Where Do You Drop?

Some of us have been dropping our balls incorrectly, and it’s pretty much my fault.

Golf has a lot of rules, and we try to follow the important ones. There are an infinite number of places you can hit your ball with each location having an infinite number of lie positions. So while the rules may seem tedious, they really just make sure everyone is on the same playing field.

At some point I was reading up on how to take a correct drop from a hazard, and misinterpreted one of the options. So let’s correct that now:

There is no rule that allows you to drop on the path of your ball’s flight.

Ok… so what are you allowed to do? If you go in a hazard, or if your ball is unplayable, or in this league if your ball is lost but deemed to not be out of bounds… you can do one of these three things:

1)  Take a penalty and hit from the previous spot. This is sometimes the best option if you top your ball into a lake off the tee, because you’re allowed to actually re-tee it. In most cases you won’t use this option since you give up the distance of your previous shot. However, you MUST use this option if you ever hit your ball out of bounds, no matter where you just hit from. 

2)  Drop two club-lengths from where the ball entered the hazard. Pretty standard option. Don’t drop it closer to the hole.

3)  Drop the ball as far back as you’d like, keeping the point of entry into the hazard between you and the hole. If the hazard cuts across the fairway (like #18 at Heritage Harbor) this is pretty easy to do. But if you hit your ball into the woods on the right side… it’s basically impossible to choose this option. Keeping the ball’s entry-point into the woods between you and the hole would require you to drop out of bounds.

There ARE a few more complicated options that really don’t apply to us, and I’m not even going to attempt to quote them. Those are situations where the pros get a Rules Official and spend 10 minutes talking about it before deciding to drop on a cart path 100 yards away on the other side of a lake. And as everyone knows, Tiger Woods should have been disqualified from the 2013 Masters for screwing up option 3 above (he combined it with option 1 by going to the previous spot and then moving back two yards).

It’s also worth noting that if you’re taking an unplayable in a bunker, you must drop your ball in the same bunker.

I highly doubt we’ve messed this up enough to matter, but there it is. No more dropping balls in the middle of the fairway due to “line of flight.” 

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We have 17 people right now for Sunday, 14 who are league members. But Geoff is still a maybe and E-Flo hurt himself at the gym so now he’s a maybe. This puts the number at 16, 17, or 18. So the pairings delay continues until we know more.

DPT Open Update

The first Major of the season is almost here. We've got a huge field, and should have a few guests playing with us as well. Many of the new guys are still in search of their first victory on tour. No better place than at a Major with a large payout. 

We got a group rate of $50 plus tax. 

Pairings are delayed due to all the guests but I'll get those out soon. Handicaps are up and some of them are quite large. 

Entry fee this week is $10.  More later when I have a free moment. 

Week 3 - DPT Open

Our first Major is set for this upcoming Sunday, February 8th at 11am.

We'll be at Southern Hills in Brooksville. Right now 13 people are signed up and we are only waiting for Geoff to figure his life out. 

I'll post pairings and handicaps tomorrow. Southern Hills has a great practice facility so get up there early. 

Skins Game Recap - Spring 2015

The Skins Game is our only tournament where you can win and still lose money. Luckily for Ben, he made birdie on the final hole to avoid this anomaly. His sneaky good round of 78 earned his second victory on tour and vaulted him to 2nd in the standings. 

The course was in great shape, and we will definitely try to return next season. But it did live up to the hype as a difficult track. Only Ben was under par on the day, and three people entered the Pitcher Zone due to abundant penalty strokes. 

The entire league failed to par either of the par 5s on the back side. And only Faz made par on the first one. The scorecard is covered in red numbers... with most of us collapsing down the stretch. 

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We are off this weekend for Gasparilla. All future tournaments have been moved to SUNDAYS. As of now I have everyone who played yesterday in for week 3 (2/8/15), along with Brendan. Let me know if this isn't the case. I also need to hear from Dan, Geoff and Big John if he hasn't had surgery yet.  

We hope to play Southern Hills but it'll depend on the rate.

Tentative Pairings

These are subject to change:

Group 1:

Buchert

Faz

Dave

Gorecki

Group 2:

Chandler

Tall Mike

Ben

JW

Group 3:

Darren

Gary

Guest

Reid

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Event sheet is updated. So go click on the link (the one that says "Jan 25" in the schedule) to see how many strokes you're getting. Then click the "Tournament Scorecard" link at the bottom of that page to see the Skins Game strokes. Finally... feel ashamed that you're getting so many strokes. When are you people going to get better?

Geoff Skins Game - Week 2

Gorecki, for the first time in his life, actually added value to our league.

He was able to get us on the private Club Renaissance this Sunday in Sun City Center. It's probably the best course down there (no offense to Cypress Creek), and I haven't played it in about 18 years.

Anyway... first tee time is 10am. There is NO driving range so don't bother showing up an hour early to pound balls. We'll be going off cold, "JW style," like we do at Northdale. Just get there early enough for me to collect money.

The head pro is going to tell us our group rate tomorrow, which they think will be in the mid $40s.

Address is:  2121 South Pebble Beach Blvd.  Sun City Center, FL 33573

Pairings and other information to be posted tomorrow.

Chandler Classic - Spring 2015 Recap

The weather was beautiful... the scores were ugly.

Heritage Harbor kicked most of our asses once again this weekend, reminding us that golf is difficult and all the off-season practice doesn't really mean much in tournament play.

Darren beat out our largest field ever (14 members), shooting the only under par net score of the day. His round of -1 edged out Gary and Guest who finished even par. Guest was running away with the tournament early, until he had a stretch of +13 over 5 holes. And Gary missed a makeable par putt on 18 giving Darren the solo victory.

In other league news... Gorecki unveiled his new swing and hit a bunch of decent shots. But he had trouble staying away from the hazards and racked up 10 penalty shots.

E-Flo decided to give golf another try, and joined us with his stale (but fairly high) course handicap of 25. Despite the seemingly large amount of strokes, he entered the rare "Double Pitcher" zone with a net 94. It's only the second time in league history someone bought two pitchers... the first being Steve P's mind blowing second round at the inaugural DPT Masters. JW and Faz also bought pitchers giving us a record total of 5 in the clubhouse.

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For the new guys... or veterans who never paid attention... this blog has every piece of information you'll ever need. Use the "Date" links in the schedule to view the results page. From there you can find a detailed scorecard for the tournament. We also have course details with scorecards, maps, reviews and average greens fees. Every member has their own profile page with a history of handicap revisions and every round ever recorded by the league. And there's a detailed stats page showing all-time wins and earnings.

Basically... if you see a blue link... you should click it.

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Guest is the newest member to qualify for the Offical Golf Rankings, making his debut at #10. These rankings will determine who is eligible for the 2015 Ryder Cup. In order to make the list, you need 8 rounds in the previous rolling 18. I believe Dan is one round away from joining the rankings.

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I have 12 people in for next week. Basically it's everyone from week 1 minus Dan, E-Flo and Brendan. I'm still waiting to hear from Geoff, so if he's in we might have 4 groups. I'll post the details Monday afternoon.

I also got a couple of requests to move tournaments from Saturdays to Sundays. Weeks 1 and 2 are already on Sunday. I believe the rest are Saturday. If ANYONE has an issue with doing this please make a comment. I'm not going to move anything until I get a decent response from everyone.

Format Change

Geoff had to bail on golf this weekend to sit in an empty house... So after a long discussion we decided to cancel the LBLT portion of the tournament. The Chandler Classic will once again just be a regular stroke play event. We will try LBLT later when the field size is more agreeable.

New groups are as follows:

1 - Darren, Brendan, Guest, Ben

2 - Chandler, Gary, Gorecki, JW

3 - Dan, Dave, E-Flo, Neil

4 - Faz, Reid, Buchert, Tall Mike

$5 entry fee. Top three take home money. Top 9 earn points. Long drive hole is #10. 

There's lots of OB on this course. Remember to hit provisionals if you are flirting with it.

See you out there.

Oh... And tell me if you're playing week 2 on the 25th! 

Geoff Skins Game - Week 2

Go ahead and let me know if you're playing week 2, Sunday the 25th. 

Format is a skins game. Location TBD. Time will probably be around 10am. 

Week 1 Pairings

We're up to 15 people on Sunday, thanks to some last minute additions. Here are the pairings for week one:

Going out first (10am) are the guys who signed up on Saturday, forcing me to add another tee time. Dan is playing E-Flo in match play for 50 bonus points. E-Flo is getting 11 strokes (80% of cap, per our match play rules). Dan... I have you playing the tips like you did last time we went to Heritage Harbor. Let me know if you want to tee it forward with the rest of us.

Joining Dan and E-Flo is Buchert, a buddy of Tall Mike and Big John who is hopefully joining us regularly. He'll be playing to establish his handicap.

The rest of us are playing low-ball low-total, and are paired based on handicap (lowest with highest):

Strokes are in parenthesis.

Group 2: Chandler (0) & JW (18) vs. Gary (2) & Gorecki (16)

Group 3: Faz (0) & Geoff (14) vs. Dave (0) & Tall Mike (13)

Group 4: Reid (0) & Brendan (7) vs. Darren (5) & Guest (5)

If you have any questions, let me know. I'll be out there early to make sure your scorecards are in order. Every group has at least one person that has played this game a bunch of times, so there shouldn't be any confusion.

Remember... everyone (except for Buchert) is also playing stroke play against each other in the actual tournament. I'll set up the live leader board this week if I remember how to do it. The LBLT and Dan/E-Flo match are just for a bonus 50 points on the season. Money will be paid to top 4 players in stroke play.

Good luck. See you all Sunday!

2015 Spring - Week 1

We're going to ease into the new season at a winter staple: Heritage Harbor in Lutz. For some reason, this course is rated the 6th most difficult in the history of the league.

Anyway, tee time is 10am and they gave us a group rate of $35 + tax. League fee is $5.

Since we have exactly 12 people, we'll be playing the Chandler Classic Low-Ball / Low Total game (LBLT). If you've never played it... I'll try to give a quick explanation.

The tournament money and points payout will be normal, going to the top few finishers of stroke play. However, there will be a side game for an extra 50 points. Each person will be paired with someone based on handicap... playing against two other guys with similar handicaps. Every hole is worth two points: 1 for the lowest individual net score and 1 for the lowest combined net score.

Points don't roll over. It's also NOT match play so everyone needs to putt everything out (remember... the actual tournament is still in effect). The pairings will be released next week near the last revision date.

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New year means new Ryder Cup! The top two players in the "Official Golf Rankings" will be captains. The top 12 people in the rankings are automatically qualified. Anyone outside the top 12 can join if someone can't make it. So play well and often to ensure you are in the top 12!

The rankings for the Ryder Cup will "lock" halfway through the Summer season (in July) in order to set the captains and a draft date.

See most of you on the 18th!

Schedule Change

The posted schedule had the DPT Masters on April 4th.  That's Easter weekend. So it's now scheduled for April 11th.

If you put it on your calendar... move it.

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We have 12 people signed up for week 1... which means we can actually play the low-ball / low-total game. Check back next week for more information on our first tournament and other season happenings.

Week 1 Registration

Happy New Year!

The "Spring" 2015 starts up on Sunday, January 18th.  Make a comment if you're playing.

Location and time will be determined closer to the event. In the spring season we usually play slightly later than in the summer (due to cost and sometimes temperature).

Friday Golf

Who is around this weekend? Need up to two people for golf on Friday morning. Early. Playing Stoneybrook. 

Golf - Sunday, November 23rd

I'm playing Eaglebrooke this Sunday at 10am with Darren and Reid. We got one spot open. $35 cash. 

Comment or text me if you want to join.