The Open - Spring 2025 Recap

Rookie Marcus won his first ever event — and Major — with a solid -2 (net) at Glen Lakes. Ending the round with 3 pars was clutch, as I assume he knew he was in contention.

If he didn't know... then shame on his playing partners for not telling him every step of the way!

 

Super impressive by John to somehow put the wheels back on, finishing solo 3rd with a 50-41 (gross). The exact opposite happened to Reid, who was leading (by a lot) most of the day... carding 39-49 for solo 4th.

Anyway, it was a weird day out on the course. The weather was cooler and more overcast than expected... and somehow also pretty humid. The lack of wind made it extremely scoreable — if you could avoid the blow-ups that lurk around every corner.

As JW said... the course has some sneaky OB, but it never feels claustrophobic.

Today was one of the biggest standard deviation of hole-by-hole scores I've ever seen. We recorded 16 birdies.. but also 9 max scores. Only two players — Chandler and Casey — finished without a triple bogey (or worse). 

It's a good test of golf. Conditions were solid. It would be cool if GL was closer. It would be even cooler if we could go out before noon. But for $65 it's gotta be one of the best value options out there.

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We're playing early this upcoming Super Bowl Sunday. Tee time is 8:30am at the Groves.

It's our last week of randomized pairings, so I'll try to do that in front of witnesses again (we had 2 Member witnesses this week) to quell all the conspiracy theorists.

Whatever group you fall into, it should be a very quick day. You might even get home before your wife's boyfriend departs!

Spring 2025 - The Open Scorecard

Here's a scorecard from Glen Lakes. Let me know if you want to move back from the WHITE tees.

Also, here's the primer post I did last time we played there. It has some tips on a few holes... especially about the hidden OB right on #17.

Keep updating those RSVPs if your status has changed.

Long drive on #9

Playing the Wrong Ball

The USGA rule for playing a wrong ball is a 2-stroke penalty, and you must go back and "correct the mistake." 

If you don't correct the mistake before playing another hole or turning in your scorecard (if it happens on the final hole), then you are disqualified. (It's just loss of hole in Match Play)

A Complicated Example:

• Geoff tees off on a par 4, and hits his Nitro Crossfire #1 ball near OB.
• Geoff hits a provisional down the middle of the fairway.
• He looks for his ball, and within 3 minutes finds an identical ball to his in-bounds, somewhat in a bush but playable.
• Geoff punches that ball into the fairway, laying 2. He picks up his provisional ball.
• He then goes to what he thinks is his ball in the fairway to play his approach, but now notices that the ball - despite being a Nitro Crossfire #1 - it has a stamp on it that says "Lanky Louie."
• Geoff realizes that he is not "Lanky Louie," and that he played the wrong ball.
• Geoff has to go back to where he thinks he lost his ball, which is now deemed OB. He would then be required to play stroke-and-distance... he technically already did this with the provisional... but unfortunately he picked up the provisional!

I'm sure we would tell him to re-drop the provisional about where he picked it up. He'd be laying 5, hitting 6:  1- OB, 2- on the tee, 3- provisional to fairway, 4&5 - two stroke penalty for playing the wrong ball.

In the real world, he'd probably get another 2 strokes for picking up the provisional after he played the wrong ball, even though he was unaware of his mistake!

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All this to say Tall Mike was given a 2-stroke penalty yesterday for playing the wrong ball that was in the same area as his ball. The group was fine with it... they just didn't know how many strokes to give him.

Some of us have been yelling about this for years... but you people should be marking your balls with sharpies. Take one from your personal Sharpie Sniffing Stash, and put it in your bag. They even sell cool stamps and stencils like this one.

Get creative, and never hit the wrong ball again!

Our "New" Lost Ball Rule Explained

I think most of our confusion centers around a "Provisional" ball being allowed, and how it relates to your allotted 3-minute hunt (or 5+ minutes for some of you cheaters and slow players).

The FBGC rule I transcribed says:

8.4) You have 3 minutes to search for a lost ball. Once that limit is reached, you must drop a ball (with penalty) and continue play. Any ball found after the drop must be ignored.

 

I did NOT mention anything about a "provisional." I did say in the supplemental post announcing the new rule: "With a 4-1 vote, lost balls not near OB will be handled like the USGA intended (Faz voted against)."

 

One mistake I made was the following sentence: "Once that ball is dropped, that's your ball. It does not matter if you find your original ball - with the only exception of finding your original ball in the hole."

 

I believe this to contradict what the USGA intends, because it ignores the allowed use of provisionals.

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One issue is we don't consider "lost" balls to be stroke-and-distance penalties (the same as OB). So if you want to nit-pick and quote the USGA exactly, you've already lost the plot. Instead, we have to see how their rules blend with ours. I'll attempt to do so from their Provisional Ball section (18.3):

• If your ball might be lost or out of bounds, to save time you may play another ball provisionally under penalty. 
•  Before the stroke is made, you must announce that you are going to play a provisional ball. You must use the word “provisional” or otherwise clearly indicate that you are playing the ball provisionally under Rule 18.3. 
• You may continue to play the provisional ball without it losing its status as a provisional ball so long as it is played from a spot that is the same distance or farther from the hole than where your original ball is estimated to be.
• Your provisional ball becomes your ball in play - with penalty - in either of these two cases:
• When your original ball is deemed to be lost or out of bounds (after a 3 minute search).
  
• When your provisional ball is played from a spot nearer to the hole than where your original ball is estimated to be.  
• Your provisional ball must be abandoned if:
• Your original ball is found on the course outside a penalty area before the end of the three minute search time. 
• Your original ball is found in a penalty area or is known or virtually certain to be in a penalty area. You must either play your original ball as it lies or take penalty relief. 
  

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A couple of key points to make:

• You only get 3 minutes to hunt for a ball. To save time, you can announce a provisional before you hunt.
• Does that mean you can hunt for 1.5 minutes, hit a provisional, and then hunt for another 1.5 minutes?
• According to the USGA - no. 
• I don't know how we want to handle this. A member literally told me today he didn't know how long 3-minutes is without using a stopwatch.
  

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The USGA is even more strict on the matter. They do NOT let you hit a provisional ball if your ball is in a hazard. And it gets messy - like for this Korn Ferry guy who was DQd in 2023.

There's TONS of Reddit debates on the topic, and most of the arguments are around "virtually knowing" your ball is in a hazard.

They mention provisionals to save time, but they don't let you use them if you hit it near a penalty area. Only if a ball is lost away from a hazard, and even then you have 3 minutes to conduct a search after you hit the provisional.

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The Board took a stab at writing a rule that can be enforced.

"Common Sense" isn't a rule. "It's bullshit if I find my ball 50 yards ahead" isn't a rule.

Feel free to make a better attempt in the comments for future Boards to consider. In the meantime, keep in mind you CAN hit a provisional before you hunt. But once that 3 minutes is up... the provisional (with penalty) is in play.

Skins Game - Spring 2025 Recap

Troy is at it again, winning for the 3rd time in his last 7 events. His even-par (net) smoked the field, despite a 5-putt during the round.

Gary and Tall Mike continue to be a time-issue when paired together. We are monitoring the situation, but the President just announced sanctions and tariffs are on the table.

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Our first Major is next Sunday at Glen Lakes, at NOON. We played there back in Spring 2023.

12pm is the first time non-members are allowed to go out.

Give yourself plenty of time to get out there, and be ready to go early (as we did last time). Pairings will be randomized Thursday night.

Update your RSVP now if you're bailing. 

See you then.

Spring 2025 - Week 2 Preview

We have an 8:30 shotgun start at Lake Jovita South this Sunday. Get there early if you want to use the range, since we need to start heading to the tees around 8:20am.

Your starting hole is listed on the event page. Depending on if/when people bail... I might adjust the groups to better align the strokes given for each skins game. HOWEVER... if anyone bails last minute your group will just be a 3-some.

Here's a scorecard. Let me know if you want to move back from the WHITE tees.

 

 

I have Gary and Gorecki on the White/Green combos. Under our current rules Danny, Reid, and Troy can also move up if they want. But let me know ASAP.

See you Sunday.

SKINS Handicaps if you want to track during - lowest guy is zero... everyone else strokes off that.:

Ho -3

Melberg - 4

Chandler - 8

Faz - 9

Casey - 9

Brendan - 10

Adam - 10

Buchert - 10

Marcus - 11

Troy - 11

Gary - 12

Moostie - 12

Reid - 12

Geoff - 13

Crum - 15

Billy - 16

Topor - 21

Danny - 22

Gorecki - 22

New Golf Course

A new course is opening later this month that slipped past my radar.

It's called Calusa Country Club, and appears will be "public" (at least to start). Located directly east of Lakewood National.

 

It's another Lennar community, so I imagine it'll be a lot like Lakewood National and ChampionsGate Country Club. The website also implies there will ultimately be TWO courses.

The architect is Gordon Lewis, who created these local gems: Heritage Harbor, Lexington Oaks, Heritage Isles.

Anyway... we'll get down there as soon as we can.

Spring 2025 - Week 1 Recap

The new season was quite familiar, as we kicked it off at Hernando Oaks in 30 degree weather. Thankfully it warmed up rather quickly, and the wind wasn't blowing like in years past. Outside of the completely dead 7th green, conditions were what we've come to expect. Not great... not terrible... a good value for a decent layout.

Tall Mike got his 3rd victory in his last 9 events, thanks to an impressive 40 (gross) on the back nine. Shockingly this was his first ever win at The Classic. His handicap isn't as high as it was during his previous season titles, so we all still might have a chance. But Moostie is well on his way to a record 5th Championship.

Casey was battling down the stretch against Tall Mike, but 3 bogeys to end his round led to a two stroke defeat.

Marcus began his FBGC career with a max-9. He already fits right in with the group!

Basketball Golf Topor is back! Unfortunately he's back with four max-scores, two of which were 10s. It's going to be a long season for the big man as he re-learns how to golf.

And finally, somehow Billy's 115 wasn't even close to a course record — a 121 set by Danny in 2019.

Opening drives on a chilly day.

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We're off this weekend for MLK Day. We used to play this day but the guys with kids complained.

There will still be Club activity, however. I'll be sending a handful of you an invite to mandatory re-education this Sunday. We'll be playing dice games behind Margaritas on Davis Islands (where Dave took a Gasparilla nap). The goal is to re-familiarize you people with "randomization," and show how you have a 1-in-5 chance to be paired in any given group with any given Member.

In two weeks we'll have the Skins game at Lake Jovita. It's the day after Gasparilla, and an early morning shotgun start at 8:30am. Update your RSVP now so Ho can drop tee times if needed. As always, we'll be paired in order of course handicaps.

See you in two weeks!

Career Low Update

Also from Faz... below is everyone's career low to par (gross) rounds.

Summer 2024 - Final Stats

From the desk of Faz... here's some charts highlighting how bad you are at golf.

 

Anyone actually "highlighted" below didn't play enough rounds to matter, and should be booted from the Club per Adam.

Spring 2025 - Week 1 Preview

We're going back to Hernando Oaks to start our year, and once again the forecast is for sub-freezing temps.

Next Sunday the 12th. Starting time is 9:38am. Rate is $67-ish. Pairings have been randomized and posted.

There is one issue with hole #7, the par-3 along the main road. It was under water for awhile after one of the hurricanes, so the green is still dead.

On this hole only, we'll do a 2-putt max once you're on the green. Ya'll know what "on the green" means, so don't do anything sketchy. 

The other greens are decent.

 

Let me know if you want to move back from the WHITE tees. This should be mostly accurate:

 

 

See you up there on the 12th. Happy New Year.

New Membership Vote - 2024 Results

Alright... this ain't California, so we shouldn't still be counting votes weeks after the election.

We needed 14 (of 22) current Members to return votes, and we received 18.

Prospective new Members need 75% approval to pass. Marcus was approved 15-3 (83.3%).

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Everyone (including Marcus) go fill out your Spring season registration using the link on the right side of this blog.

Also check out the Club Dues link in the Deadbeat List to see if you owe anything for the next season. Look at the "Spring Owed" column. Send me those monies to register... or if you're quitting (Danny) then let me know so I can return any balance.

First round of the new season is just over a month away.

Until then... enjoy your holidays.

Winter 2024 Board Meeting

One of the most important skills a Board Member can have, is the ability to say "no" to everything proposed. With that in mind, we have one of the best Boards around! Here are the meeting notes:

- Topor was reinstated with a 5-0 vote. Welcome back, Big Fella. However, the Board would like to see an official notarized doctors note explaining your absence. There seemed to be a lot of Disney trips while you were "injured."

- Marcus passed the initial Board vote 5-0. He will now move on to a Club vote, where he needs 75% approval. Good luck to him, considering two Board Members said: "who's Marcus?"

- Twice (due to rainouts) we shuffled the schedule around and the final event was the Jamaican Open. The reasoning was the more expensive and "better" course should still be used for the FBGC Masters. The Board approved 5-0 that the final event should always be our last Major, regardless of course.

- The Board voted 4-1 to suspend the collection of Club money for the upcoming season (Reid voted to keep filling the coffers). We currently have a Club balance of $1,018... and beyond a few plates for the Moses, there are no expenses on the horizon. This means winners will receive more money next season, as only the Hole-in-One fee will be charged. Going forward we will decide before each season if we're going to collect rake.

- We spent almost a full hour debating how to handle found balls after the 3-minute hunt. This happened twice in the Rapture (once for each team), and both times the player was allowed to play the found ball, because it was way further up in an un-searched area.

 

Dozens of real-life scenarios were presented. Just recently, Geoff hit a ball into a tree... hunted for 3 minutes... dropped and hit from the base of the tree (with penalty)... and then we found his original ball up by the green in the middle of the fairway! All of our common sense reactions were: "of course he should play the original ball, because nobody thought to look 100+ yards ahead!"

Unfortunately, then we got into what happens in the same scenario if Geoff takes his drop (with penalty), duffs it a few times... and then finds his original ball in the rough by the tree? Does he get to un-do all those duffs? Isn't that the same as still hunting? Does it matter that the original ball was found in the general vicinity of the hunt... or are we only more lenient if it's found further up during normal advancement? We couldn't come up with a solid, easy to understand rule.

So with a 4-1 vote, lost balls not near OB will be handled like the USGA intended (Faz voted against). After your 3-minute search, you must drop and play a ball with penalty. Once that ball is dropped, that's your ball. It does not matter if you find your original ball - with the only exception of finding your original ball in the hole. 

We'll see how this more strict enforcement goes for two seasons, and then revisit next Winter meeting.

- Ho wanted a free "gallery drop" if you can't find your ball, and the group is certain it is not OB. This has been addressed multiple times, most recently in the 2023 Winter meeting. The Board denied it 0-5, with someone saying: "that's just cheating."

- Melberg wants the Rapture playoff to be a 3-hole aggregate instead of sudden death. The board approved 4-1 (Chandler voted no) to do so if the course allows. If it's still tied after 3 holes, then we'll go to sudden death. If the course doesn't allow any of this... then we'll probably just call it a tie. The one thing everyone agreed was any type of chip-off etc. was super lame and nothing we're interested in.

- JW was denied 1-4 to abolish the "Pitcher Rule"

- JW was denied 1-4 to get rid of stroke limits (aka: +5 max)

- Billy wanted to buy shared apps instead of pitchers. This was denied 0-5. The feeling was the Pitcher Rule is a specific punishment - not a reward - for everyone. Even if you don't/can't drink... the rest of us are punishing ourselves very slowly with every sip of beer. Please play better so we stop damaging our bodies.

- Brendan wanted to have a 2-man best ball event. This was denied 0-5. The logistics of needing an even number of players that is divisible by 4 doesn't make sense. That's what the off-season is for. Faz was quoted "The current league exists because we tried a year of 2-man teams and it failed miserably." John was quoted: "This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

- Gorecki wanted to award money to the winner of the Skins stroke-play. He literally asked for this in Winter of 2019, and again in Winter of 2021. Both times it failed 0-5. Well... it just failed 0-5 again. John was quoted: "This is now the dumbest thing I've ever heard." The Board looks forward to Gorecki asking a 4th time for this in the near future.

- Gorecki wants people to play forward tees based on their perceived driver distance. This was rejected 0-5. The feeling is we already go above and beyond to consider forced carries for the meek and feeble among us. 

 

Other leagues would laugh at how short our "base tees" are - an average of 6,096 in our history (ignoring Concussion set-ups). And 55/25 guys are playing around 5,800 (sometimes as short as 5,400)! We literally can't embrace the "tee-it-forward" initiative any more than we already do. Please let the Commish know if you ever feel tees are unfairly too long.

- Gorecki wants some additional penalties for WDs the day before an event. He also asked for this in the Winter 2022 meeting. This was rejected 0-5. There are already penalties in place for bailing the day of.

- Dan wants an official 3-club challenge event. It was rejected 0-5 with Faz saying: "are you kidding me?" Reid saying: "What is this, LIV golf?" and John saying: "Holy shit this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

- Dan wants to get rid of Club Credit and have cash payouts. Gorecki also asked for this in Winter 2021. This was rejected 0-5. Faz wants everyone to be reminded we used to do this and nobody would bring cash. Then in Summer 2022 (week 6) we had Dan pay the winners in cash, and he never did so again. The Board is questioning why Members are trying to make someone (who isn't them) do more work?

- Dan wants all 3-putts to incur a financial penalty. He also asked for this in Summer 2022. It was rejected 0-5.

- Dan wants closest to pin contests on all 18 holes. It was rejected 0-5. 

The Board would like to point out that you people do a shit job paying the few trash bets we track.

- Dan wants beers to be owed if anyone (mainly JW) WDs during the round. This was rejected 0-5. There's already a pitcher penalty for WDs.

- JW was then denied 1-4 to abolish all WD penalties.

That's it! Enjoy the rest of the off season and we'll start back up in early January.

Winter Board Meeting - 2024 Topics

Winter Board meeting is next Wednesday (11/20). This is the one time of year we consider any playing rule changes. Comment if you have anything you want the Board to discuss.

Topics on my list are:

• Reinstatement of Topor for 2025 - injured all of 2024 due to parkour activities
  
• Board vote on new membership — Marcus B, sponsored by Big John:
• Has fulfilled playing requirements
  
• Handicap Index would start at 12.8
• Needs 3 of 5 Board votes at the meeting, followed by 75% Member votes in a general election
  
• All voting is confidential - but totals will be published
• 75% Member approval is very difficult to achieve, by design. Here's hoping John has been a good Sponsor and explained all this to his guy.
  
• Change to end-of-season rain-outs policy and subsequent affect on our final Major
• Review of the coffer balance (Chandler Bucks)
  
• Review of 3-minute ball-hunt rule, along with finding a ball after another has been dropped into play

 

What am I missing?

Golf on Thanksgiving and Black Friday

 I've got two tee times on Thanksgiving day and Black Friday if anybody wants to golf those days:

Thursday Nov 28th:

7:20 AM and 7:30 AM North course

Ho

Adam

Friday Nov 29th:

7:10 AM and 7:20 AM North Course

Ho

Adam

Chandler

Geoff

If the same 8 play both days we could do a 2 day tournament kind of thing where you play the tips on Thursday and the Reds on Friday.