The Loop

Rangefinders, Ivan Lendl, lawyer feet, a lazy 30-year-old, a hole-in-one, and vegan burgers for dinner

June 28, 2014

My ancient laser rangefinder, a Bushnell PinSeeker 1500, finally stopped working. The low-battery warning began flashing and wouldn't stop, even though I replaced the battery, twice, using fresh spares from my golf bag. As soon as I got home, I ordered a new Bushnell Tour Z6, for $300. The Z6 is quite a bit smaller than the PinSeeker, and it weighs almost four ounces less -- a potential advantage in competition.

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The day after the Z6 arrived, I was rummaging in my desk and came across an unopened package of the kind of batteries the PinSeeker used to use. Out of curiosity, I popped one in, and -- what do you know? -- it worked just fine. I guess that carrying two 9-volt batteries in your golf bag for more than a year isn't a good idea, as far as the batteries are concerned. So I now have two perfectly functioning laser rangefinders, and I'll thank you not to mention that to my wife.

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I used the Z6 for the first time on Friday, in a match at home. The match was Addison and me against Ray and our Close Personal Friend Ivan Lendl, who belongs to a couple of clubs in our area, including our Enemy Club. I won't bore you with the details, except to say that I had a short birdie putt on the eighteenth hole to square the match, and missed it. But Addison had a slightly longer birdie putt to do the same thing and made it, so good for us. We're all square for now, and we will play a rematch at a time and place to be determined.

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Picasa

In the photo above, Ivan is using his own rangefinder, which is Bushnell's "hybrid" model. It has a laser, like mine, but it also has a GPS unit, which is sort of grafted onto the side. I asked him whether he ever used the GPS part, and he said he didn't because the GPS part (like all GPS yardage devices) is so power-hungry that if you use it you have to recharge it after every round.[#image: /photos/55ad79d1add713143b42a02b]|||bushnell hybrid.jpg|||

About 30 minutes after our match was over, Addison and I played again, in the Friday-afternoon edition of the Sunday Morning Group. During that round, several unusual things happened. First, Other Gene joined us late and played without shoes or socks, giving the rest of us a close look at something you don't see on a golf course every day: lawyer feet.

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Second, Austin, who is thirty years old and was the second youngest person playing that afternoon, took a cart after nine holes:

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Third, on the third hole -- a 185-yard par 3 -- David W. hit a gorgeous 4-iron shot, which landed on the green, rolled toward the flag, and disappeared. Nobody in our group, including David, could see well enough to be certain what had happened, but we had a feeling.

Because this was an S.M.G.-sanctioned outing, David will receive $250 from the Slush Fund. If he'd done the same thing on a Sunday morning, he'd have received twice as much.

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That evening, my wife, Ann Hodgman -- who has written several cookbooks, and is currently writing one for strict vegetarians -- made vegan burgers for dinner. They contained chick peas, barley, leeks, and other stuff. (That's the mixture, in the photo above.) They didn't taste like burgers made from beef, but I liked them. And when I got home from playing golf the next morning I ate two more of them, right out of the fridge.

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Now who's a good husband?