A little job for me

Check out http://www.rochestergolflinks.com/

As a guest of the site I have added my personal thoughts on a couple of courses on this site.

Recently, the webmaster has asked me to provide him with a review/preview of Wayne Hills CC for the official description on the site. He said that he has played there but not for many years. I get to provide insight to the course for billions of people to read (ok, well thousands any way). It should be fun. I will probably do it by the end of next week.

I had always been told that Wayne Hills was one of the best around and now that I have played it a few times, I have to agree. It is well worth the trip an hour to the east of Rochester.

The annual saddest day of the year

Well, its official, my clubs are no longer in the trunk of my car. I took them out this morning before I left for work. The fact that it was about 20 degrees outside and snowing may have had something to do with it.

I tried to hold out a bit longer, but it looks like that sad day, the day the clubs are bannished to the basement, is finally here. I guess it is for the best. My game seemed to have gone south the last 3 rounds anyway. There are times when I actually could use a break. Not very often but there are times...

is it time to give in?

Well, as I looked in my car's trunk yesterday and knew that it was going to snow today, I thought, "should I take my clubs out yet?". It does not look like I am going to get out to play any time too soon. Hell, its almost X-mas. Is this a sad thing or a good thing? The last three rounds (see "road trips and golf outings") were pretty much a waste of time and energy.

Can I get out one more time to redeem myself? Will the ball crack in half from the cold? How bad will it sting if I skull a shot and the vibrations race up my arms? Wool hat or golf hat? Is it time to store the clubs if you have to wear long undies to stay warm on the course? If a water hazard is frozen and it is solid enough to support my weight, can I ground my club if I choose to hit it off of the ice? And what about Naomi?

I probably ought to take the clubs out and put them in the house. The cold probably is not very good for them.

......The clubs are still in the trunk at 4PM on 12/6/04.

Holiday roadtrips and golf-a-thons

I don't know about you, but we took a long roadtrip from western NY to Rock Hill, SC for the Thanksgiving holiday. My wife and I left Tuesday afternoon and drove down to see her brother. And oh yes, we played golf---sort of.....

Let me clarify a few things first and foremost: The first round on Thursday was played on a course that was underwater from the day long drenching it got on Wednesday, the second round on Friday was delayed about 45 minutes due to frost (it was 38 degrees in SC!!!). Although, once the frost delay was over it turned out to be a bright sunny 55 degrees. Finally, third round was delayed one hour and ten minutes by frost once again, it was a mere 34 degrees when we teed off and never got above 45 or so.

Ok here goes........

Round one at Waterford Golf Club (Inverness tees, 6513 yards) featured 4 penalty strokes and three 3-putts!!!!!!!! Ouch. I rarely have penalty strokes and I lost 4 balls in various places due to poor shots, club selection and a lack of local knowledge. All and all, after all of that mess, I shot 84. Not bad. I did birdie one par three (a 2 always makes a score card look better) This was a very good course. Too bad it was very wet due to quite a bit of rain the day before, and unfortunately I posted poor numbers.

Round two was the pits. Tega Cay Golf Course (Carolina Pines and Grande View nines, blue tees, 6500+ yards). Again, I loved the course but my game that day did not. My wife will not tell me what I shot. It had to be close to 90 or even worse. I don't want to know. This course was a good one. Excellent lay-out and fast greens. The one and only highlight was the 3 iron on the number 3 handicap hole from 195 that hit the pin and stopped about 6 feet from the pin. (of course, that was one highlight that could have been even better if I had nailed the birdie, but alas I did not). The second shot on that par four hole was all carry over a deep valley and a very shallow green. It was one of very few highlights on a very bad round of golf.

The last round (Highland Creek, blue tees, 6520 yards) started out bad and did not get much better. I had a bad case of the "lefts" with just about every second shot I had. I was coming over the top of everything and trapping it and that swing always produces a yank. I swung so poorly with a 3 wood on one hole that I hurt both of my wrists as my club gouged out a rather hefty divot. This is another fine golf course and I would play it again in a minute, hopefully with better results. This too is a round that I really don't want to know what I shot. It had to be close to 90 again. The 18th hole was a par five with a huge lake all the way from tee to green and the entire fairway sloped rather severely towards the water. I bit off a bit more than I should have and dumped my tee shot in the water (why not). At this point I just dropped in the fairway and went for the green from about 210 over the rest of the lake and of course dumped that one in the drink as well. I pretty much did not care at that point, however and picked up.

On the bright side of all of this I have to say that I pretty much put on a clinic with my driver. There are 42 fairways to hit in 54 holes of golf, excluding par 3's. I don't think that I missed more than 10 or so. I have developed a routine with my driver that gives me great confidence on the tee. I have to apply that same deliberate approach to my second and third shots and for some reason I don't. I will for next season however. I am hitting the driver too will to shoot as poorly as I did last week.

Well, I know that I probably bore you all with my blow by blow discriptions of my rounds, both good and bad. But here I can rant and rave, toot my own horn and get it off my chest without any rolling eyes (that I can see) to make me feel like a braggert. I should have been a TV golf analyst I think. I like to talk about shots that I have made and some that other people have made.

Fall golf = bonus golf

I killed myself in my yard on Saturday 11/13, raking leaves and cutting the grass one last time, knowing full well that Sunday was going to be a beautiful day, sunny and 48 degrees for the high. Not bad for mid-November. Remember, I live in Western NY and winter is just down the street. So this is our silly-season, bonus golf as I like to call it.

I met my buddy, Ron (he is a fall golf junkie like me) at 10 AM, but we had a frost delay, go figure. We did get on the tee at about 10:30....it was still only about 38 degrees. With winter gloves and woolen hats we headed out. I managed a solid triple bogey on the par five first hole, it came complete with two tree shots and a three putt. I fell behind to Ron by three when he parred the hole. I managed to three putt the next hole for bogey, and it was on baby!

I just could not get anything going. I did manage to par two holes and after three great shots on the eighth, a tough par five, I blasted my 15 foot birdie put about 10 feet past and three putted for a really bad bogey. After yet another bogey on the ninth, I carded a poorly crafted 45 to Ron's 46....up by one at the turn.

I realized that I had been gripping the club way too tightly and made a conscious effort to lighten up on the grip. It worked. I just missed my par putt on the par five 10th and grumbled a bit, but it was not the putt, but the yanked 7 iron that hit another tree that led to the bogey. Then things got interesting.........

I nearly aced the 11th from about 140 yards and made a four footer for bird. I actually thought that the tee shot was going in, it did not miss by more than a foot or so as it rolled by the hole. I then parred the next four in a row and bogied the 16th go to one over on the back. Our seventeenth hole was a par 3 playing uphill to a three tiered green. The pin was in the back right and it was playing about 210 to the pin as best as we could tell. Ron hits a five wood with a big hook and it landed on the edge of the green and stopped about 15 feet from the hole, GREAT SHOT on that hole. I hit a 3 wood to the middle of the green, about 60 feet away. No problem, up and over a ridge and if it goes too far by it is off the back of the green. Hit it and hope.............

My birdie putt rolled in the heart of the hole and I could not believe it. Ron just shook his head. His fifteen footer just got a lot longer. He calmly rolled his in to cancel out my birdie. We looked at each other and thought that it is a rare feat the both players in a group birdie that tough, tough hole. I was back to even par on the back and parred the 18th to shoot 36 on the back.

After a pretty poor front nine, I hit the ball very well on the back and ended up with a respectable 81 in the cold sun. By the way, I kept my winning streak alive against Ron.

In all honesty....

Yesterday as I played golf with my buddy (and former boss) Ron, we were tied neck and neck at the turn with a pair of 43's. He was psyched that he tied me on the front nine because I have had his number for a couple of years now. Then came the back nine.

I pulled ahead by three after parring the first three holes on the back nine. Then came #13. I hit my drive down the right side of the fairway and from experience know the it was either under, behind, or right in front of one of several pine trees. Ron hit his drive in perfect position right in the middle of the fairway.

Of course, my drive ended up on the green side of the last pine tree in question and I had a limited (no) backswing. I did not panic, however, and while waiting for the green to clear I weighed my options.....chip out with a 7 iron (smart play) , try to hit a screaming chop shot with a 4 iron (less smart play) or try to actually reach the green from just about 100 yards by running a 5 wood along the ground (really risky play). Well. after several practice swings with all three clubs, I chose the dumbest one. "Let's try flatten our swing with a 5 wood and run one onto the green from under a tree, off a down hill lie, off dirt. Yeah, that ought to work", I said to myself.

It didn't.

In fact, I actually whiffed. Not once, oh no, I had to try that high percentage shot twice. So, not only did I whiff the first time, I actually ran the count to 0-2 and I had to call time out. I ended up switching to the 4 iron and chopping it out. I managed to card a smooth 7 on the very short par four. Damn.

There went my lead as my buddy made par. Back to all even.

Here is where the honesty part kicks in.....Ron did not know that I had whiffed, he thought that I was just making a practice swing. I informed him on the green that I had in fact whiffed twice and had seven not five as he thought I had. Now I could have kept those two special swings all to myself and carded a bogey. But my honesty and the integrity of this great game shone through and I posted a solid triple bogey on my card.

I went on to par the rest of the holes for a pretty good 39 with a two-whiff triple bogey and kept my winning streak over Ron in tact. More importantly, I kept my integrity in tact as well.

A cool golf story

Several years ago we were playing the second round of the first and only Crosby, Crosby, Crosby, Crosby Open up in the middle of nowhere in NH. We were cruising along, waiting for no one in front of us and not being rushed by anyone behind us. When suddenly a foursome came flying up behind us and caught us on what I remember was the 16th hole. Would you believe one of the group was none other than Gene Sarazen!!!

We later found out that he had a home up there at the time and was doing some consulting work at this particular golf course. We decided that since they came out of nowhere, that we should probably let them play through. And we did just that. All four of their group knocked it on the green on the par 3. We walked to the green with them as we had already hit our tee-shots.

Gene Sarazen calmly rolled in about a 30 footer for his birdie and my father canned his from about 15 ft and proudly proclaimed that he and Gene always birdie that hole when they play together!!!!!

I will always remember that moment on the golf course.

Another funny (to me) story about that round was that one of my brothers found out on the first tee that the epoxy on every one of his clubs had come undone and the heads were spinning freely on the shaft. He was understandably very angry. He had to use rental clubs and never calmed down after finding his clubs were unusable and played very poorly that day. I will have to remember that tactic for the next Open.

Oh, by the way: I won the Open with back to back 80's. (Why do I remember that?)

Memories of my Dad

Have you ever wondered what your life would have turned out to be if you were born of different parents? Or if they themselves had chosen different career paths?

Who knows if I would ever have gotten into the great game of golf if it were not for my father. As far back as I can remember, he played golf. When I was a little kid he coached the high school golf team. When I was in high school I was on the team as were all six of my brothers as they came of age. He taught adult education classes at night in the winter. Golf was the topic, what else? He was an English teacher by trade as well as the audio video director at school. He was a tremendously gifted carpenter. If you could see the kitchen he designed and built in the house that I grew up in you would know what I mean. I have got very little of the carpenter gene programmed in me. Good or bad? I don't know.

But golf was the true, deep passion in this man. To a fault. It was what he ate, drank, slept and talked about. Somehow he always managed to turn a conversation in the direction of the game that he loved (I have that same strange, probably annoying, ability). He remembers most, if not all, of the shots that he hit in his hundreds of rounds during his life (again, I have that same strange, probably annoying, ability). That shot off of hard pan on the local course with the sandy greens back in 1952....the curling putt that was up over a hill and down through a swail to a cup located in the far rear corner of the green while on leave in Germany.....the tee-shot he snap hooked into a pond back in '67. I hope the most important shot he remembers is when he finally got HIS hole-in-one.

What else did he pass on to me? My deep passion for the game is identical to his. To a fault. I am way too much of a perfectionist on the course. Yes, I realize that I will never be on the Tour. But, I still want to play as well, if not better, than the last round that I played. I get way too bothered with myself for miss hitting a shot. I make the same comments he did to anyone within earshot after almost every shot I take. I even make those stupid comments when I am playing alone. They still apply, even though no one is there to hear them.

Neither one of my kids have gotten the bug for this game, although my 14 year old seems to be interested in learning the game. She has a very nice swing, but forgets that you actually have to hit the ball to make it move.

I wonder if I ever would have picked up this great game if I had been born to a different set of parents or if my mother had married a man that did not have this passion? Who knows. I do know this: I love this game and I loved my father, he passed away 4/10/03 just days after his 78 birthday.

The week of the funeral, my family all gathered together in Phoenix and had a round of golf in his memory. There were 11 of us all together. There were some sweaty palms and tear filled eyes as each of us teed it up on the first tee. Later in the round we all teed up a second ball, turned 90 degrees to the left and fired it directly into a huge pond, one by one, in salute to our dad. With tear-filled eyes each we hit a driver as far and as well as we could and hoped that he was watching over us as we did it. I don't think that I would have much liked being born to a father that was as dedicated to the game of chess.....................

Fall Golf

Well, yesterday we ventured out to play a little fall golf. After suffering through 12 straight days of gloomy, rainy, 45' weather, we finally had a sunny day. So off we went. My wife and my buddies Ron and Pat. We played Victor Hills' North course which the best course to play at the club in the fall. It is shorter and plays out of the wind on more than half of the course.

I played very well for the first 8 holes on the front then snap hooked my tee shot on the 9th behind a group of trees. I had a shot to play very safe over into the 18th fairway but attempted to carry a couple of trees and get it back into my own fairway. Well, that was all well and good until I hit the tree and the ball came bounding back to within about 10 ft of where I originally hit it. Then it was time to play safe and chip out to the 18th fairway. It did not quite get into the fairway but I had a shot from about 220, over another hill and some trees to the green. I hit it pretty well, but hit it well right of the green by about 60 yards. I then chipped up and two putted for a 7.

Damn, 41 on the front. But I played well and got one bad break...... onward.........

The back was a different story. I nearly aced the 11th hole, but missed my 5 foot birdie (smooth). I was cruising along at one over on the back though 14 and then nearly canned a 5 wood from about 210 on a par five. I had about 10 feet for eagle, but missed and made a tap in birdie. I just missed a 10 footer for birdie on the par 3 16th and dropped a 10 footer for par on 17. That left me with a par five finishing hole, which is very much a birdie or even an eagle hole. I left my second shot about 10 ft short of the green and chipped to 2 feet and finished with a birdie, for a solid one under 35 on the back.

I am pretty happy with my score of 76 yesterday. The ball does not carry anywhere in the cool weather (55') and it was damp so there was very little roll. I hit 10 of 14 fairways and played the par fives even par with a double on #9. I did three putt one hole and got robbed on a 4 footer for par when the ball hit an old aeration hole, took a sharp left and missed the hole by a good 6 inches. That miss did not make me very happy, but what are you gonna do.

Will we get in any more rounds? We will have to wait and see..................

Famous quotes, well, some of the things I often mutter on the course.

Over the course of any given round, I may utter some phrases that drive my wife nuts. I will list them with their true meanings and the reasons my wife can't stand it when I say it.

1) "Heads up"
Actual meaning: pay attention to this shot, you might be in the line of flight if I miss hit it.
Her interpretation: Hey, watch me, for I am about to hit a great shot.

2) "This could go anywhere"
Actual meaning: Just exactly that, the shot could go just about anywhere since the ball is sitting on hard pan, there is an embedded rock right in front of the ball, I am behind a tree, the ball has mud on it and I have to carry the pond in front of me.
Her interpretation: Yeah right, you will probably make a miracle shot. Just hit it.

3) "This shot is no picnic"
Actual meaning: It is a very difficult shot and will be no fun to execute.
Her interpretation: Yeah right, you will probably makea miracle shot. Just hit it.

4) "This is a great hole"
Actual meaning: It is a well designed hole.
Her interpretation: You mean its hard, right?

5) "How can they put this pin here? This pin placement must be illegal"
Actual meaning: it is placed on the edge of a 3 ft. ridge and it you miss long it will role off the front of the green, leave it short and it comes right back to you.
Her interpretation: Just putt the thing, that is where they put it today.

A public apology, long over due.

When I was in high school I was playing golf with my brother and two other kids that happened to be brothers. The younger of the two other kids was sitting about 30 feet in front of me and to the side of the tee when I swung. I nearly whiffed and toed it right at him. It smashed into his face just below his eye and broke his cheek bone. It was the scariest, grossest thing that I have ever seen on a golf course. To this day I wish that I could take that shot back.

He was knocked over backwards by the impact and probably came pretty close to being killed by the errant shot. The ball ended up 30 yards behind me in the bushes. (I think that it was probably out of bounds, come to think of it) My brother and I tried to ignore it and the other two brothers limped all the way to the club house. We did not walk in with them and I could kick myself for not going in. My parents were furious that we did not tell them. We were scared to death to tell them. The studid thing about it is it was totally an accident. How could I possibly have gotten into trouble for this mistake?

Anyway, after all of these years I ran into the older of the two brothers on a local course last summer and it all came racing back to me. I still feel badly about having hit his brother, not having walked in to the clubhouse after it happened, and not telling my parents about it immediately.

Bill Grimes, where ever you are, I am sorry.

That incident left such an impression on me that I cringe every time I see someone standing in front of someone about to hit a shot. I relay this story and they move back behind the person taking the shot.

Additional courses that I have played.....

I grew up playing Durand Eastman Golf Course in Rochester, NY. It is part of the local municipal chain of four courses and by far and away the best of the four. While it is unfortunately pretty wet most of the summer, it is truly a great layout. No sand, an annoying creek and relatively small greens. It is nestled in a county park and sits very close to Lake Ontario. You can actually see the lake from the 8th tee. The nines were switched two seasons ago to accommodate the gorgeous new club house. The new 18th green is directly below the clubhouse patio and from that perch you can see players finish on a very tough par 4 with a creek that runs all the way down the right side until it dumps into a pond short and right of the green.

Many people don't like to play here due to the length of time it can take to play a round. When we were kids it could take 6 + hours to get around the course. It is much better now that they require tee times for the weekends. That aside, the course is a true test of golf. It is only a par 70 as there are only two par fives.

I challenge anyone to get home in two on the very short par five 9th hole. You must hook your teeshot down what appears to be a vee-shaped, serpentine bowling alley of a fairway, then hit a second shot (as little as a 5 iron) to an shallow, elevated green that will probably not hold that long of a shot. The better way to play it is with a 4 iron off the tee, then about a 7 iron to the 100 yard area and hit wedge home. The 11th hole is one of the finest par 4's that I have ever played. Again, a creek guards the left side all the way down from the the elevated tee to about the 300 yard mark, then it ducks under the fairway only to re-appear on the right side for the rest of the hole. A good tee shot will leave about 180 home and it has to be a slight hook unless you leave your drive to the right center of the fairway.

The other course that I grew up playing was called Craig Hill CC way back when and is now called Deerfield CC. This is the course that Jeff Sluman grew up playing. It is too bad that it has been poorly managed over the years as it is one of the longest, most difficult courses in the area. Huge undulating greens will render many a three putt if you cannot read the breaks and apply a deft touch with the flat stick. I wish that someone would invest the money it would take to make this course the track that it could be. I was surprised when Sluman and Dudley Hart bought Lake Shore CC a few miles away and not this mismanaged facility. It sure could use some TLC and the money it needs to fix what is broke. There are a some of the most difficult par 4's around on this course, they play well over 400 yards from the regular tees. The course can be stretched to nearly 7200 yards from the tips and it is very scary from back there.

Deerfield is the course that I was playing when I was lucky enough to card my hole-in-one. Back then it was the third hole on the south course, which was re-assigned as the 12th hole when they reversed the nines. That shot is the source of my screen name "myace188" as the hole was measuring 188 yards that day. I have come close to holing another one many times since that day over nine years ago. Maybe one day another one will fall in.

Curses, humbed again

Well, I have been on a roll lately. My last five rounds have been as follows: 77, 76, 77, 82 or so (I stopped counting) and 77. The 82 was the day after I played Oak Hill (77) and I could have cared less what I shot and it showed. I was pretty useless. That round aside, I have played very well in the past few weeks.

Sunday I shot 77 with a really dumb double bogey on an easy par 5 finishing hole.

We headed out to play Ontario Golf Club on Monday with some old family friends. This course has some of the most evil greens around. They roll at about 75 on the old stimp meter and are severly slanted front to back to the point of ridiculous on some holes. Never, I mean NEVER be above the hole on this course. My old family friend is a guy that is 76 years old, shot his age twice this summer and still carries about a 10 handicap, he chuckles quietly as people fumble their way around these greens. Anyways, the rating and slope from the blue tees at Ontario is higher than Oak Hill from the whites and it is clear as to why. Miss the fairway, make bogey or worse. And I missed a lot of fairways.

After hitting trees on my first three shots on the very first hole and carding a solid triple bogey eight I moved on to lick my wounds on the rest of the front nine. I parred the ninth for a very mediocre 46 on the front. I finally got it together and was one over on the back after three whacking the 17th hole. I hit another tree on my second shot on 18 and proceded to card another triple for a 40 on the back. I was not too happy about that. I had almost been able to salvage my dignity on the back and post a respectable score.

As of late, I have been having trouble finishing rounds. I must get complacent. Unfortunately, I am totally aware of what I am shooting and somehow manage to come unglued and have a blowup hole down the stretch. This is something I have to work on next season.

As for the rest of this season, I will play as much as mother nature will allow. I have played a lot of golf over the years in the late fall as temperatures drop. I can dress warm, but not dry enough. So, if the weather is decent and it is not raining off I go. There comes a time when I have to stash the clubs and wait until Spring, but hopefully I will get out a few more times.

have you ever wondered....

Have you ever wondered:

Why people that can't get a $50 driver into the air always seem to eventually show up with a $500 driver and they still can't into the air? Proving once again that it is not the club, but the player and their swing that causes things to happen the way that they do.

Why a perfect practice swing is nearly impossible to apply to the actual shot?

Why the person that asks what they are doing wrong never wants to hear the answer? "Your hips and shoulders are wide open at address and take away, Bob, and you are coming over the top". "I don't do that, Jim." Bob, "ok, what ever Jim. That is why every ball you hit goes dead right with this mysteriously unpredictable slice."

Why people with odd swings and set-ups always say that is what their pro told them to do? What pro would tell someone to swing like Chi-Chi Rodriquez or Jim Furyk?

Why that shot that you flubbed into the drink is much easier when you execute the provisional ball? The same rings true for tee shots hit out of bounds....the provisional tee shot is most often rifled right down the middle about 300 yards.

Why people that are not as good a player as you are ask you how you played today and then give you grief when you tell them you slugged it around the course for a 81 and had 3 double bogies? They react by saying that 81 is a great score. It isn't when you were even par after 12 holes!!!!

Why you find so many Titliest Pro V's in the weeds, water, and woods on public courses? And why they are quickly replacing TopFlights as the ball I find most frequently in those places? An awful lot of bad golfers are playing very expensive throw away balls, no?

Why I always justify a score that is not to my liking by singling out the one or two holes that cost me a good round? "I shot 79 but I had 4 three putt greens!"

Why three putt bogeys comes in droves?

Courses I have played

I have played a lot of golf on a lot of golf courses. Most have been in NY but I have played many in AZ, NC, FL, NH, OH, MI, Niagara Falls, Ontario and England.

The most famous course I have played on is Oak Hill CC in Rochester, NY last weekend. (see prior blog posting for a review of that round) I have played the TPC Desert course in Scottsdale, AZ. That is not much to speak of as it is pretty burned out most of the time. I will probably pass if given the chance to play there again.

In March 2004, my wife and played the course that Jim and Tammy Faye Backker lost in their backrupcy way back when. It is now called the Regent Park Golf Course. Wow. That was a beautiful layout and was in fantastic condition. I would play there again in a second. It was the last day of our vacation and we teed off in the first group of the day and hit the road for home when we were done. It was very peaceful an serene.

I think that the worst course that I have ever played is the "resort" course at The Lodge at Woodcliff hotel right here in town. There are three holes in a row that offer no place to hit a tee shot but into the trees. For some reason people like to play there. This is another course that if i never play there again it will be too soon.

I visited London, England in 2000. I played golf at a local muny course that was not much to speak of. It was in March and the course was very wet. The greens were so slow it felt like putting in mud. I three putted from inside 10 feet at least twice. I could not get the ball to the hole. Regardless of the conditions, I can say the I have played golf in England. I used rental clubs that were pretty ratty. The front nine I posted a "solid" 48 and the back a very much better 38. Same clubs, same course. Better golf.

I will list some more courses that I have played in another post, another day.

Hit 'em straight.....................

A golf highlight

I want to extend a cyber thanks to my generous brother, Dave. He recently attended a charity auction for the Red Cross and outbid everyone for a pass for three to play golf with a member at none other than Oak Hill CC. He offered one spot to me and he and his son, Chris, took the other two. I am sure that the Red Cross thanks him for his monetary gesture, and I want to let all of you know that I thank him for the invitation to join him.

What a fantastic experience! We played the famous East course on Saturday 10/2. It was cool and blustery but we did not care. Just to be able to play on those hallowed grounds made the elements fade just a bit. We did get drenched in a 10 minute downpour, but again, we were being treated to a world class golf course by our host. We had lunch in the grill room, hit Titlest golf balls on the range, practiced missing putts on the fastest greens I have ever played on ( later found out that they were nearly 13 on the stimp meter) and then hit the links. I have to say that while I knew full well where we were playing, I focused on mechanics and kept it in play. I tried not to think about shooting about a million due to weak nerves. After blasting my first drive into perfect position, I/we were off.

Our forecaddy, Brian Funk, was up ahead flagging down any errant shots and offering tremendous insight as to distances and green undulations. Boy, he was good. He spent 5 years caddying on the LPGA before settling here in Rochester.

The sun finally came out on the 15th green and we headed into the final 3 holes in much needed warmth. As I stood over my final drive on the 18th hole I remembered the thrilling end to that PGA Championship last summer. My drive actually ended up about 6 feet from where Shaun Micheel's did on the last day of the tourney. (of course he hit from the tees about 50 yrds behind ours) Our pin placement was on the right side of the green and as I stood over my final approach shot, I envisioned his 7 iron (from 175 yards) soaring to the left side of the green and landing just inches from the cup. I was scared to death, standing there with my measley 4 iron in hand, from the very same spot. Just one more decent shot and I was home free. It ended up on the green about 30 feet from the pin. While I did not hit mine quite as close to the hole has he did, I was no less proud of my shot. Any of you that have played there can attest that the approach shot on 18 is a bit nerve wracking. I managed to curl in my third putt to end my round with a bogey. But I did not care.

I had shot 77 on a course the brought the best to its knees last summer. I had survived. My aim was to keep it under 85 and I certainly did that. This may sound very strange, but that round is probably my finest moment on any golf course at any time in my life. I have shot even par twice and this tops those two rounds. I applied my gift and skills (thanks Dad) of golf to that course and I posted a 77, which is exactly what my handicap says I should have shot. Thanks Dave for the oportunity, and thanks Dad for this game.

here we go

This is my first post on a brand new blog. I see great things in the future here.....maybe.

I will get things going in shortly. I hope that my obsession with the great game of golf translates well to this blog.

Anyways, hello to all you golfers out there. I look forward to e-meeting all of you.

Dan Crosby