being that it was 7:45pm back home. We picked up our rental car, and headed off to grab dinner (well lunch), after checking in to our hole in the wall, the kona seaside hotel. We went down to dinner at "The Fish Hopper". Although they have "Fish" in their name, they have some of the best damn burgers I've ever tasted. Not to mention, the burgers were on special for $10 with a schooner of beer! So far, me and supa deezahh have been there for dinner 3 nights of the 5 we've been here.

Good eats!



Cheers!



The view wasn't bad either!



Once we got settled into our hotel, we decided to have a few strategy sessions for the upcoming convention. On our second day on the island, Dave found a great local dive bar called "Coconuts". It was a second story bar with the best view I've found so far on the island, and best of all, they served dollar tacos! Now you know where we've eaten dinner the other 2 nights we've been here so far. I've gone through 12 tacos. Combine that with a cold Steinlager (a new zealand beer), and you've got another great dinner. Gonna have to go on a diet when I get home!

Our view from the comfort at a bar stool at Coconuts.





With our plans set, we took a little time for R&R, and went snorkeling! All around the hotel, there were reefs with tons of fish and sea porcupines. I pricked my finger on one. It's tough to stay on the bottom so I made mistake of trying to hold onto the reef for a picture. Doh! We even saw a huge 5 foot moray eel! It was Supa Dave's first time snorkeling. He almost drowned a few times, lol! A few shots:







We also did some touring around the Island in the convertible!



I can tell you one thing so far about Kona. We have yet to meet one sane person who wasn't working. So far we've met Joey, who was bragging about hooking up with a fat 21 year old chick, even though he was married, and his wife was currently undergoing surgery for ovarian cancer. By the way, he smuggled his wife across the canadian border, is on the run from the IRS (who he owes $20k to), and was actually in the Perfect Storm...not the movie, the actual hurricane...he hasn't seen the part in the movie where they all die.

Besides that we met a newly wed couple who was nuttier than your Aunt Fae's 10lb fruit cake. He was busy hitting on a girl that was interested in Supa, while she was in the back of the bar "dj'ing" with the bartender. The guy had a freshly split lip. Apparently the same bartender had to save the guy from getting his butt kicked the night before, only to have the guy walk down to another local bar and get knocked out by a "UFC fighter".

I can say this about Hawai'i. You can't beat the food, the sunsets, or the water. The people are down right crazy, the hotels are holes in the wall, and make sure you fly only first class if you plan on flying here.

Interview With Mark Boone of WCNC News

That's how I roll...