Spring 2023 - Week 2

Skins Game this week at the daunting Plantation Palms at 9:00am. Last year Danny won (by 3 strokes!) with a 99 on this course.

We are grouped and going out in order of handicaps, which helps make the Skins portion of the event more competitive. It also might explain why the winner seems to come from the "Group of Slow Death." Look at these overall stroke-play winners — and their Indexes — since we switched to a "Skins within your foursome" format:

2019 Spring - Danny - 29.6

2019 Summer - Adam - 21.8

2020 Spring - John - 16.5

2020 Summer - Gorecki - 27.6

2021 Spring - Reid - 14.2

2021 Summer - Darren - 19.1

2022 Spring - Danny - 26.6

2022 Summer - Moostie - 17.0

We'll need to debate the cause/effect of this.

Anyway go read this post about the crazy tight OB at PP. If you hit anywhere in the direction of a house, you probably want to hit a provisional.

Here's a scorecard if you want to move back from the Whites. Let me know now.

Updating the Losing Streak Leaderboard

I spent most of Sunday resigned to Gary ending his bid at overtaking my losing streak, probably forever, until Gorecki closed out strong on 18 and put Gary into a flat spin that ended up probably being good for the elder Brown's handicap maintenance.

As I was focused on trying to get points of my own for Rapture qualification (it's during football season, so I probably won't attend, but I will enjoy dangling the possibility of my attendance in front of the folks who finish 17th and 18th if I achieve my golf goals this year), I didn't go in and look at when the next possible loser would overtake me... until just now.

So since everyone was wondering where they stood, I'm here to update the leader board. And it's not pretty for me.

Current FBGC losing streaks:

• 0 tournaments - Gorecki and Casey
• Casey doesn't have bad streaks long enough to ever catch up and Gorecki's handicap will always be so high that he has a chance to win with a mid to high 90's round, so these two will likely never catch up.
• 1 tournament - Buchert and Melberg
• Melberg's handicap could get him into a losing streak, but there will always be a tough course that he just plays well on and shoots around his number while all the shitty golfers blow up. Buchert I thought might have had a chance to approach the losing streak for a while, but then he turned in the most efficient season in league history last season.
• 3 tournaments - Troy
• I don't know what happened to Troy on Sunday. I overheard a little bit of talk about his round, but I just find it hard to believe he played so poorly at a place that should have suited his game quite well. Maybe the lack of danger around the greens leveled the field with his short game and he just had an extremely unusual wild day with the driver? Either way, he's not a real competitor for the losing streak.
• 6 tournaments - Topor and Faz
• It would take 55 rounds, or about 3.5 years of perfect attendance, but Topor and Faz are two competitors here. Topor is a high handicapper who tries to kill the ball with little regard for course management, and Faz's short game can add strokes to any round at a rapid pace. Topor's handicap has been trending down, but still high enough for a round of bogeys to win him a tournament, and Faz is a legit ball striker who might not miss greens enough for his chipping to cost him too badly. We'll know before 2027 for sure.
• 8 tournaments - Billy and Moostie
• These tortoises will likely not approach the losing streak because of their insular focuses on the course. Our league's greatest champion is just waiting for a worthwhile victory. Maybe Billy can get on a bad stretch and not recover, but I'm seeing too many rounds in the 80's for him to not sneak a win before 2026.
• 9 tournaments - Brendan
• Healthy living will continue Brendan's occasional win trend
• 10 tournaments - Geoff
• Geoff once had a few year's without a win, but lessons seem to have him a bit more dialed in and able to piece together good rounds often enough for it to not happen again
• 11 tournaments - Reid
• Shown in the past he can go too low to not win before '26
• 13 tournaments - John and Dave
• Dave is too good to not win. John, though, I mean CPG has Morikawa pegged right now and I wonder if that's on the verge of happening with the Big Guy. Some folks can only focus on family life and not golf. Big changes coming could mean a long time without winning. That said, John has also shown that he can flip his golf game in one off-season, so with at least 5 of those between now and the record it doesn't seem like he'll have a chance to break it.
• 14 tournaments  - Travis
• Recently married, new club handicap run is over, perhaps Travis can keep losing until the next mid term election?
• 15 tournaments - Danny
• Danny is bad enough that he might challenge this. Two things that will help him stay short of the record though: high enough handicap to win with an average round and the possibility of him giving up golf within the next three years.
• 16 tournaments - Mike H and Chandler B
• Once one of the key competitors in this race to shittiness, Mike came through with a big win that ended his streak at I think 40 rounds to help Troy clinch a season title that day. The Ho vanity handicap is a bit of a running joke, but it's gotta be genuine unless he's playing big money games outside the league and cheating in those and reporting fake scores that way. Would be tough to see a single digit handicap go that long in a league that allows ties to win not end his streak before it gets too out of hand. Chandler has gypsy magic and I'm not going to anger Dear Leader by mentioning him as a competitor here. 16 tournaments since a win, though, huh?
• 21 tournaments - Adam
• Could be a competitor here because he has the ability to be about as bad as anyone on any given day. He can go low, but is it often enough to keep him from losing 40 more times in a row? We shall see.
• 22 tournaments - Darren
• He'll be booted from the league for lack of attendance before he gets to 61.
• 23 tournaments - Dan 
• If he keeps moving to the tips, then he might make a run at infamy. If he moves up and shoots an even par round from easier tees he'll end it.
• 24 tournaments - Crum
• In the same boat as Topor as someone who wants to mash the ball without considering options more likely for success. I talked to Crum about getting a driver fitting and letting that serve as a lesson to try to keep that tee shot on the planet. Dave talked to him about not swinging so hard. So has everyone else he's ever played with. We'll see if he takes it to heart. He can shoot in the 80's, but OB will be his enemy until he works to make the driver his friend.
• 25 tournaments - Dub
• Of course I'm here again at the end of this list. It's only right. I have lost tournaments early, mid, and late in all sorts of ways. I had Big John birdie while I doubled on 18 to win by a stroke at Southern Hills. I've had Gorecki out-handicap me more than once. I've ejected on my own more times than I can recall. I'd like to think I won't challenge 61 again, but what in the past would make me confident in that? We'll see if the new smart golf approach will work. I'm actively trying to win tournaments this season and not just showing up to hang out with friends and have fun. Will it matter? I hope so. Probably not, though.
• 46 tournaments - Gary
• With 17 tournaments left to go in '23, it could potentially happen this calendar year. If Sunday was indicative of a golf renaissance for Gary, though, this streak will end before spring break. If not, I'll really be looking forward to the Jamaican and the FBGC Masters for possibly 61 and 62 if Gary has perfect attendance. Hoping he at least makes it to 50 and joins Faz and in that club, though.

Spring 2023 -- Week 1 Recap

Collectively as a group, we weren't very good yesterday. Some of that could be attributed to rust and lack of play in the off-season. Watching defending Champion Buchert pump 6 balls OB was tough. But many of us never took time off from the links... and still lacked any sort of consistency. Golf is hard.

Glenn Lakes was also a challenge — not unfair, just difficult if you're out of position. Getting into "position" was daunting due to the high winds. So a combination of difficult course and unusual conditions resulted in...

Gorecki winning?

I guess for a guy who really hasn't played since the Rapture, he forgot most of his bad habits. His low, "worm scaring" ball flight was perfect for the gusty conditions. His embarrassing handicap received 2-strokes on over half the holes, erasing most mistakes. 

Gorecki's first ever Classic victory deserves praise. He beat 12 people (gross) which has probably never happened before. The entire last season he beat 5 people gross (7 events played)! It's also his first ever "good" pitcher. And he just tanked his handicap 2.5 points in the upcoming revision.

So congrats to Gorecki! We all look forward to finding out how you lose the DPT Cup in the final week.

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Gary played the best golf I've seen out of him in a long time, until his 2nd shot on 18. His mental meltdown aside, he needed a birdie just to tie Gorecki so that wasn't happening.

JW is also showing signs of vast improvement. His newfound gameplan of "smart golf" is going to ultimately prove what I've been saying for years. It's the fastest way to lower scores for high handicappers.

And finally... since Glen Lakes was a "new" course for our Club, we have two new records. Shoutout to Dave and Troy for setting them at 79 and 110 (gross).

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We're off next week for Gasparilla. 

 

In two weeks (Super Bowl Sunday) we'll be at Plantation Palms at 9am. Based on the RSVPs we only have 20 spots booked. So one-leg Casey is an alternate (if he's even still able to move).

See you then.

Spring 2023 - Week 1 Preview

Week one is this Sunday, January 22nd. Teeing off at 12pm at Glen Lakes.

We're down to 20 players, so pairings have again been reset to help speed up play. Be sure to check when you're going out.

Four Members still have outstanding balance on their season dues. Send those over this week to remain eligible.

 

There's a good chance the course will send us out early this week.

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A few tips for those of you who read the blog:

 

#3 & #6 - Anything up the right side will leave you with oak trees between you and the green. Even if you're in the fairway.

#10 - A great hole, but a bit squirrely. Long hitters will try to get to the green in two. But there are huge hedges/bushes just off the green on the right. If you push your approach right, even by a little bit, you might lose your ball in those bushes (they're in-bounds).

#17 - There's OB you can't see from the tee on the right side. Hit a provisional.

#18 - Big dogleg left off the tee. If your ball goes into the right-hand trees, it'll probably end up OB due to a big slope into a backyard. Hit a provisional.

Apparently all the trouble on this course is on the right! Anyway, see you Sunday.

Spring 2023 - Week 1

We're booked at Glen Lakes, a Ron Garl masterpiece up in Weeki Wachee. This is a "new" course for us. It's a decent layout, and conditions are solid. They are considered private and it was a bit of a pain to get us out there. Here's what you need to know:

• Our group is under "Brown" as usual, and you'll need to tell this to the guard at the gate.
  
• We are technically guests of Dan... who is the head pro. He's very nice, but was super apprehensive about allowing us on the tee sheet. Despite them selling GroupGolfer and GolfNow rounds from time to time, they have never allowed outside groups.
• We're paying the guest rate of $80. A bit much for this course, but everything is $80+ right now without some sort of hookup. It's the largest increase in golf inflation I've ever seen, with no signs of slowing down.
  
• We have to tee off after their members at 12:03pm. We've seen this before at private clubs, and our Board unanimously approved the late start before we committed.
  
• I've been instructed that we must keep our pace-of-play at 3:40. I said OK, even though I know you people can't accomplish this. He said their member PoP is 3:15 (which I don't believe).

I'll post some info on the course next week. No guests allowed this week. With 21 players currently RSVP'd, this will allow us to go out in three 3somes and three 4somes... helping with the pace of play. If someone bails we'll drop down to 5 groups of 4.

Pairings will not be random, but rather based on an updated GROUP OF DEATH rating that the BGR published years ago... attempting to create evenly "fast" groups. Please decrease your "dick around time" while we're out there.

 

There's a small chance the Bucs will be playing during this round. Sorry in advance. Watch it on your phone assuming they even advance to round 2, and somehow get the early Sunday game.

More to come soon.

Happy New Year

A bunch of you haven't filled out your RSVPs yet. Week 1 begins in 19 days, and I'll be booking somewhere soon. Do that now or you'll be considered OUT.

Following-up on something that was asked of me earlier, below is a list of our Membership ordered by number of rounds officially recorded for handicap purposes in 2022:

Ho - 77

Chandler - 69

Dave - 63

JW - 57

Darren - 46

Geoff - 45

Gary - 43

Melberg - 37

Reid - 35

Billy - 32

Travis - 31

Faz - 30

Adam - 29

Troy - 28

John - 27

Brendan - 27

Moostie - 26

Casey - 26

Danny - 26

Crum - 23

Topor - 23

Gorecki - 22

Dan - 18

Buchert - 14