Weekend Pairings

With exactly 12 people signed up, I'm going to cancel one of our tee times. Probably the later one so we can guarantee we finish before the rain.

Group 1:
Chandler
Dave
Gorecki
Darryl

Group 2:
Guest
Faz
Buchert
Brett

Group 3:
Gary
Darren
Reid
Tall Mike

See you all down there. 9:20am tee time. Get there early!

Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Tee box of the par-5 2nd hole.

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is one of the United States' most unique golfing experiences. Many places advertise "links golf," but Kiawah is one of the few places that can actually offer the links setting. Unfortunately, Pete Dye didn't exactly build a links course. He built a Pete Dye course, and placed it on links property.

Dye's most famous course, TPC Sawgrass, is a masterpiece where you can really appreciate each individual hole as you go through your round. But The Ocean Course is a collection of 18 good challenges that leaves a lasting impression. And just as with Sawgrass, Pete Dye had to go back and soften it up multiple times after opening and hosting the 1991 Ryder Cup.

Par-5 2nd hole from the fairway.

To this day, it's still ranked by Golf Digest as the most difficult course in America. There are few trees on the property, which allows the constant Atlantic Ocean breeze to factor into every shot. On average you'll get 15 mph all day, every day. At times it can gust into the 40 mph range. And since each nine is literally "out" and then "in," every hole will play either downwind or back into it. This creates a situation where you could hit a PW into a green, but need a 3-wood into the same green the very next day.

On a normal links course, this wouldn't be a huge issue because you can run up low approach shots as long as you avoid pot bunkers. But in typical Pete Dye fashion, he severely elevated every green and lined each fairway with deep waste bunkers and towering sand dunes. Long irons won't hold some of the plateaued putting surfaces, and you'll be left with an insane putt up a steep slope or a flop shot. There's also no OB on the course, so if you hit it on the beach you technically need to go find it and play it.

Sand dunes by the 10th green. Good luck with that.

We were lucky to play the course in two different conditions. The first day was absolutely perfect, with no wind and overcast skies. The caddies remarked on how rare it was to be so calm, and the course was a lot of fun. Wide open hitting areas off the tee led to short iron approaches, which worked well with the elevated greens. I would play The Ocean Course all the time under those conditions, since you could focus on the actual layout instead of the wind. Gary was even a little disappointed and thought the course played too "easy."

He got his wish two days later when we played in 20-30 mph sustained winds. The experience was still positive but "fun" turned into "exhausting." A slight push-slice off the tee no longer found the rough, but instead fell 15 feet down into a waste bunker covered with marsh grass. I used a 9 iron to make par on the par-3 5th hole in calm conditions, but had to use 5 iron during our second round into the wind. Needless to say everyone struggled and drastically shot higher scores.

View from the tee on the par-3 14th, with the standard elevated plateau green.

Par-3 17th from the tee box. Probably the most iconic hole on the course.

There are a handful of other courses on the island, but nothing compares to The Ocean Course. It was also my first time playing with a walking caddie, which was a wonderful experience. If you ever make a bucket list of American courses, The Ocean Course should definitely be on there.

Schedule Change - July

It's been brought to my attention that a large portion of the league won't be able to play July 19th OR the 26th.

Now normally for individuals, we need to just stick to the schedule as it is. Especially since people plan around it, unlike Big John with the Ryder Cup.

But if 6+ people are all out... then we have make-up weeks we can use.

Please take note of the current schedule. We'll do our best to make sure anyone mathematically in the hunt for the Cup gets to play the final tournaments. Even if we have to play AFTER the Ryder Cup weekend.

Until then... consider the first 6 tournaments officially set in stone.

DPT Open - Summer 2015 Recap

Southern Hills remained a high-handicappers paradise, with 5 of the top 6 players receiving 20+ strokes on their round. But in general, everyone played exceptional. All but two league members finished under par (net), and the highest gross score was a 94. Faz will have to tell us if we ever had an event where everyone broke 100 (probably in the early seasons).

The Baron watched his subjects revolt as he finished dead last in the cellar with a 92 (gross). He has won this event, on this same course, three times with the same score or higher. Chandler shot a career best at Southern Hills and still managed to only finish T4. And Tall Mike won the Open last season with a 93... but placed one off the lead this time with a 90.

People are improving. Handicaps are falling. It's really nice to see the progress.

JW had a commanding lead most of the day until the course finally wore him down on the last four holes. It's hard to say he "choked" when he still had one of his best rounds ever. But Big John literally stole the victory by making birdie on the 18th hole, one of the most difficult on the course. John picks up his 2nd career win and his first Major title.

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This week is the "Gorecki Memorial," and for the first time we'll be playing on a full size course. But don't expect to be wearing out your driver. The Gorecki tees at Buffalo Creek play a whopping 5,795. We better see some eagles out there. Tee time is on Sunday at 9:20am. There is a driving range if you want to warm up.

These people are OUT: JW, Brendan, John.

Let me know if anyone else won't be making it. Brett is also going to make his league debut, challenging Darryl for Rookie of the Year honors.

_____ Skins Game - Stats & (Un)interesting Facts

As Chandler already mentioned, Reid ended an incredibly long win drought on Saturday and managed to tie the (as of two weeks ago) second lowest net score in league history with -10.  You don’t often see a guy shoot 84 when they’re +11 combined on the par 3s and 5s but Reid absolutely destroyed the par 4s by playing them in +1, something Buchert did as well.

Other Highlights

Faz was even on the par 3s and won all 4 greenies in the process.  Chandler was even on the par 5s and was the only guy to make 5 on the 7^th hole, which played to a 7.417 average and was the toughest on the day.

We made 13 birdies as a group, which is technically not a league record since a field of only 9 players made a total of 15 birdies at Countryway in the Spring ’13 season.  But in terms of birdies made on a real golf course it was very impressive seeing as how we made a total of 16 in the first four events combined last season.

Lowlights

Chandler played the par 3s in +7 helped by making two max 6s, something he hasn’t done since Plantation Palms on March 17, 2013.  In fact, he’s only made two max 6s in the last two seasons combined.  Pretty funny that they’ve both come on the 17^th hole at Brooksville Country Club.

As a group we made 15 double pars, which is not a record but it’s certainly not good.

Consistency award through two events goes to Gorecki Jr.  He’s managed to make double bogey or worse on 75% of his 36 holes played so far.

Snapshot History of the DPT Open at Southern Hills

Season	Winner	Score	Runner(s) Up	Score
Summer '12	Geoff	69	Gary	72
Spring '13	Darren	71	Chandler/Faz	73
Summer '13	Darren	63	Geoff	69
Spring '14	Gary	69	Chandler	70
Summer '14	Darren	66	Mike	68
Spring '15	Mike	66	Darren	67

Streamsong Golf Outing

JW is putting together a trip to Streamsong during our next bye-week. Below is his write-up of the event. Please make a comment if you're interested so we can get a possible headcount.

Welcome to the Inaugural Bone Valley Cup

 

Good day, gentlemen.  It is my pleasure to announce the creation of yet another reason to either leave your family/significant other/dog/couch to play golf for the weekend or drag the family to the middle of nowhere under the premise of a mini-vacation.  We are planning on taking over the Streamsong Resort the weekend of June 19-20.  We have to decide a lot of things in a brief time period, so if you're free that weekend, want to play 36 holes of golf on repurposed mine land, have some free cash flow to join in (costs are discussed briefly below, but you can get 36 holes in for as little as $125 - $75 to walk round 1 and round 2 for $50), then let us know so we can get numbers set up.

 

This is what we are thinking as of right now:

• 36 holes in a mini Ryder cup format
• Two teams
• Each foursome will include two people from each team
• All stroke play.  Morning round will be individual scores and afternoon will be best ball (best score per team).
• Handicaps will be used.  Game Golf app will be used for scoring.
• No penalties for using a forecaddie or individual caddie (you’re paying for it).   Pull carts are $15 and regular carts are $25.
• $75 walking rate for one round.  Replay round (extra 18) for $50.

If we reserve ten rooms then we can get a discounted rate.  If we don't get ten rooms, you can get a room for $199.  You read that correctly.  For as little as $200 you can stay in the luxuries of a fine resort in the middle of an old phosphate pit in Polk County and play two rounds of golf.  If you want to shack up with another competitor, then cut the room price in half. 

 

You could also be like Crum and pay the extra coin to bring the whole family and make it a wholesome event.  This inclusion will get him more points as a husband and father, as his daughter can watch from the clubhouse while his wife relaxes in the pool.  Toddlers can take care of themselves these days, right?

Take a look at these photos and you will be wondering how the creator turned muck and sweat into an architectural gem.  Yeah the courses are ranked on lists and the trees don’t provide shade.  You will be glad you played both courses and drank a cold beer when it’s all said and done.

Email Mr. Crum and me to let us know you are in.  We need a tally of who is interested and how much room we have to negotiate with the resort.  The more sandbaggers the better.  This is a team game.  Polk vs Hillsborough, Salami vs Bologna, UF vs FSU, etc. etc.  We might go with Mosaic vs Cargill.  We’ll let the teams decide the names.

 

Thanks,

 

Dub and Crum

Geoff Skins Game - Summer 2015 Recap

I was pleasantly surprised at the conditions of the Forest Course this past weekend. The greens and fairways were in great shape, and thankfully the course was dry. Thanks again, Gorecki, for booking us out there.

But what was shocking was how well everyone played on the long and hazard-filled layout. Three-quarters of the league shot under net-par. For the second week in a row we had someone buy a "good" pitcher for shooting -10 or better. And with 6 holes to play there were about seven people who had a realistic chance of winning.

But in the end, it was Reid who prevailed with a long overdue victory. He shot +2 (gross) on the final six holes to beat a crowded leader board and win his first event in his last 20 attempts. Perhaps he's finally out of the "just had a baby" slump? His three birdies on the day might be a record in league play, and he's now tied for the 2nd lowest net score in a tournament.

Four other guys had two birdies on the day, and the 13 birdies in total might also be a record. Very surprising on a course that is by no means "easy."

Buchert and Chandler both scrambled for par on the final hole to finish 2nd. And then there's The Baron... who wasn't able to collect his weekly tax due to the skins format. He finished 2nd as well and now has the most insane handicap chart in the history of the world.

How is this possible?

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Big John apparently didn't write down the Ryder Cup date, and won't be joining us this year due to a conflict. And since Geoff bailed this weekend, he can't qualify in the Top 12 rankings due to lack of tournaments played (less than 8 in last 18). Therefore the 12 automatic qualifiers are basically set weeks before the rankings were going to lock.

In a few weeks I'm going to post payment instructions. I've already pre-paid for the Ryder Cup lodging. Everyone will have a set period of time to get me their payment, and after that time expires I'll open it up to the alternates.

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Next week we play up at Southern Hills, Sunday June 7th at 10:30am. I'm assuming all 12 from last tournament are IN, as well as Dan and his dad making a guest appearance. I'm also assuming Tall Mike will be back with us. This gives us one spot open for Dave or Geoff. Comment if any of you won't be making the event.

Westchase at 2:53 for $31. Tomorrow/Friday/5-29-15

I have two open spots if anyone cares to join. Just me and my buddy Matt Murphy at this point. Let me know if you are available and want to join. You can call/text me (321) 537-5855.

Chandler Classic - Stats & (Un)interesting Facts

Since I slacked off so badly last season I decided to do an extensive stats post for our first event of the new season.  In reverse order of finish, here's a little something about all 13 players in the Chandler Classic.

Also, here's a little look at our illustrious president or commissioner or whatever he is and this event's namesake.  I'm not sure if this swing or his current one is harder to watch.

Gorecki achieved the rare feat of two 10s in one round, something he’s somehow only managed to do one other time in league play.  Shockingly, two 10s is not the worst in league history.  Big John pulled off three 10s at Lexington Oaks last summer and Geoff racked up three of his own at Heritage Harbor several seasons ago.

Stoneybrook continues to be a nemesis of mine.  I have six official rounds there with 88 being my all-time low score.  Tough to play well when you take 8 penalties and are able to throw a wedge further than you hit it on the par-3 4^th hole.

Darryl – welcome to the league!  Darryl got off to a pretty rough start with a 56 on the front-9 but improved by 9 shots on the back for a 47.  He was also only one of three players to make par on the difficult 8^th hole.

Tall Mike had a fairly average day in terms of overall score (+1) but had a hell of a closing stretch.  He made four straight pars to close his round, which includes being the only player to par the very difficult par-3 17^th hole.

JW hit the ball better than he scored, which was still a very respectable even par.  He could have very easily shaved 4 or 5 strokes if it weren’t for a few silly mistakes and unfortunate bounces.  Even par is his best score posted in league play since July 19^th of last year at none other than good ol’ Stoneybrook, where he posted a -3 and earned a 2^nd place finish.

Gary played a lot of good golf with an unfortunate pinch of bad golf thrown in the mix that killed his chances of a higher finish.  He made a total of 10 pars and played holes 9-16 in +2.  Not that he (or anyone) had a chance of beating Brendan, but he could have contested for 2^nd or 3^rd place if he hadn’t played holes 4-8 in +9.

Reid posted a score of +23 gross with 15 of those extra strokes coming on 5 holes.  He’s another one that could have made the fight for 2^nd and 3^rd a little more interesting if it weren’t for some all too typical blow up holes.  His birdie on the altered par-5 16^th was one of only four birdies made all day by the entire field.

Chris Guest began his round by sinking a 20-30 footer for birdie, which was his first in 106 holes of league play (2^nd hole at River Strand, 8/9/14).  The fun was short-lived though as he proceeded to make triple bogey, double bogey, and bogey over his next three holes.  Despite the roller coaster of a day, his 71 was good enough to earn him solo 6^th.

Buchert posted the lowest gross score of the day, 81, helped by playing the par 5s in even par.  His net 68 was very solid and a little extra impressive due to the fact that I don’t believe he ever played the course before.  It’ll be interesting to see if he can keep up his good play and overcome the challenge of often having the lowest handicap in the field.

Chandler had the next best gross score of the day, 82, helped by playing the par 3s in even par.  Unfortunately for him he saw his league record for low net score (-10, also at Stoneybrook) not only disappear but be completely annihilated by BD’s -16 performance.  He can still hang his hat on having the record (shared with Geoff) for largest margin of victory, which is 10 shots.

Darren continued his strong play by making 7 pars and not having anything higher than a 6 on his scorecard for the day.  Seeing as how last season’s average winning score was -5, his score of -6 would typically put him in a good position to win.  Alas, Stoneybrook is not normal.  The worst winning score ever posted there is -7.  Still a very solid start to the season for the guy attempting to be the first repeat winner of the cup since Chandler (first 2 seasons) when the league was an even poorer excuse of a league than it is today.

Geoff “Buddy Kane” Leighly made quite the reappearance to league play.  On almost any other day he would have grabbed his 9^th league victory and second at Stoneybrook, where he won the Jamaican Open with an identical score of -7 just over a year ago.  He played exceptional golf for the first 16 holes and was the only player with a realistic chance at challenging Brendan until finishing double par, double par.  Great to have you back out, hope you stick around!

Last but certainly not least, Brendan.  This f’ing guy.  In his 17^th official start finally earned his first victory by completely embarrassing the rest of the field.  He set an incredible record for net score (-16) that is very unlikely to ever be matched.  I believe he also posted his best 9-hole (41) and 18-hole (85) gross scores of his life.  He only had three 6s on his card, two of which came on par 5s and the other was on 18, a veteran move to try and limit the impact to his handicap.  Not much else to say except congratulations and good luck with keeping up the great play.

DPT Open

We are going to leave the Open (week 3) on Sunday June 7th. 

We are just too large of a group to accommodate everyone... Especially when we have a posted schedule that people plan around. 

More details on when/where later. 

Geoff Skins Game - Saturday May 30th

We've officially moved our next event to Saturday, May 30th.

Reluctantly, I've let Gorecki book us at The Eagles out in Odessa. Our first tee time is 11:18am. They do have a range. I have no idea how much it's going to cost (Gorecki was working on our "deal").

The Eagles was a decent facility years ago, and one of the best bargains in Tampa. It then went bankrupt and sat untouched for years until someone bought both courses for the rumored deal of $1 million.

Since then they've jacked up their rates and fixed up the Forest Course. It should be decent as long as we don't get much rain this week. Anyway... blame Mike if it sucks.

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For the skins game this year, I'm going to divide up the league into two tiers based on handicap. Everything else stays the same... as in there's still a stroke play event going on.

Creating multiple tiers allows us to spread around the winnings, as well as prevents people from getting a ton of strokes.

Later this week I'll have the scorecard all updated so you can see which holes you are stroking.

Chandler Classic - Summer 2015 Recap

Rory McIlroy obliterated the field at the Wells Fargo Championship, winning by 9 strokes and setting the course record in one of his rounds. And yet… he looks like a chump compared to Brendan.

Stoneybrook was in solid shape for the first event of the season, playing fairly easy despite what the Slope Rating says. Nine players shot net par or better, and really only two guys had a “bad” round. Holes like the par-3 15^th, with its deep bunkers and steep collection area behind the green, yielded 9 pars. And the entire field played the shortened 16^th at two-over, a hole that requires a decent tee shot and accurate lay-up.

The Baron collected his weekly tax on the peasants, shooting and impressive -6 (net) to finish 3^rd, a score that would win most weeks.

Geoff took a break from his weekend job to finish 2^nd at -7 (net). Granted, he was +9 on the final three holes. It was a good showing considering how infrequently he has played this year.

But then there’s Brendan, who shattered all golfing records known to man. His net 56 is definitely a record for our league (Faz can verify the historic significance), but it’s even more impressive considering he made double-bogey on the final two holes. Veteran move by Brendan to fill his bags with a little sand before finishing his round!

Four people in the field could have shot even par (gross) and still lost to Brendan yesterday.  His net score beat Gorecki by a staggering 27 strokes. And apparently he set personal records for his lowest 9 and 18 hole scores. It’s a long overdue performance by Brendan, who earned his first ever victory as well as a bunch of cash with the newly increased entry fees.

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With yesterday’s round, Geoff snuck back into the Official Golf Rankings at the 10 spot. But he’ll need to play in ALL of the next four events in order to meet the Ryder Cup qualification of rounds played (8 in previous rolling 18). There’s going to be a very close battle for the 12^th spot.

Keep in mind that we’ll probably end up taking more than 12 guys up to World Woods. But I doubt we’ll have more than 12 actually competing in the event.

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We’re off next week for Memorial Day. Go ahead and tell me if you’re IN for week 2 (Sunday, May 31^st). Also let me know if you have an issue with moving the event to Saturday, May 30^th. Darren has requested the change and we’ll do so if nobody objects. Right now the only person I have OUT both days is Tall Mike.

Week 1 Pairings

Pairings for our first week. Sunday the 17th at Stoneybrook in Bradenton. 11am.

Group 1:
Chandler
Gorecki
Darryl

Group 2:
Buchert
Reid
Geoff

Group 3:
Gary
Darren
Brendan
(Tall Mike)

Group 4:
Faz
Guest
JW

While the course is in decent shape... they are apparently ripping up the greens and doing massive maintenance two days after our round. They've already started on the par-5 16th hole. Because of this, we will play it from the blue tees. The temporary green is a small circle mowed into the fairway. Once you are inside this circle, you can't have any more than a 2-putt. Feel free to attempt your first putt. Hit it hard.

Spring 2015 Stats (Lazy Version)

I had grand plans of doing separate stats posts about each player but obviously that isn't going to happen before this next season gets started.

Here are various stats and how everyone ranked from the Spring '15 season.  People highlighted in yellow played in 4 events or less and therefore should basically be ignored.  My computer was giving me issues when I was copy/pasting from Excel so these are just screen grabs, sorry if they look like crap.

Summer 2015 - Week 1

We're back! Unfortunately, Esplanade is punching their greens this week. So we'll go there later in the season.

Instead we'll start at Stoneybrook, 11am on Sunday the 17th.

We have 13 people at the moment and one spot saved for the often injured Tall Mike.