Sunday Golf Trip

So there are two options for our scouting trip. Drive up and play Juliette Falls... or play 36 holes at Candler Hills and Stone Creek (they're 5 min apart).

I went ahead and booked TWO groups at Juliette Falls. 9:30am. $49 and it comes with a burger and beer.

Updated list in order of those who RSVPd:

Chandler
Geoff
Darren
Gorecki
JW
Garcia
Dave
Troy

2017 "Ryder Cup" Scouting

There are two things I'm working on this off-season involving our annual team competition. The first is a complete re-branding of the event. I got a name change / theme ready to go, and a trophy that I need to build a base for. The stupidity of it all is on par with something you'd expect from me. But we really need to call it something different, and not something boring like "The Tampa Cup" which another league does in the area.

Once I successfully get the trophy ready (hopefully this month) I'll post the details.

I'm also planning for the event to expand to 16 people, and I'm going to make an attempt at holding it up in Lecanto & Ocala. The idea is to play the final round at Black Diamond, #2 on my personal list of courses I've played in Florida.

To make the trip work, we'd rent a couple of AirBnb houses (there are a bunch of good ones) and we'd need to play two more courses in the area. I have a list of 3 highly ranked courses I need to check out this winter (ratings on GolfAdvisor) to make sure they're worthy.

1) Juliette Falls - 4.5 stars - About $50 on the weekends currently. All recent reviews are excellent. Pictures look great. Long challenging layout with our tees playing 6,269 and 130 slope.

2) Candler Hills - 4.6 stars - Top rated in Ocala area and priced around $55. Seems pretty open off the tee and rated easy: 6,110 yards with a 117 slope. I'm not sure why almost all the reviews are raving about this course, so I might as well go find out.

3) Stone Creek - 4.4 stars - $40 and reviews praise the value, conditions, and say it's easy to score well. The length is hidden in two of the par 5s, so we'd have to tee it back to 6,371 at a 119 slope.

So who wants to go try one of these on Sunday, November 13th? They're a bit of a drive but we could even knock off two of them in one trip if you are adventurous enough.

October Handicap Tracker

More rounds played this month equaled some shifts in handicaps and rankings. Here are some notes:

Dan took over the top spot of lowest handicap by.. NOT recording any rounds in October. Dave recorded 2 rounds in the mid eighties and witnessed his HC go up by almost a half point. Crazy.

Chandler played several rounds this month scoring in low eighties and a 78 which in turn drops his handicap to a personal best (I believe) 7.9. No need to compliment him on this feat given his ego.

The Gary/Darren/Faz/Buchert log jam continued with Gary and Darren slipping some and Faz and Buchery improving. Would be interesting to see how this foursome competes come next season.

Brendan played a couple courses including The Claw (why??) and shaved almost a whole point off his.

Darryl couldn't handle having me as his boss and retired (again) from the construction industry to instead pursue his card on the Senior Tour. So he's retaking lessons and as a result we see his HC go the wrong way and jump a point and a half! Well hopefully the "gotta get worse before getting better" comes true as he has some work to do before next season and Scotland.

Geoff did NOT like being in the cellar so with 2 rounds posted in the mid nineties he leap frogs JW and I. Then JW plays a couple rounds and watches his handicap slip just enough to fall below me. With me not playing or practicing at all this month (ouch) I hope my swing and play doesn't regress.

Well keep posting opportunities to play on the blog and send Chandler your scores. With Fall weather approaching we might actually be comfortable out on the links!

Sunday Outing

Lake Jovita is up next, since many of us have vouchers. However, as of right now they don't have any tee times until 11:20am. The weather will be fine so that's not an issue.

Who wants in at that time on Sunday?

It's $50 if you don't have a voucher.

Tee Time #1 - 11:21am - North Course
Chandler
Gary
Darren
JW

Second tee time added.
Dave
Reid
Katie
(one spot open) 

Sunday at Brooksville Country Club

9:30am. $30 if you don't have the voucher. I got spots for myself, Gary, Dave and JW.

If anyone else wants to go... book the time behind us and get some people.

Sunday Golf and New Members

Fall is a great reminder that the league NEEDS the long layoff. It seems most of us are out of town just about every weekend!

Who is around this Sunday? The weather is going to be excellent. I have a Lake Jovita voucher good after 10am... and Brooksville voucher good any time. I know some of you also bought those.

-------------------------------

As our league continues to grow, I'll be formalizing "rules" for new members. Currently, we've been requiring everyone to play a few rounds with us and report at least 5 rounds for handicapping purposes. And anyone wanting to join after week 3 needs to wait until the next season.

If we ever get to around 30 members, I will lock it down and make it extremely structured. It's no different than any other social group or golf club. I'd also consider making us an officially recognized USGA club.

Think of the possibilities: Waiting lists for new recruits and member-guest events. Gorecki attempting to blackball transgendered golfers because he acts differently around them. Yearly board meetings and expanded events. A special parking spot outside my house for the reigning club champion.

But for now, we're just some dudes playing together.

A few people have expressed a desire to officially join next season. But we need more commitment than just saying "hey that sounds fun, I want in." If the season started tomorrow, only Anthony and Crum have enough rounds recorded to play for money and points. And Crum hasn't really said he wants in (marriage and kids will do that).

Katie, Robbie and Casey have all expressed interest and played at least one round with us... but that needs to increase before we start back up in 3 months. So if you're "sponsoring" any of those (or other) people... get them out on the course! We don't ask for much... but we need our new people to 1) show up consistently 2) get involved with discussions on this blog 3) play by and get used to our league rules 4) not be a dick...

Never mind. We do ask a lot. And that's a good thing.

September Handicap Tracker

ALOT of activity this past month which means either we enjoy playing golf in 95 degree weather or the bucs just aren't that appealing to watch.

EVERY league member (except Troy *cough slacker*) played in September and reported their rounds to Chandler.

And with some decent rounds posted, there was some considerable shifting among the handicap ranks...

Starting off with a new low handicap leader! Dave has been playing lights out as of late and even with Dan's impressive low 80's rounds at difficult high-slope courses, Dave's mid and upper 70's scores dropped him to a 7.1! Are you now ready to join Dan in the back tees Dave?

Props to Chandler on this month's largest handicap drop (1.7). He's currently tied with his lowest handicap ever. Looks like he's using this time to practice and play more rounds of golf as his fiance' wants him as little involved as possible with the wedding planning. 

Darren did a little leap frogging jumping into to the 5th lowest handicapper in our league. A few other guys bundled up in the 12&13 handicap range though so he might not get to enjoy this position for long.

And yes as Chandler mentioned yours truly has moved up from the cellar for the first time in league history. After he posted that my handicap is now lower than both Geoff and JW, Dub then immediately reported some rounds that put him back ahead of me, but it's only by .2 of a point!

So props again to the continued play. Keep checking the blog as I'm sure some round invitations will be posted.

Time to Shut the League Down...

For the first time in league history... Gorecki has an official handicap lower than TWO people. His 24.9 index is well ahead of JW and Geoff, and he's close to overtaking Troy.

JW is going through a swing change (like a lot of us) so I expect him to bounce back soon.

But congrats, Mike. Only took you 40 years to consistently break 100.

2016 Ryder Cup

The actual Ryder Cup... not that thing we do which will be getting a re-branding soon... is on this weekend. Friday to Sunday.

Anyone want to meet up at a bar on Sunday and watch the American team choke again? Yeah, football is on too. But this is a bigger deal.

Tell me if you're in and we can choose a location based on the responses.

Countryside Recap & Gorectoberfest Invite

Well despite the fears by some (ok one really *cough Chandler*) EVERYONE showed up on time for our 8:35 start. Brendan actually added a 4th tee time for after 9 but that group went off earlier with us. Due to an inch and a half of rain they got on Friday, the range was closed and it was cart path only. The front 9 was soggy but the back was better. Course overall is OK. Course wasn't in the best shape. The rough is thick and there were plenty of hazards and bunkers we all experienced. Overall we feel it can be added to winter league if the price is right.

Scores to boast about was Dave posting a 3 over 75. Chandler a 5 over 77. Brendan an 86. and me a personal best 42 on the back 9. We won't discuss what I shot on the front but I sure wish the range was open as my first 4 holes were turrible!

Mike O threw his back out on the first hole and Buchert had to play chiropractor. Kid is more fragile than RGIII and Adrian Peterson combined.

As far as the early(ier) tee time. It appears it wasn't met with much opposition and some posted on here they prefer it. I suggest we try a few next season with that and just like when you learn of the course selection, you have the option if you want to attend that week. With the supposed increase in league members next year, we should be comfortable filling out several 4some spots each week no matter the course and tee time selections.



I'd also like to invite the league out for my 40th birthday celebration. I sent an invite out to those I'm friends with on facebook. All are invited though with your WAGS. Its next Friday, September 30th at 7pm at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company (Westchase location). I've reserved the brewery area where they will have high top tables and our own bar. Fell free to attend and help me welcome my 40's with some food, drink and some kind hearted stories of me I'm sure.

Hope to see (most of) you guys there.

Countryside - Guest List

As of right now, these are the people I have on the list for Countryside... this Sunday... at 8:30AM.

Chandler
Darren
Tall Mike
Buchert
Dave
Gorecki
Casey
Brendan
Danny (Brendan)
Tyson (Brendan)
Todd (Brendan)

That's 11 people... with Geoff who committed but then seems to be backing out. Kinda hard to tell.

Countryside- Sunday

Heard from Pro:

3 tee times starting at 8:35am
$40 per player
Range balls included
Reserved under "Gorecki"

Countryside - Sunday

We have 11 guys signed up for this Sunday. However, we don't have an official tee time yet. Allegedly we are waiting to hear from the pro. Stay tuned.

Summer 2016 - Faz Stats

Faz sent over his stats. Usually he includes everyone and just highlights those people who played in 4 or fewer events. Well... I just straight up deleted them. Get that non-dedicated clutter out of here!

We need to book Countryside soon. Right now we have one group: Chandler, Gorecki, Darren, Dave. The rest of you fools need to commit ASAP so we don't look like chumps rolling up there with 4 people. Sunday, September 18th.

Countryside Update

The pro at Countryside said September 18th should work out for a group outing. Sometime between 8am and 9:45am. But at the moment we only have myself, Darren and Gorecki.

Countryside is like one of Brendan's favorite courses. And Dave keeps saying he needs to get out. So... where are you people?

Faz, JW and Gary are all out of town. Geoff? Reid? Anyone out there? Any NEW people joining the league should probably sign up for this as well.