So I whipped one up for Mother’s Day. Very similar process and dimensions. I used pieces of old oak flooring and stained it.
My new sliding miter saw has a depth stop, so I used that to the dados and cleaned them up with a chisel. Can you spot the huge mistake though? I marked and cut the dados the same way in both sides of the ladder. Since everything is on a 10° angle, I couldn’t rotate the pieces to work, and ended up with two left sides. Milled up a board for a new right side, which went much quicker.
Last summer I blazed through my first read of “The Four Foundations of Golf” by Jon Sherman and loved it. I just finished my second reading and will likely read it once or twice a year. The information is so good.
Jon has been golfing for decades and does a wonderful job presenting everything in an easy to read format. He runs the Practical Golf site, where a lot of the same information is presented in different ways. His Twitter account is a great follow as well.
A big part of the book focuses on strategy, which many of us get wrong. Here’s a taste…
Last year I started using the Golfshot GPS and scoring app on an Apple watch for the first time. I switched from using a range finder to zap the pin on each hole to using middle and back of the green distances, which I get from a watch. It’s really changing my game. After reading Four Foundations I realized I needed more stats to help me determine where I could improve the most. I bought the new Shot Scope X5 watch, which provides all of the strokes gained data I need. I’m looking forward to putting in more practice time this year to see where I can take my handicap.
It’s probably not a coincidence that Jon and Adam have a podcast together, called The Sweet Spot, which you can find on all of the podcasting platforms. I’ve started reading Adam’s book, “The Practice Manual: The Ultimate Guide for Golfers” and am learning a lot more about the physics of golf and how to use that information to determine what is happening when I hit the ball. You can bet I’ll post a review when I’m finished with the book.
“The Four Foundations of Golf” is a must read for every golfer.
Is it just me or do they release a lot of blue flavors? Maybe I have a memory bias because it’s my favorite color.
B thinks it tastes like the bomb pop Faygo, but that was the 2022 Voo-Dew. I don’t get that and I’m having a hard time placing the taste, but the initial wave of aftertaste is very familiar. Overall it’s a solid flavor I’d drink again if someone gave it to me. I don’t think I’d buy one, so it gets a 6/10.
I’ve been wanting to learn about strokes gained because it’s everywhere in golf now. What better source than a book written by the man who created strokes gained? “Every Shot Counts” by Mark Broadie.
So what is strokes gained?
Strokes gained is a way of analysing a player’s performance level when comparing every aspect of their performance with other players within a particular dataset. It measures the golfer’s performance taking into account, the hole length, shot length, lie type of every shot and putt during a round of golf.
The PGA Tour has really embraced SG, replacing many of the traditional golf stats for the most part. It’s a great way to measure the golf game and now there are products like Arccos and Shot Scope available to amateurs like me who want to analyze their own game to determine weaknesses and improve their handicap. I bought the new X5 watch from Shot Scope and will post about it after I’ve played more rounds with it.
There were parts of the book that seemed to repeat over and over again, but I realize stats and math can be hard for people to understand, so I think Mark was trying to drive home the concepts. The book was released in 2014, so I really enjoyed all of the references to Tiger Woods domination. SG shows how much better he was than everyone else who teed it up.
Overall it’s a really great book on the topic. You get in depth information about SG, the different categories, and plenty of examples from the PGA Tour. Perhaps the most valuable part of the book is the strategy information near the end. By using the math, Mark teaches the reader how to use SG to determine optimal decisions on the golf course.
With the data I’ve started collecting and some other things I’m reading, I’m excited to see where I can take my game this year. Stay tuned!
I prefer to walk golf courses. It’s great exercise, gives me time prepare for shots as well as reflect, and it’s faster than riding. I bought a Clicgear 3.0 three wheel cart in 2011 and with some minor fixes over the years it’s worked great.
I’m not getting any younger and I want to keep walking as long as I can, so I’ve thought about a motorized push cart. Then I came across the Club Booster V2 by Alphard (save $50!), which converts your own push cart into a motorized one. The reviews were awesome so I ordered a refurb unit for $647. Here’s my first test after assembly.
I was impressed, but the dragging front wheel while turning didn’t work very well, so I quickly ordered the Swivel Conversion Kit for $89. The kit replaced the front wheel with an axle where the original back wheels mounted to make it a four wheel cart with a swivel front. It makes a huge difference for maneuverability and stability.
By the time I finished my first nine holes I felt very comfortable controlling it. I’ve played two 18 hole rounds and this upgraded cart let’s me play faster and leaves me fresher for the back nine. I’m surprised how much energy I save not having to push the cart. I’m thinking about doing a detailed review post.
There were two problems though. The parts took up too much floor space in the garage and looked messy. I also forgot to take the wheelie bars for the first round I played.
I needed some type of rack to keep things organized, help me remember to grab everything, and make changing easy. I thought about having slots for the axle or something to prevent the unit from falling to the floor. After cutting a piece of plywood and laying things out, I realized a simple shelf with holes for the wheelie bars is all I needed.
Just what I needed. I love a quick build.
With a motor this is a vehicle for my golf clubs, so it needed a name. I’ve been struggling to think of anything, so I asked ChatGPT.
Those are some good ones and I chuckled. Brandi’s idea was to call it R2-D2, but I don’t like reusing a specific name. I like the style, so I settled on CB-V2 since the unit is like my own droid.
As I was finishing my closet reorganization I couldn’t help myself and had to make something. I have three sizes of nitrile gloves.
This gave me an idea based on plastic bag organizers I’ve seen on Facebook Marketplace.
I made a quick sketch, took some measurements, and grabbed plywood scraps.
It was a simple construction, using wood glue and pin nails to hold it together. I did screw on the back in case I ever need to get inside. I carved in the letters with whatever bit was on my rotary tool.
The top and bottom were made long so I could screw the unit in place.
I did finish organizing and cleaning the closet, so here are before and after pictures.
I’m glad that’s done. Time for some non-shop projects.
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This is some vanilla based flavor. I didn’t care for it after the first couple of drinks, but it grew on me a little, even though I wouldn’t buy it again. I’ll give it 5/10.
I might end up getting a right angle jack to help with the strain relief. We’ll see how this holds up.
Yeah…
It hadn’t failed, but was heading that way. I didn’t help that I don’t have any heat shrink large enough to go over the end of that barrel jack. I ordered a pack of right angle barrel jacks from Amazon and soldered the wires in.
Didn’t work. The jack wasn’t long enough or the wrong size to make a good connection to the power source. I wish I had checked connections before soldering the wires on. I ordered a different style of jack in two sizes, 5.5 x 2.1 mm and 5.5 x 2.5 mm.
The 5.5 x 2.5, on the left, turned out to be the correct size. After confirming (multiple times) the positive and negative sides of each connection I slipped on some heat shrink, soldered the wires to the jacket, and blasted flames at the heat shrink.
The right angle is a much better connection because of how the battery sits in the jacket pocket and the extra length will help with strain relief. I feel better about having a soldered connection as well. It’s a win all around.
First up was upgrading the power cords on my table saw and jointer to be longer and beefier. I chopped a couple of 15 foot lengths off an old extension cord my Dad gave me years ago, which I still haven’t used. After wiring them in to the switch I installed a new plug on the end.
I also replaced the metal castors I had originally put on the table saw cart because they were horrible. The new ones roll real smooth.
I needed spots for more clamps and had empty space in the clamp storage area. I’ve wanted to redo that area anyway.
I got creative, using a couple pieces of copper pipe saved from the old shower and some old microwave mounting rods.
The shop closet is in need of a lot of love. The lighting has always bugged me and it was a good place to start so I’d be able to see when tackling the rest of the room. The pull string and single bulb had to go.
After wiring, I mounted the lights to a scrap of plywood and that to the joists. I had to add an outlet because my router and other network equipment are in here and they had been plugged in to the light fixture. There was an open ground, so I opened up the light in the adjacent furnace room and connected the ground wires.
What a difference!
It’s very bright in the closet now and the motion sensing works great. I thought about wiring half of the outlet to the switch so I could mount LED strips under each shelf that would turn on with motion as well. Maybe a later project if I think it’s needed. After I reorganize and get everything accessible at the front of shelves I think it’ll be fine though.
The other part of the closet that really annoyed me was the spray paints because I could only see the front cans and had to move things out of the way to get to back rows. It was hard to know exactly what I had.
I cut out the shelf and cross supports above the cans and removed the sheet of plywood that was the can shelf. This allowed me to gain extra height and assemble an entire unit to drop in place. I cut rabbets in the surrounding plywood box and used interweaving hardboard to create the internal compartments.
Talk about a stressful glue-up! With space for 40 cans, it still wasn’t enough storage, but I have a lot of duplicates that’ll eventually get used up.
The rest of the closet is still a mess and an accumulation of junk. It needs a cleaning and complete reorganization, so I don’t have any plans to build anything. If plans change or anything seems useful, I’ll be sure to share.
Today at work our larger Human Resources team had a social activity, which was learning some Origami. When I was searching Amazon for paper, this wood grain pattern pack was suggested and I didn’t hesitate.
From making paper airplanes I remember how hard it is to get proper half folds at the corners, and it was no different here. You also have no idea how something is going to turn out until the end. I love making things, so this was fun. I decided to challenge myself even more by keeping up to make two of each model.
I have a lot of the paper, so when I need to chill out from work, I’m going to try some of the other models. If you’d like to give it a try, check out the Origami Fun site, which has a lot of instructions.
I’ve been wanting to learn about strokes gained because it’s everywhere in golf now. What better source than a book written by the man who created strokes gained? “Every Shot Counts” by Mark Broadie.
Nick Momrik 