bearister said:
"John Susko is remembered as a popular Lincoln Park golfer who won the City Championship in 1978 and 1980, won the Alameda Commuters in 1981…" amateurgolf.com
I took this photo from the course at Lincoln while playing with my son on 7/3/20:
The 17th tee, the most beautiful spot in San Francisco. The Lowell golf team members used to hit balls between those two trees, aiming at the surfers in the water below the cliffs. All the shots came up way short.82gradDLSdad said:bearister said:
"John Susko is remembered as a popular Lincoln Park golfer who won the City Championship in 1978 and 1980, won the Alameda Commuters in 1981…" amateurgolf.com
I took this photo from the course at Lincoln while playing with my son on 7/3/20:
The iconic 17th. Will be there Oct 2nd with the 1973 SH golf team remembering our friend Gene Norgard.
John Susko was battling Crohn's since childhood, in and out of hospitals, surgery after surgery. He had a hobby of building models of old sailing ships. He was a perfectionist at it, just as he was in golf. Super competitive. He held the course record at Lincoln with a 60. Do you remember the par 3 course in Golden Gate Park? 9 par 3s, from 105 yards to 210 yards long. That was where he learned to play. He held the course record there, and there was a period where he was lowering the course record each year by one shot, and the final one was 22 for 9 holes. He once had two holes in one in the same round there.82gradDLSdad said:SFCityBear said:I know that practice fairway at Lincoln Park. It took me hitting thousands of balls there, before I realized I'd never be any good at that game, even though I think I knew it years earlier. One day I was out shagging balls there for my best friend, two-time SF City Golf Tournament Champion, John Susko, the day before his first match in the upcoming City Tournament. He spread out some pine needles on bare dirt, and hit balls off them. It was an unstable lie, and he felt if he could hit good shots off that lie, then it would be easy to hit them off a stable lie. A friend, Pat Patterson, the Lincoln Park Club Champion, joined us. John kept hitting those wedges off the pine needles, and as the minutes went by, the balls were landing closer and closer to the target. He began landing them about 10-12 feet from the target, and when he finished, they were all landing inside a 3-foot circle. John said, "I'm done. I'm ready." Pat asked him, "Are you sure? You've been hitting shots for less than half an hour." John replied, "Yes. I'm ready. Who can beat me?" John Susko, arguably the best amateur golfer in the Bay Area, went out the next day and lost in the first round.82gradDLSdad said:bearister said:
Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule. Think of the ingenious song writers, lyricists, singers and musicians of the old days that were fabulously talented, perfectionists and put in thousands of hours getting to the highest level and staying there.
Today, how in God's name do the corporations decide who to back in the music industry when everyone seems equally talentless? I suppose it is the look and the swagger because the consuming public wouldn't even recognize or appreciate true talent.
It literally takes me 30 seconds to watch and listen to a music act on SNL or the Tonight Show to make the determination that it is valueless crap.
I've told my golf story many times...I was pretty good at golf at a fairly young age. I read that the top golfers routinely hit 500 balls per day in addition to playing holes. I grabbed my shag bag and went out to a little practice area at Lincoln Park in SF (8 iron max). I got through 250 balls and called it quits. It was too much like work for my young teenage mind. And that is why I'm a retired IT System Analyst and not a retired pro golfer.
And that is golf. You are smart to have figured out there was a better way for you to make a living than golf. John Susko died at 33 of Crohn's disease.
I had forgotten John died at a young age. He was a really good golfer. I didn't think anyone on this site would know about Lincoln's little practice area. Did you know Steve Okasaki or Charlie (don't know his last name)? Charlie was the pro there, I think, Steve worked in the pro shop for many years along with being an SH grad like me. He graduated before I started SH. I also knew Tim Goode, the teaching pro and Carol Conidi, one of the better female players at Lincoln. Lincoln was my home away from home for many of my formative years.
Tony D'Antonio
Thanks for these photos, bearister. I knew John Susko a short time, a few years only, but I treasure them. He was a far better golfer, but that didn't change our relationship. All I could do well was putt, and maybe sink some chips. One time I entered the US Open Putting Championship. You could enter as an amateur or a pro, with $20,000 top prize for the pro, so I entered as a pro. There were 13,000 golfers entered around the nation, including a few PGA Tour players. I won the NorCal sectional qualifying at Harding, by sinking an 85-foot putt, and winning a free 3-day trip for two to Las Vegas for the Final. I invited John. Several other friends joined us for 3 days in Vegas. One of John and my golf buddies flew in from NYC with his fiance, and they got married in Vegas during my tournament. The tournament was 3 days, 90 holes in all, from 3 feet to 80 feet in length, on two putting greens and John and my friends all followed me around, hole by hole to cheer me on, or needle me, as the situation required. The last 18 holes were televised live on ESPN. I ended up tied for 1st and led the tournament in least 3-putts. I was in a playoff with 10 other golfers, and they picked the only hole I had 3-putted during the day as the playoff hole. I hit the same putt to the same spot, and 3-putted again, and ended up finishing 3rd. For that I won a putter, a cheap carry bag, and a sleeve of 3 Titleist golf balls. Big drop from the $20,000 for first place.bearister said:
"John Susko is remembered as a popular Lincoln Park golfer who won the City Championship in 1978 and 1980, won the Alameda Commuters in 1981…" amateurgolf.com
I took this photo from the course at Lincoln while playing with my son on 7/3/20:
concordtom said:
It's great to be able to recall and share our memories.
And I didn't know you were a golfer AND and hoopster as well.
Glory days. Here's to you, and the memories.
Big C said:concordtom said:
It's great to be able to recall and share our memories.
And I didn't know you were a golfer AND and hoopster as well.
Glory days. Here's to you, and the memories.
Seems like successful putting and free-throw shooting demand a similar skill set.
SFCityBear said:John Susko was battling Crohn's since childhood, in and out of hospitals, surgery after surgery. He had a hobby of building models of old sailing ships. He was a perfectionist at it, just as he was in golf. Super competitive. He held the course record at Lincoln with a 60. Do you remember the par 3 course in Golden Gate Park? 9 par 3s, from 105 yards to 210 yards long. That was where he learned to play. He held the course record there, and there was a period where he was lowering the course record each year by one shot, and the final one was 22 for 9 holes. He once had two holes in one in the same round there.82gradDLSdad said:SFCityBear said:I know that practice fairway at Lincoln Park. It took me hitting thousands of balls there, before I realized I'd never be any good at that game, even though I think I knew it years earlier. One day I was out shagging balls there for my best friend, two-time SF City Golf Tournament Champion, John Susko, the day before his first match in the upcoming City Tournament. He spread out some pine needles on bare dirt, and hit balls off them. It was an unstable lie, and he felt if he could hit good shots off that lie, then it would be easy to hit them off a stable lie. A friend, Pat Patterson, the Lincoln Park Club Champion, joined us. John kept hitting those wedges off the pine needles, and as the minutes went by, the balls were landing closer and closer to the target. He began landing them about 10-12 feet from the target, and when he finished, they were all landing inside a 3-foot circle. John said, "I'm done. I'm ready." Pat asked him, "Are you sure? You've been hitting shots for less than half an hour." John replied, "Yes. I'm ready. Who can beat me?" John Susko, arguably the best amateur golfer in the Bay Area, went out the next day and lost in the first round.82gradDLSdad said:bearister said:
Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule. Think of the ingenious song writers, lyricists, singers and musicians of the old days that were fabulously talented, perfectionists and put in thousands of hours getting to the highest level and staying there.
Today, how in God's name do the corporations decide who to back in the music industry when everyone seems equally talentless? I suppose it is the look and the swagger because the consuming public wouldn't even recognize or appreciate true talent.
It literally takes me 30 seconds to watch and listen to a music act on SNL or the Tonight Show to make the determination that it is valueless crap.
I've told my golf story many times...I was pretty good at golf at a fairly young age. I read that the top golfers routinely hit 500 balls per day in addition to playing holes. I grabbed my shag bag and went out to a little practice area at Lincoln Park in SF (8 iron max). I got through 250 balls and called it quits. It was too much like work for my young teenage mind. And that is why I'm a retired IT System Analyst and not a retired pro golfer.
And that is golf. You are smart to have figured out there was a better way for you to make a living than golf. John Susko died at 33 of Crohn's disease.
I had forgotten John died at a young age. He was a really good golfer. I didn't think anyone on this site would know about Lincoln's little practice area. Did you know Steve Okasaki or Charlie (don't know his last name)? Charlie was the pro there, I think, Steve worked in the pro shop for many years along with being an SH grad like me. He graduated before I started SH. I also knew Tim Goode, the teaching pro and Carol Conidi, one of the better female players at Lincoln. Lincoln was my home away from home for many of my formative years.
Tony D'Antonio
I met Susko the day after he won the City Championship in 1978. Pat Patterson called me, and asked it I was doing anything and would I like to play over in Hayward with him and John Susko. Being the worst golfer in the group, I was paired with John. We had team bets and individual bets going. He did not play well the first 9, and I actually shot par, carrying Susko on my back. (Ha!) On the back 9, while I fell apart, he responded with a barrage of birdies and eagles, and we won the team match, and on the individual bets, he won all the money. After that, we played a lot as a team, and it was usually the same story, me carrying him for 9 holes, and then him taking the game to another level on the back nine. One time we decided to go backpacking in the Sierra and do some trout fishing. He said he had never done that before. I took him out to the Flyfishing pond in Golden Gate Park, and after I showed him how to cast, he tried it a couple of times, trying to hit some hula hoop targets in the pond. Then he said, 'Let's do this for money." I agreed, expecting to clean up. He took all the money I had in my pocket.
He had a regular caddie, Bo Links, a friend from his Washington High golf team days. Bo is a lawyer who has written some novels about golf. Bo caddied for John in the City Tournament, and I caddied for him in the Alameda Commuters, the City and US Open qualifying. At the Commuters, unexpectedly, it was raining, and I had no rain suit and no money, so John bought me a rain suit.
Sorry to go on so long. I knew who Steve Okasaki was, but he was a little after my time. I was friends with Charlie Nishida, who ran the pro shop at Lincoln. The management at Lincoln changed, and he lost his job, but soon wound up running the pro shop at Lake Merced Golf Club. I remember Tom Goode and Carol Conidi. Boy, was she a good player. Lincoln still looks the same, maybe with less trees now. The practice fairway is still the same, except there is not much grass on it now. And there are cart paths.
DiabloWags said:
KEN STARR IST TODT.
Ken Starr, investigator who probed Clinton administration, dies at 76 (yahoo.com)
dimitrig said:DiabloWags said:
KEN STARR IST TODT.
Ken Starr, investigator who probed Clinton administration, dies at 76 (yahoo.com)
Clinton's take:
"Well, I read the obituary, and I realized that his family loved him, and I think that's something to be grateful for, and when your life is over that's all there is to say," Clinton said of Starr."But I was taught not to talk about people that I you know. I have nothing to say. Except I'm glad he died with the love of his family."
The greatest golf shot I ever saw was one made by John Susko. It was a quarterfinal match in the SF City Championship. Match was deadlocked at the 14th hole, and after his opponent split the fairway with his drive, John hit his shot offline into the trees on the right. His ball dropped down and rolled to a stop on mostly bare dirt, 240 yards from the pin. If he then tried to reach the green from there, he would have to hit the shot from a down hill, side hill lie off bare dirt, with the ball above his feet. After talking over his options with Bo Links, his caddie, which took about 10 minutes (he could have been penalized for slow play), there were a lot of gasps from the crowd of spectators, as he pulled the driver out of his bag. He hit the ball very low, with a little draw, enough to miss the bunker to the right of the green, and the ball rolled up to a spot about 10 feet from the pin. The crowd went crazy, and that pumped up John. He was able to halve the hole, won the next few holes to easily win the match.82gradDLSdad said:SFCityBear said:John Susko was battling Crohn's since childhood, in and out of hospitals, surgery after surgery. He had a hobby of building models of old sailing ships. He was a perfectionist at it, just as he was in golf. Super competitive. He held the course record at Lincoln with a 60. Do you remember the par 3 course in Golden Gate Park? 9 par 3s, from 105 yards to 210 yards long. That was where he learned to play. He held the course record there, and there was a period where he was lowering the course record each year by one shot, and the final one was 22 for 9 holes. He once had two holes in one in the same round there.82gradDLSdad said:SFCityBear said:I know that practice fairway at Lincoln Park. It took me hitting thousands of balls there, before I realized I'd never be any good at that game, even though I think I knew it years earlier. One day I was out shagging balls there for my best friend, two-time SF City Golf Tournament Champion, John Susko, the day before his first match in the upcoming City Tournament. He spread out some pine needles on bare dirt, and hit balls off them. It was an unstable lie, and he felt if he could hit good shots off that lie, then it would be easy to hit them off a stable lie. A friend, Pat Patterson, the Lincoln Park Club Champion, joined us. John kept hitting those wedges off the pine needles, and as the minutes went by, the balls were landing closer and closer to the target. He began landing them about 10-12 feet from the target, and when he finished, they were all landing inside a 3-foot circle. John said, "I'm done. I'm ready." Pat asked him, "Are you sure? You've been hitting shots for less than half an hour." John replied, "Yes. I'm ready. Who can beat me?" John Susko, arguably the best amateur golfer in the Bay Area, went out the next day and lost in the first round.82gradDLSdad said:bearister said:
Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule. Think of the ingenious song writers, lyricists, singers and musicians of the old days that were fabulously talented, perfectionists and put in thousands of hours getting to the highest level and staying there.
Today, how in God's name do the corporations decide who to back in the music industry when everyone seems equally talentless? I suppose it is the look and the swagger because the consuming public wouldn't even recognize or appreciate true talent.
It literally takes me 30 seconds to watch and listen to a music act on SNL or the Tonight Show to make the determination that it is valueless crap.
I've told my golf story many times...I was pretty good at golf at a fairly young age. I read that the top golfers routinely hit 500 balls per day in addition to playing holes. I grabbed my shag bag and went out to a little practice area at Lincoln Park in SF (8 iron max). I got through 250 balls and called it quits. It was too much like work for my young teenage mind. And that is why I'm a retired IT System Analyst and not a retired pro golfer.
And that is golf. You are smart to have figured out there was a better way for you to make a living than golf. John Susko died at 33 of Crohn's disease.
I had forgotten John died at a young age. He was a really good golfer. I didn't think anyone on this site would know about Lincoln's little practice area. Did you know Steve Okasaki or Charlie (don't know his last name)? Charlie was the pro there, I think, Steve worked in the pro shop for many years along with being an SH grad like me. He graduated before I started SH. I also knew Tim Goode, the teaching pro and Carol Conidi, one of the better female players at Lincoln. Lincoln was my home away from home for many of my formative years.
Tony D'Antonio
I met Susko the day after he won the City Championship in 1978. Pat Patterson called me, and asked it I was doing anything and would I like to play over in Hayward with him and John Susko. Being the worst golfer in the group, I was paired with John. We had team bets and individual bets going. He did not play well the first 9, and I actually shot par, carrying Susko on my back. (Ha!) On the back 9, while I fell apart, he responded with a barrage of birdies and eagles, and we won the team match, and on the individual bets, he won all the money. After that, we played a lot as a team, and it was usually the same story, me carrying him for 9 holes, and then him taking the game to another level on the back nine. One time we decided to go backpacking in the Sierra and do some trout fishing. He said he had never done that before. I took him out to the Flyfishing pond in Golden Gate Park, and after I showed him how to cast, he tried it a couple of times, trying to hit some hula hoop targets in the pond. Then he said, 'Let's do this for money." I agreed, expecting to clean up. He took all the money I had in my pocket.
He had a regular caddie, Bo Links, a friend from his Washington High golf team days. Bo is a lawyer who has written some novels about golf. Bo caddied for John in the City Tournament, and I caddied for him in the Alameda Commuters, the City and US Open qualifying. At the Commuters, unexpectedly, it was raining, and I had no rain suit and no money, so John bought me a rain suit.
Sorry to go on so long. I knew who Steve Okasaki was, but he was a little after my time. I was friends with Charlie Nishida, who ran the pro shop at Lincoln. The management at Lincoln changed, and he lost his job, but soon wound up running the pro shop at Lake Merced Golf Club. I remember Tom Goode and Carol Conidi. Boy, was she a good player. Lincoln still looks the same, maybe with less trees now. The practice fairway is still the same, except there is not much grass on it now. And there are cart paths.
Thanks for this great reply. Good to hear about Charlie, although I know it was a long time ago and he may not be alive. They were all good folks out there. Love to hear Susko course record scores. My best at Lincoln was 3 under during a 13 hole WCAL round. Conveniently those high school rounds didn't include Lincoln's hardest holes. Don't think I was ever under par at Golden Gate. John's scores are impressive.
Nah. You're too kind. Actually, I think sinking baskets or putts, (and pocketing billiard balls) has less to do with skills or rhythm, or muscle sets, and more to do with the mind. At the very least, you must have confidence, to know you are going to make this shot, almost seeing the ball into the basket, cup, or pocket. So the simple ideas of practicing the shot over and over, the more you make in practice, the more likely you might make them in competition.concordtom said:Big C said:concordtom said:
It's great to be able to recall and share our memories.
And I didn't know you were a golfer AND and hoopster as well.
Glory days. Here's to you, and the memories.
Seems like successful putting and free-throw shooting demand a similar skill set.
Seems like it.
But I can say I'm awas an excellent FT shooter and a very poor putter.
Totally different rhythm and muscle set to me.
So, I dunno!
SFC must simply be The Man!
Wow. Thanks for posting this, Bearister. What a great career he had. Navy pilots are incredible. It is difficult enough to land a plane on terra firma, but landing one on the deck of a carrier, a deck which is constantly moving, pitching and rolling at the same time, is quite a task. My cousin was an officer on the Midway, and said nearly every time they went out for a two week training cruise, they would lose a pilot or two.bearister said:
East Bay Flyover Honors Air Warrior Thursday
https://news24-680.com/2022/09/22/east-bay-flyover-honors-air-warrior-thursday/
bearister said:
I live in the WC and was walking my dog when they flew laps around Mt. Diablo. It was intimidating and GLORIOUS! Lots of theories were expressed (practicing for October Fleet Week) but all theories were wrong.
The fighters took off from Naval Air Station Lemoore in Fresno and King counties. I wonder how long that flight took? 10 minutes?
Big C said:bearister said:
I live in the WC and was walking my dog when they flew laps around Mt. Diablo. It was intimidating and GLORIOUS! Lots of theories were expressed (practicing for October Fleet Week) but all theories were wrong.
The fighters took off from Naval Air Station Lemoore in Fresno and King counties. I wonder how long that flight took? 10 minutes?
The concordtom notes with dismay that the above post only tangentially concerns someone who died.
bearister said:
Louise Fletcher: Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest star dies
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/sep/24/louise-fletcher-oscar-winning-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-star-dies?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Big C said:bearister said:
I live in the WC and was walking my dog when they flew laps around Mt. Diablo. It was intimidating and GLORIOUS! Lots of theories were expressed (practicing for October Fleet Week) but all theories were wrong.
The fighters took off from Naval Air Station Lemoore in Fresno and King counties. I wonder how long that flight took? 10 minutes?
The concordtom notes with dismay that the above post only tangentially concerns someone who died.
bearister said:Big C said:bearister said:
I live in the WC and was walking my dog when they flew laps around Mt. Diablo. It was intimidating and GLORIOUS! Lots of theories were expressed (practicing for October Fleet Week) but all theories were wrong.
The fighters took off from Naval Air Station Lemoore in Fresno and King counties. I wonder how long that flight took? 10 minutes?
The concordtom notes with dismay that the above post only tangentially concerns someone who died.
So noted and that is why I started the Official BI Dog Walking Stories Thread on the Women's Basketball Board. In two days it already has more hits and replies than all the other threads on that board combined for the entire year.
https://bearinsider.com/forums/4/topics/110743/replies/2064668
Well, except for every other thread on the first 3 pages of the Women's Basketball board, that's true. You'd have a better case if you'd posted it to the Above Top Secret board …errr… Men's Basketball board. That place is a morgue these days. Maybe it should redirect here to the Obituaries thread.bearister said:Big C said:bearister said:
I live in the WC and was walking my dog when they flew laps around Mt. Diablo. It was intimidating and GLORIOUS! Lots of theories were expressed (practicing for October Fleet Week) but all theories were wrong.
The fighters took off from Naval Air Station Lemoore in Fresno and King counties. I wonder how long that flight took? 10 minutes?
The concordtom notes with dismay that the above post only tangentially concerns someone who died.
So noted and that is why I started the Official BI Dog Walking Stories Thread on the Women's Basketball Board. In two days it already has more hits and replies than all the other threads on that board combined for the entire year.
https://bearinsider.com/forums/4/topics/110743/replies/2064668
Eastern Oregon Bear said:Well, except for every other thread on the first 3 pages of the Women's Basketball board, that's true. You'd have a better case if you'd posted it to the Above Top Secret board …errr… Men's Basketball board. That place is a morgue these days. Maybe it should redirect here to the Obituaries thread.bearister said:Big C said:bearister said:
I live in the WC and was walking my dog when they flew laps around Mt. Diablo. It was intimidating and GLORIOUS! Lots of theories were expressed (practicing for October Fleet Week) but all theories were wrong.
The fighters took off from Naval Air Station Lemoore in Fresno and King counties. I wonder how long that flight took? 10 minutes?
The concordtom notes with dismay that the above post only tangentially concerns someone who died.
So noted and that is why I started the Official BI Dog Walking Stories Thread on the Women's Basketball Board. In two days it already has more hits and replies than all the other threads on that board combined for the entire year.
https://bearinsider.com/forums/4/topics/110743/replies/2064668
bearister said:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11249069/Tucker-Carlson-turns-pay-tribute-Hells-Angels-leader-Sonny-Barger.html
Few people know that, in his later years, Sonny Barger reinvented himself as Q.82gradDLSdad said:bearister said:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11249069/Tucker-Carlson-turns-pay-tribute-Hells-Angels-leader-Sonny-Barger.html
Pretty amazing that the wacko Republicans are hitching their wagons to characters like this. Live free, have honor and break laws and get arrested. Oh yah,do and sell drugs.
Eastern Oregon Bear said:Few people know that, in his later years, Sonny Barger reinvented himself as Q.82gradDLSdad said:bearister said:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11249069/Tucker-Carlson-turns-pay-tribute-Hells-Angels-leader-Sonny-Barger.html
Pretty amazing that the wacko Republicans are hitching their wagons to characters like this. Live free, have honor and break laws and get arrested. Oh yah,do and sell drugs.
