F70EXR – A Beautiful Warm Golf Day

How strange … I took a warm, pleasant day off yesterday to spend playing golf with Nick. And woke up this morning to snow on the ground. Luckily, I caught both on digital film …

I did not shoot the whole day long yesterday … just starting around the 14th or so … and just a few images to capture the quality of the day.

This next one is probably on the 15th green. I believe that I picked up my ball because I lost two in the water on successive shots … one in front of the green and one behind. On this hole … you *hit* the green.

Anyway … I shot Nick three times … one at 0EV and one each at +1 and +2 because he was backlit. The 0EV shot turned out best, because lifting the face with the dodge tool is easy, and the rest looks right. The +2EV shot is shown here too, after severely dropping the exposure in ACR. The image is not horrid … which means that the EXR sensor again has a surprising amount of latitude for over exposure. Interesting …

0EV

+2EV

I then  amused myself by shooting through my rose colored sunglasses, which are polarized. This is my best shot at color correcting to resulting image. Gotta say that it almost worked … the sky sure came out rich.

Our playing companions were a couple of older gentlemen who were pulling their carts along the way. They were far better than I was … even a bit better than Nick. I chose a driving cart in order to speed things up and protect my damaged Achilles tendon. It worked … no pain.

The 16th tee shot through the rose glasses again. Nice …

This was a beautiful scene that film just could not quite capture. Bright sun looks great to the eye, but creates harsh glare that is tough to capture in a lush, almost pastoral scene.

And finally … we reach the 18th. a 535 yard par 5. I am in agony by now, as my back is tired of the twisting … I have had some marvelous shots, including a drive we calculated at about 300 yards. Nick has been playing very consistently, and is looking at a very good score.

I stiffen my back and concentrate like crazy for one good hit. And I smash a decent drive of about 250 yards. Nick pounds it out there about 275. Wow. Youth.

I then hit a perfect 3 hybrid and am only 60 yards off the front of the green. Perfect lob wedge distance. We drive over and look at Nick’s lie. It is perfect, causing him to take out the 5 metal. He smashes it with within about 10 or 15 feet. Amazing … 250 yards.

We get to the green and I play on. I won’t tell you how many bad swings I had with the lob wedge … earlier in the game I could have come within 10 feet of the flag for a birdie putt … this hole I was putting for a double bogey by the time I traversed the last 60 yards :-) … the short game is where you really lose it when your back is done.

Everyone finishes and it is time for Nick’s *eagle* putt …

Ahhhhh …

Well, the good news is that he shot a 91. His best score ever by 3 strokes. I shot a 114 … average for me. Only 5 years ago Nick struggled to beat me … times have sure changed.