Summer 2023 - Skins Recap

For the 2nd week in a row Gary played with the winner, as Faz overcame 4 doubles (and only a couple of bad chips) to win his 18th career tournament. It never really felt like Faz could win, until he chipped-in for birdie on 17 with his putter. Faz also won the most skins on the day, with 13. A rare time when a winner of the event received the most money.

Tall Mike — who was up near the top all day — needed a par on 18 to tie for the victory (his 14th). Everyone in the clubhouse knew he was going to do just that. He might be the only guy in our Club who can literally will himself to victory.

Troy and Geoff were the other big skins winners, racking up 10 each and a little bit of money they wouldn't have received in a standard stroke play event.

Finally, Gorecki is on a 19-hole no-par streak.

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The course was as advertised. Great shape for this time of year. Challenging greens despite being large. It's a good test of golf, with low and high handicaps mixed all over the leader board.

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We're actively trying to secure something for our next event. I'll let you know as soon as we have it booked, but we'll be capped at 16 players based on the RSVP list.

 

Next weekend we're off due to Father's Day. Enjoy the time off!

 

 

Summer 2023 - Week 2 Preview

Skins Game this week, where your entry fee goes into a $2 per-hole group-specific skins competition. Pairings are in order of 1) Course Handicap 2) Handicap Index in order to limit the amount of strokes given in each group. Pairings might change last minute due to tee selections and people bailing (or getting back in). So check back Saturday night.

First tee time: 8:39am

Southern Dunes is by far one of the best run facilities in our ROTA. They recently re-built their driving range and added TopGolf TopTracer (Trackman) bays... which we won't be using. They also constructed a new putting green which they have now ripped out (after only a couple of months) because they made it too severe. I'm highly impressed they admitted the mistake so soon, and are fixing it.

Greens Fees are $65+ tax on Sunday. According to the pro (Kevin) this includes a $5 gratuity for the bag guys outside. Tip them more if you want... or inform them the pro tacked on an extra fee to our round. Either way, you've "allegedly" already paid for them to clean your clubs. Personally, I think it's a scam.

While just about every hole has OB... it's pretty far off the fairway and lined with pine trees. Hit those provisionals though, if you go toward the houses.

See you Sunday!

Summer 2023 - Week 1 Recap

I feel like we learned a lot of things yesterday at Heritage Isles. First and foremost, the course is a reminder that you can't just look at yardages when determining where to play. And unfortunately, you can't just look at Rating/Slope either.

The Course Setup Committee (yep, that's me) usually does a good job selecting base tees that produce the most fun and chances of "decent" scores. Sometimes people chirp about it being too easy or short... even though you always have the option of moving back to gain some strokes with additional challenge.

Heritage isles offers yardages of 6,236 and 5,615 — a gap that is incredibly egregious. With a Slope of 126 on the longer Blue tees, we went with those and allowed the 55/25 Club the option of moving up. This was a mistake, and the Committee regrets the error.

Long carries off the tee, narrow chutes, and par 3s of 175-200 yards is just too much for our standards. Some of us probably shot the same scores from the Blues that we do on the Whites. But it wasn't enjoyable. Our base tees should always be enjoyable.

 

Moving back and removing the "fun" should be a choice you make to possibly gain a stroke advantage. Yesterday most of us had no choice.

It doesn't help that some of the conditions out there were absolute shit. Fairways and rough were nice. The actually grass on the greens was good. But the surfaces were bumpy, almost as if ball marks were never fixed. The bunkers were the worst I've ever seen, and I mentally couldn't get over losing two brand new balls in bunker-lakes on the first 4 holes.

Dave correctly opined that the only reason he won was because most of the field had to play his tees. This might be the first time the winner's handicap calculation didn't even take the round, as Dave had no equitable adjustments to further reduce his score. He just played steady and smart golf, avoiding any big mistakes.

Melberg couldn't avoid triple bogeys (3 of them), but finished 2nd for a lot of the same reasons.

Billy, Gorecki, and Adam were higher handicaps that fell into 3rd place. It was some of the best golf I've ever seen Gorecki play... despite some of the absolute worse swings I've ever seen. He could be dangerous again this season if he stops randomly shanking the ball.

 

We also learned that golf is hard, and you can't just proclaim things are going to happen — or never going to happen — and will it into existence. There's a fine line between overconfidence and delusion.

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We got the Skins Game next week at Southern Dunes at 8:39am. It might be the best course on our ROTA at the moment. We have two Members who need to confirm if they're in, one of which needs to pay his dues.

More on the course later... but base tees are WHITE... 55/25 people can choose WHITE/GOLD.

 

While the WHITE tees are nearly the same distance as we just played at Heritage Isles, it's a drastically different track and very manageable. Most importantly, it's fun.

Scorecard is here.

Let me know your tee choice if you haven't already.

Board Meeting - Summer 2023 Recap

The Board Meeting on Tuesday was uneventful, other than us placing 2nd at trivia. Congrats on electing Club leadership who knows a lot of dumb shit.

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Geoff proposed that Long Drives need to be "validated" with a par or better on the hole, much like we validate Greenies. This was rejected 1-4. 

 

The thought was that validating greenies with a 2-putt proves your approach was close enough for a reward of par (or birdie). If you're the only guy on the green but are 40 feet away from the hole... do you really deserve the money? Sure... if you 2-putt. It also adds a little bit of pressure and excitement.

But on long drive holes, we're already somewhat "validating" a well-struck tee ball with the fairway requirement. Too many unrelated things can happen after that (especially on par-5s) which have nothing to do with where you positioned your ball off the tee. There isn't much added "pressure" as you continue to traverse the hole until possibly the final putt. At which point most of you probably wouldn't remember who was in the fairway, or the longest.

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I was asked to post yet another reminder that the 2-stroke option for going OB is a last resort option. If you hit a ball near OB, you need to hit a provisional. If your playing partners tell you they think you're OB... you need to hit a provisional.

 

And no, you can't drop your ball in the fairway for 2-strokes.

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I tried to get us on Seminole Lake this week but they couldn't make that happen until after 1pm. And after this week they're ripping up all their greens and using temporary ones. While this would be good for Gorecki to make his 2nd ever "eagle," it's not an option for our Club this season. Some day we will get back out there, but they are one of the more difficult Clubs to work with.

 

The Board is considering hosting The Concussion from a full-sized course this year, but from the front men's rated tees. Not sure if we're really going to do it... but we're trying to find good options outside of Countryway and The Groves. Maybe Freedom Fairways is due for another visit? 

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Three people still have outstanding dues. Just a reminder you need to settle up to earn points on Sunday. See you then.

Summer 2023 - Week 1

After a long, and much needed break... the new season is upon us. Hope you all had some nice time off. The reporting of rounds was sparse so perhaps everyone is rusty? Or were you just busy with life... possibly getting abducted by aliens and fiancées?

We're at Heritage Isles this week, as previously mentioned. First tee time is 9:48am, and should be $45 plus tax. We've only officially played there twice, most recently back in 2021. Course records are held by Chandler (hey, that's me!) and Gorecki  (80 and 120). 

 

Everyone is on BLUE tees unless you tell me otherwise. White tees are available for the 25.0/55+ crowd.

 

The Isles is fairly difficult, so I expect the winner to be around -4.

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We have a Board Meeting tonight, which is the last one before new elections are held. If you want to run in this Fall's election, start campaigning now.

I'm looking forward to the summer grind. Will we see a 6th straight new Champion?

See you Sunday.

Summer 2023 - Week 1

First week is at Heritage Isles on June 4th starting at 9:48am. We have 5 groups, giving us a few open spots if anyone wants to bring a guest.

I'm still trying to get confirmation on our rate, but it should be about $45... and greens won't be punched.

See you then.

Summer Registration

Bunch of you people need to fill out your registration. We start in two weeks. As of now a lot of Members are counted as "OUT".

Summer 2023 Admin Stuff

• Summer registration is now open. Fill out your forms ASAP... as I'm going to start booking things soon.
  

• The Board is meeting on Tuesday, May 30th. We're not voting on rule changes... but if you have anything you want us to discuss put it in the comments. Anywhere you want to play... anyone you want to kick out... any Hangover party ideas (requires you to actually attend)... whatever.

• This is the last session for our current Board. Elections will be held after next season. Start campaigning now if you want to be on the ballot.
   

Spring 2023 Stats

From the desk of Faz... here are your Spring 2023 stats.

Two things that stuck out: 1) how much worse we are as a group on the back nine 2) Melberg was our 5th new Champion in a row. Not sure I previously recognized that.

Possible Schedule Change

It has been requested to start the season one slot early, on May 21st. This would cause our original FBGC Masters week (September 10th - and the start of football) to be a Make-Up week.

Please comment if you are NOT in favor of the change. The original schedule, as previously posted, is below:

FBGC Masters - Spring 2023 Recap

On Sunday we had 10 players still mathematically eligible to win The Cup – the most in any league finale. The temps were cool, the wind was up, and the course was in decent shape (borderline good for $62). Falcon’s Fire isn’t super difficult, so high-handicappers could take advantage if they were able to overcome the slow-ish greens and slightly damp surrounds. 

But halfway through the front nine it an anticlimactic finish felt inevitable. All the players at the top couldn’t win the season (Crum, Dan, Brendan, Moostie, Casey, etc). Reid struggled early with doubles on the first two holes, but it didn’t seem like he needed to do anything to finally put his name on our twisted chunk of metal.

Side-note… engraving names on the Cup is a thing of the past. We need the Trophy Committee to come up with a future plan, possibly a new trophy. 

Anyway, from Group F’s perspective, Faz had a chance to grind his way up the leader board and make it interesting – mainly because he was absolutely nuking the ball off the tee. A terrible double on 5 (laid back off the tee… for shame!) felt like an ejection, but it was only temporary. Through 11 holes Faz and Chandler (hey, that’s me!) had somewhat positioned themselves for a sneaky (and creepy) top 3 finish to steal another title. Faz blew up on 13 and 14 to remove himself from the conversation… while Chandler jumped on board the Bogey Train (6 in the final 7 holes).

So we were left with Reid, who on the 11^th tee box was in position to score enough meaningful points to secure his championship dreams. Unfortunately his putter remained ice cold, and he failed to record a par (or better) in the final 8 holes. Reid no longer controlled his own destiny, but it might not even matter. Melberg was the only relevant golfer near the top, and he needed a T1 finish – attempting to chase down Brendan who was in the process of posting a -4 (net).

We didn’t see Melberg’s bogey at 14, but the double at 15 was terrible. I began to accept that Reid failing to score meaningful points since week 3 and still winning the championship was the most FBGC outcome possible. And honestly, if Reid started the season cold but finished with a 3^rd, 1^st, 1^st… we’d be praising him for his outstanding resolve and perseverance.

Alas, timing is everything, and there is a huge difference in having something and losing it, versus not having something and taking it. 

Despite an apparent season-ending double bogey, Melberg went and took it. He chipped in for birdie on 16. Made a sandie par on 17. And sank a 5-foot comeback putt for par on 18 in front of most our Members.

Congrats to the Iceberg… it was an impressive display of refusing to give up.

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Other things of note:

Billy and Geoff recorded an eagle on the same hole in the same group. It was Billy’s 2^nd in Club history and Geoff’s 1^st(according to our records).

For the price I think the course was worth returning to down the road. It was brutally slow (4:30 pace) which was shocking since we had a 9am scheduled start. 

Gorecki’s group scored a total of 38.5 points… below the average since his diagnosis in week 5. Gorecki was incredulous on Sunday, pretending he didn’t understand what my previous analysis was about… and believing there is zero correlation to bad scores and his presence. But the fact is Melberg scored 62.5 total points in three rounds with Gorecki… and immediately won the first event after falling out of his group.

Melberg and Gorecki both set course records, 75 and 108 respectively.

Gary is up to 54 straight starts without a victory.

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We’re off for the next 5 weeks or so. Next season begins June 4^th. Schedule is on this blog (November 30^th 2022 post) but I’ll get everything rolled over in a couple of weeks. Great season everyone.

FBGC Master’s Preview

One of the things I love most about golf is the completely absurd amount of pressure that we put on ourselves playing a game that we all suck at.  From a big picture perspective, the fact that any of us ever feel nervous over a three foot putt is pretty ridiculous.  Nobody outside of the League gives two shits about whether you shoot a 78, 88, or 98.  In fact, most of the people in the League also don’t give a damn about what you shot, how you played, whether you missed a putt for birdie, par, bogey, etc.  A bad shot or a missed putt has no significant impact on the world at large.  The fact that we care at all is laughable and the fact that we care so much is probably more than a little insane. 

However, it is also true that we are all the center of our own universe.  Out on a golf course, this is magnified.  Hopefully, you have your phone ringer turned off, you aren’t checking emails or texts, and you are enjoying a few hours outside in the sunshine, getting some exercise and hanging out with three other people that enjoy doing the same thing.  While forgetting about the outside world for a few hours is great, it becomes more difficult to keep a healthy perspective regarding your golf game.  A missed putt, a bladed chip, or a snap hook can somehow ruin an otherwise perfect day.

This is a very long winded way of saying that those players in the running to win the FBGC Spring 2023 Season really shouldn’t feel any pressure to play well on Sunday, but they will.  Since that is inevitable, let’s rank who is probably feeling the most pressure going into the final tournament.

1.        Reid.  This one is obvious.  He has played in the League since the very first season and has never won a Cup.  He has a ton of wins and multiple runner up seasons, but somehow has never finished on top of the standings despite all of those wins and a great attendance record.  These facts are also true for Gary.  However, unlike Gary, Reid went 3^rd, 1^st, 1^st to start this Season and looked to have the Season locked up before Valentine’s Day.  The struggles since then have already been well documented by our Dear Leader.  What would make not winning this Season even worse for Reid is the fact that nobody stepped up to steal the Cup from him.  When Tall Mike snatched the Cup away from Gorecki back in 2020, TM had 3 total wins on the Season, had to win that final event, and actually won the event.  In theory, Faz could win the Cup this spring with a solo 5^th place finish if Reid fails to put up significant points in this event.  That would mean that Faz won the Cup with 1 win and 1 second place finish.  Chandler could do something similar with a third place finish.  The possibility of giving the Season away, rather than having someone step up and take it, just adds to the pressure to play well.

2.   Chandler.  You can count on one hand the number of people on the planet that care about the number of FBGC Cups someone has won.  Chandler is one of those people.  He is well aware of the fact that if he is going to get Cup #5, it will have to be in a season like this one where all of the wins are spread out between many players.  He has already maxed out his talent and brain power and isn’t going to have one of those seasons where he drops his handicap by 2 to 3 points, winning 3 or 4 times while doing so.  This would make him the first and only player with 5 Cups.

3.    Gorecki and Gary.  Both of these guys have played a lot of seasons and have never won a championship.  Both are flying a little under the radar since Reid has been on top of the leaderboard almost all season getting most of the attention.  A win would give Gorecki a great shot of winning.  Gary would still need a lot of help, which takes some pressure off.  Gary also has that winless streak though.  If he doesn’t win Sunday, then we are going into the Summer 2023 Season with the possibility that he could break a record we all thought would never be broken.

 

5.           Chris Melberg / Mike Hauch.  Melberg hasn’t played enough seasons to start worrying about the fact that he hasn’t won a cup.  The only reason why he should feel any pressure at all is similar to why Chandler is feeling the pressure.  As a low handicapper, there will be seasons where you have no chance so you want to take advantage of seasons like this one.  Hauch has played in the League for longer.  However, he  could win the tournament and still finish behind Reid, Faz, and Chandler in the season standings if they all had decent finishes.

 

7.           Faz.  If Faz wins the season, this would be his 4^th Cup.  It would be his 3^rd Modern Era Cup, which would surpass Chandler’s Modern Era Cup total.  It would be a great turnaround from the last few years when he got damn close to matching JW’s winless streak.  I would have him ranked higher, but I think he’s just happy to be playing better golf.  I think he has a good mindset and his game is in a good place going into the weekend.  This is my pick to win this season’s championship.

 

 8.          Troy / Geoff.  These guys have already won a Cup.  Winning another one would be great, but I feel like both are just playing with house money going into this event.

 Not mentioned: JW.  Dub may or may not play.  If he does play, I would probably put him below Gary and Gorecki, but above Melberg and Hauch.

FF Scorecard

Here's a link to the scorecard from Falcon's Fire's website. It seems to match the scorecard I have from 2019. Let me know if you want to move back from the WHITE tees.

Cancer Recurrence

Buchert did a great job on the recap today, but we need to talk about a disturbing trend.

Reid started the season hotter than Topor's forehead at a noon tee time in mid-July. You can literally fry an egg on that thing! In the first three weeks Reid finished 3rd, 1st, 1st!

 

But ever since The Concussion (week 4), his results on the leader board have been abysmal: 19th, 13th, 10th, 11th, 14th. What the hell happened?

Is The Groves really his kryptonite? Did "The Press" jinx him by pointing out his hot start back in February? Did you people (and me people) break Rule 14 by prematurely labeling him "Champ?"

Removing the tin-foil hat and doing some actual journalistic research... it's his putter. He mentioned this to me in the parking lot of Cypress Creek, but the stats back it up:

Reid's GIRs and Putts through Week 8

Those green in regulation numbers are outstanding for any of us! But total putts above 34 are a big issue. Last week was decent so maybe he's trending in the right direction (three blow-up holes ruined his day).

Okay... so we can pin-point one of his struggles. But that still doesn't tell us what happened?!

 

Placing my tin-foil hat back on... what had happened was...

 

Gorecki Golf Cancer Recurrence

We began pairing in order of standings at Match Play (week 5), where Reid had to ride with Gorecki. They've been in the same group ever since. 

 

Reports from the field are Gorecki's situational awareness is at an all-time low. I personally witnessed some of this at Lake Jovita. His play isn't much better, and he might be grinding too hard because he's in contention for the title.

Sure, it may be reductive to blame one man's poor play on another man's poor play. But I just physically dug through the trash for old scorecards to check the historical record... before realizing I could use the history feature of Google Sheets.

 

Anyway:

*beating - I’m not fixing it

People who have played with Gorecki (including him playing with himself) average 22.7 points per event since week 5. If you remove Danny — who is completely oblivious to most dangers around him, especially Gorecki Golf Cancer — the average player earns 10.9 points per event! Even if you foolishly point out that Reid's struggles began week 4, I'll remind you that The Concussion was named after this incident:

We have a contamination leak. The disease is metastasizing throughout our Club. Here's hoping someone in Group F finds a cure before Sunday.

Jamaican Open - Spring 2023 Recap

 

It was an interesting day yesterday in many different ways.  To start the round, the weather was perfect for scoring.  It was warm, but there wasn’t too much wind.  Then the wind picked up out of the northwest and it looked like we were going to get hit with a thunderstorm.  We dodged the storm, but the wind decided to stick around.  It’s rare that a group gets an advantage based on when they tee off, but I think Group 1 got lucky.  Hole number 4 played like a true Par 5 into the strong wind.   Picking the right club on Number 7 became much more difficult and Hole 8 probably played 50 yards longer than normal.  The more holes you were able to get in before the wind picked up, the better. 

Reid got off to a fast start.  He was three under (net) after three holes and looked to be cruising towards taking home his own tournament’s trophy.  Things got a little shaky towards the end of the front 9 and then a 7 on the short Par 3 #10 derailed any hope of winning. 

Brendan managed to birdie #4 going into the wind from the back tees.  He even beat out Dan for the long drive while doing so and we started joking around about what the nickname “B.D.” really stands for.  He made two more pars on holes 5 and 6, and then hit the green on #7 and had a pretty good look at birdie.  A two putt par looked inevitable and I thought I was witnessing the first “good” pitcher round of the season.  The three putt that followed didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but it turned out to be the beginning of the end for BD.  His 39 on the front was followed up with a 53 on the back.  Still a Top 5 finish though.

What I have learned over the years is that a tournament at Grasslands really doesn’t start until Hole 13.  The scores on the front 9 are always very good.  Holes 10, 11, and 12 are all pretty short and straight forward.  The six hole closing stretch is a bitch even without strong winds.  Faz managed to play the final 6 holes even par and pulled away from the field.  Faz definitely deserved and earned the win with that finish.  The second best score on those final six holes was three over par. 

Chandler actually had the best round of the day (Gross), a 76, which is the new low scoring record at Grasslands.  Dan joined Faz and Chandler shooting in the 70’s with a 79 from the Gold/Blue combo tees.  He also had one of the more impressive Eagles that you will ever see on Hole 12 when he hit a 235 yard 3 iron about 30 feet past the hole and then drained the putt.  Buchert (hey, that’s me!) managed to avoid a goose egg for Season Points, finishing T-3 with Dan.

Just  some random observations that demonstrate the difference in difficulty between the Front 9 and Back 9 at Grasslands - Out of 20 players, nobody shot a 50 or worse on the Front 9.  We had 10 players shoot a 50 or worse on the Back 9.  We had 2 quadruple bogeys or worse on the Front 9.  There were 17 quads or worse on the Back 9.  Gorecki tied the course record for worst score with a 107 (48 on the Front 9; 59 on the Back 9).

Random note:  Danny recorded a par on Hole 12, so Gorecki’s streak lives on in infamy.

With Faz winning and Chandler coming in second place, things are set up for one of the most exciting finishes in recent FBGC history.  Reid, Faz and Chandler all control their own destiny.  If any of those three finish solo first, they win the Cup.  It doesn’t matter what anyone else does.  Gorecki, Melberg, Troy or Geoff would have a very good shot of winning the Cup with a solo first place finish.   Gary, JW, and Hauch would need to win and then get a decent amount of help.