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Last week, regular commenter Doug Johnson said we'd be performing a service if we could help his golf game.

Doug, your wish is our command. Robert Bell dissects the home of this week's Wyndham, Sedgefield Country Club. His evaluation of how to shoot a 59. (pdf how-to guide of Sedgefield.) That's for 18 holes, Doug.

We continue to try to raise the level of discourse on our sites. Today, Allen announced a new process for comments on letters.  

The important lines, to me, are these: We will keep tabs on repeat offenders who violate our rules concerning taste and foul language.You will be required in those cases to provide the same information you would as a print letter writer: name, address and telephone number.

Before, we pretty much let the letters commenters take their own course. Over the past several weeks, we have raised the bar gradually, deleting offensive comments and, occasionally, banning a commenter or two who ignored warnings. And things have improved.

We hope this continues to make the place more inviting to visit and enter a discussion without fear of being insulted.

Update: Perhaps we should add this reminder from Chris Amico's blog to the comments section: Remember that Google can always find the dumbest thing you've ever said.

For the first time since we started "The Good Stuff" feature in March, I am effectively out of reader submissions. I have one more planned for Tuesday and that's it unless additional ones slip in through the transom today.

A lot of people put newspapers on the porch and roll trash cans back to the house for their neighbors. A lot of people are honest enough to turn in purses left in shopping carts. And a lot more people than I thought stop to help stranded motorists.

But while the topics have seemed less than heroic at times, it is arguably the most popular feature that we have started in a while. Many people have written or called to tell me how much they like it. (I can safely say that doesn't happen that often.) It seems to give them a lift to their day, particularly when so much of the news is bad.

The feature hasn't reached the end of the road. I'm chalking up the lull to the August doldrums. Still, if you have a random act of kindness that you've witnessed or experienced, send it in.

My newspaper column

I don’t know if this is a trend or not, but Scott Yost at The Rhino seems to hand over his typewriter to Skip Alston these days. For the second time in less than a month, he’s let the chairman of the county commissioners expound at length without bringing any of the Rhino’s celebrated skepticism.

The National Enquirer reports that John Edwards is the father of that baby. (You know the one.)

The Charlotte Observer's Campaign Tracker makes note of it. An anonymous commenter, after first posting some untoward observations, questions whether it's still news.

Is it?

Don't know if the wire services will send out their own version of this latest exclusive by the Enquirer.

Friday update: The News & Observer reports no statement planned by Edwards.

We've had people call us to complain about the president's health care initiative. That's fine, although they have tended to shout at us as if we're their congressmen. (We're not, although we all wish we had the health care plan the honorables have.)

We have four House members who represent our readership area. Two, Mel Watt of Charlotte and Brad Miller of Raleigh, are Democrats, but don't visit here much, certainly not for town meetings. (Miller reported receiving a death threat over health care.)  Howard Coble of Greensboro is a Republican, is against the Democrats' plan and doesn't plan to hold town meetings. The fourth representative, Virginia Foxx, is also a Republican, and I don't know of any town meetings planned, although there could be one in the works. (Foxx is known for saying, somewhat infamously, the plan "put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.”)

I've been thinking about the seeming ignorance of some of the protesters about the health care plan was the result of a failure of journalism or the failure of people to use journalism. More on that later.

So, what's an angry citizen to do? We're happy to take the calls, but a letter to the editor may be more effective.

Doug Clark has more.

Update: Sen. Kay Hagan is thinking about a town hall meeting. Meanwhile, she supports health care reform. She explains. 

With light recoil, low cost and minimal noise, the .22 has been popular for teaching safe shooting skills to beginning hunters. The .22 LR (Long Rifle) in particular is best used to hunt squirrels, rabbits and other small game at distances of less than 100 yards. At distances of 75 yards and less, this cartridge is lethal for groundhog and fox, but for quick kills a hunter must make head shots only.

This is not to say the .22 shouldn't be taken seriously, as it is certainly powerful enough to kill even humans and must be handled with care.

We published those two paragraphs high in this story that ran on our Sports front today. I was sure the story would evoke some complaints. After all, not only is the column about guns and ammo, but it is about hunting prey with one-shot kills. Bear in mind that we get complaints about referring to police officers as "cops," publishing photos of what teenagers are wearing and, as this editor describes, photos of children riding bicycles without helmets.

So far today, not a peep.

Every time I think I know our readership, I'm proved wrong. I'm glad you keep me jumping.

Coincidentally, I watched "Shooter" last night on TV. One of my favorite Mark Wahlberg lines: "Welcome to Tennessee, patron state of shootin' stuff." 

Ken Otterbourg, managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal, describes a common complaint heard by newspaper editors. He tells of opening up a piece of mail.

Inside the envelope was a pile of clippings — mostly related to our coverage of the National Black Theatre Festival and a post-it note that said “This is just one day of your “Black” articles. In the past few days, I’ve had voicemail messages along the same line, usually with saltier and more offensive language. The complaint is that our paper is too “black,” or that our paper must be edited by the NAACP.

It may surprise some people that this sentiment still exists in the 21st century. Ken explains the paper's position well. I will add this point: A large portion of the population of Guilford County isn't white. Obviously, people of color make news -- both good news such as with the Theatre Festival and bad news such as very public arrests. No self-respecting journalist will ignore either.

I wouldn't suggest that we, or anyone else, is color blind. While we try to toe that line when news judgment comes into play, race is certainly a prism through which we all view the world. And we all view race differently, often depending on the color of our skin and life experiences. (Hello, Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley.) Race is not the only influence of judgment; consider politics, gender, wealth, religion, "et cetera, et cetera, wow," to quote the famous black philosopher Sly Stone.

But just because race is the primary prism you might use to view the news, it's not everyone's. And that other people see things differently shouldn't automatically upset or threaten you, particularly when it comes to the National Black Theatre Festival.

A little while ago, a longtime reader called to ask why we kept writing about John Isner, a pro tennis player who not too long ago attended Page High School. If space is at a premium, he asked, why do you waste so much of it on him? (He never said why he didn't care for Isner. Maybe he had an anti- Page or UGa bias, which is also Isner's alma mater. The caller is a professor at UNCG.)

I replied that Isner is from here. Proximity is important in the news business. We pay more attention to Daughtry than David Cook. We pay more attention to UNCG than UNLV.

"But he never wins," the caller said.

"But he's there," I said.

 This is why we have kept up with Isner over the years.