Awesome...good luck in round 2! Match play is a blast in real competitive situations.

In the airport flying to Scotland and not playing golf when I get there. I have my priorities all ****ed up imo

No better way to win than to earn the win with some solid play.

Congrats and GL!!

Anyone ever play with a companion who wasn't playing? Did the course give you a problem for the other person just sitting in the cart the whole round?

Some courses make you pay a second cart fee if the person is riding along with you. The reasoning for that is because they have to pay a cart fee in order to be covered by insurance.

Never had a course say no though.

I had my wife come along for the ride, when she was one week overdue with our first baby.
Doctor said she needs to keep walking around to help induce Labour and the course said yes (after they saw how preggo she was).
It was funny; we took a cart but she would walk from green to the next tee every time. A group behind us saw this and kept trolling me - 'you're letting your pregnant wife walk while you ride' & 'just make sure you don't go into Labour on the 16th, it's surrounded by water and will be hard to access'
Good times and great pictures of that day.

I know a guy who goes out late once or twice a week just to get 6 or 7 holes in before dark with his Dad. His Dad used to golf and his late 80s. His Dad just watches and is along for the ride and conversation.

I am just thinking how valuable it is for both of them to have this time together.

Just booked my flight for a 7 day golf trip to Phoenix on September 18th. Finally get to play some damn golf!!

Playing my 2nd round (round of 16) in my matchplay tournament tomorrow. I already spoke to my opponent, he's a Hispanic guy who speaks almost no English, sounds pretty old too.

Should be fun. I think I'll do a hole-by-hole trip report when I'm done.

Don't forget your sunscreen and to drink a ton of water!

I don't know if there are any other MN golfers here, but if there are:

Stillwater Oaks is a course that just opened this year. It used to be called Sawmill but changed ownership and name. They have a pretty crazy fall deal going. For $40 you get:

1) Round of Golf for 2 plus a cart
2) $10 Food/Drink voucher (must be used at time of this round)
3) 2 Small buckets of balls

I called and it sounds like the deal might run through the rest of the season and works on weekends if you tee of after 1pm.

Round of 16 update (this will be long):

My suspicions were confirmed, I was playing a 72 year old Hispanic man named Willie. His nickname at the course is "Champion" because he won the Club Championship 20 years ago in 1994 as a 52 year old. He also shot a 63 on the course which is probably not the course record, since the course has been around since 1895, but still a damn fine round. The guy is a bit of legend at Van Courtlandt, everyone knows him.

He wound up with honors after flipping a tee. Here's how it went down:

Hole 1: Par 4, 370 yards.
Him (1): Hooked drive directly into the base of a tree, DEAD.
Me (1): 21* Hybrid hit solidly into the right side of the fairway.
Him (2): Punch out backwards to left rough.
Him (3): Amazing shot from about 130 to 4 feet. (Oh ****)
Me (2): SW from 107 to right side of green, 30 feet out.
Me (3): Straightforward 30' putt and I juiced it about 8 feet past the hole. (Oh ****)
Me (4): Made it, YES!!!
Him (4): Pulled the 4 footer left. I was surprised but happy.
Total after 1: 1UP

Hole 2: Par 5, 619 yards.
Me (1): Good drive that caught a hellacious bounce to the left into the treeline.
Him (1): Another hook left of the trees into the rough between our current hole and the 12th hole.
Him (2): Played a wood up the 12th fairway (smart), but a bit right of where he was aiming, leaving himself about 175 out with tree trouble.
Me (2): Hit a beautiful punch hook 8 iron off of a horrible lie under overhanging limbs to 167 in the middle of the fairway.
Him (3): Tried to punch a hybrid under the trees but came up about 40 yards short in the rough.
Me (3): Solid 8-iron from 167 to 20 feet right of the hole, on the green.
Him (4): Pitch to 15 feet.
Me (4): Good putt that just missed the hole and rolled 3 ft. past, not conceded.
Him (5): Solid putt to 6" past the hole. GOOD FOR 6.
Me (5): Banged it in the back of the cup. Good for the hole, and my mentals.
Total after 2: 2UP

Hole 3: Par 3, 159 to pin.
Me (1): Pulled 8-iron long and left under a tree.
Him (1): Stuck it on the middle of the green, 20 feet uphill for birdie.
Me (2): Perfect little chip under the limbs with a restricted backswing to 3 feet, not conceded.
Him (2): Decent putt to a foot, conceded.
Me (3): In the heart.
Total after 3: 2UP

Hole 4: Par 4, 364 yards.
Me (1): Driver hammered into right trees.
Him (1): Driver hooked into left treeline.
Him (2): Chunked punch under trees from horrible lie to 40 yards short of green.
Me (2): Sweetly struck punch 5-iron under limbs from 119 that landed exactly where I wanted it, just short of the green, but barely rolled out into the rough through the green past a back pin location. DAMN.
Him (3): Caught the 40 yard chip heavy and was STILL off the green short.
Him (4): Decent chip to 7 feet.
Me (3): Delicate short side chip from just behind the green but in the long rough. Considered putting it since it was matchplay and he was already laying 4, but decided to man up and try to flop it close. Guarding against skulling it over the green i chunked it out to about 12 feet short. No problem, wanted my miss to be a chunk anyway. Still in the driver's seat.
Him (5): Burned the edge.
Me (4): Just pushed it to tap-in range. Mission accomplished.
Total after 4: 3UP

Hole 5: Par 4, 345 yards.
Me (1): Striped 3-wood into wind, middle of the fairway.
Him (1): Pulled driver to left woods. Provisional to middle of fairway.
Him (2): LOST BALL. PENALTY.
Me (2): SW from 108 to back right of green. 25 feet out.
Him (4): Wedge to front left of green.
Him (5): Missed putt. CONCEDED HOLE.
Total after 5: 4UP

Hole 6: Par 4, 295 on card. Drivable.
Me (1): Overswing with Driver pulled into left woods. Provisional hit into greenside bunker.
Him (1): Perfect Driver to middle of fairway, 40 yards out.
Me (2): FOUND FIRST BALL. In a thorn bush, cut my leg open trying to take a stance. Managed to hack it out to greenside rough.
Him (2): Outstanding pitch to 3.5 feet.
Me (3): Outstanding pitch to 4 feet.
Me (4): Nothing to lose, draino.
Him (3): Birdie.
Total after 6: 3UP

Hole 7: Par 3, 223 yards downhill to pin.
Him (1): Ridiculous wood to 6 feet past the hole (looked like it was going in from tee).
Me (1): Manned up and hit a nice Hybrid to 20 feet right of the hole.
Me (2): Good lag to 2 feet. Conceded.
Him (2): Burned the edge on a quick downhiller and was visibly frustrated. He was 3 feet out but I told him to pick it up. Keeping it friendly.
Total after 7: 3UP

SNACKBAR: I decide to celebrate my good play by picking up 3 beers.

Hole 8: Par 4, 318 yards.
Him (1): Great drive to chipping distance short of the green.
Me (1): 5-iron for safety to right rough, 135 out.
Me (2): 9-iron STUCK about 12 feet past the hole.
Him (2): Nice little pitch to about 9 feet.
Me (3): Tough downhill breaking putt, I just tapped it and hoped. DRAINO!
Him (3): Straight putt up the hill. I must have rattled him by making mine, because he left his an inch short in the jaws. Ouch.
Total after 8: 4UP

Hole 9: Par 4, 391 yards.

Me (1): Pulled Driver, one-hopped off a tree to the left, bounced straight back into the rough behind the tree.
Him (1): Driver up the right side, in the rough but no issues.
Me (2): 157 with a tree right in front of me. Tried to punch/hook a 5-iron around the trunk and under the limbs but caught it thin and just kind of hit a ground ball about 20 yards short and right of the green.
Him (2): Solid shot to middle of the green. 25 feet.
Me (3): Caught my pitch out of the rough perfect, but it checked up on me. 12 feet short.
Him (3): Putt to 3 feet. IT'S GOOD.
Me (4): With nothing to lose, I make the cardinal sin of leaving my 12 foot bid for a halve 2 inches short. In the heart, just as he had done the previous hole. DAMNIT.
Total after 9: 3UP

Hole 10: Par 5, 475 yards.
Him (1): Nice drive down the middle.
Me (1): Decent drive into the left rough. 210 out.
Him (2): Thin, poor contact, but rolled it up to about 30 yards short of green in the middle.
Me (2): 21* Hybrid slightly turned over. It hit the left side/edge of the plateaued green and kicked viciously into the woods left of the hole, luckily bouncing off of an OOB fence and staying in bounds by about 3 feet.
Him (3): Pitch to 15 feet.
Me (3): Very restricted backswing and dicey/rocky bare lie. I manage to flick a thinned PW past the flag and onto the middle of the green, about 30 feet away. Could have gone much worse, I was happy.
Me (4): Lag it up 2 feet short. IT'S GOOD.
Him (4): He's been burning edge all day, and he does it again. I'm dodging bullets, baby.
Total after 10: 3UP

Hole 11: Par 3, 146 to front pin.
Him (1): Decent shot to the front left collar. Laying on the fringe, but right up against the rough which was fairly long. Bad break.
Me (1): PW a bit over the top past the pin and left.
Him (2): He decided to try and hit a pretty aggro shot with a lot of wrist and wound up chilli-dipping it. Dribbled up to about a 30 foot putt.
Me (2): Hit a putt on a great line but it pulled up short about 3 feet out.
Him (3): Missed, conceded.
Me (3): Jammed it in.
Total after 11: 4UP

Hole 12: Par 5, 575 yards.
Me (1): Good Driver down the middle.
Him (1): Slice at the hazard.
Him (2): Found the ball, but it was unplayable. 2 club lengths. PENALTY.
Him (3): Decent wedge into right rough, still about 300 yards from hole.
Him (4): Wood hit hard but pulled into left trees.
Me (2): Solid 3-wood to right rough. 50 yards in.
Him (5): Awkward punch under and through trees into fairway, about 35 yards short of green.
Me (3): Weak pitch onto front of green. 35 feet short.
Him (6): Chip to 15 feet.
Me (4): Good lag to 6 inches. HOLE WON.
Total after 12: 5UP

Hole 13: Par 3, 169 yards to back pin.
Me (1): Good hard 8-iron to middle of green. 25 feet short, uphill putt.
Him: (1): Just short of green.
Him (2): Chip (I thought he should have putt) to 6 feet, pin-high and right. Big right-to-left breaker.
Me (2): Long left to righter. Putt looked perfect the whole way, including 2 feet out. Somehow at the very end it manages to catch a little extra break and do a 180 lip out from the right edge to the left edge. Wound up sitting an inch out on the left lip. PAR.
Him (3): 6 foot breaker to stay in the match aaaaand... lost it low.

FINAL: 6&5.

He wound up walking off the course after the next hole (closest green to the clubhouse FWIW). Guess he wasn't happy. The course was pretty slow though, and we were a twosome behind 2 foursomes.

Elite 8 baby!!!!

I'll be sure to update when that goes down. Thanks for reading.

Good stuff...grats

Very cool, great write up! Good luck

I think we need a 2p2 sweat thread for stuff like this, would be a good read.

Great read.

Willie??? Prospect Place Willie???

Anyone ever do a TPI assessment and get a Golf Fitness Handicap? I am going to do it and just curious if anyone had any experiences with it.

FYP for Cliffs

PS. Just kidding - well done

Thought about making a separate thread but decided to post here...

I've played golf since I was 16 (31 now) and have always swung right handed.

For my upcoming golf trip to Phoenix I will be switching to the other side and going lefty.

Wtf??

I played baseball growing up and swing the bat left handed. For some reason when I started playing golf, right handed felt natural.

Well all winter I've been practicing slow motion left handed swings with a broomstick and I really believe I'm going to do well in short order.

It feels like I'm just going to destroy the ball, but admittedly I have yet to actually hit a golf ball left handed so I could be wrong.

I'm borrowing my brother's clubs since he's a lefty and will stick with it the entire trip and will report back on how it went.

Was thinking of trying to prop bet someone that I will break 80 left handed before my trip is over but the logistics are too much of a hassle. I will try to bet with the guys I'll be playing with tho for a fun sweat. Not sure if I'll putt left handed tho as that's always been my biggest strength and don't see a reason to switch but I'll at least try it and see.

heh - switching sides and seeing different shot shapes would be so weird. Suddenly right-to-left ball flights sit softly and left-to-right get roll. bizarro world

Yeah it'll be interesting to say the least. Will be going to the range this weekend after I grab my brother's clubs to start the process.

I suppose it could go so poorly that I scratch the whole idea but I just don't see that happening based on how my practice swings feel and the fact that I was a really good left hander hitter when I played baseball. I used to switch hit when our team was up a bunch but left handed was by far more comfortable.

It's actually not weird at all, when you hit a running draw left-handed it looks natural because of the swing and the fact you're on the other side of the ball.

BO

I bolded the above because you should make that number a lot higher.

Check out Vijay's lefty swing back in the day. I read, but can't find it now, that he could shoot low-mid 70s lefty while on tour being a top player in the world.

Yeah but the courses I'll be playing will be much easier than what he's playing on. I'll be playing with 55 tear olds from the white tees, 6,200 yards and whatnot.

Still you're probably right haha.