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.
The Moc had a decent mix of hard holes and short holes, but that rough was brutal. I got two penalties on balls that I’m certain were in play, but couldn’t be found and were close enough to a hazard to take the penalty. But I’d play there again. I’ll try and take advantage of semi home field advantage at HH to secure my rapture captain status!
ReplyDeleteNot terribly disappointed that I couldn't make it based on the scores. Congrats to Travis on his first win in his first tournament, and doing it in a fashion that is definitely not sandbagging is great. With my Rapture qualification dropping off the table without a win at the Open, I'm just going to go Rickie Fowler mode and congratulate people on winning since I can't win.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Travis
ReplyDeleteOk, here's an issue I'll bring up in public instead of texting Chandler because he's tired of hearing from me. I believe the deadbeat list should only be for people who weren't able to pay because they didn't have cash that day after being asked to pay. If you don't ask your playing partners to pay you what you're owed, then you should ask them before having Chandler put them on the deadbeat list. Dan did his bit mostly to troll me, and that was fine because I deserved it and I wasn't there at the end of the round to pay him. Now I see more names being added to the list and I don't know why they'd be added midweek after an event. If Reid asked these people to pay and they didn't, then they should be on the list. If he didn't talk to them about what they owe, then they should get a collection call from Reid before being put on the list.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have qualms with guests being a part of the deadbeat list and the long drives and greenies. I think if you get the longest drive of the club members in your group and you're in the fairway, you should win the long drive. Same kind of deal with greenies. I think if you want to have side action with guests and they agree, that's fine, but for official stats I don't think guests should play into it.
So if we bullet-point this... JW is saying:
ReplyDelete- Only add names to the Deadbeat List if they were asked to pay, and didn't/couldn't/refused.
- Guests should NOT be in the official side-bets. Greenies and Long Drives, which are recorded in your Career Stats, should only be awarded to official Club Members. Guests shouldn't be able to "steal" these items.
- There should be no penalty for WD'ing.
Nobody has any comments on this? My comment is... basically everyone has PayPal/Venmo. Zero reason bets, even $1, aren't settled up after the round. Shame on you people.
Love you JW but I don’t think any of those things matter or need to be changed. The greenie and long drive stats are pretty meaningless and have always been rife with subjectivity. I’ve lost a long drive because of a lazy maintenance guy not mowing parts of the fairway. I’d be more of my typical hardline self when it comes to stats if these ones mattered at all.
ReplyDeleteI care too much.
ReplyDelete