Back nine - Poppy Ridge

Both batteries for my HTC smartphone were dead by the turn and the live-blog effort at Poppy Ridge ended then and there. I had my Olympus point-and-shoot in the bag, so took few more shots on the back.  In no particular order, and with no particular recollection of which holes were which - the back nine:

Probably as good a day as we've ever seen for an OGC opener at Poppy Ridge in January.

RE 104
DS 104
MW 107
CC 118

I've done worse on this course. The greens were dry, fast, and punitive.  I had a few pars, and a string of good holes, but with five snowmen on the scorecard, there is only so much one can reasonably expect for a final score. 

Despite the scores, our team net was -15. Respectable. Unlike our individual scores.

At the turn

RE 50
DS 52
MW 55
CC 59

Team -8

Battery is almost dead. 

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Birdie and par putts on 9

On in regulation, but missed the birdie putt.

Sinking the par putt while straddling Dave's line.

On in regulation.

Routine two putt for a par.

It's an easy game when you think about it.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Roy and Dave tee off on 8

Roy into the left rough.

Dave into the right rough.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Dave out of the trap on 5

Apparently the golfers in the other cart like the beach.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Carolyn out of the greenside trap on 1

That would be her second trap of the first hole.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Live Blogging Poppy Ridge

First Oracle Golf Club event of the year. I'm playing with Roy, Dave and Carolyn.

This weather is a disaster for the state, but is it ever perfect for golf. 

Will try to blog for as long as the battery holds out.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

At City Hall for another skirmish in the Sharp Park Golf War. Latest dispatch from the front line.

 Back at City Hall for round 2 of 3 in the latest skirmish of the EssEff Golf War.

Bo Links represents SF Public Golf Alliance before Rec & Park Commission

 Another good day. Like the Planning Commission last week, the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission voted unanimously to finally proceed with the first small step in the Sharp Park Safety Infrastructure Improvements and Habitat Enhancement Plan. This being San Francisco, we're not there yet. The WEBLEEDU's will be appealing the RECPARK decision, which means the next step is before the Board of Supervisors. This is where it gets dicey. We know there are at least a couple of Supervisors on the board who have in the past voted to give away control of this civic treasure to the Feds, and will do so again.

The Supes represent the WEBLEEDU Axis best chance to prevail and no doubt they will send in the "A Team" for a hearing before the board. They didn't do that today. Today we just saw volunteers who responded to a WEI e-mail blast. There was one interesting and unexpected fallout from that strategy - I'll get to that later when I update this post with more verbiage. Stand by...

Ex-mayor Julie Lancelle of Pacifica speaks in support of the Sharp Park plan

 UPDATE: Watching Julie Lancelle at the dais, I had a sense of deja vu. Checked back on my blog and sure enough - it was December 16, 2009 -  Julie and some of the very same Sharp Park supporters  in the room were offering their support for the Sharp Park habitat improvement plan before the Rec and Park Commission. Then as now, the commission voted unanimously to implement the plan. It was the same fucking plan. Four years later and we are in exactly the place trying to implement a small subset of the same plan which will now be appealed before the Board of Supervisors.

Four years of delay and obstruction from the WEBLEEDUs are stopping the City from implementing needed habitat improvements for the California Red Legged Frog at Sharp Park. In those four year the habitat for the frog continued to degrade.  Laguna Salada and Horse Stable Pond has been a managed habitat since the construction of the golf course made it a viable habitat for the frog decades ago. It needs to be continually managed to permit the frog to continue to flourish there. But the WEBLEEDU Axis is trying to prevent that from happening. That should tell you everything you need to know about the Wild Equity Institute and the Center for Biological Diversity.  They do not have the interest of the Red Legged Frog at heart. For them, the endangered frog and snake are a means to an end.  Their objective is to force the City to give up control of Sharp Park to the Federal Government, they are not willing to accept anything else and they are willing to let the frog habitat at Sharp Park degrade to make that happen. That's fucked up.  That's why we need to continue to fight them.

One more thing - I think they call this the "buried lede"

This happened. A local woman who spoke at last week's planning commission was also present today and spoke before the RECPARK commission. She was brief and basically just hit on some of the e-mailed WEI talking points. She sat back down and listened to the Sharp Park supporters speak. At the end the secretary asked if anyone else wanted to speak during public comment. She raised her hand and indicated she had something else to say.  The secretary told her that she only gets one turn.  I assumed she wanted to rebut some of our comments. I was wrong. 

After the meeting a few of us were in the hall discussing the meeting. She walked up to us and said: " I just wanted you to know that I only came here because I am on the WEI mailing list and they said we should come here to speak. After listening I realized that this situation is not at all like what they said. Rec and Park are trying to improve the habitat for the frog. I feel like I was bamboozled."

She was. Hearing her acknowledge that fact was the best thing that happened all day.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone and later updated and reformatted.

19th Hole

Hope that things are getting back to normal in my golf game.  Today I posted my first round breaking 100 since returning to the game.

BP 86
MW 95

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Our drives on 18

Bob and I hit our drives 230 yards to within six inches of each other. Of course, my drive kicked his ass. And I believe if you look closely, you might see an asterisk on his drive.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Bob on 17th tee

Even though I am not live blogging today's round, I had to post at least one shot on 17.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Report from Lincoln at the turn

No live blog today due to the unfortunate absence of half of our foursome, a last minute cancellation of pair of unreliable golfers who will not be named.  Bob and  I were instead paired with Frank and Matt, who are giving a very good impression of being real golfers. Decided not to burden them with my live blogging fetish, even though they did seem to enjoy the Zwicker beers. Besides no one wants to see that many pictures of Bob.

Report from the turn.

BP 45
MW 49

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Birthday Report - Food, Drink, Politics, Sharp Park, Sushi

San Francisco Planning Commission Hearing on Sharp Park

On this, the first anniversary of my sixth decade wandering this earthly vale of tears, an eclectic and interesting day. Starting with a...

Gourmet Breakfast:

Birthday baked eggs

 Baked eggs, french style, prepared with butter, cream and herbes de provence prepared by my lovely wife. The eggs were themselves a birthday gift from golf buddy Rick, fresh from the free range chickens wandering in his back yard. A great start on the day.

Civic Duty:
Next up, a walk down to City Hall for a hearing of the Planning Commission on a long delayed, much needed Sharp Park Golf Course project.   On the walk down the hill, winding through EssEff neighborhood side streets and alleys, I passed by two young boys (3 and 5?) playing with a ball, supervised by their nanny.  The older boy looked at me as I walked by and announced "Old Man!" This actually happened. It's not a problem. I'm pretty sure no one will find the body.

Bo Links of SFPGA listening to Lisa Wayne of RecPark explain the project to the commission.

 The hearing was the latest skirmish in the on-going San Francisco Golf War. The WEBLEEDU Axis was well represented, but so were the good guys from the San Francisco Public Golf Alliance. I prepared some brief remarks, but they were not brief enough. At the 2 minute cutoff I was only about half way through what I wanted to say. Must talk faster.  Net net... a good day for the home team.  The commission voted unanimously to proceed with the project:

Sharp Park Golf Course project to move ahead
John Wildermuth

"San Francisco golfers won another round Thursday when the City Planning Commission agreed to move ahead with construction at the Sharp Park Golf Course, despite complaints from environmentalists. The commission rejected a call to require a full environmental impact report on the project, an expensive process that can take months to complete. Environmentalists contend the construction could harm the threatened California red-legged frogs and San Francisco garter snakes that live at the Pacifica golf course... The proposed work, however, is a limited and relatively simple project that affects less than one of Sharp Park's 417 acres, said Lisa Wayne, open space manager for the city's Recreation and Park Department, which runs the golf course. Much of the work, including clearing existing waterways and building a shallow, 1,600-square-foot pond, is designed to improve the habitat for the frogs. She also said no increase in pumping is planned. As part of a habitat improvement agreement with the federal government, "we're required to have that pond in by next year," she said. Building the pond and clearing brush and reeds that have grown up over the years will allow the frogs to get to the water to breed."

A small victory, but a victory nevertheless. And all victories should be celebrated:

Literary Lunch:

 Our venue - Absinthe on Hayes, and by "lunch" I mean "lunch" in the grand tradition of the much maligned Carter era "Three Martini Lunch".

Celebrating with Bo and Brad

 I can highly recommend both their Martini and Manhattan. However, I felt quite the slacker in the company of my literary drinking buddies - Bo Links, author of Follow the Wind and photographer Brad Knipstein, author of the just published "Alister MacKenzie's Legacy of Public Golf at Sharp Park":

Had a chance to peruse the book over drinks. It's great. Can't wait to get my own copy.

Sushi Dinner:
 Stumbled home and recovered in time for a birthday dinner Sigrid arranged at Okina Sushi:

 A small Richmond district neighborhood gem. Great traditional sushi, fun sushi chef, it's a real find. Definitely recommended, but not sure we'd put it above our long time favorite - Shimo's on Clement.

A very good day. Even for an "Old Man".

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone and subsequently updated with more pics and links.

19th Hole

Niners, Reuben, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. It's all good.

MW 101
RZ 113

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

16th tee portrait.

Me, Brian and Rick. I think I may need to add Brian to the Bad Golfer distribution list.  He seems to take the live blogging in stride. Plus I hit him with my second shot on the third hole. He didn't mind that either. Our kind of golfer.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

My birdie putt on 15

For the second time in the last two outings at Sharp, I have a makeable birdie putt on 15.

And when I say "makeable", I mean makeable for me.

For the second time in the last two outings at Sharp, I miss the putt.

Rick out of the trap on 14...

...and over the green.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Off the 14th tee

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Brian tees off on 12...

 ...to the fringe and a par.The way golf is supposed to be played.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Rick sinks his par putt on 10

 ... while Brian looks on. Brian had the unfortunate luck to be assigned to us by the starter. He continued to play with us despite my hitting him with a golf ball on the third hole. He may have a future on the Bad Golfer list.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Semi-Live Blogging Sharp Park

Just me and Rick today. Beautiful day on the course. We are competing with the Forty Niner game. Nobody is out here. It's like our private club. I wasn't going to live blog  the round, but we'll take a few shots as we make our way around.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

Live Blogging Lincoln

On the second stop of my comeback tour. Bob and Rick on a beautiful morning at Lincoln Park.

Sent from my Sprint HTC smartphone.

UPDATE/EDIT 1/6/14: Your loyal blogger suffered a catastrophic technical failure on the course yesterday. The HTC smartphone battery was depleted by the 3rd hole. We did take a few more pics, I thought they were posted, but they appear to have disappeared into the ether. At the turn, I replaced the battery with what I believed to be a fully charged replacement (and replenished the foursome spirits with the traditional beer waiting in the cooler). Alas, it also crapped out in a few holes.

At this point I cannot say what happened. I suspect that this was simply an act of god, telling me it is time to finally replace the HTC smartphone, and/or telling me to never reveal what transpired on the course.

The remaining pics are still in the phone, but I fear I will be tempting fate by trying to post them now. Best to let these sleeping stories lie.