Another frigid start to a year — as is tradition. This was probably the coldest we've ever seen, with wind chill in the high 20s at tee time. It definitely made swinging a club difficult. And the wind itself was whipping throughout the day. The par-3 7th and 11th were brutally long in those conditions, especially with frozen golf balls.
We also kicked off the season with the most WDs in Club history... three of them the morning of. Although Danny never actually reported his WD to me or any other Board Member. Alas, our Club coffers grew $30 on Sunday! For those curious (it came up a few times), we're sitting on $935... with a few Moses plates needing purchase.
Topor kicked off the year in Group 1 — which went out as Group 2 — with a very impressive teed-up 4-iron whiff. Excellent representation of our skill levels as a whole. And yes... whiffs do count as actual strokes.
Hernando Oaks has a median-net par of +6, making it one of the more difficult courses we play. The consistent cold conditions and lack of fluffy grass probably contribute a stroke or two. Or ten, in Geoff's case. I believe it's his first ever double-pitcher. He shot +18 (net) twice... once at Buffalo Creek and once at Heritage Harbor (in our 2nd season).
The day was set up perfectly for Scottish Dave to win despite only receiving three strokes. He was in the lead early after an impressive 38 (gross) on the front. But a double bogey on 14 and back-to-back bogeys to end the round derailed his chances.
Gary had a great outing, predictably reporting he hit it poorly. He needs to clean up the triples (he had three of them) if he wants to ever see the winners circle again — currently on a 64 event streak without a victory. The Detroit Lions are on a streak of about 66 years without a championship. Maybe they'll end the drought on the same day as Gary in Week 3!
Somebody had to win Sunday, and that somebody was Adam-san, straight off
the boat from Japan. With a new perspective in culture and the fresh
taste of whale testicles in his mouth... Adam drove the green on 6 to
make a birdie (and greenie) after carding a quad on the previous hole.
Seven more pars were recorded throughout the round, which easily
balanced out all the doubles.
Adam and Gary were the only two players whose handicaps took the round!
Fun start to the year. Welcome back!
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We're off this week for Gasparilla. Be safe if you're going. Enjoy the free weekend if you aren't. Next round is on February 4th at 9am at Lexington Oaks.
Conditions out there are decent. Greens a little slow but roll true. Hopefully we won't get much rain between now and then. Update your RSVPs now!
Congrats Adam, well played! Stopped a long winless drought. Also, I think this should be the last year that we use the day after gasparilla as an off week. Probably better league attendance at the children’s parade at this point.
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction was to point out all the times people of your ilk have requested the weekend of Gasparilla Music Festival off. But I'm pretty sure that crap has fallen off so badly even you hippies don't attend anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe only difference being that Gasparilla is not during the day on Sunday when we play as a league. You people should not be playing pirate dress up and going so hard that you can’t play golf the next day.
ReplyDeleteI'm like a beach cruiser bicycle. I only got one speed!
ReplyDeleteHaving a Sunday game would kill gasprilla for me , no thanks. Congrats on the win Adam, it would be nice to a see a new face at the champs dinner. So there is a $30 fine for a no show?
ReplyDeleteJust entry fee which was $10 this week. Times three people who bailed.
ReplyDeleteThe conditions at Hernando were very poor, but they have some of the best green complexes of any course we play, especially number 5 (I think, long par 4 with the tee shot over the junk and the nasty bunker that cost Geoff 3 strokes right in front of the green). Somehow I had a ball end up on the front side of a twelve inch wide tree on a hole amongst other shit breaks, but I was just glad I didn’t whiff anything with how numb my hands were at the start. It was tough out there, so congrats to all of y’all who had even decent rounds.
ReplyDeleteGMF has fallen off quite a bit, and I don’t usually go full college days for Gasparilla anymore. My schedule is way more impacted by kids than parades or festivals anymore, but Faz’s anti-partying stance still offends me just like Chandler’s anti-music stance. Maybe we should make Gasparilla the hangover and everyone can get their way and the only way to get hangover credit is to meet us down at Channel Drive for the invasion.
I agree with Faz. Adult gasparilla days are long over for me.
ReplyDeleteMore golf, less pirates!
Every once in awhile, the leader of an organization gets to pull out the "we are going to do whatever the hell it is that I want to do unless someone else is willing to step up and take on all of my responsibilities" card. I feel like this is one of those times.
ReplyDeleteEh… I mean if people are admitting they are lame and washed, then perhaps it’s time to change our scheduling practices that we’ve used since Club inception, when a vast majority of Members participated in a 100+ year old city tradition.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I’m a man of the people!
Move to Saturdays and play during football season?
ReplyDeleteFine by me!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not changing the day. Pretty sure there's more kid/family conflicts on Saturdays anyway. So I'm told.
ReplyDeleteMove to Saturdays and you’d get rid of me for sure. No way I could make that work in the spring and wouldn’t even try to make it work in the fall.
ReplyDeleteWe'd also not be able to get on a lot of courses in the morning on Saturday. That's when most member men's leagues play.
ReplyDeleteBut keep those bad ideas coming! We could use the #content