As I said in my previous post, I had a match against one of my best friends and a guy I play golf with several times per week. He is not a long hitter, but he is a short game surgeon. We had an intense match with some crucial holes
Here’s the rundown hole by hole:
1. Par 5: I go one up when he knocks his 2nd shot OB.
2. Par 4: He birdies to even up the match.
3. Par 5: I birdie to go 1 up.
4. Par 4: My tee shot goes directly behind the tree in the middle of the FW. I get 6 and go even.
5. Par 4: We tie this long par 4.
6. 230 yard par 3: I bogey and he pars. I’m one down.
7. Par 5: Tie with pars.
8. Par 3: Tie with pars.
9. Par 4: Tie with pars.
10. Par 4: I double bogey to go TWO down (starting to sweat).
11. Par 4: I birdie to go one down.
12. Par 4: Tie with pars.
13. Par 4: I par, he bogeys and the match is all square.
14. Par 5: Tie with birdies, he makes intense putt after I make my birdie putt
15. Par 3: Crucial hole. We both hit the green. I lag 30 foot putt for par, he 3 putts from 20 feet. I’m now one up.
16. Par 4: Crucial hole. My approach shot turns into a deep fried egg in the green side bunker. Pin is on the downslope and there’s no hope of getting this shot close. He’s on the green in reg. I do the best I can and blast the ball out to about 20 feet. He two putts for par. I then make an improbable par save. I’m still one up.
17. Par 4: He flares his drive into the weeds and has to hack out. He gets on the green in 3, I’m on the fringe in 2. I drain my birdie fringe putt to close out the match 2 & 1! With two double bogeys I still shot a 74.
Victory! Without a doubt match play is THE funnest and most intense form of golf.
One of the clubs I play in has a season long match play tournament to determine the club champion. I’ve made it a few rounds in, in the last few years. Each time I’ve lost to the eventual club champ. Last year I shot even par and lost 5 & 4. That dude dropped a 67 on me and apologized.
So my first match of the year is tomorrow. The opponent I drew is none other than my best golfing friend who I play with 2-4 times per week. So the mood for tomorrow’s normal “fun” golf outing will be slightly different. It will be game-face city and the intensity will be off the charts compared to our normal game. We both agree that having to play each other for the first match sucks because one of us will be done for the year.
As much as I’m my friend’s pal, that goes out the window tomorrow…
A fly on the wall…
Well well well. I received an email from someone at travelgolf.com a week or two ago asking if I would join their ranks as a contributor. They have quite a large staff of golf bloggers there and I’m trying to make my on deal here fly, so I graciously thanked them and passed on the offer.
Travelgolf has had some major pissing matches with Walters Golf (proprietor of many Vegas golf destinations). I don’t really know what the history is there, but you can read dozens of posts at travelgolf.com slamming Walters Golf. I get their point: Yes, there are many a rip-off golf courses in Vegas. But hey, it’s a tourist town. There are courses here in my town that I can play for $20 that would cost $300 in Vegas. I think there are some behind the scenes issues at work as well here, other than some of the overpriced dog tracks in Vegas.
I’ve just looked at travelgolf as a collection of golf bloggers, some of which like to mix it up a little. Some of travelgolf’s bloggers have waged wars against each other as well.
Now we have some blog bombs being lobbed between travelgolf, Jay and now Robert Thompson. Could we be on the way to a bloggonuclear war? THIS is entertainment!
Augusta National is going to be lengthened…..again. I guess the “One ball, that’s all” idea is not going to fly (pun intended). The new length of 7,445 yards will make it the 2nd longest course that has hosted a major to Whistling Straits (7,514). Back in 2001 Augusta measured only 6,985 yards.
I have a scorecard from the 2005 Masters. I guess that will be out of date now….and worth even more!
BBC Article
LA Times article, courtesy of BogeyMan
Fox Article
USA Today’s version
What do Bruce Fleisher, David Feherty, Billy Andrade, Scott McCarron, The Reluctant Jamboy and mediaguru (yours truly) have in common? We all wear Peak Vision Sports Sunglasses.
Peak Vision Sports makes many different sunglasses for golf, skiing, baseball and other sports. Peak Vision’s glasses not only look cool, they employ some interesting technology to help you with your game. Let’s check it out.
The technology
Standard sunglasses (like the kind you see on people’s hats and not their eyes) are manufactured with injection molded polycarbonate. These lenses do help cut out glare and protect your eyes from UV light, but also filter out much of the color needed to judge the contour of the terrain. Lenses manufactured this way can have poor optical clarity and distortion. The distortion also interferes with your ability to judge distances and read course contours.
Peak Vision’s glasses use a material called NXT (no, not the material used in NXT golf balls!) which provides the same clarity as optical glass. The material is also very light and scratch resistant.
The Peak Vision lenses have two noticeable “zones.” The gray upper zone is darker and eliminates glare from the sun while enhancing your distance perception. The amber lower zone is lighter and allows you to see the contours of the green better. It is basically like having a set of bifocals that are built for different lighting from top to bottom. The two zones blend or dither together. The combination of these two zones into one lens results in a more even optical response curve across the board. Other glasses typically only cover one of these two issues.
(more…)
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