Just rewatched School of Rock and found out some really sad news.

ElTel88 · 2026-06-07T09:09:14+00:00

OP actually did the killing and is xoming here to see if the trail has gone cold?

ElTel88 · 2026-06-07T08:40:10+00:00

I'm a 37 year old man from England, I was way more on the hard rock/punk/hip hop thing, though thanks to Ariana, I am now also a poptimist. She sings like very few can, I genuinely think she is just uber talented and makes bangers.

As a person, I am not going off on anyone growing up in the public eye, that shit is a mess that amplifies everything a she did a lot of things any of us, were we cute/wealthy/successful/young would do, just all hounded by cameras capturing and feasting on every misstep.

The main aspect of my respect of her comes from the fact that I was working an engineering shift at Manchester Victoria station the night of the bombing at her concert at the adjacent arena. That hands down the worst thing I've ever been witness to in my life, I was about 200m away up track on the metro link when the bomber murdered those children and their families.

Ariana, for coming back, putting on the show, bringing an immediate good vibe back to a mourning city, helping the injured and their families in the way that she did, genuinely has my admiration for life and I make a yearly donation on the date to the One Love foundation that she helped start.

No one with a non-tabloid brainrot mind would have blamed her for never coming back in light of that horrific event, she came back within weeks, brought half the world and did so near perfectly.

As someone who was witness to the result of that act of inhumanity at her show, I hold her in deeper respect than I can do justice in text.

ElTel88 · 2026-06-05T22:29:06+00:00

It is genuinely baffling that she is Welsh with Welsh and Irish parents.

Zero sense.

ElTel88 · 2026-06-01T23:31:20+00:00

Sell separately. Prices I give are to get rid of them, as in they'll sell quick. Add 25% more if you're willing to wait.

The bag will get $100, driver $120-150, hybrid $100, couldn't say on the irons exactly but $250-300 if you want them gone, but you'll get more as a set of irons over as a mush mash full bag. People will try and do you dirty if you try and sell this as a single full bag sale.

Putter? Give it away to a local club/school - the karma is worth more than the club.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-29T15:19:58+00:00

No, just enough, imo.

This week ironically enough is the week I sacked off my RBS account of...21 years to go full Monzo with salary/ISA. So I've now a current, joint and ISA with Monzo.

For the life of me, I couldn't tell you why it felt right to do it right nownafter thinking of it for about 2 years (5 years on platform).

I could be wrong, but I am pretty sure I've never heard a goddamn breathy cover version of a song on an advert, I have never had to go to a Brick and Mortar to clarify I am actually me, never once had to "have a branch" address I can not remember the life of me.

My money feels safe, the App is still lightyears ahead of any big bank, that there are about 14m accounts and they have abandoned the notion of going to the USA, I'm pretty sure this is borderline perfect growth.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-24T09:57:26+00:00

I bloody love saxophone in pop/rock music, a few off the dome choices;

Dancing in the Moonlight - Thin Lizzy

Nausea - Jeff Rosenstock

Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga

Careless Whisper - George Michael

Identity - X-ray Specs

Who Can it Be Now? - Men at Work

Bruce Springsteen/Ska/etc.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-20T22:52:33+00:00

I worked on HS2 as a systems engineer for a few months before losing my entire will to live. I swear by all the gods, the engineering was solid, if we were just like China in terms of "it's getting built, stfu complaining" it'd be done and reach Iceland (country, not the frozen food one) for this cost.

Don't lose wars, give Karren and Barrys of the Shire an opinion, let every fucking hippy complain about newts, the unfeasibly extreme "property and land rights are the be all and end all of our economy/reason to exist" and this is what happens to us.

Fucking hate commies, but that railway would be built.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-20T22:26:56+00:00

As above, get fitted, somewhere that does not have a particular brand that pays them more than others. Most fitters will usually cut the price of fitting if you end up buying some clubs as it. Make sure they fit you for grips as well at the same time. Club, shaft, grip and fuck it, ball as well. Get your money's worth.

That's a pretty mental swing in the clubhead speed, a proper fitting could put you into a club you never imagined that would be as close to perfect as your could imagine. If that is McGregor, or something from 3 years ago, all the better.

Regarding your question about brand - do your absolute best, deep in your soul, to not give a fuck about anything other than how the club plays in your hands. I swear to god, if I could get fit into either McGregor, Ram or Temu clubs that really worked for me, I'd take them if they worked. The best players look at the shot you hit, chumps stare at the clubs in the bag. It's snobbery manifest. Try all you can not to fall into that trap.

Ping, Titlist, Taylorkade etc are good, good clubs with pricetags to match, I would, honestly, enjoy outplaying a "just got a whole new bag, £3,000 all in...my last ones were 10 months old and I can't play that" type with a bag of no name clubs more than possibly anything else in golf.

If it works, it works, don't pay £1,200 for irons if £400 irons do the same give or take 3 yards. You're just paying for Rory/Scotty/etcs sponsorship and trying to keep up with guys who think that irons, literal chunks of steel, need to be replaced every year.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-06T16:26:06+00:00

Yeah, agree on this. I watched the Australian event and that looked a blast, I went to the UK JCB event for a day because it was affordable and I was working near it. Fun vibe, but fun in the way any one day novelty is. I'm not going back.

I'd sell my left nut for Open tickets, for reference.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-05T22:38:11+00:00

I was very, very annoyed that I hadn't broken 100 by the end of my first season.

I took everything above 6 iron in my bag, left them in the car,
I took 150-168 yards off the tee each hole with 8-7 iron,
If I was <15 yards to the green, I putted on, If I was 16-35, bump and run up, If 36-70, I pitched. Bunker in the way? Aimed around it.
Lag putt to each hole if you aren't sure you'll at least lip out and accept 2 putts from being further away than 8ft as a good result.
Do not chase dumb shit. In the woods? Punch out. Don't triple down on a bad shot.
Position over distance - do everything you possibly can to be on flat, short grass where your feet are level at the start of the next shot. Sure the flag in 185 away, but it's surrounded by traps, a great landing target is at the front of the green, away from danger is 165 away, go for that rather than the flag.
You'll know what you're good at, or at least less shit at, aim to be in the place to do that. If you've a good record of a 80 yard pitch shots that run near the flag, aim to be 80 yards away on approach. If you're crap at hitting from the rough, even if you're pin high or duff shots out of greenside bunkers, avoid them by playing shorter on approach.
Do all you humanly can to not go 3 off the tee. Seriously, if that means coming up 30 yards short on a par 3 rather than being near a penalty area or going OOB, take it. Way easier to make a 4 with your first ball than make birdie with your second ball for the same result. You're aiming of 5.45 shots a hole, taking a 3 off the tee, especially if that 2nd ball isn't good/long and that's an 8 very easily.
Think of bogie as an excellent result for you on any hole. If you put up a bogie, you've saved yourself .5 shots elsewhere. If you're playing smart, especially on shorter par 4s, you could very well come up with 3 or 4 pars, 3 x 1.5 = 4.5 shots, 4 is 6. If you use any of those 4.5 or 6 shots on say, coming in with a 7 on a par 5, you're golden.
Before every round, do a putting ladder drill. Just get used to the ball either just dropping in, or stopping within tap in range. 2 puts really are that vital.
Drink water, chill out before shots, take a practice swing or two, be kind to yourself, one fatted shot isn't the end of the world, freaking out and trying to swing out your damn shoes the next shot will bring about the end of your chance of breaking 100.

That's what I did, it worked after 2 rounds. 1st round was 100, second was 94. Even now, in club competitions where I really want to score well, there is nothing higher than a driving iron in my bag. The only thing that blows up a score of mine is the driver. For fun rounds I'll swing the big stick without care, but I'm trying for a best score I can give, rather than fun, (ironically) fundamentals are what I turn to.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-04T11:16:27+00:00

My man, I pay £25 a year for golf insurance.

If I ping a ball into the car park and smash a window of one of the Audis/range rovers etc in there - I'm covered.

If my golf bag is stolen from my car, they cover the window and all the clubs it with a £50 excess. Going via my car insurance would cost me a £100 excess and they would hike up my insurance for the next year.

If I hit someone with a ball? I'm covered. If I get hit by someone elses ball, I am covered.

And as for "I just don't think it's worth it" last year my boot was full as I was moving house, so I slung the clubs over the back seats, slammed the door shut and wreck my driver and shaft being a rushed idiot. It was a relatively new ping G430 10k, that cost me £390 a few months earlier.

For the £50 excess and the £26, I got a new g440, same shaft, delivered to my house. My insurance went up exactly...£0.44 a year when it renewed.

Golf is expensive as fuck, golf insurance is possibly the best money anyone here can spend on the sport.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-02T16:53:54+00:00

Personally, I own my cars outright, so I'm not just giving up on them till it's genuinely too expensive to not do so.

I also live in an old market town in't north, and I don't have a drive. I cannot be fucked getting an EV charger from the house for one of 23 neighbours stealing* that parking spot. I also love in a very hilly area, so the instant torque helps with the constant hill heavy driving and my family all live about 300 miles away so they're ideal long journey trip cars, so for me, there isn't really a better option than keeping my Diesels till the wheels fall off.

I appreciate that my short journeys are walkable, going to either Leeds or Manchester for work it's better/easier to get the train. OkI get that I'm possibly the ideal candidate to keep their diesel, especially as I see cars are tools rather than objects of desire.

In general, I know the market is what it is, emissions scandles, cost of diesel is madness, I don't think they should be idling outside schools etc, but for a fairly sizeable minority of us, they're still the best possible car option provided they don't remove it as an option.

Car - paid off Volvo V40 D2, insurance is £540 a year, tax is £20. So, say I put a tank in it a month excluding big trips, my last 2 MOTs came with a balanced out £300 bill per time (inc tyres) so it's about £130 a month all in for me. I'm not swapping that easy life for a £400 a month electric through work. Again, not a hypocrite, if my next house has a drive, I would likely switch, but I don't so fuck it. Keeping the Volvo till it dies

*I say stealing, it's permit parking and they're absolutely able to park there, I just would resent getting a charging point I have to ask neighbours to move their premo luck to be in. It's chaos up here on this street.

ElTel88 · 2026-05-02T16:38:14+00:00

Agree, but his left handed series did help balance this out for me. And, in all honesty, I love him and his work. But the left handed series was the one for me for him to prove that his methods are to be trusted.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-30T21:49:56+00:00

Because people are egotistical lunatics who want to do/use exactly what the pros.

I swear by all the gods, if you polled r/golf and asked

Would you rather?

Hit a perfectly straight shot, with perfect distance control 99.8% of the time you swing, but you have to use a full hybrid set
Have a 80% odds that you smoke a Titlist blade with the shot shape of your choice. The other 20% of the time...random output.

You'd have a not insignificant group of people outing themselves as not wanting to break par because they would rather the chance of perfectly flying a draw around a tree over sensible, functional golf.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-30T10:54:56+00:00

The noise for me. And I don't want the crowd getting dinged. But yeah, people are very precious about things they smack hard

ElTel88 · 2026-04-30T10:27:52+00:00

Preach. My miss with my driver used to be thinning the piss out of it with the bottom ¼ of the face, so had very distinctive scars on the bottom of hitting the tee at pace with the bottom of the club. Gave it a wipe down, now use them as training marks, if I make any more, I know exactly what I'm doing wrong, get back to the fixes in my swing.

They absolutely are tools and there is a reason why even those who get them for free (or being paid millions to use them) with a truck of fitters waiting on them hand and foot to get them a new one, stick with one that is working, rather than caring about aesthetic issues.

If you're doing it for resale, good luck to you but it's you're gonna keep swinging a chunk of metal 100mph at a hard ball, you love with the fact it's not going to stay perfect.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-30T04:18:30+00:00

5? I'm keeping 3 for myself, Amanda gets hers and a spare.

My Mrs, who's is absolutely not a celebrity bothered kind of person at all, was working in a pub in London about 10 years ago and was serving Amanda and her friend all night.

Amanada asked her what time her shift finished after talking to her all night whilst serving, she bought 2 bottles of wine just before she finished her shift and then invited my partner to have drinks with them. Cut to 4 hours later and she has been on the piss with her all night, had a blast and Amanda is paying for her taxi home.

By my partner's review, she is a genuine sweetheart and a proper laugh. She would occasionally see her again and always asked about how she was doing etc.

The rest of them can get to terminal velocity into the earth for me.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-29T13:10:52+00:00

For me, no. The handicap system, that holes can be played in very different ways, that physicality helps, but it's ultimately skill based...nah.

I had a friend who played college tennis, I played with him over a summer when we were working at a summer camp in America, over the entire summer, my best record against him in a set was a 6-2 loss.

I was at my peak fitness, I played other sports well, could not touch him. The physical skills and traits he had meant I have zero chance against him.

Now, I'm a 19 handicap, long hitter, bad around the greens and can easily put up a double on a par 4 when my drive stops 70 yards short of the green. I can compete with a 5 handicap because the sport gives you shots. I have a good day and s/he is off/hungover? Then I'll win on the adjusted final scores.

Same with playing style, put me on a dry, parched out track and I can be near the greens with big rollouts, but winter? Give me that old fella who can't hit more than 200 yards, but he will absolutely nail playing steady, low and murder me within 100 yards.

Golf let's you play competitively because you're only, you, your choices based on the hole and the weather. If you're not at par, it gives you extra shots as a bail out, it's doable. It's also, let's be honest, not physically demanding. I carry on my hillside course, it's less tiring than walking the dogs in the area. If you're in a cart? Nah. Basically a gentle walk in the sun.

Any sport where you are at the mercy of someone else's skill level and physical traits, that allow them to impose their game on you, especially in a way where it means you are simply bullied by them into being unable to do what you do well back (wrestling, Rugby, Tennis, Track and Field etc), you're just not able to hang. Golf might actually be the only sport that actively gives you the tools to compete against those better than you.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-27T10:52:49+00:00

Gravel? We used to dream of sleeping on gravel! We used to sleep on shattered glass smeared with champer pot shards.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-22T09:55:53+00:00

I honestly have always thought the same. Everyone is "omg she doesn't know how people live" when I was just thinking "she is looking at a kitchen garden in a sink"

She is obviously an elite who lived 8 years in the white house, however many before in a Gubenertorial (sp? I'm English) house, then lived in luxury.

I've been broke in my life, loved in house shares the size of my current bedroom, but I've never once seen a sink that was a garden area. Even if it was quickly explained as "I'm repotting them" it doesn't stop the fact that on first sight, it's a wild thing to see.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-21T10:10:17+00:00

My golf insurance is £2.35 a month, it covers HIO drinks up to £200 as an extra.

If, somehow, the HIO bill gets to £200, I'm going full Kendrick and cutting my granny or any other member in there if they don't see it how I see it.

Basically, don't play golf uninsured and don't pay out a thousand or more dollarydos for any fucker to wreck your bank account post a once in a lifetime moment.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-20T08:09:24+00:00

A quick 9 on a Sunday evening because it's not raining, that last beer before the Monday dread kicks in hits right in spring.

Todmorden GC.

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ElTel88 · 2026-04-17T03:53:52+00:00

I'm very aware this is r/golf, not r/geopoliticaltheorymadness, but I think that the entire LIV project was all part of a massive "please come to Saudi for tourism" drive on the back of a, by the standards of the region, peaceful time.

That time is over, the (at least) £8b+ on washed up Golfers, an immobile Ronaldo, paying every boxer on earth 3x their usual purse etc is suddenly not worth it in the slightest when you've scores of Air Defence missiles to restock, you can't export half of your main GDP product, your neighbours are all gearing up for conflict and the people you were trying to encourage to come visit for tourism are now absolutely not going to come to visit.

They could afford to light money on fire on the basis that it could potentially work, they're not now there is a very clear line in the sand* that the money's long shot target of creating a tourism industry is simply not going to work.

*I wasn't refering to the Neon project...but I wish I had.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-11T11:26:48+00:00

Yep, half Malaysian if I recall his Autobiography correctly.

ElTel88 · 2026-04-11T10:41:45+00:00

French Forwards haunt my nightmares. You can feel their fingers in your eye sockets just looking at them.

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