Inspirado

If we are ever in search of inspirado for our golf games, I think I found just the trick. Take a look at this scorecard from the new Mr. 59 Paul Goydos.

Match #3

Match 3 took place on Saturday 6/19/2010. Travis and Rick were joined by Dr. Marty Mazzawi at “The Chimneys” in Winder, GA. The 11:00am temperature in Winder was hovering above 90 degrees. The only thing hotter than the temperature that day would be the golf games of Travis and Rick. The golf course was in decent shape. The hot Georgia sun had not made a major impact on the greens and with the outdoor watering ban removed water was keeping the course very green. The threesome decided to put their golf games to the ultimate test and play the back set of tees. The Chimneys played 6500 yards from the tips. The course is not long in distance, but is very demanding on accuracy and requires a good touch around the greens.

The threesome practiced on the putting green while waiting for the 1st tee box to clear. Travis felt this would be a great time to present to the group his new “secret weapon”. As you recall Travis has been talking about purchasing a left-handed putter since his putting melt down in Match #2. The sound of golf balls falling into cups could be heard all over the practice putting green while Travis took his new toy for a spin around the green for the first time. Travis was heard saying “I think you are going to be in trouble Jonesy”.

On to the 1st tee......With a crowd looking on all three players in the group found the middle of #1 fairway. All three proceeded to miss the green leading to a double bogie for Jones and a one stroke lead for Grubb. The 2nd hole was a 222 yard par three. Both Travis and Rick made a mess of the hole with poor tee shots and walked away with double bogie. Hole #3 was a 400 yard dog left to an elevated green. Travis and Rick both found the left side of the fairway and were left 150 yard uphill shots. Travis played first and found the green, Rick followed with an approach shot that appeared to reach the putting surface. When the players reached the green they discovered their balls were around 20ft. from the cup. Rick putted first and found the bottom of the cup for birdie. Travis with his left-handed putter in hand was now standing over his first true putting test. The old Travis would not really be looking to make this difficult left to right downhill putt, he would be looking to lag the putt there and make a par. Travis drew the putter back and through and the ball rolled with perfect pace and perfect placement and found the bottom of the cup for birdie. The two competitors looked at each other smiled and shared a “fist bump”. Nothing was said, but both players knew this could be the spark that Travis needed to stop the recent losing streak to Rick. A few pars here and a couple of bogies there and the front nine was complete. A quick check of the scorecard revealed that both players shot 42, it also revealed that Travis had only one 3 putt on the front nine. For the record Dr. Mazzawi shot a disappointing 46.

The back nine started off with some very short yet very demanding holes. Rick played the first 6 holes on the back at +4. Travis played the same stretch at only +2 and carried a two stroke lead with three holes to play. The 16th hole is a 385 yard, straight away hole, with an elevated tee shot to a valley fairway followed by an uphill and blind approach shot. Travis had honors and hit a tee shot in the fairway…..the fairway of the boarding 17th hole. Rick found the fairway of the 16th hole and hit a PW into the green to about 10 feet. Travis standing in the 17th fairway appeared far enough back from a line of trees that separated the 16th and 17th holes to try a very difficult shot over the trees, up the hill and onto the green. Travis made great contact with his 8-iron, however his geometric calculation was slightly off and the ball clipped the very top of a tree. The ball came to rest near the tree is struck. Rick could be heard in his cart laughing like
Maude Lebowski’s friend with the cleft asshole. Travis hit an amazing third shot through a very small gap and just off of the green pin high. After a chip and a two putt Travis was in with a double bogie. Rick’s birdie slid past the hole and he was left with a tap in par. The group headed to the 17th tee all square in the match, both players were +10 for the day. Rick and Travis both hit the par four 17th green in regulation and two putted. The players could feel the tension on the 18th tee box. The 18th hole is a 352 yard par 4 with a very tight fairway and small kidney shaped green. Rick teed off first, his drive was well struck, but down the right side and in the rough. Travis hit an absolutely perfect tee shot that bisected the fairway. Travis had 100 yards left to the green and hit his approach shot to about 20 feet pin high and left of the hole. Rick had about 90 yards left to the hole, but the ball was in the rough. Rick’s approach shot came up short of the green and just outside of a greenside bunker. Rick had “short-sided” himself and was left with a very difficult chip to a green that is sloping away from him. Rick hit a great little half flop shot and the ball stopped stone dead 2ft from the hole and Rick tapped it in for par. Travis now had a chance to win the match with his 20 foot left to right putt. The right-handed player turned left-handed putter made his stroke and the ball was tracking towards the hole but came up 3ft short. Would Travis 3-putt for the first time on the back 9 and find away to give the match away? Absolutely not, Travis stepped up confidently to the ball and knocked into the back of the cup for another 2-putt par. The match ended in a tie. Will this match be the turning point for Travis’s putting? Only time will tell…..oh here are the final scores. Rick-82, Travis-82, Dr. Mazzawi-94.

Match #2

Match #2 took place on 5/5/2010. The lovely Mrs. TSG for Christmas gave her husband a gift card to the highest slope rated course in the State of Georgia. The course I am speaking of is Heritage Golf Course: http://www.heritagegolflinks.com/ and it is a great test of one’s golfing moxie. On with the results. To say that Travis was “dialed in” to begin the match would be a major understatement. Trav almost holed out his second shot on the par 5 1st hole, missed his 8 ft. putt for eagle and had to settle for a “kick in” birdie. Astute observers of golf agreed that Rick’s game was lost somewhere between the driving range and the first tee. As you can see by the attached scorecard Rick was 10 over par after 6 holes. Through the same six hole stretch Travis was a scant 3 over and in possession of a 7 stroke lead in the match. The one part of Rick’s game that never wavered during his dismal start was his putting. The greens were in great spring time shape and rolling “very true”. Rick had 6 one putts on the front nine and limped into the club house with a +10 46. Travis on the other hand was doing everything correctly except making putts. TSG had three 3 putt greens on the front and still shot a very sold +5 41. Travis was overheard in the clubhouse saying “Man I should just putt left handed “. So at the turn Travis gave away a few stokes and had a 5 stoke lead with 9 holes to play. Rick’s solid play on the last three holes carried over to the back nine. Rick played holes 7 through 17 at +2. On the same 11 holes stretch Travis was +12 and had putted his way right out of the lead. A 5 stroke lead had turned into a 3 stoke deficit entering the 18th hole. As Rick walked up to hit his final tee shot he had thoughts of a birdie and a back nine score of 37. However in the back ground Rick heard a voice say “the greatest golf melt down ever!” Rick thought to himself, Travis surly must be talking about his own performance today…..and with that last thought in Rick’s head he blocked his drive out to the right and the ball found the water hazard. Travis however found the middle of the fairway with his tee shot and now had a chance to win or at least tie the match. Rick dropped his ball and made it onto the putting surface with his 5th shot. Travis found his ball in the middle of the fairway and from 165 yards away hit 5 iron on the front half of the green. Rick two putted and was in with a triple bogie 7. Travis now stood over a 35 foot putt for birdie and an amazing comeback victory. TSG’s 1st putt was uphill and came about 4 feet short of the cup. The two competitors looked at each other to see if the putt was going to be conceded. The two agreed that the putt had too much riding on it to be conceded. With that Travis stepped up to the ball and stroked a putt that was aimed at the right edge of the cup and the ball rolled over the edge and by the hole. The dreaded “double hat trick” Travis had three 3 putts on the front nine and now picked up his third 3 putt on the back for a one stroke loss. Final scores Rick +15 87 Travis +16 88. As usual it was a nail bitter. I told my daughter about Travis’s putting woes. Here was her reaction.

Match #1 Recap

Match #1 in now in the books. The match was moved from Providence Club to the University of Georgia golf course in Athens, GA. Travis and I both thought this would be a better challenge for our golf skills. The course did not disappoint. There had been a lot of rain in the area and the course evoked the “cart path only” rule. The rain made the greens nice and soft, but also created a 100% humidity environment for the players.

TSG had a steady front nine shooting 42 (7 bogies & 2 pars). RCJ took a few holes to get up to speed. Jones was +8 after 5 holes and it was starting to look like another easy victory for TSG. RCJ shot 44 on the front 9. The back nine is a little longer and a little harder compared to the front nine. TSG made easy work of 10,11 & 12 going bogie, bogie, birdie. The 13th hole is a downhill par three over water to a small green. The hole on Saturday was playing around 160 yards. Grubb and Jones both put tee shots into the water and proceeded to the drop area. This is where a giant momentum change would take place. RCJ chipped on from the drop area and two putted for his dbl bogie. TSG found the water again from the drop zone. The Golden Boy was overheard saying “Well there goes the round”. Finding the green with his 5th shot Grubb carded a quad bogie 7. Going to the 14th tee Grubb was a clinging to a one stroke lead. A dbl bogie by Grubb and a bogie by Jones brought the match all square going into the 15th hole. RCJ played 15, 16 & 17 to one under par and missed a hole in one on 16 by 10 inches. The same three holes from TSG yielded 3 over par and the match was all but over going into 18. The pair agreed that the turning point in the match was the quad, dbl, dbl three hole stretch for Grubb. “The hole was just too deep to climb out of” Grubb said at the end of the round. So there you have it. Match #1 is in the books.

Let the games being

Here is the blog to document all golf matches between RCJ & TSG. It will be very interesting to see not only who the better golfer is but also how many rounds are played between us for the rest of our lives.

Match 1 will take place on 8.1.09 at Providence Club. Match recap and results to come…..