The Classic - Summer 2017 Recap

That's right. The Classic. We had two events (so far) lose their sponsorship... because money is tight these days. We're not doing very well in the ratings. WAG viewership of our leader board is down 20% after Brendan's wife jumped off his bandwagon last season. Will the remaining sponsored events survive? Probably not.

Anyway, Stoneybrook was a great test today. Greens were slow and a little bumpy... but they weren't "bad." I feel the expectations have gotten a little out of whack lately. Some of the slowest and most bumpy greens each season was Southern Hills before they re-planted them. To me... "bad" is when Quail Hollow's greens were literally dirt.

Winds were blowing 17-24 mph and the course beat us up. Our scores suffered as only three people were under par (net). Geoff had the only good day, starting the Summer off with a win after an abysmal Spring season. I hear he did a ton of prep on his course strategy before the round. I'm not sure if that helped, or if it was Gary coaching him up all day... but excellent round.

The other Brown guy (that's me!) coached up Troy who continues a really good stretch of golf. His 44 on the back nine was great to see. Gary rounded out the top three, which would have been much better if not for two blow-up holes.

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Groups 3 and 4 each played 5 hour rounds without anyone holding them up (as in... Group 4 was barely keeping up with Group 3 until the last few holes). I know why group 4 played slow. Gorecki is a head case and has zero understanding of how to speed up. Instead of dropping off Darryl and going to his ball... he likes to sit in the cart and pout about his previous shot. Then when it's finally time to hunt for his tee shot... he starts looking 40 yards ahead of where it actually is. Even if it's known to be OB, he'll hunt for 3 minutes. We can fix him with enough public scrutiny. We have the technology.

I don't know why Group 3 played slow, but if you aren't keeping up with the group in front of you... that's a problem. Speed up. Drop people off at their ball. Don't grind out natural double-pars. Don't spend more than a few minutes hunting for balls. Get off your phone and get ready to hit your next shot sooner.

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This week we're playing at Fox Hollow - 9:29am tee time - $50.  I have been told Robbie and Anthony need guest spots. I feel like there was someone else (Danny is out... Brendan maybe?). Make a comment ASAP since space is limited.

The tee options are wide ranging. We're really going to test the "play where you want" this week... CHECK BACK LATER so you can comment on where you want to play. I'll post a scorecard soon... but I don't trust it.

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Two weeks remaining before World Rankings lock for the Rapture. Casey made the list this week, and Anthony is only one round away from his debut. Dave is actually pretty close to passing Katie for the #1 captain spot (she's out this week). John needs a win and some help to get up there. Reid is now "last man in" with Brendan on his heels.

But, as mentioned before, we're going to invite Robbie as our 16th... allowing everyone who's available to attend. Robbie played with Katie this week, so I'll put him with Dave at Fox Hollow (and then both of them Week 3).

We were going to draft at the Hangover but I see Dave is out that week. We'll do it another night later in the season, and perhaps we can all go out on our off week. Really... just captains need to be there. We could even do it in the clubhouse after a round.

Great opening week everyone!