FBGC Masters - Summer 2022 Recap

Casey fired an impressive +1 (gross) on the front nine of Crooked Cat to take a huge lead on Sunday. It was basically mistake-free golf, where even a classic Casey-top off the first tee resulted in an up-and-down bogey.

Building a huge lead with a score of -7 (net) through 11 holes, all he had to do was keep the wheels on to win his 11th career tournament and 4th Major. He was in prime position to eject on the 12th hole, but managed to chip in from off the green for another scrambling bogey.

By that point, Troy had made the turn at -4 (net) and was looking to just tie Casey for another season championship. But his hopes slipped away with a double at 10, triple at 12, and no pars on the back nine. It was a valiant effort, but Troy ultimately came up 410 points short — basically one more victory.

Since we did this exercise with Gorecki a few seasons ago, I'll go ahead and say it... Troy lost the Cup by three strokes in Week 1, when he finished the round at Fox Hollow with a triple and quintuple bogey. Shaving three strokes off those two holes would have given him a solo victory, and knocked Buchert down to solo 2nd.

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But that shit didn't happen. And so we have a very deserving new champion in Buchert — the first person since Spring 2015 to win four events in a season. His scoring average was 1.5 strokes lower than his career average... and 3.8 lower than last season. I'm not sure what finally clicked, but some of you might want to ask him.

Great season, Buchert. Welcome to the Champions Dinner.

 

I think Brendan has the Cup... so hopefully that makes its way to you.

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We now head into our long off-season, where many of you desperately need a physical and/or mental break. We'll start back up next January. In the meantime, be sure to post any playing opportunities if you need people.

 

As a reminder, The Rapture is October 7th - 9th (check in at hotel on the 6th). There will be many Rapture specific posts next month, but it looks like the Captains (Dave & Troy) have decided to host a Draft Party at Gorecki's house. I'm waiting for Gorecki to tell me the exact date.

I'll see some of you then. Thanks for another fun year, everyone!

 There are two charity scrambles coming up in the off season that I wanted to give some attention to.  

The first is the Shriners one that didn't happen last year. Frankly, it seems to be on a bad day for us since it is right after the Rapture on October 10th.  I have golf bachelor party the weekend after that, too.  So I probably should be responsible and work that Monday and not golf 7/10 days and keep it at six. But I figured I would post it here if anyone one was interested.  It i at River Hills in Valrico.  

The second is for the Humane Society on Monday, November 14th at Carrollwood CC.  I can make that one.

They are both $800 for a foursome which includes two meals, drinks and probably the usual swag and silent auctions.  I bet the Humane Society will have puppies, which is always nice.  

Shriner's Doug Cox Memorial

Humane Society @ Carrollwood CC

Jamaican Open - Summer 2022 Recap

Buchert did the impossible, overcoming a high-handicappers paradise to win his fourth event of the season. Although... I'd argue Buchert is now a high-handicapper, compared to his potential skill level. The fact his Index got up to 15.9 before the start of this season should have been (and probably was... I'd have to go re-read old posts) a glaring red-flag that he's prime to add his name on the Cup. 

 

Assuming we're still putting names on the Cup. The status of it is not quite clear.

What's also not clear was who actually won the event yesterday. Some of you may have noticed Buchert and Moostie tied... since that's what the app said (and still says). Alas, they discovered a scoring error after finalizing their round.

GolfGameBook recently made it so I can't change scores in other groups. Their solution is to just "move yourself into their group." Well that doesn't work if they click the "end round" button. So don't ever click that.

Anyway, excellent run by Buchert, who is skipping our final event. He's now the fourth Member to win 4 events in a season (w/ Chandler, Faz, and Darren). All previously won the Championship. And yet... Buchert may still lose it.

Troy needs to finish solo-1st or a two-way tie for 1st to steal it away. This will be quite difficult at OCN (Crooked Cat). Troy finished solo-4th the one time we played it, shooting a respectable -4 (net) and still losing by ten freaking strokes!

Here's hoping for some excitement, but either way we're getting a deserving Champion who won despite skipping 33% of our events.

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We're under contract this week. So if you're going to bail, update the RSVP now. If you're on the list and don't show up, we'll be charging you $75ish. Same goes for your guests.

Tee time in Orlando is 9:27am. Get there early to warm up.

See you Sunday!

 

Update:

Course has changed since we were last there. There is a Orange/Green (6,515) and Green/White (6,020) combo.

Below is the old Scorecard from their website, which may give you an idea bout ORANGE and GREEN tees. Everyone is on GREEN/WHITE combo. If you want to move back, let me know.

Summer 2022 - Final 2 Weeks

We're playing at Grasslands this Sunday at 8:48am. I'm told as of yesterday the greens are punched to shit. So... expect another difficult day. 

 

Here's a scorecard for Grasslands. There are a lot of teeing options, so if you want to move back from the WHITEs then let me know ASAP.

 

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Gorecki booked us at Orange County National (in Orlando) for our final event on August 28th, 9:27am start. Cost is going to be about $74 after tax... and he had to sign a contract guaranteeing our reserved spots.

This means you need to bail before Thursday the 25th. If you bail, for any reason, on that date (or later), then we are on the hook for your greens fee. You'll be assessed that fee in Club Credit.

So if you don't want to drive to Orlando... or don't want to "waste" a Sunday... that's fine. Just bail now and save yourself the money.

For those of you who forgot how to officially bail... go change your RSVP using the registration link on this blog.

Southern Hills - Club Credit

Gary is still on Southern Hills' membership email list — and wanted to share this policy email that just came out. Which one of you idiots recently joined SH and complained about tournament payouts?

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All, 

With so many new members, I thought it would be worth explaining our event payout policy with playing in club tournaments.  All tournaments that you place in are paid out in the form of "credit books"

Credit Books:  Each member has a "Credit Book" account attached to their membership.  This is not a "credit" to your bill, but a separate category, similar to a gift card or "store credit".  When placing in tournaments or Hole in One winnings, you will receive that dollar payout in "credit books".  You can use credit books in the Golf Shop or Pete's Grill.  Keep in mind, when wanting to use your credit books, please inform the staff when you would like to use your credit books (it is not automatic).  

The Concussion - Summer 2022 Recap

Things are getting very interesting, as Buchert pulled within 16 points of Troy in the season standings. Both are trying to become the first Champion to only play in 6 events — proving that a strong golf-life balance is possible.

Buchert shot a fairly mistake-free round yesterday (one double bogey), on a course that is prime for blow-ups. You can't score out there if you don't have patience and good course management. Even with those things, it might not be your day.

Conditions were... OK. Way better than the last time I was out there (15+ years ago). I can even see how some of our guys vouched for it. But the greens were punched to shit and you can't place pins on down slopes when you're aerating. There were a lot of missed putts that would have been considered "gimmies" in years past. Which I guess is why we changed that rule.

 

Not properly being able to warm up probably hurt a few of you on the first hole. 

 

Warming up for God knows how long at Tampa Bay Downs... rushing over to the course... pulling in while the entire Club is standing on the first tee... and practicing putting while the rest of your group has already teed off... probably hurt Tall Mike on the first hole as well. Despite all that nonsense, he had the tournament locked up until he self-immolated on the short par-3 15th. That was a sight to behold.

John, Geoff, and Chandler (me!) played well. The rest of you... did not.

I'm shocked we only had one pitcher owed. I'm also shocked there was a 10 stroke gap between DFL and 2nd-to-DFL.

I guess for this event, Chi Chi served its purpose. We had an eagle, 18 birdies, and a bunch of greenies. We probably need to go back to The Groves next season.

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We're off this week for a make-up we don't need. Our next event is August 21st at Grasslands. You owe John $50 if you're playing, and you should send that to him now.

Troy is out, and it's allegedly Buchert's last event of the season. So while Buchert can't lock up the season at Grasslands, he can eject from it if he doesn't score 16+ points. Realistically, everyone down to Faz has a shot to win the Cup.

 

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The Rapture draft pool is set. Dave will have first pick, with Troy selecting the next two in a snake draft. Their options will be (in order of qualifying): Reid, Casey, Geoff, Chandler, Brendan, Gorecki, Travis, Darren, Moostie, Ho, Danny, Faz, Melberg, Gary.

I don't think there's any point in having the draft until after September 15th, leaving just one handicap revision before the competition.

The Concussion - Summer 2022 Info

Long drive on 13.

Reports from Friday is they punched recently despite telling me that wasn't happening.

We dropped two groups and are now full.

GolfGameBook doesn't have hole handicap info loaded into their app. So all your strokes will be in the beginning of the front and back nines in the app. This wont affect the final standings... but when you're trying to avoid a pitcher down the stretch, you won't be stroking despite the scorecard saying you are. Unless you're Danny.

FBGC Championship - Summer 2022 Recap

Melberg picked up his 3rd win and 2nd Major yesterday, proving that in the right conditions a low handicapper CAN win. His course record 78 (gross) was quite impressive, as everyone (except Topor) struggled to make net-birdies.

Lake Jovita (South) is a tough test. But conditions were solid with the exception of most bunkers. Pin placements were dicey, but the greens rolled well considering they were punched a week ago.

Melberg sneaks into the Championship discussion, but missing this week is severely hurting his chances.

Topor looked like he was going to boat race the field, only to falter down the stretch like he did at Bayou Club earlier this season. He still controls his own destiny, but the 112.5 points he missed out on by one stroke might haunt him when the season ends.

Dan was kind enough to visit the ATM for the first time in a decade, providing actual cash payouts... which thoroughly seemed to confuse some of the winners. Gorecki let out a squeal when he saw physical money, like a stripper on her first night at the Gold Club.

While there's no telling how our policy will continue in the future, at least you can all sleep soundly knowing that  

 

1) The Club is holding onto $339 less of your monies, and  

 

2) Melberg will now have to send in a dues payment next season since his balance is void of the winnings that would have covered Spring 2023. Congrats to all involved.

 

No word if he was mugged in the parking lot.

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I didn't really hear any complaints about the shotgun start... only a few questions as to why and how it came to be. So here are my observations:

• It was nice to all finish at the same time. Most of the field came inside for a few moments. A good amount hung out for lunch/drinks.
• The wait-staff was not impressed with 20+ guys arriving at once, and service suffered because of it.
• It was one of the longest rounds we've ever played, clocking in at ~4:42. That should not have been the case, and only means someone ahead of Group A was playing slow a shit. The course obviously never found nor attempted to solve the problem, and probably just blamed the pace on our group.
• I don't see a lot of shotguns happening in our future, but I can request it if people want. As previously mentioned, most courses don't want to be bothered.
  

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This week we're playing The Concussion at Chi Chi Rodriguez golf club in what is technically inside the Clearwater city limits. This course has been on my own personal ban list since I last played it sometime around 2007. So why are we going here?

Because — as always — I'm a man of the people. Brendan, John, and Casey have repeatedly requested this course, claiming it's solid and in good shape. So I have no reason to doubt their opinions. If you disagree, be sure to be as loud as you are about everything else.

Everyone is on the WHITE tees for this event. I don't have a current scorecard. I've already dropped one tee time based on RSVPs so only 20 players max. Tee time is 9am. I think there's a range across the street, but you have to drive to it and I'm not sure it's connected in any way to the course or our round.

See you Sunday.