Week 4 Recap

Diamond Hill was a challenging little municipal course. While the greens and fairways weren't perfect, we finally had some nice weather and couple of good scores. The course was rated harder than we anticipated, so handicaps were adjusted before we teed off. The Asians vs. Caucasians dropped to straight-up, while Ginger Brown had to give 4 strokes to Ebony & Ivory.

E-Flo/Cong vs. Robb/Ryan
The match started even, with both teams +1 though four holes. But the Asians fired off six pars over the next seven, taking a three stroke lead after 13. Ryan/Robb stumbled on the par-4 14th, recording the only double-bogey of the day, and pretty much sealing their fate. A birdie on #17 gave E-Flo/Cong another two-stroke cushion, and officially ended the match. Final score: E-Flo/Cong win 76-82 (gross).


Justin/Chandler vs. Geoff/Reid
Justin showed up almost as hungover as he was in the finals last season, so the day was looking bleak once the league realized 4 strokes were given (instead of the initial three). Chandler played horribly off the tee (again), and Geoff/Reid were wondering why they even had to show up. Actually, Ebony & Ivory played lights-out, tying the low round with some consistent drives and clutch putting. Their lone birdie on #17 poured salt in the wounds of Ginger Brown, who find themselves in the cellar without any wins. Final score: Geoff/Reid win 72-80 (net).

Next week the entire league has a bye. Everyone except Robb/Ryan return to the course on March 25th.

Week 3 Recap

This week we took to the course in some very windy conditions, with only one official match.

Gorecki/Gomez vs. Robb/Ryan
Gorecki filled in for Bito, giving Robb/Ryan 4.5 strokes. Both teams agreed to play from the white tees due to the wind, and both teams subsequently played horrible. Robb and Ryan found themselves up 3.5 strokes at the turn (net), needing only to shoot decent on the back to win. But Gorecki and Gomez capitalized on some costly errors, picking up three strokes over the next four holes. The match remained tight through 17, with Robb/Ryan up one half stroke going into the final hole. But momentum was with the G-Men, especially since Gomez is by far the best golfer in the league. Amazingly, in an unprecedented move, both teams agreed to skip #18 due to a few groups in front of them playing slow. The exhibition match (two groups behind) finished in 4 hours and 20 minutes, so I'm not really sure what the problem was. Nevertheless... both teams were given bogeys on #18 as a result. Final score: Robb/Ryan given the match 78.5 - 79 (net).

Exhibition Match
Reid, Geoff and Chandler competed in stroke play (from the blues), with Reid and Chandler giving Geoff eight strokes. All three shot a horrendous 50 on the back, and finished 94, 100 and 92 respectively. The handicaps caused Geoff and Chandler to tie, earning them each $2 from Reid. Big money!


Next week we play Diamond Hill.

Calloway Humidor

Pretty decent if you need one. Deal expires 3/7/2012

Callaway Golf Humidor for $39.99 + $5.00 shipping

Season 2 - Week 2 Recap

This morning was cold and blustery. Forecasts had the rain as high as 50%. But DPT Golf must go on rain or shine (just not lightning). And as a reward... the day was actually pretty nice.

Chandler/Justin vs. Ryan/Robb
Ginger Brown came into the season with a ton of confidence after a busy off-season practice regimen. But all that has been thrown out the window as Chandler is in a horrible slump, and at times can't even seem to hit a ball. Justin's shoulders were strong, but two double bogeys (on #5 and #14) ruined any chance of an easy victory. And don't let Ryan/Robb fool you. They play a perfectly complimented game, with Robb's monster drives and Buchanan's stellar short game. In fact, their median DPT gross average is a 77, the same as Chandler/Justin. Which only means that they're more inconsistent, but will bury you if you don't play well. Final score: Ryan/Robb win 76-80 (net).

Bito/Gomez vs. E-Flo/Cong
After starting an impressive +1 through five holes, the Asians went on a bogey-fest... carding +5 on their next four holes. Bito/Gomez didn't fare much better, finding themselves two down after 13. But on the difficult par-5 14th hole, the Lin-sanity stopped when Eric and Cong recorded a triple-bogey 8. It wasn't quite cold enough for a snowman, and Bito/Gomez's birdie really iced the Yellow Mambas. On the final two holes with a huge gallery following, Bito wowed the crowd with some clutch shots and a solo par on #18. Final score: Bito/Gomez win 78-82 (net).

Next week Bito/Gomez take on Robb/Ryan in the only official game. We're playing Heritage Harbor ($32), and the first group tees off at 11:15am.  The exhibition game tees off at 11:22am.

Exhibition Match: Chandler, Geoff, Reid, TBD

Week 2 Musings

As of right now (so this will probably change) it looks like we'll get some rain during the league on Sunday. The way golf is meant to be played.

Justin and I are going to destroy Buchanan and Robb, even though this is Robb's home course. We only have to give them one stroke, and I'm pretty sure Ginger Brown is vastly improved over last season.

Bito/Gomez will beat down a rusty Asian team. Bito will then post about how they used 15 of his shots. Eleven of them will be tap-in putts.

Season 2 - Opening Day

So we had a little bit of a shake-up with the loss of a team, but I imagine the Asians wanted the day off anyway (word on the street is they got pretty drunk last night).

Bito/GoMex vs. Geoff/Reid
The defending champs opened the season getting 5 strokes from the lowest handicaps. Gomez was a bit concerned about the new "Bito Rule" which requires each team to use TWO drives from every player, on every nine. But the champs came out of the gate slow, shooting a horrendous 8-over on the front side, which included six straight bogeys. Bito/Gomez had an impressive 14 pars and one birdie, to card a three-over 75. Maybe Gomez shouldn't be so hard on his partner. Final score: Bito/Gomez win 75-78 (net).

Exhibition Game
Chandler/Gorecki took on Buchannan/Nate in an exhibition match. We kinda just guessed on the handicap, thinking two strokes at first... but re-adjusting to five at the turn. Chandler/Gorecki played solid, never getting into much trouble during a round in which they rattled off 11 pars and zero birdies. Buchanan/Nate were slightly more sloppy with back-to-back double bogeys on #7 and #8, but still came up with a few clutch chips. Buchanan thought he sealed the deal with a spectacular chip on #18 giving them a tap-in par. But Chandler drained a seven foot putt in the rain to tie 79-79 (net).

Thankfully the weather held out just long enough for us to finish our rounds. I'll book something either tonight or tomorrow for the next week.

Only Reid and Geoff have a bye next week, so they need to find a couple more to play an exhibition match. Everyone else has an official game. If anyone out there not in the league wants to play, leave a comment.

Fuck Tiger Woods!

Tiger Woods argues against belly putters at relaxed Pebble Beach press conference

Can't be no geek!

"5-iron in the clip and one in the hole
Gomex is about to make some bodies turn cold.
Now they droppin' and yellin'
It's a tad bit late
Gomex and Bito had to regulate!"

Expansion

I think the only way to "expand" in future seasons is to have two different leagues.

This year I heard of a lot of people who were interested in playing... and when drinking they'd say they're 100% "in"... but once we got the ball rolling there was silence.

So what we'd need is 1) a second league manager, and 2) four to six brand new teams.

I could help the new league manager create the schedule... and obviously I can help post all the stats and records. But the manager would have to figure out availability, and book the rounds. If both leagues played the same day at the same course, we could probably get better discounts.  But one league would be going out early while the other would be going out during Robb's nap time.

There would be no inter-league play...  but the playoffs would have the two league champions battling for the cheese.

Just a thought.

Ramblings

It's getting close to the start of the new season! I haven't heard any conflicts with the latest schedule, so I'm thinking it's good to go.

I'm also thinking we should start the season at Northdale because 1) it's cheap and 2) it's a central location for most of us. We can probably tee off closer to noon since Robb has a bye...

Rates are going to be higher this year since we're starting in the "winter", so keep your eyes posted for deals. We'll be trying the "group discount" angle... but that's hard to get considering only 8 people are playing most weeks.

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Did anyone watch the Tour Championship last season? In the final FedEx Cup event, Bill Haas took on Hunter Mahan in a playoff. On the 2nd playoff hole, Bill's ball rolled into the water just off the green. About half the ball was sticking out of the water, but getting up-and-down to extend the playoff would be seemingly impossible.




Still the best shot I've seen in awhile. Bill eventually won the playoff on the next hole, earning $11,440,000 in the process. Not bad for four days of golf.

Season Calendar

You people are out of town too often. Which makes me think we need a better way to handle absences. However, since handicaps are based off two person TEAMS (and not a sum of the individuals), you can't just throw someone in and say it's a valid substitute.

Anyway, if the date above is green, expect to be playing golf. We're going to have to do a few Saturday/Sunday weekends.

Flex Schedule:
I'm thinking of making a flex schedule, where some days half the league plays, and other days the other half plays. I can probably (with enough effort) build the perfect schedule to suit everyone. So this opens up all dates that are NOT red. I'll need someone to collect scorecards on dates that I'm not there.

This also means that if we're expanding to 8 teams... some people better step up and say they're playing (and with whom).

Season Update / The Dan Plan

Season 2 Rosters:
1) Geoff / Reid
2) Chandler / Justin
3) Cong / E-Flo
4) Steve / Frank
5) Bito / Gomez
6) Robb / Ryan

There WILL be some tweaks to the standings format in regards to using subs. I need to crunch some numbers (subs were used 9 times last season with a 4-5 record) before I'm comfortable making a change. In fact, we only had two weeks in the regular season where everyone showed up. That needs to improve, considering our flexibility and the "short" 8 week season.

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Justin pointed out an article in the St. Pete Times (now Tampa Bay Times?) last year about "The Dan Plan." Long story short... this dude who had never played a full 18 holes of golf in his life decided to quit his job to become a professional golfer. He's out to prove a published theory which claims you need roughly 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice" in order to excel at a particular field.

He began only putting... then added two wedges... only played holes from about 50 yards in for awhile, slowly working further and further from the hole... it took over 1.5 years of practice before the kid even hit a driver...

Anyway, he's only about 2,300 hours into the experiment and is already an 11.4 handicap. Mine is currently a 12.5, and I've been playing golf since I was like thirteen years old.

Guess I should practice more...

2012 Rule Changes

The R&A have released their rule amendments for 2012-2015. There are only a couple of note:

• Definition of "Addressing the Ball." Before you were considered to have addressed the ball if you took a stance and grounded your club. Now, it's all about grounding the club regardless of where you're standing. So once your club touches the ground behind or in front of the ball, game on. Interestingly, this now means you NEVER address a ball in a bunker or a hazard (since you can't ground your club there).
• Concerning a ball moving after address, I talked about the potential change in this post. They went through with the proposal, and you are no longer penalized if the ball moves on its own after address... provided it is "known and virtually certain that the player did not cause the ball to move." So I guess it's a judgement call now.

TPC Sawgrass

Last weekend I had the opportunity to vacation at TPC Sawgrass, playing three days of golf with my dad. I say that like I won a contest, but in reality we've been discussing the trip for three years and finally just decided to spend a lot of money for the experience before his golf skills start diminishing. He has actually played the Stadium Course twice before, albeit it was 25 years ago when it was much harder than it is now (designer Pete Dye was forced to eventually change much of the course due to complaints from the PGA).

There are actually two courses at Sawgrass. Obviously, the famous one is the Stadium Course, which you can watch PGA pros hack up at The Players tournament every year. The other is the Valley Course, also designed by Pete Dye but run by private members instead of tour players. The Valley Course hosts a Nationwide Tour event in October, so the rough was pretty high while we were there.

And how was the trip? Awesome.

The Stadium Course is by far the most beautiful course I've ever played. I'm not sure what marketing ploy has World Woods listed in the top 10 most beautiful courses in the world... but Sawgrass beats it. There is an insane amount of fairway bunkers and water, which create a stunning atmosphere but a nightmare for your golf score. It's definitely more of a "Florida feel" than the rolling hills of Brooksville. The entire facility is immaculate, and was even playable after the area got 8-10 inches of rain from a flash-flood on Friday.

#17 on Saturday morning after the flash-flood. I played it the next day and it was in near perfect condition.

It was also the first time I've ever had to use a caddy. The course assigns each group one "forecaddie," who does everything a normal caddy would except carry your clubs. They run off into the fairway, let you know it's clear to tee off, and then find your ball after you slice it into the trees. On the green he'll clean your ball, hold your clubs and even give you a read if you ask for it. It was a little uncomfortable having some dude always ask to hold my clubs (I'm used to just throwing them on the ground), but each guy we got was nice and made the experience fun.

Despite having the highest slope possible (155 from the tips), I didn't feel the Stadium Course was the hardest I've ever played. That honor belongs to the Jack Nicklaus Course (147 slope) at the Reunion Resort. If you played with us this year and witnessed Gorecki's 6+ hour round, you might agree with me. Sawgrass was manageable if you just played it safe and accepted the bogeys.

The fairways are really tight and are usually flanked by bunkers and/or water. A couple of tee shots require you to hit down a narrow gap of trees. For some reason though, my driver was going straight all weekend and I didn't have any problems.
Bottom line... I spent three days golfing for about the cost of a three day ski trip. Yes, it's expensive. But I'm very glad I can now cross that course off my "bucket list." And it was totally worth it.

Now I'll bore you with details of my rounds:

Day 1 - Stadium Course

I was quite nervous and it showed in the first three holes. The greens were very fast (not as fast as Riverstrand) and I found myself leaving a lot of uphill putts short. But they were the smoothest greens I've ever seen. The ball never awkwardly hopped when you hit it. After a great par on #4, I started to miss-hit a lot of my approach shots. At least I got par on the two easy holes on the back nine... but the par 5's killed me. I didn't really think about #17 until I was busy recording an 8 on #16. The island green is right in your face so you're just looking at it the whole time before you even finish the previous hole. My dad had the tee box and quickly pushed two shots into the water right of the green. I hit a 9-iron (everyone out there plays #17 from the tips) which I knew at the time wasn't enough club. I swore it was going short, but somehow landed in the rough short of the tiny bunker in front of the green... only clearing the water by a few inches. The caddy said in 5 years of working out there, he's never seen anyone hit a ball to where mine landed.

I had just enough inches...

I finished the round with a 97, two strokes off my personal goal. I was very happy to have broken 100 on my first try though. But there were three amazing stats about my round:

1. I hit 12 of 14 fairways. I wasn't hitting them long off the tee, but they were going straight. It's a shame I only hit three greens in regulation, which speaks volumes of my iron play.
2. I had only one three putt.
3. I played the entire round on one ball. In fact, I took only one penalty stroke for an unplayable lie.

Day 2 - Valley Course

The Valley Course was also very nice, and reminded me a lot of Southern Hills. Since it's not as famous, I'll just list some fun facts:

• Again, I played the entire round on one ball... but this time had no penalty strokes. I did have to take my shoes off and hit a shot standing in a lake once.
• I had 7 pars and one birdie. But 5 doubles and one triple helped me inflate my score to an 88.
• Like the first day, I only had one three putt.
• We played this round the day after the flash-flood. Most of the bunkers were filled with water, but the rest of the course was surprisingly dry thanks to the drainage pumps running under the fairways and greens.
• I was -1 on the par 3's, hitting every one in regulation. As Justin knows... I usually suck at par 3's.

Day 3 - Stadium Course

Back on the TPC! Redemption round! And I was in position to beat my dad for a third day in a row, which would earn me $50! So... I opened the round riding on the bogey train. But after a triple-bogey on #5 (where I hit 4 shots into bunkers), I relaxed and started to play some good golf. Six pars in a row followed, including an awesome par-save on #9 which is a bastard of a hole. I finally got a birdie on the par-3 15th and the thought of a sub-80 round crept into my mind. Unfortunately, #16 lurked on the horizon. Sitting nicely in the fairway 140 yards out, I skulled an 8 iron through the green and into the water. It was the first ball I lost all weekend.

I hate you, #16.

After the double-bogey on #16, I watched my dad put two more shots in the water on #17 before getting his third on. I took an extra club into the wind (it was about 15 mph in our face), and got an 8-iron to the back about 15 feet from the hole. Of course I left the birdie putt about a foot short, as the downhill slope to the water scared the shit out of me.

One problem with the 17th island hole, is that when it's over you don't really focus on the daunting 18th finishing hole. I found the fairway but chunked the next two shots, ending with a double-bogey and an 84. For the third round in a row, I only had one three-putt.

So that was my trip. Basically, I'm now ready to retire and just start golfing every day.

When is the next outing?

This is the first weekend in months that I don't have golf planned. Someone should fix this!