Stories from the Course

[stlcards08]

Let's hear some stories from the golf course, maybe its your favorite round, your best round, maybe its just plain funny or bizarre. I haven't been able to play in a looong time due to weather, so I want to hear some stories to get me through the last bit of winter.

[PA PLAYA]

There is absolutely nothing better (to me) than pulling out a win in a match after being hammered early on by my opponent. It's a great feeling, to overcome and do the impossible.

One of my friends I play with is a few years older than myself. But he's a pretty good golfer, and putts like a mad man to top it off. If he's playing his normal game, I do well to just halve him. One day in January, we took advantage of a nice stretch of weather and got out for a few days. The first day ended with the match being halved. Neither of us played particularly well, but well enough to match the other guy, one of those days.

The second day, he was on fire from the first hole on. We got to the turn, and he was at level par. Not bad for a 7 handicap, LOL... He was playing unbelieveably well. I'd hit the ball buy him 20 yards off the tee, and he'd stick a hybrid or mid-iron closer than I could stick a wedge for the first nine holes. Then he rubbed it in my face at the turn, telling me that he didn't even need the strokes. (I'm not particularly fond of trash talk, especially coming from a guy that I'm giving strokes...)

I birdied 10, 11, and 12 to pull within striking distance. He birdied 13, the par3 (another lazer hybrid approach), to push his lead back up to two. Then I roped a tee shot on the 14th, and pitched my approach shot to within a foot. He had a 20 footer for birdie, but lipped it. I expected a friendly concession, but heard nothing. I kicked in the birdie and that fired me up even more.

I found trouble off the tee on the par4 15th, and got up and down from a fairway bunker 40 yards from the green to save my par. My opponent was 10 feet away for another birdie, but got careless. He raced the putt by some two feet, and waited for me to tell him to pick it up. I said nothing. He pulled the putt so badly that it never scared the hole. So now we're all square. Only thing is that he strokes on the next hole, a par5. I knew that it would most likely take a birdie for me to halve the upcoming hole.

I hit the par5 16th in regulation, two-putted for par. He hit an awful approach into the greenside bunker, and couldn't convert the sand save. I dodged a major bullet. We go into the par3 17th, with the match still even. And he has to win these holes straight up, no more strokes.

The par3 17th isn't a tough hole on a calm day. But on a windy day, it can be absolutely brutal. Such was the case on this day, as we were hitting into a steady 20 mph wind. The yardage was 168, but it was playing more like 190. He watched me fiddle around in my bag for a moment, curious to know which club I was gonna pull. I pulled 4iron. Now I knew ahead of time that this was too much club for a full swing. Pin was back, and nothing good comes from going long. But I choked down two inches on the club and played the ball in the back of my stance, trying to hit my trademark knockdown. I hit it perfectly, and the ball ended up 20 feet away, right under the hole, with a very makeable birdie putt. But he didn't take the bait. He pulled his trusty hybrid, and pured it 10 feet left of the pin. It was a great shot. But since neither of us could make the birdie putts, we moved to the 18th hole all square.

The 18th is a great risk-reward hole. Players who can work the ball left-to-right can channel the ball into a speed slot in the fairway, easily getting 15-20 more yards of roll. But it's a narrow fairway, no more than 20 paces wide from 150 yards and in. Bunkers protecting the right side, bunkers and high mounds protecting the left. I hit the worst tee shot of the day. Absolutely killed it, but couldn't turn it over. My ball found the mounds on the left, and my approach shot would have the ball 8 inches above my feet. Even though I only had a wedge approach, the wind was swirling and I honestly had no clue as to what direction this ball would end up going. Naturally, the ball would normally hook or pull to the right with the ball above my feet (I'm a lefty). But the wind was also coming in from the right, so I had to factor in exactly how much that would impact the direction. Very difficult shot. My opponent found the fairway and had 140 yards to the green, with a perfect angle and a perfect lie.

He hit it miserably thin. But he also hit it perfectly thin. The ball hovered along the fairway, and ended up 15 feet from the cup. Not exactly how I figured he would get the ball there, but I thought he'd get it close anyway. Oh well.... I punched my wedge shot trying to keep it low and out of the wind. For some unexplainable reason, the ball didn't go right, defying all logic. Dead straight, and I caught a portion of the green, some 40 feet away. (And they say that a ball above the feet hooks?) He definitely had the advantage.

He just chuckled the entire time we were walking to the green. "You thought you had me, eh? Unfortunately for you, it's just my day." I just smiled and said nothing. A lot can happen with the pressure of the entire round coming down to one stroke of a putt. I took my time, and got a good read from behind the hole. I had to come up over a severe ridge, but I knew exactly what that putt did. I basically had that same putt the day before, just a bit closer. I went through my routine, putt a good stroke on it, and watched it.... okay, about right now the ball should be turning left. Turn left! Okay, straighten out, straighten out! Die! Hold your line baby and die! And IN it went!

My opponent wasn't smiling anymore. He looked to the ground and shook his head in utter disgust. As I plucked my ball out of the cup, I said, "I guess it's just my day." He got a bit testy and said, "well, you should've made it, it took you long enough!" I knew that the moment he said that, the match was over. He proved me right by making the biggest cardinal sin in putting in that situation, leaving the ball six inches from the cup. I won 1up.

A round of golf in 50 degree weather in Jan is a bonus. But days like that are why I play the game!

[Pistol]

Sweet match Pa Playa. Nothing like duking it out with a buddy....especially when you come out on top.

[Wazmankg]

One of my favorites happened during the first time I played with Leaguegolf. I'd been a member on the old board where he was a mod for a couple of months. We live about 25 miles from each other and he PM'd me asking if I'd like to get together for a round. I said I was playing a place geographically desireable for both of us with a couple of my friends and he was welcome to join us. He agreed which was cool as I was a bit nervous at the prospect because I'd gathered he was a player and with my friends along I had moral support if hacked it up... not to mention at least I'd be better than them.

It was Nov 2004...a cold(low 40's), breezy, drizzly... actually quite miserable day for golf. But we all showed up because there weren't going to be many more chances that season. As we approached the 5th tee a foursome of nice, elderly gentleman had just teed off and asked us if we wanted to play through. We were walking and in no real hurry, so we politely declined.

This was a 500-ish par 5 dogleg left. League hit a big drive clearing the large tree and trap at the corner. The rest of us all went to our balls and hit our 2nd. I walked with League to his ball. He was still over 230 from the green, a valley in front of us, all carry, it was cold & drizzling and there was a good breeze in our faces. By this time I knew he was long off the tee but we were still basically warming up and he hadn't appeared much longer than I off the deck. The kindly old gents were putting. He asked me what I thought. I told him there's no way in those conditions(mind you I'd seen him hit only a half-dozen full shots).

League chuckled and said something about OGs on the green being 90% air and proceeded to give it a rip. I immediately said "you're there". Yelling "FOUR" was futile. Into that wind my voice didn't carry 100 yards. His ball landed pin high amongst them, but missing all of them and rolled to the back of the green. "See I told ya, 90% air... That ought to get em movin'..." at least that's what I think he said. I was in shock.

One who was still able to communicate insisted that we play through on the next tee as the others cowered in their carts, popping nitro tablets and trying to revive one of their more shaken comrades. "Seriously, how much longer did he have anyway ?" was League's reaction as I recall. And with a hearty "Thanks guys" when played on.

I may have missed some of the details, but that's the gist of my first "special moment" on the links with Leagugolf.