bkuehn1952 wrote:

Actually, I have seen the same format in action at my father's member/guest. I agree with you that the "shoot out" format is pretty wild with 8+ teams all teeing off together. Sounds like you guys acquitted yourselves well, even if you did not win the whole thing. There is always next year!

I think we had a pretty good chance, but then again the winning team were getting strokes, hitting from the senior tees, and were good golfers, straight and steady... They deserved the win and would have been tough to beat. We would have needed 1 under on the last four to come close. O-well. I admit I was disappointed. But then again we weren't straight and steady so we better get practicing! Alternate shot is definitely high pressure. It was still one of the most interesting tournament configurations I have been in. It was fun and also quite competitive. There were some cool moments in the shoot out. There was a roving gallery of the other teams and such following the players around in carts.

"It's my only way to stay sane. If I'm out with a bunch of buddies after work, there is no way I can keep my head in the game long enough to score well. ."

It is the reason I like to gamble on the course.....nothing big...$1.00 or so a hole....keeps you focused.....[/quote]

88 in the streaming rain yesterday. Somehow, it looks like my game is improving in the rain, especially on courses I've never played before.

And now, friends, settle in for the story of my 4 over par 74.

So i had a great round going. Played with a lefty named Jay. He bailed at hole 12 because it was getting twilight and kinda darkish. Then the sun went down. Here's how it happened.

Played up to 15. Starting to get iffy as far as following the ball and depth perception. I had lasik but still have a little asthigmatism so low light gets kinda hairy for me. Time to make a call whether or not to skip 15 and 16 and play 17 and 18 to call it a day and list it as practice.

No, i couldn't, not now I'm even freaking par through 14 with bread and butter holes coming up. I knew i could make it if i ran... yes ran (yea i'm in that kinda shape) so i tee'd off on 15 saw general direction and before the ball hit the ground i had the bag on and was jogging down the fairway. I reached my ball and hit onto the green. Left my bag where it was (16 comes back adjacent) and took a couple clubs and my putter. Ran to the green. Half read, hit my 2 putts and ran to the tee at 16. Hit my tee shot and same deal, took off running down the hole, grabbed the bag on the way by. Found my ball pin high left, chipped on and putted.

Now here's where it gets hairy. 17 is a monster of a hole. Par 4, 468 from the blues, with a creek bed right in the landing zone. At this point, there is nearly zero light. Enough to get general direction but not to see a wedge land, let alone a driver. It's getting tough to judge depth for me as well, especially in the setup and swing. Nomatter. Best swing all day with the driver -- striped. Can't see it land, but it doesn't matter because i have a direction and already in full jog with the bag on my back. Carried the creek, and i'm 174 out when I get to the ball. took a 7 iron and smoke it- going a touch left. pick up and start running. I'm half way to the green (3/4 of the hole) when out of the corner of my eye i realize i don't have my penguin headcover. MY WIFE WILL KILL ME!!!. I put the bag down in the middle of the fairway and SPRINT the entire 17th hole. No headcover. Run 1/2 way through the 16th. still no cover. Shit. couldnt' remember the last time i saw it. Oh well, she'll get over it. I sprint back to my bag to try and salvage the round --- the headcover got caught UNDER the legs. Couldn't see it when i put the bag down. I pick up and head to the ball. On a small patch of grass in the bunker. Shit.

At this point, i had run over 1000 yards since my last shot, 1/3 of it with a bag on my back I was out of breath and picked up my head on the shot. Chunked into the bunker against the lip. Blast against the lip, freed it up. Blast onto the green and nearly made the putt for 6. Damn. Tee off on 18, no idea where the ball went - swing felt left, drawy. It's about pitch black and i'm lucky i can even see the ball at address. the only light is a touch on the horizon just to let me know where the tree tops are. The sprinklers come on, barely missing me (good thing i hit it left - someone's lookin out) I find the ball on the left. I get my yardage from GPS. Hit the ball in the direction of the green. Go up. on the green 35 feet. No depth perception. Too dark to read the green. Putted, fell short. Misread the 3 footer and missed it low. in for 5. Shot 4 over on the holes that i played after running a little over 1/2 mile -- in the dark -- for a 4 over total. Love this game - then i got frozen yogurt at my wife's work Awesome - natural vanilla and white chocolate macadamia w/ oreo bits and nilla wafers. Good celebration.

And THAT is my awesome story. bad news is i might have to work this weekend so it may be the last round i play this week

Nice round Xris. A lost head cover fake out and sprinkler scare back 2 back!

Duke of Hazards wrote:

Nice round Xris. A lost head cover fake out and sprinkler scare back 2 back!

Haha thats what happens when you finish at 15 minutes past 9 haha. I woulda welcomed the sprinklers, It was darn hot and I was still up after running all that way.

Nice story, Xris. That's a man who loves the game!

82 today at Trailridge, 41-41 with 27 putts. Need to lower score by 3 to shoot my age. Rained the last 4 holes which cooled things down nicely.We were getting tired of 108- 110 temps every day in Phoenix. One bad thing. Lightning hit one of the houses night before last and it burned to the ground. People were snowbirds and were in Michigan. Wouldn't want to be the one that broke the bad news to them .

Tragic 4th of July trip to Key West. The beverage cart girl was on vacation and was not on the course.

First time in a long time I played a round with my girlfriend. It's something we do maybe three times a year since I started playing. Today we played "Breezy Point" 18-hole par 3 golf course out on the beach at Fort Tilden in Brooklyn. Fun little course, 1570 yards. She shot a respectable 72, 18 over par for which she was pretty proud. She should be too--she is not a golfer, owns no clubs and played it using my Titleist blades. Aside from a few mishits she was launching them high and straight, even made a couple of on the fly GIR. (I didn't tell her they are supposed to be hard to hit clubs) I dont like to brag on here but dang...I did a great job teaching her. She always has fun playing and today we created a monster. At one point she strung together three straight pars and was punching my arm all fired up. I love par 3 golf, I think there ought to be so many more of these courses in the world, I can't say enough good things about it. I had fun too shooting a 3 over par 57 wearing douchebag flipflops, not too bad. I entered the score and it actually lowered my handicap. I'll take it!

Cool. Wish I could get my wife into golf. Her passion is knitting. Oh well. I actually played par 3 golf today, too. 9 hole, 1100 yarder in Norwalk, near where my office has moved to. Didn't post the score, but shot a decent 33 (par 27) with only 1 double. Played in 37 minutes, which is pretty awesome.

Played The Brookwoods today, a course that tends to eat my lunch. That tendency held up today, as I limped my way to a 107. Front nine wasn't too awful, as I had pars on both par 5s. The problem was everything that surrounded it. My drives were, with a couple of exceptions, very good today. My putting wasn't bad either. Everything in between ... bleah. I desperately need to get to the range to work on my fairway clubs.

We had a 45 minute lightning and rain delay between the 15th and 16th hole, and that didn't help my game any either.

The score today is, sadly, the best I've ever notched at this course. That will tell you how poorly I tend to play there.

birdieXris wrote:

And now, friends, settle in for the story of my 4 over par 74.

I love a good scramble to finish in darkness. It is such a rush when you are able to find your last tee ball in the fairway. I don't know if I've ever been out as late as 9:15 that is crazy. Late days is probably the best thing about summer. Night golf is cool, if it was possible I would play all night long.

Played overlook again while the wife was at work. Not a bad score of 73. I still can't help but feel like i left a lot of strokes on the course. Missed birdies of 5 feet on 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 17. Ugly day putting, but a great day for golf. Met 2 guys in their 60s who were great conversationalists> they had a money game going and the banter was fantastic. It had me laughing out loud hard.

Finally made it out to a mens club tournament Sunday.
It was an individual strokeplay event, so my brothers schedule didn't interfere, and my game has improved again lately so I had a little confidence going into it.

I hadn't played this course since Feb, but it is an easier course than my usual course, so I thought I might do well.

On the range, I was snap hooking everything... so I thought this could be fun.

I sliced the crap out of the first drive, but nailed my 3H from 230 to hit the par 5 green in 2, but awful 3 putt meant par to start.
At 18 cap, I'll take par, just hurts to miss a birdie to start.

Next hole, sliced into the wrong fairway again. Nice AW from 100 yards middle of the green, missed the birdie putt by 2 feet, another par... not bad.

Finally hit a drive nicely, 280 yards, lil wedge into the green, SKULLED it into the thick crap behind the green. Unlike my normal self, I pitch it perfect and leave myself a 2 footer for par, make it, now we're on a roll.

Sliced drive again, but left me a nice 3H on the par 5, hit it nice, looking good, wait a minute, ZOOM left, snap hook somehow, OB. I hit the next ball through the tree and managed to get onto the fairway, miss the green, but go up and down for a double, without the ob would have been par.

So doing well, 2 over through 4, a bogey here and there and then BOOM, on number 8, i shoot an 8. 4 to get on and 4 putt, lipity lip lip.
I shoot par on nine to shoot 45... rough end.
Pretty much in cruise now... hit one shot great, another crap.

Ended up 9 pars, 6 bogeys, 2 doubles (one was ob) and the QUAD. Shot 86 (41 back) and I felt like I hit a load of shocking shots.

It was net 68 and I took 3rd net.
The winner was 63 net, 16 capper shot 79 (pretty good round)
The next was 66 net.
I was happy with an 86, dont get me wrong, thrilled with 3rd net, but should have been my best score ever, just a wierd golf day, it wasn't just one piece of my game that was lacking, everything was good and bad, just kinda strange.

Nice to get paid, nice to play, and I know lower scores are round the corner

Sorry for the rant.