Thumbs Up For Golf
This weekend was definately all about golf.
Our journey begins when I sneak away from work at 4:45 on Friday to the club to play 18 with Harry "Thumbs" and Matty "NoSkillz" (aka "The SweaterVest"). Starting to play a touch better, and shot an uninspiring 80 in brutal winds. No great shots to speak of.
Saturday was a round with Gary P for our golf team qualifying. I had a brutal front nine and finished 6 over with two doubles (42). The back opened well and I was even through 15 but went bogey, double, double to shoot 83. That set me on tilt pretty good and I drowned my sorrows watching Lost season 2 episodes and eating coconut fingers purchased on the way home. THAT's how people get fat ladies and gentlemen... depression... YIKES. Funny, golf never bothers me when I'm really struggling with the game. I just go out there knowing i'll shoot a crap score and cant do anything about it. However, when I feel like my game is there and just can't bring it together therefore get mad at the game/myself, that's where I know my golf game is improving.
Little nuggets of gold in this here blog huh?
Sunday I travelled with Matty to Bradford, Pennsylvania to play in a yearly 2-ball tournament at a fantastic little course there. We stopped for breakfast at the Mozie On In where I had eggs benedict (thankfully only one of them) and Matty downed the largest breakfast known to man. We took the very nice 2.5 hour drive to Bradford, the trip winding through Ellicottville, NY among other little towns.
Arriving with much time to kill, we headed to the bottom of the mountain to the ice cream shop which is part of the tradition of this golf tournament. Had a chocolate shake ($2.35 USD) which was quite tasty.
Pine Acres golf course is situated up a bit of a mountain as you might have guessed, lots of trees, terrain that climbs and falls, and greens that are very large and steeply sloped back to front in every situation. The whole trick to the golf course is to leave your ball short of the pin so you have an uphill putt.
Upon arriving at the club again, Joe B from our club asks me "So, have you hit any shanks this year? I've been hitting them something awful." I of course said no, since i've been shank-free. Starting at the 7th hole, with 7i in hand, I proceed to shank my first shot of the day well over the trees on the right into the next fairway. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH how's that for karma?
I actually got around the course relatively well until an unfortunate incident on hole #18. NoSkillz and I both hit the green in 2 on the par 5 with solid rescue club shots from 225 and 235 out respectively. For a green guarded as well as this up front, these were ballsy shots and indicative of our need to get something going after playing par-golf for so long. Unfortunately, landing near the hole with a hybrid to stick it is pretty difficult so our golf balls rolled up and to the back of the green with the pins at the front. Note the previous comment about how the greens slope back to front. I was first up and putted it 8 feet past the pin -- not too bad given these greens. NoSkillz then stuck it 3 feet away with a nice roll. We read my line, I hit my putt and it broke more than we thought... and without thinking i knocked it away. GODDAMNIT. That's a brain fart folks. Now the partner couldnt kill it at the hole which probably would have taken the break out of the putt. He, unfortunately missed then tilted and went on a club whacking swearing rampage. Crazy bugger even yelled at the other team playing in our group over a scoring issue (our mistake not theirs). TILLLLT.
We then proceeded to make bogeys both on a par 3, hit both our shots OB on a stupidly laid out par-5 (I made a 7, our lowest team score), and then Matty made a nice bunker save on our closing hole a par 5 to make a birdie. We shot 74 as a team, 76 for him and 78 for me. I hit my shots great, and was awful around the greens... he was the opposite. I'd say it proves that short game is more important than long game.
I'll probably do it again next year. The tournament is run like they're desperate for money ($70 to play a $30 green fee course with free hotdogs and hamburgers that suck and a single keg of beer and $14 each for a cart). Prizes looked OK but we've never got close to winning one yet. Basically, great course, great day, well worth playing but boo to the food/drinks. Oh, and we had an ice cream sundae on the way out, $2.45 for a large one... f'in great.
And that's it. I fell asleep at 11pm, woke up at 8:30 having to be at work at 9, and here I sit. Hope you all had a good weekend too.
Our journey begins when I sneak away from work at 4:45 on Friday to the club to play 18 with Harry "Thumbs" and Matty "NoSkillz" (aka "The SweaterVest"). Starting to play a touch better, and shot an uninspiring 80 in brutal winds. No great shots to speak of.
Saturday was a round with Gary P for our golf team qualifying. I had a brutal front nine and finished 6 over with two doubles (42). The back opened well and I was even through 15 but went bogey, double, double to shoot 83. That set me on tilt pretty good and I drowned my sorrows watching Lost season 2 episodes and eating coconut fingers purchased on the way home. THAT's how people get fat ladies and gentlemen... depression... YIKES. Funny, golf never bothers me when I'm really struggling with the game. I just go out there knowing i'll shoot a crap score and cant do anything about it. However, when I feel like my game is there and just can't bring it together therefore get mad at the game/myself, that's where I know my golf game is improving.
Little nuggets of gold in this here blog huh?
Sunday I travelled with Matty to Bradford, Pennsylvania to play in a yearly 2-ball tournament at a fantastic little course there. We stopped for breakfast at the Mozie On In where I had eggs benedict (thankfully only one of them) and Matty downed the largest breakfast known to man. We took the very nice 2.5 hour drive to Bradford, the trip winding through Ellicottville, NY among other little towns.
Arriving with much time to kill, we headed to the bottom of the mountain to the ice cream shop which is part of the tradition of this golf tournament. Had a chocolate shake ($2.35 USD) which was quite tasty.
Pine Acres golf course is situated up a bit of a mountain as you might have guessed, lots of trees, terrain that climbs and falls, and greens that are very large and steeply sloped back to front in every situation. The whole trick to the golf course is to leave your ball short of the pin so you have an uphill putt.
Upon arriving at the club again, Joe B from our club asks me "So, have you hit any shanks this year? I've been hitting them something awful." I of course said no, since i've been shank-free. Starting at the 7th hole, with 7i in hand, I proceed to shank my first shot of the day well over the trees on the right into the next fairway. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH how's that for karma?
I actually got around the course relatively well until an unfortunate incident on hole #18. NoSkillz and I both hit the green in 2 on the par 5 with solid rescue club shots from 225 and 235 out respectively. For a green guarded as well as this up front, these were ballsy shots and indicative of our need to get something going after playing par-golf for so long. Unfortunately, landing near the hole with a hybrid to stick it is pretty difficult so our golf balls rolled up and to the back of the green with the pins at the front. Note the previous comment about how the greens slope back to front. I was first up and putted it 8 feet past the pin -- not too bad given these greens. NoSkillz then stuck it 3 feet away with a nice roll. We read my line, I hit my putt and it broke more than we thought... and without thinking i knocked it away. GODDAMNIT. That's a brain fart folks. Now the partner couldnt kill it at the hole which probably would have taken the break out of the putt. He, unfortunately missed then tilted and went on a club whacking swearing rampage. Crazy bugger even yelled at the other team playing in our group over a scoring issue (our mistake not theirs). TILLLLT.
We then proceeded to make bogeys both on a par 3, hit both our shots OB on a stupidly laid out par-5 (I made a 7, our lowest team score), and then Matty made a nice bunker save on our closing hole a par 5 to make a birdie. We shot 74 as a team, 76 for him and 78 for me. I hit my shots great, and was awful around the greens... he was the opposite. I'd say it proves that short game is more important than long game.
I'll probably do it again next year. The tournament is run like they're desperate for money ($70 to play a $30 green fee course with free hotdogs and hamburgers that suck and a single keg of beer and $14 each for a cart). Prizes looked OK but we've never got close to winning one yet. Basically, great course, great day, well worth playing but boo to the food/drinks. Oh, and we had an ice cream sundae on the way out, $2.45 for a large one... f'in great.
And that's it. I fell asleep at 11pm, woke up at 8:30 having to be at work at 9, and here I sit. Hope you all had a good weekend too.
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