Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The 2009 Malcolm McLeod Memorial


(Little River GC - 18th Hole)

Well kids, I'm back!

Sorry I'm tardy this week posting anything here, but I have a few good (errrr...mediocre?) reasons for it.

1. I am still sleep deprived from the long, glorious, golf-tastic weekend!
2. My stupid office at work is in disarray because it's being painted amidst a ton of other expansion construction.
3. The internet was down all day on Monday.
4. I went to the Caps-Pens Game 2 on Monday night, and well, I'm now even MORE tired. (But very happy! Gigigigigigigi!)

Anyway, on with the photos and videos from the trip.

Thanks to Laura Chadderdon at Little River Resort in Carthage (10 mins out of Pinehurst proper) for working with our group of 16 merry drunken men. I very much recommend Little River, as their improvements to both the clubhouse, bar/restaurant, and lodging has made this place a real up-and-comer in the Pinehurst scene.

The golf course has also made great strides and there are some incredible holes on the back nine that provide elevation changes and views that are otherwise hard to find in the area.

Here's a few selected pics from the event.


The classy kind of guys I roll with...


The high skill level of all the players...


The level of commitment to the game they all have...


Understanding the importance of liberal use of sunscreen....


The occassional good shot...


The treacherous #9 at The National...


The frantic warm up on the driving range (my tee time is NOW???)


Making sure to maintain format "integrity" at the bar...


And a thirsty final salvo after another hard day on the links!

I also must thank again Ken Crow of The National for having us over at his place on Saturday for 36 holes. The Jack Nicklaus signature design is flat out awesome in my book, and easily the best "modern" layout in all of the sandhills. Add to that immaculate conditions, and great hospitality, and I would most certainly recommend going through them for a group package as well.

Of course, Ken's son Benjamin listens to my show on the way to school (I hope daddy is quick with the mute finger when needed!) and it's always great to see him.

Now to make you really sick, just look at this little guy's move! It's awesome!



Not only that, but he was quick to observe that I changed my shirt and putter between rounds after losing in the morning. Damn kids! So observant! But the joke was on him! Because I played well and won in the afternoon! Take that, grade schooler!

All of these slow-mo videos are shot using my Casio EX F-1 camera which I bought in August of 2008. It's one of the coolest consumer level cams I've ever owned. It is a dual use SLR and movie camera. It takes not only very good 5 mega-pixel stills with 10x optical zoom (the only gripe is a sub-par auto-focus) but also SUPER slo-mo, burst photos, and even HD video.

Casio quickly came out with a slighly less expensive version, but one that still has all the cool super slow-mo ability. It's called the EX-FH20 and I think far superior to the one I bought in many ways.

It has slightly downgraded specs in the following areas.

1. "Only" 1000 frames per second hi-speed slow-mo max, not 1200. (I use just 300 frames per second on these golf videos and it's the perfect speed).

2. 720p HD vs. 1080i. (Irrelevant, IMHO).

3. 40 frames per second of "burst" pictures instead of 60. (I found that 10 frames per second is the perfect # for catching impact images of golf shots. As you can see from some of the above photos, I am able to get impact images by shooting 2-3 seconds of 10fps burst shots and deleting all but the best ones.)

Furthermore, the EX-FH20 has a longer zoom (20x) and is smaller and lighter than the EX-F1, which can be a touch bulky. (Although it makes you look like a more 'professional' shutterbug, if that matters to you.)

And, it's cheaper!

Most of all, I like the fact that the Casio cameras have a totally SILENT shutter, so I can snap away on golf swings while standing right next to somebody, and not cause a snap hook. Not so, with most high level SLR's which make a fairly loud CLICK!

If you want a cool toy, I think you should really check one of these puppies out.

So let me leave you with a few of the beer-swings of my guys. Not bad, but also not exactly Tiger-esque.





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