Tulip City Dispatch

  From The Newsroom  by The Holland Sentinel.  It's a corporate-sponsored podcast, given that the Sentinel is a Gannett property, but it allows the editorial staff of The Sentinel to do deep-dives into local interest stories.  Local interest?  Count me the heck in! One of the first 'sodes I listened to was about the infiltration of dark money into the mayoral race in Holland.  Mailers, phone calls, and texts were being sent around the city by a political action committee (PAC) calling then-candidate (current Mayor) Nate Bocks things like "radical," and a "Bernie Sanders Democratic Socialist," totally ignoring the fact that mayoral races don't have party affiliations.  Both candidates, even the one who stood to benefit from such action, denounced the action.  Not to mention the fact that Holland is a small town.  Love ya to death, Holland, but we're just not that important. Another 'sode dealt with cold cases and unsolved murders in the area....

 As mentioned in  The Thrill Of The Hunt , fortune struck twice as I found a set of great condition Ping Eye 2 irons.  I'd already had a set of MacGregor MCX irons, so I headed to X Golf in Holland  to jump on their simulator and get some telemetry data comparing the two iron sets: MacGregor MCX Distance Club Ping Eye 2 Distance 150 3 Iron 160 130 4 Iron 150 140 5 Iron 120 140 6 Iron 120 120 7 Iron 110 110 8 Iron 110 95 9 Iron 90 95 Wedge 100 Now, these are drastically shorter than my modern gamer set, the Ping G400.  My modern Pings are substantially more consistent, with my 9 iron going on average 120, and each club getting about 10 yards farther each step up. There are also discrepancies in the telemetry system...

 Hot dog, I'm writing a review of a product before it's officially released to the public! Whereas the normal Checkers Big Buford consists of "100% beef hamburger patties, topped with two slices of melted American cheese, iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion, dill pickles, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise all on a toasted bakery-style bun," the Loaded Buford seemed to swap out the lettuce and tomato for french fries and bacon. Not gonna lie - it's a bit much.  The flavors are great, everything just works.  But, it's an incredibly large sandwich.  I believe this feeling I've got after eating this is sometimes referred to as "the meat sweats." Anyway, the nice manager at Checkers said it's officially going on sale, tomorrow Saturday the 13th of February.  This location was equipped with the signage and recipe a day early, so I decided to take a little chance on it. Would I order it again? Yep.  Though, I might find a friend to share it with.

Club Cost Ghurka Marley Hodgson Golf Bag $3 Knight Heater driver $1 Affinity Copper Tungsten 5w $1 MacGregor MCX Irons $1 apiece; $7 for the 3-9i set Spalding 1 Iron $.50 Spalding 10 Iron $.50 Ping Zing 2 Sand Wedge $2 Adams GT 3 Wood $2 Ray Cook Putter $2.50 Tour Edge belly putter $2.50 Ping Zing putter $2 Maxfli A-10 Putter $3 Ping Eye 2 irons $2 Apiece; $16 for the 3-PW set Adams Idea 5 Hybrid $2 MacGregor Tourney Wedge Free*   *Originally $10, but had a $10 off coupon Seen above is the exact breakdown (minus Michigan's 6% sales tax) for every club I've purchased in the pursuit of the $50 Thrift Store Challenge.  In the spirit of said Challenge, the goal is to assemble a USGA tournament...

 In a strange turn of events, I've found another set of irons that were specifically called out in my original $50 Thrift Store Challenge post :  Ping Eye 2's. They were $2 apiece, for a total of $16 for the set 3-W. In keeping with my $50 budget , if I stick with the same bag ($3), driver ($1), 3 wood ($2), 1 iron ($.50), and putter ($2), that puts me at $8.50.  If I add the Pings in, that brings the total to $24.50...up from the $20 with the MacGregor MCX irons. Believe me when I say, I was floored to find these Pings at the thrift store!  I've got some data to share in forthcoming blog posts - I hit up X Golf and got some numbers/data/telemetry off of their simulator. Hit 'em straight, friends!