u/SnukeInRSniz

I went back and forth whether to even make this post, but maybe it'll help me decompress a bit. Yesterday I decided to run up to a local course and get in 18, the course is at 6k feet elevation and it was pretty hot, up around 90F. In front of the group I got paired with was a couple twosomes, one of the twosomes was some brothers and one of them would drive the cart while the other ran/jogged between shots and holes to get more exercise while playing. The one that jogged was a relatively fit (from what I could tell) 64 year old man. The gap between the 7th and 8th hole is pretty substantial and includes a not so insignificant hill that goes up and over a bridge/overpass for a road. Well the brother that jogged had a medical emergency, probably a heart attack or stroke, and ended up collapsing on that hill. We came upon him and another golfer was already giving him CPR, I'm BLS/CPR certified so I swapped in and out with the other golfer doing compressions. When I arrived he had no pulse and given the lack of a defibrillator and our relative distance to the closest fire station/medical center (course is in a canyon ~15-20 minutes from the city) I knew his chances were not good.

Unfortunately he fell right on his face when he collapsed and there was a lot of blood, which we tried to clear, but we ended up not doing mouth to mouth until his brother ended up coming back to try and find him. His brother did breaths while we did compressions until the fire truck arrived, it was a tough situation, he ended up not surviving.

Obviously a lot has crossed my mind in the time after that, but discussing the situation with my boss (who has seen about everything you can imagine as a part time certified Utah SAR) and a golfing buddy/coworker, we all came to the same conclusion, that's about the best way to go you could personally could hope for, obviously not so much for your loved ones and the people around you though. He had passed before he even hit the ground, doing something he loved doing, and didn't suffer one iota. His brother and the rest of us will have to carry the trauma of the situation, but if I'm going to pass away it would hopefully be instantaneous and without long term suffering while doing something I really enjoy.

So I just wanted to share the story and encourage others to enjoy life, enjoy the game, try not to take it all too seriously and while keeping yourself healthy try and understand that anything can happen to anyone at any time. Fair winds to the man that passed and his family, hopefully the course can honor him with a memorial plaque when they are ready.

Been thinking about this for the last few days, the last 3-4 weeks the scorching hot weather has made afternoon activities impossible and so I've been finding myself getting up earlier to try and get some things done before work. I have a course/range in between my house and work, about (I'm about 10 mins from work, so 5 mins to range and then 5 mins to work) and I've been putting in some range sessions and putting/chipping sessions prior to work in the morning. I've noticed the various "pains" of life a lot more lately at 40 years old, with a 4.5 year old daughter, and doing range sessions in the afternoons/evenings usually has me going to sleep and recovering while sleeping. Now, doing sessions in the morning has me feeling it in certain areas in the afternoon and evenings.

At first it was mostly tightness/slight pain in my right groin and left lower hamstring/back of the knee, I'm a right handed golfer. Thinking about it I realized I was probably swinging way too hard and rising early as I rotated through the swing. That seemed to correct and I haven't had any kind of that locational pain in the last few weeks. Today, though, I'm feeling much more pain in my right hand and right elbow, up into my right shoulder/neck. I'm wondering if perhaps I am gripping with my right hand too hard and swinging too much with my right arm vs letting the legs/hips do more work.

Anyone have any insights into what various kinds of pain felt after the fact tells you about swing mechanics and where to be more conscious in terms of repetitive (perhaps improper) swing movements/techniques?

I signed up to do a club fitting at a local shop in a week, but I just wanted to go in and hit some clubs/get a baseline with my 7 iron (12 year old Callaway X2 Hot). Found that my carry with the 7 iron is roughly 150-155 and total distance coming in at 160-165, backspin around 5500 and drop angle around 35-40 degrees. For what it's worth, I'm a 10-12 handicap, looking to try and get that down under 10, finally playing more than I have the last 3-4 years (have a 4 year old, been limited mostly to 2-3 rounds per year in that time).

While there I just tried hitting some of the available used clubs, Titleist T150, Cobra King Tour, Mizuno M15, Callaway Apex Ai200, Srixon ZXi5, and some Mizuno S3. I was hoping to hit some Srixon ZX7's, but they didn't have any available.

To my surprise I hit the S3's the best in terms of ball speed, spin in the 6500-7200 range, dispersion was tight, drop angle around 43-48 degrees. The clubs had modus 120 shafts installed. Despite being 4 degrees more lofted than my Callaway, I was still carrying the S3 7 iron 150 and a total distance of around 160.

I'm just questioning what that information tells me hitting from mats, how it translates to what real world hitting would be like. From what I've read the S3's are not geared towards my level. I'll obviously out a lot more faith in the fitting results, but I'm just curious what others experienced in the translation of indoor sim to outdoor/grass. I worry mostly about turf interaction and consistency in inconsistent grass conditions.

Edit: fwiw I'm 40 and have played for 25 years, so not a beginner, but haven't really pushed much in terms of improving beyond a 10-15 handicap due to other life stuff.

My father is 74, male, born with one kidney, and been in stage 4 kidney failure following a kidney infection roughly 4 years ago. He's on farxiga (for at least 3 years that I know of) and his GFR has been pretty steady in the low to mid-20's for the last 4 years. Over the last 6 months his GFR has seemed to be bouncing around a bit more, a few weeks ago it went up to 30, yesterday it dropped to 22, he's also had higher glucose measurements lately and had a high potassium reading not too long ago (which I personally think was a technical problem and not a real number). He's got high anxiety and it seems to be causing a lot of mental stress the last few months, I've offered to go with him to his appointments several times before and finally he's agreed that I should go with him tomorrow. FWIW I have a graduate education in molecular and cellular biology, 20 years of biomedical research (not kidney oriented, mostly cancer and genetics), blah blah blah so I'm not totally clueless when it comes to some of this stuff.

My dad is a relatively poor mid to long term planner, we've tried helping him implement lifestyle and diet changes as suggested by his doctors previously, but he's just not great and making/implementing consistent long term strategies to help improve his overall outcome. He mostly just takes things day by day, my mom passed away 2 years ago and as my wife and I have learned, she was the crux to the whole long term planning for the household. He now lives by himself in the same massive house despite us repeatedly suggesting to him to sell the home and move into a home more manageable, or even with us so we can help with his semi-frequent doctor visits and helping him implement more longterm health choices (especially diet) that can be beneficial. He basically eats out every meal, doesn't really eat healthy options that are low-salt, low-potassium or any of the other suggestions by his doctors.

Otherwise, his overall health seems to be ok beyond the kidney function besides the anxiety. We've encouraged him to seek therapy to help with the anxiety, but he's pretty anti-therapist. I know GFR isn't the be-all/end-all of overall kidney function and I know day to day numbers can change quite a bit, I've tried to reassure him of this and try to get him to see the long term trend/stability, but again....(I keep mentioning long term, it's a recurring theme with him).

My goal for going with him to his nephrologist appointment tomorrow is to be both supportive of/for him, help him "translate" what his doctor is saying since he seems to really struggle with the nuance of medical terminology and discussions, and also try to be a bridge between him and the doctor in terms of implementing more long term options for him. So that's where my need for help arises, I THINK a 6 month window seems like a good starting place for him for making/implementing any changes that could be helpful. At his age and the fact that he has one kidney, I'm just not sure what his outlook could be. What are people's experience for stage 4 CKD with a single kidney while in their 70's? Data suggests the median survival for his sex, age, and status is roughly 4 years, which he's at now, but patient variability is HUGE for this kind of stuff and I don't want to imply that we should be preparing for the worst. Is it too early to plan for something like dialysis? Is a transplant something a patient in their mid-70's could realistically count on? Given his lifestyle and tendencies, I think he's going to resist dialysis and may outright reject the idea of a transplant, fwiw.

Thanks for any help any/or suggestions.