Tomorrow - Update

Gorecki has confirmed that his course will be open tomorrow. So try not to lose sleep with all your excitement.  Weather will be overcast with 20% chance of rain in the morning.

Also... just got an email that Crescent Oaks has "Golfboards" now. Pretty sure some of those old people are going to die.

http://www.golfboard.com/

YTD Par 3 Stats

I know I've slacked big time on the stat posts this season but that doesn't mean I haven't been tracking everything.  Since most of you are about to play in the worst event of the season I thought I'd give you a little taste of how everyone's par-3 performances have been stacking up so far.  I've only included stats for people who have played in at least 3 of the 4 events.  Buchert - your stats are from the last 3 events since you were still establishing your handicap in week 1.

And yes, Darren has been playing par-3s better than me, Gary, and Dave.  At this point last season he was averaging 4.25 and Dave, Gary, and I were top 3 with 3.438, 3.500, and 3.563 respectively.

Rank	Player	Average	Birdie	Par	Bogey	Double	Triple
1	Brian	3.417	0	7	5	0	0
2	Chandler	3.563	0	9	5	2	0
3	Darren	3.688	0	7	7	2	0
4	Gary	3.750	0	7	7	1	1
5	Dave	3.813	1	6	6	1	2
6	Faz	4.063	1	4	6	3	2
7	Chris G.	4.167	0	2	7	2	1
8	Gorecki	4.188	0	3	8	4	1
9	Reid	4.313	0	5	4	4	3
10	Mike	4.500	0	3	5	5	3
11	Brendan	4.583	0	2	4	3	3
12	JW	4.938	0	3	2	4	7

Gorecki Memorial Pairings

9:20 tee time this Sunday. Get there slightly early. 

Group 1:

Gary, Guest, Dave and Big John (making his return from knee surgery)

Group 2:

Gorecki, Brendan, Reid and Litman (playing for fun)

Group 3:

Chandler, Darren, Buchert and Tall Mike

There are 11 par 3s so make sure to bring lots of dollars. It's a greenie-fest. 

Fazioli Match Play Recap - Spring 2015

It only took Buchert 3 starts to get his first league victory. He completely destroyed the field shooting a net 65, thanks to 10 pars and one birdie. Yet despite the dominance, he needed 17 holes to defeat Brendan in match-play. The 600 points vaults Buchert to 3rd place in the standings.

Chandler and Darren were the only other guys under par (net), both winning their match. Geoff finally joined us on the course and easily took care of Gorecki. Geoff had the early lead until falling apart on the 8th, 9th and 10th holes. Reid and Gary also won their matches in the final holes, adding 100 bonus points to their season total.

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Next Sunday is the Gorecki Memorial at Countryway. Tee time is 9:20am.

We have a lot of deadbeat action, so bring cash next week to pay off your debts.

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There was only slight movement in the Official Golf Rankings. Reid jumped up to the 2nd spot, while JW's only victory finally dropped off causing his free-fall. Gorecki is now only one tournament away from joining the rankings (you need 8 of the last 18 events) in the 13th spot.

Schedule Change

So a handful of people, many of which are near the top of the standings, can't play golf on March 8th. So we're moving that tournament to the "Make-Up" day on the 15th.

Change your calendars.

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We're also booked for the Gorecki Memorial on next Sunday, March 1st. Countryway at 9:20am. It should be $24... so if you get there before me and you they try to charge you anything different... don't let them.

Pairings to be released later this week. As of right now we do have 2 spots open.

Paradise Golf Summer Card

Is anyone interested in getting this paradise golf card? Discounted rates start April 1 and run through Oct 31 so plenty of opportunities to golf when league play isn't active.

Click here to see all the courses that are participating and the discounts they are offering.

If enough people are interested in getting this card, I'll inquire about getting a discounted group rate.

Let me know.

SUMMER MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM 2015 - $199

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THE VALUE ADDED BENEFITS LISTED BELOW APPLY TO FULL RETAIL PURCHASE ONLY!

This year's program details are as follows.  We should be able to continue updating the information below to our summer membershi for 2015 which is good beginning April 1- October 31

• Participating golf courses include clubs in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties. CLICK HERE to download our preliminary Members Guide to Rates and Clubs for Summer 2015!
• 70 courses on the program including the private Pride of Pinellas Cypress Run, Isla Del Sol and other new clubs
• 2 Complimentary Rounds of Golf - One Member for a Day to the pride of Pinellas Cypress Run offered by Paradise President and Cypress Run member Gregg Gagliardi and a round to the awesome Fox Hollow GC - first 1000 to join
• 20 Try Us Out Certificates, One Each to 20 different golf courses, prices ranging from $18 and up
• 1 Cart Fee Only for Four to World Woods
• 11 Member For A Day Passes one each to 9 Different Private Clubs all at very reasonable rates!
• A Complimentary 30 minute video lesson with Jon Johnson and Joey DiPompo of Tampa Bay Downs Range
• $10 Beef O Bradys Certificate Good for 6 Beef O Brady Hillsborough stores - no minimum spend
• $5 Brickhouse Certificate Good for the Clearwater and Tampa stores - no minimum spend
• A Free Razor Golf A Wedge or Utility Club, $29.95 shipping and handling will apply
• 3 Complimentary Buckets of Balls, 1 each to Chi Chi, Tampa Bay Downs, Ace Ranges
• $20 Sports Authority Promotional Card
• $10 Golfsmith Promotional Card with a variety of discounts

Match Play Update

Handicaps are set on the tournament page. The scorecard link will also show you the match play strokes. 

Remember... While there is a match play component this week... The regular stroke play tournament is also going on. So putt everything out like you normally would. Money is paid out based on stroke play standings. 

Pairings are as follows with match play strokes in parentheses:

1 9:30am: Gorecki (2) vs Geoff / Reid (7) vs Faz

2: Buchert vs Brendan (9) / Chan vs JW (15)

3: Gary vs Dave / Tall Mike (2) vs Darren

Par-3 Memorial Registration

Time to pay your respects. Gorecki might resemble the walking dead but his tournament lives on. 

Who is playing week 5 on March 1st?

I was gonna move the event to a new location in Sun City... But let's do that this summer when the snow birds are gone. We will instead return to Countryway... Which is clearly the best course in the Westchase area. 

Brendan said to assume he's in. I know Gary and Darren will be there. Guest said he was in. Faz told me a long time ago he was out. 

Everyone else... Make a comment or send me a text. Field will lock this Saturday. 

Match Play - Feb 22

We are all set for Match Play at Lexington Oaks next Sunday. Group rate is $37. Tee time is 930am. 

There's one spot open. I'll post the pairings in a few days to give someone a chance to claim it. 

Registration

Ben

JW

You all in for next Sunday? Tell me now I need to call some courses.

***UPDATE***
Tomorrow at 11am I'm going to start attempting to book us somewhere. Right we have 11 people. So I'll be booking 3 groups and the first person from the list above who responds can get the final spot.

Then when Geoff bails next week someone else can replace him.

Valspar Championship

Last year we bought a ticket package to the Valspar Championship, which included a round on the Copperhead course. They don't have that deal this year. Instead it's the same price to play one of their other courses. And since I already have a contact who can get us on there... It seems like a waste.

So instead I bought a 4-pack of one day tickets to the Hooters tent. Ticket includes parking, some wings, and all you can drink beer. Price is $64 if you buy the 4-pack. Tournament runs March 12-15... I'll be heading over there on Saturday the 14th. 

Anyway... All 4 of my tickets are taken. But the rest of you should coordinate buying a pack and joining. Let me know if any of you do. 

Tickets at: valsparchampionship.com

DPT Open - Spring 2015 Recap

Another week, another new winner on tour. Tall Mike dominated the course, which has become a high-handicapper’s paradise. His 6-under (net) round is even more head-scratching when you consider it took him twelve holes to make a par, with only two on the day in total. Regardless, Mike earned his first ever victory, a handful of cash, and a large rise in the Official Golf Rankings.

Darren was right on his heels and missed his 4^th victory at Southern Hills by one stroke. If only he didn’t 4-putt the 4^th hole. But bad putting plagued the entire league, as SoHills has some of the most frustrating greens in the area. Chandler also had a 4-putt, and Guest achieved the rare 5-putt. There weren’t that many double-pars (7 in total)… but there also weren’t many pars in general.

In any case, the season is currently a race between Tall Mike and Darren. They’ll battle head-to-head at the next event on February 22^nd. If you’re in for the Match Play… make a comment or let me know ASAP. I’ll be locking the groups down this weekend.

Enjoy the next weekend off.

Sunday's Pairings

Pairings for this weekend. First group goes off at 11am.

Faz
Tall Mike
Brendan

Ben
Darren
JW

Reid
Gorecki
Dave

Buchert
Chandler
Guest
Buchert Friend

Gary
Gary Friend 1
Gary Friend 2
Gary Friend 3

See you all out there.

Where Do You Drop?

Some of us have been dropping our balls incorrectly, and it’s pretty much my fault.

Golf has a lot of rules, and we try to follow the important ones. There are an infinite number of places you can hit your ball with each location having an infinite number of lie positions. So while the rules may seem tedious, they really just make sure everyone is on the same playing field.

At some point I was reading up on how to take a correct drop from a hazard, and misinterpreted one of the options. So let’s correct that now:

There is no rule that allows you to drop on the path of your ball’s flight.

Ok… so what are you allowed to do? If you go in a hazard, or if your ball is unplayable, or in this league if your ball is lost but deemed to not be out of bounds… you can do one of these three things:

1)  Take a penalty and hit from the previous spot. This is sometimes the best option if you top your ball into a lake off the tee, because you’re allowed to actually re-tee it. In most cases you won’t use this option since you give up the distance of your previous shot. However, you MUST use this option if you ever hit your ball out of bounds, no matter where you just hit from. 

2)  Drop two club-lengths from where the ball entered the hazard. Pretty standard option. Don’t drop it closer to the hole.

3)  Drop the ball as far back as you’d like, keeping the point of entry into the hazard between you and the hole. If the hazard cuts across the fairway (like #18 at Heritage Harbor) this is pretty easy to do. But if you hit your ball into the woods on the right side… it’s basically impossible to choose this option. Keeping the ball’s entry-point into the woods between you and the hole would require you to drop out of bounds.

There ARE a few more complicated options that really don’t apply to us, and I’m not even going to attempt to quote them. Those are situations where the pros get a Rules Official and spend 10 minutes talking about it before deciding to drop on a cart path 100 yards away on the other side of a lake. And as everyone knows, Tiger Woods should have been disqualified from the 2013 Masters for screwing up option 3 above (he combined it with option 1 by going to the previous spot and then moving back two yards).

It’s also worth noting that if you’re taking an unplayable in a bunker, you must drop your ball in the same bunker.

I highly doubt we’ve messed this up enough to matter, but there it is. No more dropping balls in the middle of the fairway due to “line of flight.” 

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We have 17 people right now for Sunday, 14 who are league members. But Geoff is still a maybe and E-Flo hurt himself at the gym so now he’s a maybe. This puts the number at 16, 17, or 18. So the pairings delay continues until we know more.

DPT Open Update

The first Major of the season is almost here. We've got a huge field, and should have a few guests playing with us as well. Many of the new guys are still in search of their first victory on tour. No better place than at a Major with a large payout. 

We got a group rate of $50 plus tax. 

Pairings are delayed due to all the guests but I'll get those out soon. Handicaps are up and some of them are quite large. 

Entry fee this week is $10.  More later when I have a free moment. 

Week 3 - DPT Open

Our first Major is set for this upcoming Sunday, February 8th at 11am.

We'll be at Southern Hills in Brooksville. Right now 13 people are signed up and we are only waiting for Geoff to figure his life out. 

I'll post pairings and handicaps tomorrow. Southern Hills has a great practice facility so get up there early.