Getting GOOOOOOD again.

This weekend was a success on the course. After an almost 2 week layoff since the marathon golf trip, i was ready to get back out there.

Saturday was spent with Cal and Thane. This was a pretty boring round. Basically spent the time talking with cal about the trip, selling him on the amazing experience of playing minimalist golf. Anyways, got a round the course pretty easily. A few hiccups here and there, but came out with a 76. 37 on the first 9 (played back first), 39 on the second 9. Swing felt good. The greens were awful due to them being punched earlier in the week, but over all good. round.

Sunday was my first match for the Langley Cup match play tournament. I was playing Gary P a long time playing partner that is known for being a solid player. I would have my work cut out for me on this one.

Started well with a par and win the first hole. Things got a little out of control from here. Standing at my second shot on the second hole i told Steve and Ryan that I was going to jump out to a 3 or 4 stroke lead by the 6th hole, I was just feeling good today. I'd do my best to make that come true by making birdie on 2 to go 2 up. Lost the third with a bogey, 1 up. Halved the 4th. I'd make a great birdie on 5 to go 2 up. Birdie 7 to go 3 up. Birdie 8 to go 4 up. Tied 9. I shot a 33 (my all time low for 9 holes) and was 4 up. Gary was in shock i think after shooting 37 and finding himself in such a hole.

On 10 i was pin high in 2, but screwed up around the green and made a par and only tied the hole. Think this through my rhythm off as i went down hill from here. tied 11 with pars. 12 we tied again with bogeys. Gary should have been taking holes from me here. And I'm losing my strokes to stay under par for the first time in 3 years. 13 was a mess. i would go into the left trap green side and shlubbed it out, schlubbed one on the green, and made a long put for 5. gary won the hole. I'm 3 up and 1 under for the round. 14 i over hit the green with a 7 iron. couldn't get up and down, gary did and I'm 2 up and even on the round. On 15 after driving into the 6th fairway I finally hit a solid shot again after what seemed like an eternity. I was able to get on GIR and 2 putted for a par. Gary had a 4 footer for par and some how the ball went in the hole and popped out. Felt awful, but it happens. I'd take the hole and go back up 3. I believed that I could just par the next 3 holes and win the match obviously at 3 up with 3 to play, make gary birdie. 16 I hit 3 safe shots to get to the green and below the hole. Lagged a makable birdie putt up to the 4 or 6 inches. Gary missed his long birdie putt and conceded the hole to me. Game over, 3 and 2.

I was reeling a bit for those 3 holes. Struggled to gain my composure which is weird cause I really like match play and don't tend to get to nervous. Oh well, happy to be through to next round. Looking forward to playing my scratch bracket this month as I had a bye through the first round. I have a feeling the scratch bracket is gong to take over as the most desirable trophy at the club. Time will tell. I for one would prefer winning that one, but then again I would prefer to win any tournament.

Best Golf Trip Ever?

Warning: grammer and spelling may be horrible. No time to edit.


You better believe it. Sorry to my boys who attended the Arizona golf trip of 2007, but for golfing purposes, this last trip to tiny Holyoke Colorado and Mullen Nebraska was by far the best trip I've ever been on. Getting a chance to play Ballyneal and Sand Hills was amazing. I don't have the ability, or time, to do a full crazy write up of the courses. That is best left to Jim C at wegoblogger #31 which is linked in my sidebar for Ballyneal, and Check on Matt B at Now on the Tee in a few days when he posts some of the 700+ pictures he took of sand hills and does one of those crazy long posts over the course of 3 weeks.

I'll sum it all up right here. BEST GOLF COURSE EVER IS SAND HILLS. Sorry Jim if you're reading this, but it just was. Don't get me wrong, I loved every second I spent at ballyneal, loved the course, and would love to get back one day and play in different conditions, but Sand Hills was something on another level. Ballyneal would be the very best top course outside of Sand Hills.

AS for the golf, I actually played rather well for the 11 rounds over 4 days, which was almost to much golf but not really.

Matches between matt and I went 36 holes each day and we played for dinner each time. As some may know, and as Matt would point out to anyone listening, our last golf vacation didn't go so well for me. I ended up buying dinner every single night. This trip, I was determined to make a change.

The first day didn't go so well. Maybe due to about 3 hours of sleep, or the excitement of where I was, I couldn't put it together. Matt would win the first day of golf I think by a few holes. He was treated to a steak dinner and drinks.

The second day would prove to be the best of all in match play terms. After a much better sleep and a solid breakfast I was set to challenge my nemesis once again. Today we would be paired up with Matt S, a member at Ballyneal and participant in the group of 14 or so we had on the trip, and our caddies. Mine on the day was a kid named Andy who had been looping there for 3 years and was a welcome change from the guy i had a day earlier on his first ever loop. That turned out interesting have 2 guys go around the course for the first time ever, talk about the blind leading the blind.

Anyways, back to THE match. Things would go ok for the first few holes. Lots of trash talking, lots a great shots. Both Matt's were getting in on it against me and my caddy and by the 7th hole I had enough. I was i believe 1 down to Matt B and decided I would open my mouth, "I'll take on both you guys no problem." Oh shit, did I just say that? Im going to have to back this up. Next thing I know we are walking down the 7th fairway and I'm playing against 2 guys straight up. I've got my work cut out for me.

We played a lot of golf so I can't really remember the whole round. I do remember the last few holes. Going into 15 I would find myself 1 down. Matt B was on the green, I was just right of the green, and Matt S was in some junk. After our second shots, I was about 35 feet away and matt S was just in front of me by about 5 feet. Matt B had about 6 feet for par. Matt S went to line his putt up but changed his mind and used some gamesmanship to mess with my head and picked up in an effort to avoid showing me a line. Smart move you sly fox. Everyone including myself found this to be awesome with even some high fives between the Matts. I'd end up missing the putt and falling behind by 2 with 3 to play.

16 a long par 5 was reachable all week for me. I'd get up to the easier Green side bunker this time and give myself a makable birdie putt from about 9 feet, but it wasn't meant to be. Luckily Matt was putting like it was his first time ever to play golf and easily missed his birdie putt. 2 down 2 to play.

17 was a long par 4 dead into a violent wind. I found myself about 220 out and looking at a sucker pin tucked behind one of the ugliest bunkers you've ever seen. I went at it anyways. I hit my 2 iron rescue but skipped it off the mound about 10 feet in front of me, it would shoot way up in the air and I lost sight of it. My caddy said it landed up near the green but wasn't sure where it ended up. As we all climbed up to the green one ball was about 6 inches from the cup. YUP, it was the titliest 2 with an Orange dot. Tap in, 1 down with 1 to play.

This was only a 18 hole match, so a tie would be considered a victory against 2 guys. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. I would have a 15 footer for birdie that would have given me the tie, but it couldn't make it and ended up losing 10 a piece to the Matts. great round none the less. More importantly, I was even with Matt B on the 36 hole match.

Again, unsure of the details of the whole match. Lets jump ahead to the most important part and the drama part, the 15th. I'm standing on the 15th tee down 3 with 4 to play. I tell Andy (he was sticking this marathon out with me) i need 2 birdies in the next 3 holes to have a chance at this. We played a little forward on 15 and I hit an ok shot on the green but left myself 40 feet for birdie. Matt would chip on the green and have a makable (for most people, not matt since he couldn't putt worth shit at this point of the trip) par putt from about 6 feet. I read mine about 6 inches outside the cup. Stroked a perfect putt and it drops for a birdie and I'm 2 down.

Back to the long 16. I would find myself about 210 out after the drive. Matt and our other playing partner Andrew would layup. I didn't have that luxury, I blasted on towards the green. It was looking perfect in the air but came up a little short and went into the treacherous front bunker. This brought out a fist pump and and "AWESOME" from matt as he was in there earlier in the day an knew how brutal is was. To his dismay, I would get up to the bunker and play it perfectly to 3 feet. Of course Matt missed his 7 footer for birdie leaving me a chance. Of course I put mine in, 1 down 2 to play.

17 wasn't playing as tough as the wind dies down for the afternoon round. I was in the exact same spot as I was early in the day and hit a weak 4 iron that came up short. Luckily Matt was hacking it along the right hand side through the Yucca but found the green on his 4th and had a 4 footer for bogey. I didn't hit the best chip and left myself about 25 feet for par. I'd end up draining my putt just before I walked up blowing out the flames on my putter to emphasize the ridiculousness that I just through down on matt the last 3 holes. All square heading into 18.

Our tee shots on 18 would be side by side with Matt hitting his approach first. I'm not sure what went wrong, I'm assuming the pressure just got to him, but matt shanked it slightly to a tough lie just off the left of the green. I smoothed yet another 8 iron to about 10 feet claiming "It's over" before the ball even landed. An uneventful end saw me missing the birdie putt by about 3 inches, and matt blowing his 5 footer for par for me to take the match 1 up. Andy and I attempted the awkward Tiger/Steve high five, shook Matts hand and walked off with my 2 over 73 and victory. Sweet, sweet victory.

Ridiculous match. Most fun I've ever had on the course. Couldn't have been a better day.

After that we for some reason decided to walk another 18 holes to make it 54 on the day. That was cool yet a mistake. I was in some severe pain 3.5 hours later. I won't be doing that again.

That's it for now. Maybe I'll do something on Sand Hills, but for now I'll leave you with this was the best golf ever for 4 days.

4 days to go.

This weekend was a bit of a bust for golf.

Friday i opted not to play so that I could get some work done around the house before it rained all weekend. I needed to mulch my gardens in the back yard before it flooded in the rain. Just in case you're interested, which you shouldn't be, i got it all down and it looks awesome. Especially now that it's all under water after a ridiculous amount of rain last night.

Saturday we played really early, 6:30Am. Maybe a little to early. I struggled a bit through the first few holes. Couldn't really get anything going on the front 9. Would make 2 doubles and shoot 42 with a birdie. Ya, that bad.

The front wasn't to much better but i grinded in an attempt to have a respectable score. Had it going for a bit. Birdie on 15 helped me keep it at even. Got through 16 and 17 with a par. 18 was a mess. I would end up with double on the hole to shoot 80 overall.

Haven't been scoring well lately. I'm not to concerned. I think I'm getting to a point where I found my squash game towards the end of the season. I seem to play a little better when something is on the line. Like a tournament. Not sure why this is. Maybe cause I'm concentrating more while in a tournament, or qualifying. Maybe I'm to tired playing so early in the morning. I don't know. Maybe its all made up. Who knows. But my game is there. I can play i just have to fix a few things. Obviously the range would help, but i don't go enough.

I'm 4 days away from what might be the best golf trip I ever go on. Actually that's not true, I'm sure I will go on some ridiculous golf trips through out my life, but this one will be pretty special. I'll be playing Ballyneal and Sandhills Golf Club. They are in Colorado and Nebraska. I can't freaking wait. It's been a long few months waiting for this trip and the next 4 days are going to be unbearably slow. But this time Friday morning I will be in to my first of 10+ rounds over 5 days at 2 of the best courses in the world. I can't wait.