Took the Kids Up (First Time)

Jay as an ex very avid golfer I would say you have not played alot of
golf.

Well, I used to belong to a club in Kenosha, WI. Played 2 or 3 times per
week for a few years.

And I *still* sucked, so I started flying...

:-)

And golf my friend is the most frustrating fun you can have! But it's
just like anything else, it's only as cheap as you are smart. I would bet
alot of you guys spend more in maintinance in a year than I did playing
golf twice a week.

True enough, but I'm not talking about the guys like me (and, apparently,
you) who played the local courses. I'm talking the guys who throw their
clubs on a commercial flight to go play Pebble Beach -- and there are a
surprising number of them out there. I used to work with two of them, yet
they thought that owning a plane was outrageously extravagant.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
Jay as an ex very avid golfer I would say you have not played alot of
golf.


Well, I used to belong to a club in Kenosha, WI. Played 2 or 3 times per
week for a few years.

And I *still* sucked, so I started flying...

And I was just the opposite. About 1993 I joined a local country club
for $500 and $60 per month. 27 hole course and the cheapest golf in
town if you played more than once a week. I played often and got my
handicap down to 5. This with store bought clubs and not much in the
way of practice and no lessons. Then I asked myself what's the point?
To get better would require better clubs, much more practice and work
with a pro. But to what end? I came in third in the club championship
that summer, shooting 76 and 75. I've hardly played since. I play a
few times a year and can shoot in the upper 70's when I try. I may pick
it back up again when the kids go to college.

Jay Honeck wrote:

We've got friends who own a 40+ foot yacht on Lake Michigan. It cost over
$300K to acquire, and an amazing amount of money to maintain. (Each year
they have to pay to have it removed with a crane, and then shrink wrapped --
I'm not kidding -- for winter storage.) Worse, it is a depreciating asset,
meaning that it is worth less and less every year. It has two 350-cubic
inch Chevy engines, gets 6 gallons to the mile, and they never, ever leave
the dock.

I have a friend that has a 42 footer. He keeps it at Liberty Park marina, across
from Manhattan. He lives on it during the summer. Cost him $45,000 (used, like
most of our aircraft). He occasionally cruises as far as Albany for a vacation,
but its main use is a family summer home. His gas costs about what ours costs
us. His expenses are trivial compared to a hangar, maintenance, and inspection
fees for something like a Warrior. Sure, that family could probably afford to
fly. If he sold the boat. For the dubious privelege of shoehorning his family
into an aluminum sardine can, he could wear uncomfortable hearing protection for
hours while risking losing his job due to weather delays and spending three
times what airline tickets would cost to get him to the same place. That's
always assuming his wife wouldn't divorce him first.

In addition to knowing Tom, I do a fair amount of work for the Navasink Marina.
The social life at an airport can't compare to what the boat owners there enjoy.
For much less than the cost of keeping a typical 4-seat aircraft. Your friends
may not ever leave the dock, but all of the Navasink tenants do fairly
frequently. The Sea Bright drawbridge is up about 20% of the time I need to
cross it during summer, and it only opens for something about 2 stories tall.

Sure, most of them go into shrink wrap in December and don't come out until
early April, but when I was faced with digging the Maule out of the snow,
preheating for half an hour, and then freezing my cojones off to "warm up the
oil," I frequently wished we could do the same thing with our aircraft.

Yet, they look at Mary and me flying all over the country as an unaffordable
extravagance, even though they know that what we spend is a tiny fraction of
what they spend on boating.

You spend a tremendous sum of money to do something they would pay to avoid
doing (and do).

And these guys never play a single round.

*That's* your definition of a "serious golfer?" You are *really* divorced from
reality.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Yes,
I do guess there are a few guys who just take commercial flights and go
play..all of my friends who did that used their travel miles and went for
free from all their biz trips. Myself I have played more courses in more
states than I even remember. Championship courses in CA, AZ, FL and even the
Augusta National. But like I said even most avid golfers do not play the
high dollar clubs all the time.
I never paid for a commercial flight, well I was a mech and I traveled
all over this great land..working on planes and playing golf! it was great!
Some of the best courses I have played were some of the cheapest in out of
the way places alot of people have never heard of. And on that note some of
the worse ones were the high dollar ones, go figure huh? You can't lump all
golfers into the throw clubs on a 747 and go play, that is just a small
group.
Kind of like saying all pilots have a Learjet in the hangar! Now we
probably wish we all did, but fact is most of us can't put that kind of
money into a recreation. And if you played golf you also know it is like
wanting to fly two times a week, sometimes you can , others you can't.
Winter golf in Wisconsin would be a bitch!
Golf is not as easy as people think, Iwas not ready for the tour myself!
I avg. low 80's and just could not get it any lower! I'd drive like an old
woman now so Lord only knows how my score would go to 150! HAHA I wouldn't
even attempt it! Bums me out sometimes, but at least I have an aileron in my
shop with my rollaway open for the first time in almost 3 years.

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Z81Le.20076$084.1711@attbi_s22...
Jay as an ex very avid golfer I would say you have not played alot of
golf.

Well, I used to belong to a club in Kenosha, WI. Played 2 or 3 times per
week for a few years.

And I *still* sucked, so I started flying...

:-)

And golf my friend is the most frustrating fun you can have! But
it's just like anything else, it's only as cheap as you are smart. I
would bet alot of you guys spend more in maintinance in a year than I did
playing golf twice a week.

True enough, but I'm not talking about the guys like me (and, apparently,
you) who played the local courses. I'm talking the guys who throw their
clubs on a commercial flight to go play Pebble Beach -- and there are a
surprising number of them out there. I used to work with two of them, yet
they thought that owning a plane was outrageously extravagant.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:


We've got friends who own a 40+ foot yacht on Lake Michigan. It cost
over $300K to acquire, and an amazing amount of money to maintain.
(Each year they have to pay to have it removed with a crane, and then
shrink wrapped -- I'm not kidding -- for winter storage.) Worse, it
is a depreciating asset, meaning that it is worth less and less every
year. It has two 350-cubic inch Chevy engines, gets 6 gallons to the
mile, and they never, ever leave the dock.

But it also qualifies as a house and therefore the monthly payment is a
mortgage and can be written off. I do the same thing with my fifth wheel.

Jay, your talk of expensive planes, expensive golf, and expensive boats
PALES in comparison with the care and upkeep of Mary and the kids.

{;-)


Jim



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:Z81Le.20076$084.1711@attbi_s22...

And these guys never play a single round.

*That's* your definition of a "serious golfer?" You are *really* divorced
from reality.

Hmm. That came out wrong.

It should have read "And these guys never play JUST a single round."
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay, your talk of expensive planes, expensive golf, and expensive boats
PALES in comparison with the care and upkeep of Mary and the kids.

Whatdya mean? They seem to be keeping me in the manner in which I am
accustomed...

(AKA: "Broke")

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

His expenses are trivial compared to a hangar, maintenance, and inspection
fees for something like a Warrior. Sure, that family could probably afford
to fly. If he sold the boat. For the dubious privelege of shoehorning his
family into an aluminum sardine can, he could wear uncomfortable hearing
protection for hours while risking losing his job due to weather delays
and spending three times what airline tickets would cost to get him to the
same place. That's always assuming his wife wouldn't divorce him first.

Hmmm. This sounds almost therapeutic, George...

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

And do you even want to get into the comparison of "expensive annual
inspections?"

{;-)


Jim


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:rldLe.264390$xm3.105947@attbi_s21...
Jay, your talk of expensive planes, expensive golf, and expensive boats
PALES in comparison with the care and upkeep of Mary and the kids.

Whatdya mean? They seem to be keeping me in the manner in which I am
accustomed...

(AKA: "Broke")

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"