DPT Championship - Stats & (Un)interesting Facts

With last week's group performance overflowing with "worsts", we managed to bounce back with a pretty solid group performance and we had a few players achieve some personal bests for the season.

The only terrible thing we did as a group was make double bogey or worse on more than half of the par 5s, resulting in a combined score of +80 on just the four par 5s.  Of course, an extremely hungover and one-handed Mike going +15 on those four holes didn't help our cause.      

We averaged 3.958 on the par 3s, which is our best par 3 scoring average on a real golf course (not Countryway) this season.

Reid was only +1 on the par 3s for the 2nd week in a row, something I don't believe he's ever done before.

Chandler was only +2 on the par 4s, something he hasn't done in at least a year, which helped him earn his lowest 9-hole score (+3/39), gross score (+11/83), and net score (-3/69) of the season.

Chris Guest had his best 9-hole score (+10/46) of the season.  He was at/near the top of the leader board for much of the day until two costly double pars on the back-9.  It was easily his best performance since week 1.

JW had his best net score (-3/69) of the season, which led to his best finish (T2) since winning last season's E-Flo Hangover Invitational.

Geoff ended his streak of par 5s played this season without making a par by conquering the 6th hole.  This week's illustrious champion is now the only real player in the league without a par on a par 5.  Is it possible that Gorecki shows up one of these last few weeks and makes one before Darren?

Brendan shot below par (-1/71) for the first time since week 1.  He got off to a somewhat slow start and made a very costly 10 on the back 9.  If he turned that 10 into just a 7 he would have earned solo 2nd place and a lot more points.

I guess I have to talk about Darren now.  After sending his first three tee shots left of left he was able to straighten things out and put together a very solid round.  His 44 on the front is his best 9-hole score in at least two seasons and his net score (-7/65) is not only his best but it's the 2nd best for the whole league this season.

A little bit more about the Darren slam.  His combined net score for the last three majors (going back to last season's finale) is 14 under par!  As a comparison, my combined net score for those same three events is 14 over par...a difference of 28 strokes.  Well done Darren, you sandbaggin' SOB.

DPT Championship - Summer 2014 Recap

The Darren Slam is complete.

Darren has now won all three Majors in a row (dating back to last season) giving him 5 total. He is also the first league member to eclipse $200 in career earnings, and he's pretty much the only person who has a realistic chance of catching Faz in the standings.

Stoneybrook was in great shape on Saturday, with the field taking advantage of it. Historically the course had played 2.5 strokes over par. This past weekend, half the group was even or better with Darren shooting a lights out -7 (net). He only had one triple-bogey, with one birdie (net double eagle) easily making up for it.

Chandler had yet another runner-up finish in a Major, falling apart on the back nine until making birdie on the final hole to tie JW. The Dub's two pars and one birdie salvaged his round, posting -3 on the day. Brendan, Dave and Gary rounded out the top 5, with all shooting roller-coaster rounds.

Let's take a look at the historical performances of current league members:

Name	Majors	1st	2nd	3rd
Reid	13	5	0	2
Darren	9	5	0	2
Gary	12	2	1	3
Faz	12	1	3	0
Geoff	13	1	2	0
Gorecki	4	1	1	0
Chandler	14	0	4	5
Tall Mike	4	0	1	1
JW	2	0	1	0
Dan	5	0	0	2
Dave	3	0	0	1
John	2	0	0	1
Brendan	2	0	0	0
Guest	2	0	0	0

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We have a bye this weekend, so rest up or work on your game. Be sure to report any rounds you play, especially if you don't currently have 20 rounds logged in our system.

The next event is the Hangover Invitational. I'll post details on this later... but you must attend the bar on August 1st (Friday) in order to have your round count the next morning. Who isn't going to be there other than Brendan? Dub said he'd make it... which is good since he's the new sponsor of the event.

Open Championship - Best Ball Results

Chandler and Joe came in 3rd place and won $15 each. Joe had a great last day to move up into the money.

Robin's team was solid all four days to finish 2nd, winning $60.

Thanks to everyone who participated. There is one major left this season (PGA Championship), which will be held the first week of August. Stay tuned.

Jamaican Open Schedule

This is a ways off... but does anyone have an issue moving the Jamaican Open from August 9th (Saturday) to August 10th (Sunday)?

Speak up now if you have a conflict.

Stoneybrook Update

Gorecki bailed (as usual) which is a blessing in disguise for Saturday. We now have 12 league members, allowing us to tee off at 8:53am!! You get 8 more minutes to sleep in.

Parings and handicaps are up on the event page. $10 entry fee this week since it's a Major.

Speaking of $10... one day left to get your money in for the Best Ball pool.

Fazioli Match Play - Stats & (Un)interesting Facts

I just want to go on record and let you all know that Lexington Oaks was not my choice of venue for the Fazioli Match Play.  It was chosen due to its proximity to Tampa and the ability to tee off at 9am so people could make it home in time for the World Cup.  The reason I feel the need to separate myself from this course is because it absolutely destroyed us.  Here are a few examples...

- Worst par 3 scoring avg. of the season: 4.14 (+1.14)
- Worst par 4 scoring avg. of the season: 5.39 (+1.39)
- Worst par 5 scoring avg. of the season: 7.00 (+2.00)
- Worst avg. net score of the season: 77 (+5)
- Worst avg. gross score of the season: 98.5 (+26.5)
- Worst hole of the season: Par 5 4th with an avg. score of 7.667 (+2.667)
- Most double pars of the season: 24 (8 more than Cypress Creek)
- Tied for least amount of birdies made this season: 3 (9 of us made 11 last time we played here)
- Highest winning net score of the season: -2/70 (Prev. high winning net score of the season, -6/66)


It wasn't all bad...

Gary made par on all of the par 3s (though he didn't earn a single greenie)

Brendan sank a 20+ foot putt for birdie on the difficult par 3 5th.  Speaking of that hole, last season it was somehow our best hole of the day with a group scoring average of 3.111, while yesterday it was our worst par 3 with a scoring average of 4.333.

JW's birdie on 9 was actually a net eagle in his match against Chandler...that's tough to beat!

If anyone saw my group looking like fools using the flag stick to see who was closest to the pin it was because Brendan and I hit it closer to each other than I've ever seen.  Ultimately it was deemed that I was less than an inch closer than Brendan but I gotta say, it probably should have been a tie...is that possible?


Par 4s Made the Difference
When I look at all of the hole by hole scores, it's pretty clear the reason why Dave, Chandler, and I placed in the top 3 was due to our scoring on the par 4s.  Dave was +4, I was +5, and Chandler was +6 with a triple on his card...more on that in a second.  Gary and JW were the next closest in par 4 scoring at +12.  With short holes, easy greens, and not a ton of bunkers, I have to assume there were a lot of tee shots hit OB or into the woods.


Back to that triple-bogey Chandler made.  His streak of holes played without a triple (or worse) ended after 69 holes yesterday when he made a disastrous seven on the 15th hole.  It was his first major gaffe since the par 3 17th hole at Brooksville CC during week one.  I have now taken over the streak, currently at 49 holes played without anything worse than a double bogey.  I can almost guarantee this will come to an end within the first three holes on Saturday.


But that's not the most "impressive" streak going right now.  Both Darren and Geoff have played 12 par 5s without making a par or better.  Will the streak continue this Saturday at Stoneybrook or will one (or both) of them put an end to the madness?  Last season at Stoneybrook Geoff made par on the 3rd and 6th holes while Darren's lone par came on the 11th.

Thanks for playing in the Fazioli Match Play event.  There are still two Masters coozies in my cabinet just dying to be given to one of you fools in future seasons.

Golf Boner

It's hotter than balls outside.  I've lived in Florida for about 28 years now, and this is the hottest summer I can recall.  The Rays are struggling to get back to .500, let alone the playoff race.  The World Cup, the one time every four years that people play an exotic sport called soccer, has ended, so the sporting world is pretty dull right now.  Football season last year provided me with little joy, and while I think this year will be quite different for my Gators, it is far from guaranteed.  So what does a guy like Dub have to look forward to these days?

THIS GIANT PARTY DRIVING RANGE THAT IS GOING TO OPEN IN DECEMBER ONLY A COUPLE MILES DOWN THE ROAD FROM HIS OFFICE.

 

Maybe practicing at this place will finally help me lower my somehow ever increasing handicap.

DPT Championship - Summer 2014

$25 plus tax at 8:45am at Stoneybrook.

Yes, that's pretty early for most of you. Don't drive to the one in Orlando OR the one in Sarasota.

8000 Stone Harbour Loop, Bradenton FL 34212

We'll be done before the rain. See you all there.

Fazioli Match Play - Summer 2014 Recap

Faz's historic season continued yesterday, with him winning his 3rd tournament of the season (also the 3rd time he has won his own event). If anyone can choke this away it's Faz... but he pretty much has the cup locked up.

Faz played solid throughout the day, coming from behind by shooting +4 on this final 11 holes. He also pounded a struggling Tall Mike 6&5 in his match, further adding to his lead over the field in the season standings.

Chandler, who is now win-less in his last 13 events, let the lead slip through his fingers with an ugly triple bogey on 15. He finished 2nd while beating JW in a fairly close match 4&2.

Dave rounded out the top 3, once again falling apart after a wonderful stretch of holes (+1 in a span of nine holes). This is the third week in a row where he was sitting on top the leader board before imploding. Dave easily beat John 6&5 in his match.

Gary and Brendan went the distance, with Gary winning 1-up on the final hole. Reid won the first eight holes of his match before Geoff finally put the wheels back on his new swing. We thought this might be the closest match, but Reid won easily 7&6. Finally, Gorecki and Guest battled it out until the 17th hole, with Gorecki throwing down his sandbags and winning 2&1.

Other fun facts include:

- Three of the 4 players in the C group making par on #17 (2nd most difficult par 3 last season).

- John made three 10s in his round, something that has only happened two other times in league history: Steve P's infamous round at Sebring in August 2012, and Geoff at Heritage Harbor in March 2013.

- JW lost his match but finished higher in stroke-play than 3 guys who won their match. Bad luck of the draw. Of course, it didn't help that he had zero bogeys on the back nine (only two pars).

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We play next SATURDAY, July 19th.  It's a Major and I'm still working on finding us a place... but right now we have 13 people signed up. I still need to hear from Dan.

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If your name isn't on the "paid" list for the British Open pool, send me $10. PayPal works using my email address. The rosters lock Wednesday night!

DPT Championship

Who is IN for our 2nd Major of the season? Next SATURDAY, July 19th.  Location TBD (probably down in Bradenton). Comment now.

Also don't forget to send/give me $10 if you want in on the British Open pool.

Faz Match Play Info - PLEASE READ BEFORE SUNDAY

The match play event can be a little confusing so we wanted to inform/remind everyone of how it all works.

The most important thing to remember is that the match play portion is a game within a game and is just a chance to earn extra points (100 for a win, 50 each for a halve).  This is still a regular stroke play event where we use 100% of every player's handicap index with the money and points distributions working the same as all the other events.  This means your top priority should be to make the lowest possible score on each and every hole regardless of how your individual match opponent is playing.

The individual matches are set up based on the current points standings...1 plays 2, 3 plays 4, etc.  We use 80% of every player's handicap index to determine the number of strokes given for each match.  If there are 10 strokes being given, this means the player with the higher handicap gets one stroke on each of the 10 toughest holes based on the course's hole by hole handicapping.  The main difference between our match play and a typical match play event is that you can not concede a hole.  In other words, every player must hole-out on every hole and record their score because it matters for the stroke play portion.

The matches and strokes are published on the scorecard page .  You will be riding in the same cart as your opponent so please take note in advance of who you are playing so that we're not a complete disaster on the first tee.  In case you're too lazy to click the link, I've listed the matches below.

Group 1
Dave vs John, John gets 8 strokes
Reid vs Geoff, Geoff gets 5 strokes (I'd pay money to watch this match)

Group 2
Faz vs Mike, Mike gets 10 strokes
Gary vs Brendan, Brendan gets 9 strokes

Group 3
Chandler vs JW, JW gets 13 strokes
Guest vs Gorecki, Gorecki gets 3 strokes

As Chandler mentioned in a previous post, it is imperative that all 12 committed players show up because we were given a group rate by the course.  If less than 12 show up, then all other players will end up paying a little more for their round.  Don't be the guy who causes everyone to pay more than expected.

Lastly, as is always the case with the Fazioli Match Play event, the winner of the overall stroke play portion will receive a Masters coozie.  Why?  Because I'm one classy SOB, that's why.  Looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.  Don't hesitate to ask us any questions about how this whole thing works.

(British) Open - Best Ball Major Pool

ESPN's Best Ball Major pool is now active for the (British) Open.

IF YOU PLAYED IN THE US OPEN POOL, YOU DON'T NEED TO RE-SIGN UP. YOU JUST NEED TO PAY YOUR $10 AND PICK YOUR PLAYERS. Anyone who does not pay me before next Thursday will be removed from the group.

Go here to sign up.

Group: DPT Golf
PW is: doublepar

Send $10 on PayPal to chandler.brown at the gmail. Make sure you select the "sending to friend" option so it doesn't charge either of us.

The (British) Open obviously starts in the middle of the night EST. So set your line-up early! I'll post the payouts later depending on how many people sign up.

You can read the rules on ESPN, but I'll do my best to summarize it:

• Before each round (Thursday-Sunday) you select four players. Each player has a dollar amount based on how good they are. Your team can not exceed a $50 salary cap.
• It's a "best ball" format. So if three of your players get a par, and one gets a birdie... your score for that hole is birdie.
• Lowest score wins (not counting playoffs).
• Remember that you can change your roster EVERY DAY. If you forget to do this after Friday, some of your players might not have made the cut and thus will not contribute to your team over the weekend.

Comment if you have any questions. Good luck!

Fazioli Match Play

In order to accommodate Dave and Tall Mike... we will play a little closer to Tampa next Sunday. We're booked at Lexington Oaks at 9am for $34 after tax.

This is a group rate (actually the first official "group rate" our league has ever received). So we must show up with 12 people.

As of now we have 11... and nobody is allowed to back out or get lost (JW, Mike, other Mike). We're still waiting to hear from Guest, but the pairings are set and I'll get the handicaps and strokes up shortly.

More on the match-ups next week!

Match Play Records

Reid requested a breakdown of Match Play records. Here they are for current active league members:

Chandler: 3-0
Dave: 1-0
Reid: 2-1
Gary: 1-1
Faz: 1-1-1
Geoff: 1-1-1
Darren: 1-2
JW: 0-1
Tall Mike: 0-1
Dan: 0-1
Brendan: 0-1

I'm still waiting to hear if Dave, John, Brendan and Guest are playing on the 13th (next Sunday). Let me know!

GIMMIE a Break!

As most of you were spared from my horrible performance at countryway, I hope most will empathize on my recent lack of play and sleep and energy has been due to a new addition to the family. However, one such league member was not.

There weren't many highlights to my round on Sunday, but a chip from the fringe to put it "close" to the cup for a bogey save was one. As I walked up to the ball I looked at Chandler and asked if it was good. He said no and the debate on how long a gimmie putt began.

Attached is a pic of the now negotiated distance we agree to putt was for (2' 5 1/2"). Lets remind the field that it was for bogey and was after a nice chip off the fringe.

What's the vote on if this should've been a gimmie, does your distance of gimmie putts vary based on what stroke its for and what previous shot contributed to its current distance?

Let the record show that I did make the putt, but the feeling of a good chip and finally a decent score to a hole was replaced with frustration due to a league member who must be dead inside.