Par-3 Shootout Results

The Gorecki Par-3 Shootout took place yesterday in scorching conditions at Countryway. The event was interesting due to all the greenies at stake, and we had a lot of side-bet action. With a small field (5 people) it was a good chance for the season leaders to pull away and the slow-starters to jump up the leader board.

Amazingly, 4 of the 5 players shot under their course handicap... and only five strokes separated the top four. But at executive courses, those with bad short games have nowhere to hide.

Reid shot a sneaky 56 (net) thanks to a fast start, but ruined his chances at a title on the last hole with a horrible chip and a missed short putt. Chandler was able to hold on to the victory with three birdies (two of them chip-ins), despite a couple of blowup holes.

But the story of the day was Gorecki, who got a lesson in out of bounds and "stroke and distance." Of course... that needs it's own post which I'll work on later today. And I don't really think he learned anything.

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Next week is the Jamaican Open at Waterlefe. Tee time is 10:30am, and we have a 6-person field. Two amateurs are joining us without official handicaps (Dan and Huffman). They can play for side-bet and course money (greenies, sandies, long drives). But they won't count toward the DPT standings.

We have $20 vouchers for the course (normal rate is $60). If you're playing and don't have a voucher, make sure to let me know. Some of us have extras, so just bring cash to pay whoever sells you the voucher.

Also... don't forget you need to be wearing a shirt that matches one of the colors of the Jamaican flag. If you aren't in dress code, the penalty is $2. Reid has final say on color disputes.

Just The Tips!

Alright we're going to try to head to Summerfield Crossings to play the tips. Why? Cause we're stupid. But it should be interesting to see how we do teeing it backwards.

Tournament is Saturday, July 21st. Comment if you're playing.

Achievements

During a discussion this morning, I looked up a few of Tiger Woods' childhood accomplishments. For instance... he shot 48 on nine holes at age three. He broke 80 for the first time at age eight (I did it at age 28... sigh).

Anyway, we should keep a list of accomplishments during the season. Like how Geoff shot a career best 43 on nine holes at Stoneybrook. I'm not sure how to present it, but there's one that needs mentioning:

For the first time in his life (35 years), Gorecki beat his dad in golf last Friday. OMG won decisively, 100 to 107, on the difficult Legacy Golf Club down in Sarasota. Good job, Gorecki!

Handicaps, Rakes and Par 3s

The league handicaps were updated today (per the revision schedule), so check those out.

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After discussions with Geoff, we're going to start taking a "rake" from the payouts each week. The amount will usually be small ($5 last week), but will be used for a league trophy which cost over $100 and is probably considered an antique. After each season, the overall points winner will get his/her name engraved on the trophy. They'll also get to keep the trophy until the next season concludes.

It'll take awhile for us to "rake" in enough money... but the progress will be kept in the Deadbeat List under "league funds."

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Tomorrow I'll book tee times for the Gorecki Par-3 Shootout. Only five people have registered, so we're capping it at 8 people. It should be interesting since there will be a ton more greenie and sandie chances. We will also still have a long drive hole.

I know Gorecki is excited, so get ready!

DPT Open Recap

After heavy rain soaked much of the state last weekend, parts of Brooksville were still flooded. But Southern Hills was in great shape, and ready to kick our ass in the DPT Open.

As advertised, the course played long and the greens were extra frustrating. Little did I know that a morning member tournament would cause the pin locations to be extra hard. But it fit the theme of our first Major.

Geoff got his first win by minimizing his mistakes and only carding one blow-up hole. He finished with an impressive net-69. My dad, playing his home course, took 2nd thanks to a 150 yard shot that found the cup for birdie on #5. Everyone else... got a challenging day of golf.

Reid, Chris and Justin all had chances to win, but collapsed on the final holes. In fact, if you don't count Robb and Gorecki, only six strokes separated the top six players. Such a tight cluster is what the handicap system is all about.

For those that played in the DPT Open, be sure to go online and sign up for the program that will allow us to go back to Southern Hills for $40 all summer.

Jamaican Open - NEW Registration

You need to re-register for the Jamaican Open... starting now. Leave a comment. Don't tell me later how you weren't on the roster.

We're playing at Waterlefe on Sunday, July 15th. That's the day after the GKB tournament. Also... the greens might be a little bumpy but whatever. They were supposed to aerate them on Monday but I doubt that happened due to the rain.

Don't forget Reid has strict guidelines on what color shirt you can wear.

Saturday Carpool

Although we might need to take a boat up to Brooksville... here's a list of the driving situations (that I'm aware of):

Gary B. - driving his 3 guys

Chandler - driving Gorecki, Bito and picking up Geoff on the way

Justin - driving up solo after fat fit camp

Chris - driving solo and leaving immediately after for a birthday party

Robb - driving solo and leaving immediately after for a tea party on his new deck

Reid - driving solo because he hates riding with crackers

As I've mentioned before... I'm leaving at 8am with an estimated arrival of 9am. There's a par 3 course we can play and they have a nice range facility to warm up.

"Check your ego and Tee It Forward"

While checking in to play at my favorite course (Buffalo Creek) last Friday, Chandler pointed out to me a flyer from the USGA they had on display titled "Tee it Forward". As Chandler explained this new marketing campaign the USGA is pushing, the golf pro at Buffalo chimed in as well. Here's a summary of the Tee It Forward idea:

PLAY FASTER...HAVE MORE FUN!
Do you wish your approach shot to the green was just a bit easier? Would you rather hit an iron into the green vs. a fairway wood or hybrid? If you want to play faster and have more fun, move up a set of tees and TEE IT FORWARD!

Many amateurs are regularly hitting approach shots on a par-4 hole from 185 to 205 yards. The fact is , most bogey golfers only hit approach shots generally with any accuracy from within 170 yards. When you TEE IT FORWARD, you have the potential to hit approach shots from 145 to 165 yards. You will be hitting more lofted irons that will help you play faster and have more fun!

Join your friends and look forward to a new, positive experience on the golf course and move up a set of tees and TEE IT FORWARD!

Now Buffalo Creek has its White Tees at 6400 yards (117 Slope) and its Gold Tees at 5800 yds(109 slope). So this is where the golf pro spoke up as he encourages "bogey golfers" to tee it forward on his course. So despite Chandlers making fun of me as usual, we played from the Golds and "Had More Fun" as our 2nd shots were high irons rather than long fairway woods.

So as we continued to discuss this new golf campaign, I asked to look into "teeing forward" our Waterlefe tees from 6200 (130 slope) to 5900 (128 slope)  (see a pattern here?) With much chagrin he obliged as again I contested waterlefe will be challenging enough given water comes into play on every hole.

So now we move to this weeks "Major" at Southern Hills. And guess what Chandler and I debated? The original tees Chandler proposed the blues at 6455 (Slope 128) and I proposed using a mix tees at 6114 (Slope 125). Note this is longer and harder than the whites at 5900 (Slope 123).

SO whats everyone's thoughts on embracing this "tee it forward" idea and still playing the "majors" a little tougher than we normally play? Southern hills itself is a challenging course with is rolling hills and fast greens, so I'm sure with whatever tee box we play from, this course is gonna be tough for us high handicappers.

And to put your "ego in check" I encourage you all to use this chart where it asks you to keep track of the clubs you use for approach shots (3rd shot on Par 5s, 2nd shot on Par 4s, 1st shot on Par 3s) the next time you play. I've obviously embraced the tee it forward idea and hope my game improves and I'll have more fun using this method. Plus I've registered to win 2 tickets to the Ryder Cup by embracing this idea. When I win, I'll definitely take into account who was in support of us teeing it forward.

See ya on the links!

Weather Update

As of 6:30PM, the area around Waterlefe has had less than an inch of rain over the last 24 hours. If you've been watching the weather reports... it was supposed to dump on all of the Tampa Bay area... but didn't.


I'll call the course around 7am tomorrow to ask about conditions. But I expect to be playing. That course should drain pretty well.

Alright... so our luck with weather finally ran out.  I've shuffled the schedule around sightly, moving the Jamaican Open to July 15th. "Just the Tips" now replaces the "Chandler Heritage", which is the day BEFORE our 2nd major.

We still need people to sign up for the Par 3 tournament. Bito? Where you at?

Gorecki Par-3 Shootout Registration

Registration is now open for the Gorecki Par-3 Shootout. Comment if you're playing!

Bring a rain jacket on Sunday. It's going to rain.

Jamaican Open Preview

We're set for 10:00am at Waterlefe this Sunday. A few notes of interest:

- For those of you who haven't played this course... it's awesome. Probably my favorite course at the moment. Hard as shit, so bring LOTS of extra balls.

- We were going to play the BLACK tees (get it?). But Gorecki and the USGA have convinced me to move up to the WHITE tees. It's only a difference of 200 yards... but there's no need to punish the high handicappers in the league. We can do that later this season when we play "just the tips."

- Make sure you look at the Jamaican Flag. Your shirt needs to be one of those 3 colors. Personally, I'm going to buy a shirt just for this tourney (I probably need more anyway). If you don't have a black, yellow, or green shirt... you owe $2 extra to the pot.

- It appears Waterlefe is aerating the greens on the 25th. So we're missing it by ONE day... which is awesome. And lucky.

- Make sure you show up down there by 9:30. We might be able to go out early. Also, bring your groupon things! If you don't have one, there's a bunch of us who have extras you can buy.

US Open Best Ball Results

Thanks to some timely eagles on a very difficult course, Souder and Litman tied for first and will split the $120 pot.

Finishing one stroke behind in third was Geoff and Dan. They get... a pat on the back.

The "British" Open is in six weeks... so we'll do this all again.

Geoff Skins Game = White People Who Can't Add

Ugh. I'm not even sure where to start with this one.

As both groups were waiting to tee off on #10, it was quite comical how the Geoff/Robb/Justin group couldn't figure out who scored what on the front nine. By the time we finished, they had the same issue on the back... with all three of them having three different totals for each other (for various reasons). They finally settled on Justin's scorecard which had Robb and Justin tying straight up (94).

Too bad once I got home and added it up myself, Robb actually had a 93. Even though Justin had each nine totaled correctly (44-49).

But that's OK. It didn't affect the standings. The skins were another matter.

We quickly ran through the scorecard... and probably should have double checked it. Somehow we gave 3 undeserved skins to Reid, shorting myself 2 and Geoff 1. I honestly have no idea how we did that.

So, I know Reid is going to be annoyed that we gave him money... and then took it away... but he's going on the deadbeat list anyway. Everyone needs to check the official scorecard to make sure I'm not just fucking this up more.

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That entire mess overshadows another good day of golf. Robb came in and beat up on us, scoring himself 500 DPT Points and an invitation to the DPT Masters. Geoff finished a couple of strokes behind, with me in 3rd.

Jamaican Open next week. Get yourself a black, green or gold shirt. And Reid is going to be strict on it.

DPT Open Registration

You can now register for our seasons first major tournament. The DPT Open will be played at Southern Hills Plantation. Greens fee is $40 and entry fee is $10.

Since it's a private club, they're pretty strict on rules and whatnot, but we'll talk about that later. More importantly, they have a great practice facility and a 6-hole par 3 course. Some of us are going to go up there early and play it before our round to warm up.

The field is capped at 8 people, as we can only get two tee times. So sign up now!

Oh... and this course will tear you up. But it's pretty.

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I forgot I had more things to say:

Our schedule has a bye week the weekend of July 28th. There's a group trip going to Key West, but I imagine I'm the only one going on it. So let me know if you all want me to add an event that weekend. Someone needs to step up and make the tee times, and save the scorecards for me. But that's not difficult. I can still calculate the handicaps, etc.

Also we got two spots open for this Saturday.

Rules!

There's a decent little video series on USGA.org explaining some of the more common "rules of golf."

I actually learned a lot. And although our league enforce all these rules stringently... it's kinda good to know. It also gives you an idea why you see things on tour, such as a player hitting from the cart path instead of taking free relief.