Week 2 - Preview

Tee time: 9:02am

Cost: $35ish

Range: yes

Long drive: 6th hole (par 4)... never before been used!

Everyone is on the BLUE tees unless you tell me you want to move back. As with last week, you don't want to do this. The 14th hole alone is a 263 par-3, through a shoot, all carry over water... and it used to be a blind shot. I think they cut back some of the trees years ago. 

 

Although... moving back will get you 4+ strokes... nope. Don't do it.

Scorecard (old but allegedly still accurate)

I fully expect conditions to suck. So be prepared, and figure out how to score. We got Grasslands Week 3, which should be nice (11am for all you elites who want to play "private clubs"). But for this week, gonna have to shed some skin to win some skins!

 

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Speaking of skins, for all the new people and the old people who don't pay attention:

Everyone has pre-paid $18 for the event ($1 per hole). Skins are group specific... at 80% handicap, stroking off the "low-man" of the group. So if you have the lowest net-score of a hole in your group, you'll win $1 from each Member in that group (Club credit, of course).

Win six holes, and you'll break even.

Any holes that are tied roll-over to the next hole. If there is a tie on 18, all un-paid skins go to whoever won the FIRST skin of the day. So it's important to play well early!

Questions? Comments? Add a pool pump!

Summer 2021 - Week 1 Recap

Great to be back. Nice to see we already got lucky with the weather, although we traded alleged rain for 20+ mph sustained wind. Maybe not the best course to have those conditions, but personally it's fun to get kicked in the nuts once in awhile.

Case in point... yesterday was probably the most volatile leader board we've ever seen. Every time we opened the app, a new player was at the top — and whoever was previously up there had fallen off a cliff. The MOC is so difficult in the middle stretch (especially hole 9), that any proclamation of who was winning came with the caveat that they "hadn't played 9 yet."

We had a 3-way tie at the top with Geoff coming in hot down the stretch. Pars at 16 and 17 seemed to lock up a victory, so a handful of us waited on 18 green to celebrate. Of course, Geoff being Geoff, hit a terrible drive, then a tree, then a layup, then a long approach that rolled under an oak tree... short of a bunker... and into some moss.

Some guys have all the luck. Geoff does not.

Upon seeing this photo, Gorecki made a face that said: "Don't you get relief from that?"

No. You do not. While the moss is a loose impediment, you can't possibly move it without moving that ball. Geoff took it in stride and actually played a decent shot (his 5th) over the bunker. But his next chip raced over the green and led to an 8.

All of this didn't matter, because Travis boringly parred the final three holes to win by two. It was the perfect tournament to win, because his +2 (net) is actually increasing his handicap as more rounds are recorded. Remember, handicaps skew low. Any notion that "new people" have inflated handicaps just isn't true. As more rounds are added, they go up.

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The MOC is testing the old adage that "good greens are all that matter." So many people believe this in golf (industry and players alike), and rarely do you see a course go all-in on the greens like they have.

Yesterday showed you what that looks like. There's more to the game than perfect greens.

 

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A lot of talk about the pace of play by our last group. From what I can tell, they played in maybe 4:20. I'm not going to get mad about that, on a very difficult course when two of them shot over 100. Group 1 played in 3 hours, which even as a threesome isn't to be expected. They probably just gave each other 5 foot putts all day.

I also heard some spicy takes from people who have never really been #involved in Club policies. It's never too late to form opinions... but don't come busting in like the Kool-Aid Man acting like you found a topic that hasn't been discussed, debated, and voted on. Go read my extensive recaps of every Board meeting to see who/what/why we do things the way we do them. And then continue to #getinvolved by discussing (in person) with other Members.

 

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I had a little trouble booking next week, so out of frustration I decided to cross off another "old" course on our list.

Next week we're headed to Heritage Harbor up in Lütz, a course we haven't visited in 5 years. It's not by any means on the unpublished "banned" list. It's not even a terrible layout — despite a few "bad" holes, including three par 5s which are architectural atrocities. 

 

It's just always been "meh." 

 

But our goal is to play everywhere, which means we have to check in on "meh" courses once in awhile. If some of you people had your way, our schedule would just be a rotation of 8 tracks (if I had my way, we'd play Waterlefe nine times a season).

Well, recent online reviews are pretty good (five 4-star and two 5-stars since April 13th)! So I asked the pro shop guy when I booked: "is the course in good shape?" His response: "Yeah... the greens are good."

There was just enough pause after "yeah" to tell me everything I needed to know. The greens have grass, and are probably slow. The fairways are concrete*. Bunkers have inconsistent sand. And rough is probably dirt.

*Golf courses in Scotland have concrete fairways, by design.

 

But look... to be a FBGC Champion, you need to perform well in all conditions the shitty Tampa metropolitan golf scene has to offer. Heritage Harbor is no exception, and should be played every 3-5 years.

 

Variety is the spice of life. It's the main ingredient in Old Bay, which is in short supply at the moment.

 

See you Sunday... 9am. $35.

Leader Board?

9:15am tee time.

Long drive on #15 (par 5).

Couple of things:

1) It'll probably be raining when you wake up. Rain doesn't mean a tournament is cancelled. If an event is ever cancelled by the Board, you'll get a text about it. The rain should be moving out by the time we tee off.

2) Apparently GolfGameBook just shut down their website functionality, moving to app only. This probably means I can no longer embed the leader board on this blog (I'm still looking into it). If that's the case, you'll need to use the app to view the live leader board. Apologies to all the WAGs and FBGC fans who follow along weekly.

Summer 2021 - Week 1 Preview

Welcome back! Hopefully everyone had a nice 3-week break, and is ready to get back out there to crown a new Champion.

First order of business... everyone needs to settle up their Summer Club Dues this week. Click the "Club Dues" link in the Deadbeat List to see what you owe (your name will be colored red, and what you owe is under the column that says... "Summer Owed").

For the new guys: everyone pays the entry fee for all nine events upfront ($130). If you miss an event, you aren't charged the fee (unless you bail the day of). The "Club Dues" link is a rolling accounting of entry fees and net-winnings each season.

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We're headed to Moccasin Wallow this week, which was the plan last summer before getting rained out due to local flooding. Read my previous post from last year if you want to know more about the course. That post also has the scorecard, so let me know if you want to move back from the WHITE tees (spoiler alert: you don't).

 

Tee time is 9:15am. Cost is $42 after tax.

Get there early because they still might be doing outside check-ins and it can be slow.

The Random Pairing Generator has been run, but we immediately had two Westchase Withdraws. Guess they don't like who they were paired with? Anyway, if one more person bails I'm canceling a tee time... and I'll continue to shuffle the pairings, in order, as you people decide to do more important things.

See you Sunday!

Spring 2021 Board Meeting Notes

Here's a list of things discussed and voted on at the Board Meeting two weeks ago:

By-Law change:

• Starting immediately, any new prospective member needs to play in eight (8) official Club events within a two-season span, before they're eligible for Club approval.
• This is a change from 5 events, over any period of time. The reason for this change is to give prospects more time to socialize with Members, as well as solidify a more accurate handicap.
• We discussed requiring multiple Sponsors for new members, and ultimately decided against it.
• We also discussed implementing a handicap maximum, either for Membership (through By-Laws) or a playing maximum (through tournament Rules). We decided against it, and to keep following USGA guidance. The Handicap system has already been fleshed out by people smarter than us.
  

 Member Votes:

• All four prospectives passed the Board vote, as previously reported.
• John wanted to boot Gorecki again, specifically because at World Woods he "didn't know" you're not allowed to clean your ball in the rough, and thought you could clean it as long as you didn't "lift" it (vote failed 2-3).
• JW wanted to boot himself due to his performance at Saddlebrook (failed 1-4).

Hypothetical Rules Changes:

The Board can't change Playing Rules mid-year (only By-Laws), but we still discussed what we would do if allowed. This is merely to put on record for discussion amongst Members before future votes:

• Eliminate all "gimmies" - would have passed 5-0. This is something all Members should speak up on if they have any strong feelings one way or another, as this train is currently coming down the tracks.
  
• Brendan really wants us to be able to drop in the fairway for 2 strokes after hitting a ball OB. He's super passionate about it. This would have failed 0-5. The Board's sentiment is that actually hitting your 3rd shot (or provisional) into the fairway is part of the skill and challenge. You shouldn't just be allowed to assume you'd find a fairway.
• The Board couldn't agree on any penalty or change to people bailing on events the day/week before. We definitely had some group shuffling issues last season, but we didn't want a knee-jerk reaction to it. If issues persist then the Board can take it up again in the Winter when Rule changes are allowed.
• Automatically playing "lift, clean and place" on any "short course" was hypothetically rejected 0-5. John wants to be on record as saying it was "the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
• We currently allow you to play "lift, clean and place" on any surface that is a "closely-mown area." This includes fairway, tee boxes, and fringe. We discussed disallowing this from adjacent holes, but it wouldn't have passed.

Resolutions and Comments:

• The board unanimously felt allowing the WHITE tees at Heritage Isles was perfectly fine. They gave a vote of confidence to our Course Setup Committee, to continue choosing tees on a case-by-case basis.
• The Board wanted to acknowledge that there have been reports of "sketchy drops" by certain individuals. Specifically, people not understanding that you must begin the drop process from the point at which the ball crossed the hazard. Many times, this is located back by the tee box... despite you hitting the ball 240 yards. This post was made last year... and everyone needs to re-read it. Golf is a self-policed game, but tournaments require other playing competitors to help protect the field. Don't take it personally if you get called out for dropping incorrectly.
• Furthermore, if you report someone wasn't following a rule, the first thing I'll ask is: "did you say something?" If that answer is "no," then don't bother reporting it.
• Faz has been pushing for a spreadsheet of old equipment for sale. I don't personally think we need to go through all that, because anyone can theoretically make a post if they have an item. More people should be making posts about all types of things, but especially used equipment. When our posts increase, I'll consider adding more spreadsheet functionality.

This was the last meeting of our current Board. A new Board of Directors vote will take place before the 2021 Winter Meeting.

Membership & Rapture

Some of ya'll made me do work on vacation... but through countless texts, I finally got all the Membership ballots and Summer/Rapture registrations.

New members require 75% of returned ballots to be affirmative votes (15 in this case).

Billy, Brian and Travis were all confirmed.

Tony did not receive enough votes. I personally hope he still continues to play with us next season.

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As far as the Rapture, one weekend was the clear winner, with only two* Members listed as "Out."

That'll take place October 7th-10th. 

I'll be working on the details for that ASAP. Hopefully the two guys who were "out" that weekend can figure a way to join. 

*Buchert and Crum replied "out" to everything, so don't worry if they're ranked above you in the World Rankings. A source close to Buchert reports that he'll never play in another Rapture again. End of an era. RIP.

See you guys in a couple of weeks.

Guess What?

There are people reading this text right now who have not filled out their Summer/Rapture registration and/or Membership ballot.

Why is that? It took you longer to visit this site and read this post than it does to click some links and buttons. 

Go do it. 

Membership Voting - Summer 2021

I have an entire page of notes, covered in beer and wing sauce. It's going to take me a while to get everything discussed at last night's Board Meeting up on this blog.

The By-Laws don't tell us how to conduct the Membership Vote, so we're going to set the procedure on a case-by-case basis. This time around, we've decided to announce the results as accepted/deferred, with anonymous voting as we've done previously.

All four candidates received the required 3 votes at the Board Meeting to proceed to the general Confirmation Vote. That vote begins immediately, and will run through April 18th, or until every Member has responded. 

 

To be "accepted," the prospects need 3/4ths of the quorum (or 15 "yes" votes assuming everyone participates). Failure to obtain enough votes will "defer" them to going through this process again following next season... after we hold new Board elections.

Members: The Confirmation Vote will be emailed to you later today.

Prospects: Refer to your Sponsor for any questions about the vote, results, or future procedures. The Chairman — un-affectionately referred to as "Dear Leader" by our more surly Members — is just an organizer. He only gets one vote, and rarely has his finger on the pulse of Club sentiment.