The Greatest Golfer in Club History

 

The Greatest Golfer in Club History

I plan on posting a few times on the Blog this off-season just to keep the #content train rolling since we won’t have any posts on upcoming events or recaps.  I usually have some free time in the morning before my daughter wakes up.  One of the things I do while having a cup of coffee is check the Blog for any updates or new posts.  99% of the content that we have on the Blog is from Chandler and, while I thank him for his time and dedication to the League, I also feel like the rest of us could be contributing more. 

I have written a few things over the last two weeks, but most of them have to do with me and my golf game.  I did not intentionally set out to do this, but I just didn’t play a lot of golf with most of the people in the League this past season.  I played six rounds and was matched up with Tall Mike all six times, Faz and Topor three times (I think), and Troy twice.  For a few of those rounds, we either had a threesome or had a guest playing as the fourth.  It is hard to write about someone else’s golf game when you did not get to see them play.  I would love to be able to do a breakdown of what has happened to Gary’s golf game, but I have not been fortunate enough to witness that train wreck firsthand.  I do have a write up for Tall Mike though that I hope you all will find entertaining.

However, since most of the content is going to be tied to me in some way, I wanted to kick things off with a post that has nothing to do with me and that is:

The League has been in existence for 10 years, who is the greatest golfer in League history?

To start things off, I want to clarify that I would consider the Greatest Golfer in League History and the Greatest Champion in League History two different things.  (Don’t worry, I have a separate post written to break down the Greatest Champion in League History.)  The Greatest Golfer in League History could be the same person as the Greatest Champion in League History, but that does not have to be the case.

As our League uses an imperfect system to try to level the playing field between golfers of different skill levels, the best player is not always going to be the Champion at the end of a season.  Furthermore, the best golfer at a given moment in time is not necessarily the greatest golfer in League history.  Tom Brady does not win the MVP every year, but he is considered by most to be the GOAT.  His sustained excellence has separated him from his peers.  I don’t think that we have a Tom Brady of the League; someone that has separated himself from other players in the league to such a degree that there is no longer room for a meaningful discussion.  If we did, this would be a very short post.  So here are the contenders, in no specific order, and I’m interested to see if there is a consensus as to who should be considered the Greatest Golfer in League History:

1.     Chandler Brown.  The argument for why he should be considered the greatest is rock solid.  He has the most events played, most wins, most 2^nd place finishes, a scoring average of 85.6, the most Greenies, the most Long Drives, the most Sandies, and four Championships.  He is like the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of our League.  His longevity and sustained excellence really stands out when you compare his stats to the rest of the League.  Are some of his numbers inflated due to the first few seasons of the League when we had less Members?  Sure they are.  That is the reason why there is room for debate when it comes down to Chandler or one of the guys listed below.  His win percentage is 11.7%, he averages 1.05 Greenies per round, and his Long Drive win percentage is 29.7%.  His match play record is a very respectable 16-8-4.

2.     Mike Oostenbrink.  He has the most Modern Era Championships (four), 6 Majors (just one less than Chandler), and has the most epic Championship in League history when he won the final two events of the Summer 2020 Season to steal the Cup away from Gorecki.  He has done this playing in 128 events, which is 60 less events than Chandler has played in.  However, his scoring average is 94.3, his win percentage is 10.1%, Greenies per round is 0.77, and Long Drive win percentage is 18%.  In my opinion, Tall Mike is like the Robert Horry of the League.  He has some of the most clutch performances and shots that we will remember forever, but nobody is going to say he was a better player than the greats of that era:  Jordan, Kobe, Duncan, etc.

3.      Dave Harrington.  Irish Dave has a scoring average of 83.5 and he has put up that average while playing many rounds from a harder set of tees.  Comparing Dave to Chandler and Tall Mike is not an apples to apples comparison.  Dave’s Greenies per round is 1.11, which is better than Tall Mike and Chandler’s averages, but how much “extra credit” should Dave get due to the fact that he wins those Greenies from one or two sets of tee boxes farther back then the rest of the guys in his group?  As far as Long Drive, his win percentage is 27.3% and is better than Chandler and Tall Mike.  Once again, he is doing that while giving up yardage to the rest of his group (usually).  He also has a great match play record of 15-5-2.  His win percentage is 9.4%, which is lower than Chandler and Tall Mike.  I don’t know if that can be blamed on tee boxes.  He also only has half as many wins as Chandler (11 compared to 22).  Dave is like Giannis or Michael Jordan, where the stats alone are great but somehow do not tell the whole story.

4.       Chris Melberg.  Melberg has only played in 34 events, so he has not had time to collect the same career stats as the other guys on this list.  Nonetheless, his short time in the League has already produced some numbers that put him in consideration as the greatest.  He has the lowest scoring average at 82.6.  He has the lowest gross score to par in League history when he went -6 at Southport Springs.  His match play record is excellent, 5-0-1.  He averages 1.14 Greenies per round.  His Long Drive win percentage is 20.6%.  Like Irish Dave, he has played many of his rounds from a harder tee box than everyone else in his group.  Despite his low handicap index, his win percentage is still a respectable 8.8%.  To switch up the sports as far as his comparison, I would say he’s kind of like Chargers QB Justin Herbert.  His stats from his first few seasons are comparable to the best of all time.  However, he has yet to win a Championship and just hasn’t had enough time to rack up the career statistics that some other guys have.

Some people were left off the top contenders list and here is why:

5.       Dan Rogers:  His scoring average is 85.0, but that is more than 2 shots worse than Melberg.  Dan and Melberg have very comparable stats, but Melberg’s scoring average gave him the advantage.

6.       Darren Broom.  He has the most Majors and a great win percentage (13%).  His scoring average is 94.0 though.  Tall Mike has a similar scoring average (94.3) and has double the Cups.  He got the nod over The Baron.

7.       Faz, Gary and Reid:  These three guys have all racked up an impressive amount of wins, Greenies and Long Drives.  However, they do not stack up well when compared to Chandler’s stats and their scoring averages are higher as well.

The rest of you (myself included) do not deserve a mention. 

To be honest, when I started writing this, I thought Chandler would blow everyone away.  I didn’t realize how great of a ball striker Irish Dave is until I started looking at his Greenies per round and Long Drive win percentage.  I think it’s very close between those two guys right now and if we check back in another 10 years, Melberg will probably be right there with them.

FBGC Masters - Summer 2022 Recap

Casey fired an impressive +1 (gross) on the front nine of Crooked Cat to take a huge lead on Sunday. It was basically mistake-free golf, where even a classic Casey-top off the first tee resulted in an up-and-down bogey.

Building a huge lead with a score of -7 (net) through 11 holes, all he had to do was keep the wheels on to win his 11th career tournament and 4th Major. He was in prime position to eject on the 12th hole, but managed to chip in from off the green for another scrambling bogey.

By that point, Troy had made the turn at -4 (net) and was looking to just tie Casey for another season championship. But his hopes slipped away with a double at 10, triple at 12, and no pars on the back nine. It was a valiant effort, but Troy ultimately came up 410 points short — basically one more victory.

Since we did this exercise with Gorecki a few seasons ago, I'll go ahead and say it... Troy lost the Cup by three strokes in Week 1, when he finished the round at Fox Hollow with a triple and quintuple bogey. Shaving three strokes off those two holes would have given him a solo victory, and knocked Buchert down to solo 2nd.

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

But that shit didn't happen. And so we have a very deserving new champion in Buchert — the first person since Spring 2015 to win four events in a season. His scoring average was 1.5 strokes lower than his career average... and 3.8 lower than last season. I'm not sure what finally clicked, but some of you might want to ask him.

Great season, Buchert. Welcome to the Champions Dinner.

 

I think Brendan has the Cup... so hopefully that makes its way to you.

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

 

We now head into our long off-season, where many of you desperately need a physical and/or mental break. We'll start back up next January. In the meantime, be sure to post any playing opportunities if you need people.

 

As a reminder, The Rapture is October 7th - 9th (check in at hotel on the 6th). There will be many Rapture specific posts next month, but it looks like the Captains (Dave & Troy) have decided to host a Draft Party at Gorecki's house. I'm waiting for Gorecki to tell me the exact date.

I'll see some of you then. Thanks for another fun year, everyone!

 There are two charity scrambles coming up in the off season that I wanted to give some attention to.  

The first is the Shriners one that didn't happen last year. Frankly, it seems to be on a bad day for us since it is right after the Rapture on October 10th.  I have golf bachelor party the weekend after that, too.  So I probably should be responsible and work that Monday and not golf 7/10 days and keep it at six. But I figured I would post it here if anyone one was interested.  It i at River Hills in Valrico.  

The second is for the Humane Society on Monday, November 14th at Carrollwood CC.  I can make that one.

They are both $800 for a foursome which includes two meals, drinks and probably the usual swag and silent auctions.  I bet the Humane Society will have puppies, which is always nice.  

Shriner's Doug Cox Memorial

Humane Society @ Carrollwood CC

Jamaican Open - Summer 2022 Recap

Buchert did the impossible, overcoming a high-handicappers paradise to win his fourth event of the season. Although... I'd argue Buchert is now a high-handicapper, compared to his potential skill level. The fact his Index got up to 15.9 before the start of this season should have been (and probably was... I'd have to go re-read old posts) a glaring red-flag that he's prime to add his name on the Cup. 

 

Assuming we're still putting names on the Cup. The status of it is not quite clear.

What's also not clear was who actually won the event yesterday. Some of you may have noticed Buchert and Moostie tied... since that's what the app said (and still says). Alas, they discovered a scoring error after finalizing their round.

GolfGameBook recently made it so I can't change scores in other groups. Their solution is to just "move yourself into their group." Well that doesn't work if they click the "end round" button. So don't ever click that.

Anyway, excellent run by Buchert, who is skipping our final event. He's now the fourth Member to win 4 events in a season (w/ Chandler, Faz, and Darren). All previously won the Championship. And yet... Buchert may still lose it.

Troy needs to finish solo-1st or a two-way tie for 1st to steal it away. This will be quite difficult at OCN (Crooked Cat). Troy finished solo-4th the one time we played it, shooting a respectable -4 (net) and still losing by ten freaking strokes!

Here's hoping for some excitement, but either way we're getting a deserving Champion who won despite skipping 33% of our events.

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

We're under contract this week. So if you're going to bail, update the RSVP now. If you're on the list and don't show up, we'll be charging you $75ish. Same goes for your guests.

Tee time in Orlando is 9:27am. Get there early to warm up.

See you Sunday!

 

Update:

Course has changed since we were last there. There is a Orange/Green (6,515) and Green/White (6,020) combo.

Below is the old Scorecard from their website, which may give you an idea bout ORANGE and GREEN tees. Everyone is on GREEN/WHITE combo. If you want to move back, let me know.

Summer 2022 - Final 2 Weeks

We're playing at Grasslands this Sunday at 8:48am. I'm told as of yesterday the greens are punched to shit. So... expect another difficult day. 

 

Here's a scorecard for Grasslands. There are a lot of teeing options, so if you want to move back from the WHITEs then let me know ASAP.

 

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

Gorecki booked us at Orange County National (in Orlando) for our final event on August 28th, 9:27am start. Cost is going to be about $74 after tax... and he had to sign a contract guaranteeing our reserved spots.

This means you need to bail before Thursday the 25th. If you bail, for any reason, on that date (or later), then we are on the hook for your greens fee. You'll be assessed that fee in Club Credit.

So if you don't want to drive to Orlando... or don't want to "waste" a Sunday... that's fine. Just bail now and save yourself the money.

For those of you who forgot how to officially bail... go change your RSVP using the registration link on this blog.

Southern Hills - Club Credit

Gary is still on Southern Hills' membership email list — and wanted to share this policy email that just came out. Which one of you idiots recently joined SH and complained about tournament payouts?

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

All, 

With so many new members, I thought it would be worth explaining our event payout policy with playing in club tournaments.  All tournaments that you place in are paid out in the form of "credit books"

Credit Books:  Each member has a "Credit Book" account attached to their membership.  This is not a "credit" to your bill, but a separate category, similar to a gift card or "store credit".  When placing in tournaments or Hole in One winnings, you will receive that dollar payout in "credit books".  You can use credit books in the Golf Shop or Pete's Grill.  Keep in mind, when wanting to use your credit books, please inform the staff when you would like to use your credit books (it is not automatic).  

The Concussion - Summer 2022 Recap

Things are getting very interesting, as Buchert pulled within 16 points of Troy in the season standings. Both are trying to become the first Champion to only play in 6 events — proving that a strong golf-life balance is possible.

Buchert shot a fairly mistake-free round yesterday (one double bogey), on a course that is prime for blow-ups. You can't score out there if you don't have patience and good course management. Even with those things, it might not be your day.

Conditions were... OK. Way better than the last time I was out there (15+ years ago). I can even see how some of our guys vouched for it. But the greens were punched to shit and you can't place pins on down slopes when you're aerating. There were a lot of missed putts that would have been considered "gimmies" in years past. Which I guess is why we changed that rule.

 

Not properly being able to warm up probably hurt a few of you on the first hole. 

 

Warming up for God knows how long at Tampa Bay Downs... rushing over to the course... pulling in while the entire Club is standing on the first tee... and practicing putting while the rest of your group has already teed off... probably hurt Tall Mike on the first hole as well. Despite all that nonsense, he had the tournament locked up until he self-immolated on the short par-3 15th. That was a sight to behold.

John, Geoff, and Chandler (me!) played well. The rest of you... did not.

I'm shocked we only had one pitcher owed. I'm also shocked there was a 10 stroke gap between DFL and 2nd-to-DFL.

I guess for this event, Chi Chi served its purpose. We had an eagle, 18 birdies, and a bunch of greenies. We probably need to go back to The Groves next season.

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

We're off this week for a make-up we don't need. Our next event is August 21st at Grasslands. You owe John $50 if you're playing, and you should send that to him now.

Troy is out, and it's allegedly Buchert's last event of the season. So while Buchert can't lock up the season at Grasslands, he can eject from it if he doesn't score 16+ points. Realistically, everyone down to Faz has a shot to win the Cup.

 

 -----------------------------------

 

The Rapture draft pool is set. Dave will have first pick, with Troy selecting the next two in a snake draft. Their options will be (in order of qualifying): Reid, Casey, Geoff, Chandler, Brendan, Gorecki, Travis, Darren, Moostie, Ho, Danny, Faz, Melberg, Gary.

I don't think there's any point in having the draft until after September 15th, leaving just one handicap revision before the competition.

The Concussion - Summer 2022 Info

Long drive on 13.

Reports from Friday is they punched recently despite telling me that wasn't happening.

We dropped two groups and are now full.

GolfGameBook doesn't have hole handicap info loaded into their app. So all your strokes will be in the beginning of the front and back nines in the app. This wont affect the final standings... but when you're trying to avoid a pitcher down the stretch, you won't be stroking despite the scorecard saying you are. Unless you're Danny.

FBGC Championship - Summer 2022 Recap

Melberg picked up his 3rd win and 2nd Major yesterday, proving that in the right conditions a low handicapper CAN win. His course record 78 (gross) was quite impressive, as everyone (except Topor) struggled to make net-birdies.

Lake Jovita (South) is a tough test. But conditions were solid with the exception of most bunkers. Pin placements were dicey, but the greens rolled well considering they were punched a week ago.

Melberg sneaks into the Championship discussion, but missing this week is severely hurting his chances.

Topor looked like he was going to boat race the field, only to falter down the stretch like he did at Bayou Club earlier this season. He still controls his own destiny, but the 112.5 points he missed out on by one stroke might haunt him when the season ends.

Dan was kind enough to visit the ATM for the first time in a decade, providing actual cash payouts... which thoroughly seemed to confuse some of the winners. Gorecki let out a squeal when he saw physical money, like a stripper on her first night at the Gold Club.

While there's no telling how our policy will continue in the future, at least you can all sleep soundly knowing that  

 

1) The Club is holding onto $339 less of your monies, and  

 

2) Melberg will now have to send in a dues payment next season since his balance is void of the winnings that would have covered Spring 2023. Congrats to all involved.

 

No word if he was mugged in the parking lot.

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

I didn't really hear any complaints about the shotgun start... only a few questions as to why and how it came to be. So here are my observations:

• It was nice to all finish at the same time. Most of the field came inside for a few moments. A good amount hung out for lunch/drinks.
• The wait-staff was not impressed with 20+ guys arriving at once, and service suffered because of it.
• It was one of the longest rounds we've ever played, clocking in at ~4:42. That should not have been the case, and only means someone ahead of Group A was playing slow a shit. The course obviously never found nor attempted to solve the problem, and probably just blamed the pace on our group.
• I don't see a lot of shotguns happening in our future, but I can request it if people want. As previously mentioned, most courses don't want to be bothered.
  

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

 

This week we're playing The Concussion at Chi Chi Rodriguez golf club in what is technically inside the Clearwater city limits. This course has been on my own personal ban list since I last played it sometime around 2007. So why are we going here?

Because — as always — I'm a man of the people. Brendan, John, and Casey have repeatedly requested this course, claiming it's solid and in good shape. So I have no reason to doubt their opinions. If you disagree, be sure to be as loud as you are about everything else.

Everyone is on the WHITE tees for this event. I don't have a current scorecard. I've already dropped one tee time based on RSVPs so only 20 players max. Tee time is 9am. I think there's a range across the street, but you have to drive to it and I'm not sure it's connected in any way to the course or our round.

See you Sunday.

Grasslands

John's looking to get us on Grasslands for the Jamaican, on August 21st. But he needs to pre-pay for the rounds.

They usually make us go out after 11am, which is still on the table. But this time they said we can tee off at 8:48am.

 

Does anyone have an issue getting out to Lakeland for that tee time? We also need all you "question mark" people to decide if you're attending the Jamaican right now... so John doesn't end up with a bunch of unused rounds.

Go update your RSVPs!

FBGC Championship - Summer 2022 - LIV Edition

UPDATE: Long drive on 11 (previously said 13).

 

We're playing Lake Jovita (South) at 9am on Sunday... SHOTGUN START. Cost should be $70ish.

The shotgun was suggested by their Head Pro, and not something we've ever been offered or allowed to do in the past. They seem to like getting everyone off the course at the same time.

We'll have two groups start on 1, two on 18, one on 17, and one on 16. Going out in order of current standings.

It was brought to my attention that people think they should be allowed to pick what hole they start on. It is impossible for me to give a more emphatic "NO" to this request. We are not allowing groups to vote, especially when pairings will undoubtedly be shuffled as people bail. "We" also aren't interested in tracking any more things, such as your opinions. You'll be assigned a starting hole based on your current standings, and you will like it.

Below is a current scorecard. Everyone is on WHITE unless you tell me otherwise. Seniors (and Danny) can move up to White/Green if they ask.

Range balls are included. Greens were allegedly punched a week ago so they should be OK. Don't be late for your 9am start.

 

Dan is going to bring cash to pay all the winners (~$360 estimated purse), and will be reimbursed by the Club.

We have a couple of open spots if anyone wants to join. Let me know.

See you Sunday!

Match Play - Summer 2022 Recap

Troy came up to me before the round yesterday, and said he could be in for a big day. He loved his group, was happy to be going out first, and just had an overall excitement about playing River Strand.

 

He was right to be excited. It was by far the best facility we've played in awhile — which is saying a lot because the courses this season have been pretty solid. But River Strand was next level for this time of year. The course, the food, the service, the prices... I'll do my best to get us on again next summer.

 

Anyway, Troy just waxed the field and even had enough strokes to wisely throw away at the end. I heard a LOT of praise about how Buchert is striking the ball... and he still had the biggest loss (7&5).

 

Ho and Dave fired course record 77s (gross) to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.

 

Everyone else seemed to struggle at various times, which was a surprise. The course was extremely fair... with the short "easy" holes tricked-up enough to make you think. I loved the green contours. The speed was slower than they looked, but they definitely had some movement to them.

 

Here's some random shit on my mind:

• The shorter Tributary — by about 200 yards — was only 0.42 strokes "easier" (gross) than Sanctuary.
• Ho made 4 birdies, which he thinks is the first time ever in his life.
• Dan made a 10 on the 17th hole after bragging that he has never had a +5 in Club history.
• Dave finished with 11 straight pars. Probably a Club record.
• Melberg has had 2 sandies in each of his last three rounds.
• Crum needs a hug.
  

[this is where a photo of the Big Check would go, but Geoff broke/lost/forgot it]

 

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

 

Next we we are at Lake Jovita (South) for a 9am shotgun start. It's the first SS in our Club's history, and was recommended by their pro.

More on this later, but update your RSVP now. The number of people bailing within 72 hours is being noticed... and will eventually lead to another rule change.

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

As of this writing, the following people who qualified for the Rapture have not sent me their $100 deposit. I need that this week, or we're going to offer spots to the alternates.

Reid

Casey

Billy

Danny

Melberg

No, you can't use any current Club Credit balances to pay it. The main reason is those ledgers are covered in duct tape and I don't want potentially ruin any of our accounting by shifting funds from one place to another. The Rapture is not tied to our league seasons.

All that being said, I've been speaking with our best Financial Advisor, and subsequently completed a full audit of the Club Credit system. I'm happy to report everything is accounted for, down to the penny. However he raised some valid questions, so expect policy changes in the off-season.

See you Sunday.

Match Play - Summer 2022 Preview

We're finally headed to River Strand, first tee time going off at 11:30am.

Parings for the rest of the year are based on standings: points, events played, wins, 2nd place finishes, looks. We use the bottom (ie: irrelevant) guys to fill holes and play "ghosts."

 

Expect the parings to change as people bail because of the course's mandated late tee time, or not liking who they're paired with.

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

I type these rules out every season... mainly because you all need it...

Ride with your opponent. Stroke play event is still active so finish each hole as we normally do. Match Play allowance is 80% of course handicap. Mark up your own cards and don't trust anything you see on the internet, including this blog. Hit provisionals when you might be OB.

 

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

I don't have a recent card, but River Strand has three nines. Each side should have hole handicaps ranked 1-9. The FRONT side (allegedly Sanctuary) is the odd handicaps. The BACK side (allegedly Tributary) will be even. Let the smartest person in your group dot the card and keep track of your match.

Regardless of what tees you choose, Tributary is about 200 yards shorter than Sanctuary. This doesn't mean it's "easy." Based on the Bogey Rating, we'll set everyone on the WHITE tees. You can move back to B/W Combo, Blues, or Black. Let me know where you want to play from ASAP.

Card might be stale, and I added the alleged hole handicaps.

Course records are 84 (Faz) and 109 (Geoff).

 

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

Nine people have yet to pay their Rapture deposit ($100). On August 1st we're going to start filling the spots with alternates. Read the previous post for details.

Summer 2022 - Hangover Invitational Recap

Waterlefe lived up to its hype in all the ways - great conditioning for this time of year, and a very challenging test of golf. The wind really picked up on the back nine, making the closing three holes much more difficult than they normally play. That being said, our scores didn't move the overall Median Net to Par for Waterlefe, which remains at +4 in our history (a medium difficulty).

Casey was coasting — and club snapping — his way to an impressive victory, until Chandler (hey, that's me!) decided to "protect the field" on the 18th hole... pointing out a win would be Casey's third straight victory at Waterlefe. This would be one of the most impressive stats in our Club's history.

Casey immediately pumped two balls into the lake on 18 (almost hitting the same boat twice) and fell from -2 (net) to +1.

Faz was the next contender, until he wasn't (back-to-back triples), until he was again (back-to-back pars)... matching Casey's +1 (net).

Then came Geoff, who looked to have it wrapped up... until everyone — including himself — remembered he was Geoff. A triple on 16 and quad on 17 ejected him into the Manatee River.

Dan just needed a par on the 18th to tie +1 (net), but made a double to fall to T5.

And Buchert overcame a horrendous start (2 quads in his first four holes) to finished par-par and grab a share of the victory. It's his 2nd win in a row, and he's now a few top finishes away from crashing the Champions Dinner!

There was a ton of late leader board movement, which was quite fun to watch. Even the Pitcher Zone was exciting, and somehow had Troy falling into it in the clubhouse after his round (due to a scoring mistake).

 

Also, Faz was on a streak of 57 starts without a victory... approaching JW's record of 61. Gary now has the longest active winless streak with 40.

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

Waterlefe is more mentally challenging than physically. We had some "I'm never playing here again" quotes after the round. Nobody believes that. You'll play it every time we book it. Eventually you'll reflect on your course management and make some adjustments — which will make you an overall better player. 

 

Swing easier (ie: smoother) on those drivers, people.

It's definitely a course everyone can conquer.

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

 

We had 13 of the 20* players attend our season party at Yoemans. The new bar addition was a lot of fun, and a really cool spot to hang out and play shuffleboard. We even had two of the Westchase Whipped in attendance... leading me to think that maybe we can go back up there next season. Just for their sake. Maybe.

In our first ever Hangover Side Pot, Faz picked up an extra $66 in Club Credit, while Chandler electronically pocketed $29. Outside of Casey and Buchert — who won the stroke play event fully rested and free of all good times with friends — most of the non party people finished near the bottom.

 

*Melberg bailed the morning of, but rumors are it was because he didn't want to drive to Bradenton... not because of a hangover. 

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

 

We're off this week for the British Open, a built in bye-week since 2018.

We'll be back down in Bradenton at River Strand next week for Match Play. We haven't been able to get on that course in 8 years. They're only letting us out after their members, which right now is 11:30am. I can call 3 days in advance to *maybe* get us moved up a few spots. It'll be hot. We'll probably have some rain stoppages. But that's what we have to do to get on these private courses.

See you then. Update your RSVPs sooner than later if you're bailing, since it affects pairings more than normal next week.

Summer 2022 - Hangover Invitational Preview

We're back this Sunday with the new and "improved" Hangover Invitational. What's different?

Those of you who read the blog might recall our dues increased $5 per person. Everyone who plays on Sunday is putting a Lincoln into a Hangover side-pot. The lowest two net scores of those who attend the bar on Saturday will split the pot as close to 70/30 as we can make it. It's a little game within the game for those who will be severely handicapped Sunday morning. Equity is the word of the moment, and this is us doing our part.

Our season gathering will be at Yoeman's in downtown, starting at 8pm. They have a newly expanded space with a few golf simulators and very nice (professional looking) pool tables. Most people I've talked to (ie: the Board) aren't really interested in hitting balls. But Travis is all over it if others want to ($55ish an hour).

Make a comment ASAP if you're interested in the bays. If there looks to be enough to justify it, we'll get that rented.

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

Gorecki's grand scheme was to book us at Buffy Creek super early in the morning. I allowed it to happen, and had an entire write-up ready to go about how it's not that terrible of a course (if conditions are decent). I went down there yesterday with Gary for a scouting trip. The course was flooded and range was closed due to recent storms. Sunday regulars were canceling their tee times. Every bunker was filled with water. Every ball that landed in the fairway plugged and some were lost. The round took almost 5:20 thanks to a mismanaged tee sheet (allowing a 5some out playing a scramble). And it poured right after we left, with more rain to come this week.

We 100% should (and will) go down there again. But I can't have us playing that course in those conditions. So I made some phone calls and got us on Waterlefe at 9:40am ($65ish). Definitely not as easy as Buffy, but hopefully less of you will feel like your Sunday was "wasted" — you know... wasted hanging out with friends playing golf.

I've once again exhibited the resolve and agility to change plans on the fly that led to me being named back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back Club Chairman of the Year.

Everyone is on the BLACK, which are a combo of Blue/White, unless you want to move back. Let me know. Seniors and Gorecki are allowed to play WHITE. See you Sunday!

Update your RSVPs.