Good times! Cowboys for $35 was a nice Friday treat.

No problem, good times by all, just not always good golf. Oh well.

I did call a total of 14 penalties though.

BO

Need a better TR than that. Who won all the money?

Tuq might have a pic of some nitbo money

Let's see...

Tuq seemed to like me despite my Spurs fandom. This pleased me because he's a much larger human being than I imagined.

Bo swings a 65" driver and his putter is even longer.

Westhoff hits a draw so I automatically hate him.

Course was good, tons of undulation for Dallas which was cool but the greens were a little spongey, that's the best way I could classify them.

I played well outside of a dumb 3 putt on 2 and bad swing off the tee on 4. Shot 73 on a pretty tough track I had never played before. Wind was blowing pretty good and there are a lot of long par 4's.

Was 73 low?

Any team bets?

Side bets?

Random, "I bet you i'll hit it closer here" bets?

After missing two birdie putts inside 6 feet on the first three holes I was having focus issues and on 8 tee confidently stated I'd play the other three's best ball the rest of the way in. Found a way to **** up 8 to go 1 down, both Tuq and Spenda birdied 9 and when I missed yet another 6 footer for birdie was quickly 2 down. Missed more good birdie looks on the back and made 9 pars, and since (it seemed) exactly one of them made a par on every hole as well I got beat.

And by the way, Tuq is hyper because I think he gulps down a soft drink every other hole!

BO

Yeah 73 was low. BO and I both played terrible. I had a triple and a X and played the other 16 +2. Not sure what tuq ended up with.

I was kinda wanting to do tuq & me vs spenda & BO, but that didn't happen. It was just a friendly fun round.

Yea sorry I don't gamble on the golf course, never enjoyed it.

NitSpenda

Still want to play Deer Run or did I miss the boat? I am available week days. Holler at me

^ Yes - will send you a message now (may still have your number from 2010?). Tuesday-Friday work this week, and I will make whatever day works best for you happen. Sorry for the delay.

Golf was a good time - thanks to the three of you for making it. Still need to write it up but it may take a bit and I've been tied up since then (note that it probably won't be particularly interesting no matter how pretty the pictures...). Should get to it tonight or tomorrow.

First off, some no doubt boring trip details between Monday's and Friday's rounds.

Hit some random state park between ABQ and Santa Fe with my brother on Tuesday. This was the top of a long hike, looking down on the trails and the trailhead off in the distance



And this is a bit of what we hiked through to get to the summit:



Wednesday morning, hit the road for Dallas. Opted for the less interstate-tainted route going through Lubbock and Abilene. That led me to see incredible sights like CLOVIS, NEW MEXICO:



(btw, if Clovis8 named himself after that place it all makes sense now.)

Thursday, I had lunch with two former roommates in Fort Worth at a great local BBQ place called Angelo's. Took this pic on the way out, didn't realize it would be so blurry because you can't read that the place is located on one of the great road names in the country, WHITE SETTLEMENT ROAD:



From there did what true shopping pros do, hit the COSTCO down the street:

On my way back to my hotel on Wednesday night I noticed a course along the way. Research indicated that it was a municipal track called Luna Vista Golf Course, and that it had been recently renovated to the tune of several million dollars to rebuild the greens, bunkers, drainage, and make a couple of changes to the routing.

The next day, following the Angelo's / Costco bender, I investigated the course in person. Cost was $14 to walk, but being the sloth that I am I spent another $15 for a cart. They paired me with a dude and off we went.

Course was decent, certainly good value (particularly to walk). The guy was a decent stick and nice enough guy, although I still have a lingering resentment five days later that he didn't bother to help me look for my snap hook on 18 after I'd scavenged through the woods looking for his balls all day. Anywho, here are some images:

3rd tee, a long par-3 which heads towards the south end of the property. As anyone who has played this course can recall, there is a shooting range adjacent to this side of the course. It's not particularly jarring but it's pretty loud:



10th hole, short par-4 with a nice look due to the rebuilt fairway bunker. Both of us laid up short of it with an iron, hit wedges in pretty close, made our putts for birdie. E-Z game (for one hole at least):



Should have taken a picture of the 11th because it's a nice double dogleg par-5 with a water hazard right of the green, but forgot and instead this is from the 12th fairway looking across towards the 11th green (and the sun):



17th hole, long par-5. Along with the 2nd hole, which also hugs the east border of the property, these are the two hardest holes on the course due to the combination of length and hazards. Both have trouble right and left off the tee. If you can avoid those it gets a lot easier.



Enjoyed the course and it had plenty of defense around the green since any approach missing on the fly repelled violently off the slopes and pretty far away. They used some fancy white sand in the rebuilt bunkers which was nice, but as is often the case with munis the raking efforts were poor at best which were just magnified by the soft sand.

Anyway, here is the only post I needed to make. On Friday, played Cowboys Golf Club with nitBO, Spenda, and westhoff. nitBO got us a ridiculous rate which it turns out also included all food and non-alcoholic drinks both on the course and afterward, a perk which westhoff and did not sufficiently exploit.

This is a really solid course - surprising amount of elevation change, particularly on the first four holes. The greens were a little sandy / uneven due to somewhat recent aeration but it was a big boy course at a great price. Should have taken more pictures.

Their "signature hole", short downhill par-4 4th with the Cowboys star in the middle of the fairway:



From the tee on the long, par-4 5th hole. nitBO feels this hole is unfair because the landing area is fairly tight and shots slightly offline will bound into hazards on either side. iirc two of us hit into the hazard right (raises hand). Spenda nearly birdied it and had the lone par:



The 8th is a shortish dogleg par-5 with water down the right side starting at about 300 yards. After all hitting our drives in play and around 260 or less into the green, three of us went full AIDS. westhoff birdied but I believe the rest of us bogeyed it.

This picture is actually shot from the 9th fairway looking back towards the 8th green:



The long, par-4 11th. Not sure why I took a picture here other than I hadn't taken one in awhile. In keeping with a theme I hit it into the **** on the right. This hole was playing even longer as it was straight back into the wind:



This picture is from the 14th tee looking back at the 13th green. I meant to take a picture from the fairway after our drives on 13. What this picture is supposed to convey - and is no doubt not doing so effectively - is that the layup shot on the 13th is the hardest I can recall on a par-5, but it's the only option. It's a mid-iron in between trees to a fairly tight patch of fairway. As it turns out we all hit the fairway off the tee and all nailed the approach shot, but I'm not in a hurry to hit it again:



Par-3 15th hole. This was one of two (maybe three) par-3s on which they were rebuilding the tees so they had us at a shorter distance:



This picture is actually of the 3rd hole, shot from the 17th tee. These two holes are par-3s which run in opposite directions. In this picture, the long par-4 16th can be seen on the left. The third hole was playing super short due to teeing us off way up, but apparently can stretch to close to 200 yards, all carry. The green is one of the longest I've ever seen, stretching to probably at least 70 yards:



Perhaps not the most scenic of the holes, it's a serviceable finish. This is the par-5 18th hole:



Anonymity of the others was mostly protected, however when sorting out the bets at the end of the round I wasn't able to take a picture of nitBO's losings without getting his hand in the shot:


Was a good time. Good company, great rate, solid course.

Next up is Erin Hills (tomorrow) and TPC Deere Run on Thursday.

Good stuff Tuq

lol BO

Nit notes on Tuq's report:

I didn't say 5 was unfair, just that it was too much for a 479 yard par 4. The drive just squeezes you in a funky way.

Pic from #11 is the same pic of #8 from #9 fairway.

Pic labeled #15 is actually of #17.


And nobody can prove that money or finger was mine.

BO

Ha - I'm an idiot on the bolded part, particularly because I purposely turned around and took both shots back to back.

Anyway, actual #11 picture:



And #3 again (with 16 to the left):



And if you turn around you are looking at #17 (I think these two holes might share a back tee?):

Also, worthy of its own post: on the 16th hole, a long, difficult par-4 that played into the wind, nitBO hit a high fade that rambled across the cart path and into a rock garden and next to a drainage grate. Immediately to the right of the rocks and grate was a stand of bushes, so his nearest relief was no good.

BO proceeds to pull out a rule book so worn it reminded me of some of my issues of Penthouse Letters from before the internet, cites some obscure rule I don't even recall, and takes relief clear across the cart path into the grass. Pars the hole. Being a nit has its perks I guess.

Anyway, want to try to bang out the rest of this before I have time, as much for my own amusement in case nobody else actually cares.

Last Wednesday, played Erin Hills (https://www.erinhills.com) as scheduled. Took about three hours to get there and nearly a full hour longer to get back. Pro tip learned firsthand: if you're headed up from the south (e.g. Chicago) get to the course from the west. google maps will likely list an approach from the south as being slightly faster, but the west approach is mostly rural.

Finding the course has a bit of a speakeasy feel because especially from the west there is zero signage and GPS led me to an empty cul-de-sac a half mile short of the actual entrance.

Got paired with three others and by chance we were roughly the same level of skill, which was useful as we all played the same tee - one tee up, roughly 7100 yards. The other three lived nearby - two were brothers (related, not black) - but the single didn't know the other two until that day.

Had a good time. Random notes before vomiting a bunch of pictures:

- all three had played the signature Straits course in Kohler and all said they preferred Erin Hills (apparently not taking into account that Straits is substantially more expensive)

- I was told after the round that the course will close in October of 2016 in preparation for the 2017 Open. I hope to play it once more before that happens.

- got a caddie, figured I might as well and didn't want to be the only one in the group who didn't. Turns out I was the only one who DID. He was OK, I probably overtipped him quite a bit at $90 for the round + giving him a nice cigar after. He was a good sport about chasing my woefully wayward drives and thanks to him I somehow only lost one ball all day, but he wasn't good at reading putts and bailed after the round without grabbing the excess things that he took out of my bag and stored before the round. I was halfway out of the parking lot before I remembered and circled back.

- tee times are spaced out in twelve minute intervals to help with pace of play. Regardless, it's a lot of walking and our round took over five hours even though we weren't particularly slow.

- just like Cowboys the week before, I double bogeyed the 14th hole - which on both courses was one of the easier holes - and then parred in from there.

- this isn't a gripe so much as an observation, but fourteen of the holes run east-west, parallel to each other. Three holes - #1, #9, and #11 - run south, and the 10th is the only hole on the course which runs to the north. That said, the holes are all relatively unique as they meander through the land.

- the location of the green for the now nonexistent Dell hole (which was #7) was pointed out to me, as was the hill which was shaved down to remove the blind shot. I liked the idea of this hole but one of the guys in our group had played it before and said it was goofy and getting rid of it was addition by subtraction - the rock on the hill wasn't particularly accurate. It turns out that in my photobucket account I have an image of this hole from the yardage guide:



I also have an image from what was then called the "bye hole", which is now the 9th:

Now onto the pictures.

The first tee. What isn't evident here is there is a marsh which runs the entire length of the left side of the hole, one of maybe two legit hazards on the course (the other being to the right of the 14th). The proper line off the tee is to the very right of this picture, towards the bunker in the middle of the fairway, and layups will end up near the bunker off in the distance. The green itself is off in the distance above and a bit to the right of the bill on his cap.



#2. Short par-4, the green is over the bunker beyond the fairway. It was speculated that for the Open some of the longer hitters can fly this bunker and run all the way down or close to the green. The caddy is in this picture as he went ahead to give us an aiming point and spot our drives.



3rd hole, looking back from the 4th tee. Long, straight downhill par-4 with back tees on both sides of the 2nd green to give the hole two different looks. I was told when the women played here they used the back left tees and played it as a par-5. We played from the right side.



Picture from behind and below the 4th green, looking back and up towards the elevated tee (from which the previous picture was taken). For one of the match play days of the US Amateur, the tees were moved up and this hole was made drivable. That would have required perfection to pull off because this is the shallowest green on the course and is guarded by a large bunker short of the green and a big fall off behind.



This course has some very strangely shaped bunkers. This is a greenside bunker at the 5th hole. The green is to the right of this photo, so the guy was forced to chip sideways onto the fairway. He did, and then chipped it in from there for a par.



Shot from the tee for what is now the 7th hole. It's a long par-5, the green is visible off in the distance. To keep the par at 72 the 10th hole was converted to a long par-4.



Mostly I included that because my drive ended up on the women's tees. It wasn't a horrific shot but a lame, high fade that probably went 250 or so and indicates how much difference there is in tee selection. From our tees there were a lot of fairly long forced carries.



The eighth hole, which was originally the 18th. This is a meaty par-4 and one of the few holes where I hit both the fairway and the green.

From the back tees it's possible the pros won't be able to carry it up to the top of the hill, in which case they are stuck with a long blind shot to an elevated green. The caddy mentioned that some players play this hole down the 12th fairway (visible on the left side of this picture) since it's a similar distance without as big of a hill to climb.



The 9th hole, the original bye hole and as far as I can tell identical in its original design and in the yardage guide image above. Small, tricky green. The guys in my group insisted this hole will play as one of the toughest for the Open despite its short distance.

The halfway house is seen to the right of this green, and there is one other notable thing in this image: in the background is the 18th, and visible from this angle is a deep fall off collection area behind that green. Assuming that hole is moved up to where it can be reached (it stretches to like 670 yards but the USGA will presumably get creative at least once or twice) then long approaches are likely to bound down to the bottom. Will post an image below from the 18th fairway looking at the green.



12th green, looking back up the fairway. Blind tee shot, but very forgiving approach as the green is relatively flat and sits in a bowl.



The 14th hole, looking back from the 15th tee. These two holes are probably my favorite two hole combo on the course and may be my two favorite holes, period. The 14th is a par-5 in which the back tees sit in a marsh area which runs down the right side. The green is elevated and sits below a large hill from which this picture was taken. Not evident from this photo is a large drop off to the front and right of the green. Yours truly left had two chips come back to my feet from down there on my way to my lone double bogey of the round. If the pros have enough carry to get to the green level they may be able to score well here since there is a backstop.



Turned around and took this picture of the 15th hole, a short par-4 which plays well down and then back up to the green.

This hole is a bit of a legend because in the championship match Patrick Cantlay hit what he thought would be a good layup off the tee with an 8-iron only to watch it land in one of the bunkers in the middle of the fairway. Evidently he and his caddy were using the wrong teebox as a point of reference and he went farther than his mark. He was 1-up going into the hole but made bogey and lost his lead and three holes later the match.



16th hole. This is the first of three holes which cover the length of the course back to the clubhouse. Medium length par-3 with a fairly benign green with two tiers. This hole seem to me to be a bit of a break for the pros but the others disagreed. Guess we will see.



View of the 17th fairway looking back from the 18th tee. Long par-4, want to keep it left of the large tree visible here. I pulled my drive so far it ended up ini the rough on 14, which is on the right side of this picture. Like Tiger I have come to appreciate that large misses are often rewarded more than small ones. The edge of the 7th green is visible on the left side of this picture.



The 18th from just off the teeboxes. The clubhouse and lodges are in the background. The hole itself is a double dogleg - the drive should end up left of the grouping of bunkers in this picture. A second shot will play to the right, up a hill. The approach will be back to the left. The group in front of us is barely visible on the green.

On the left side of this picture is the 8th fairway and another angle of the steep drop off.



Approach angle on 18. Not visible from this angle is the deep fall off behind the green. The left side of this green in particular is difficult as it's shallow with no margin for error, but you can miss for miles right and short.



Believe it or not that's not even all of the pictures, but I wanted to include anything remotely interesting. Will post TPC Deere Run and the other rounds hopefully at some point tomorrow.

sick pics TUQ, I have some buddies that live out in Wisconsin that work at a golf course (not sure which one) but they said they can get me out at Erin Hills and some of the other hot boys out there. After seeing these pics it looks like a must play. I assume the greens are perfect this time of the year!

Greens were pretty good. Don't recall too much about them actually - they were fairly flat, some had various zones and tiers but were otherwise fairly nondescript. Nothing goofy. Speed was quick but not problematic.

Anyway, got sidetracked for a couple of days following up on this. The day after the Erin Hills round, I met 2+2'er CrunchyBlack and his friend Tom P. at TPC Deere Run (http://www.tpc.com/tpc-deere-run). This turned out to be quite a ****show and the only round on my trip with bad weather. Which if any round was going to be impacted I'd prefer this be the one because I've been to the course for the tournament and my mother lives nearby so it will be easy to get back there in the future.

It rained before we teed off but subsided enough to give us hope. This is a really pretty course - most of the tourney broadcast focuses on the back nine, but the front nine has some really pretty holes which get little to no airtime and I hadn't ventured out to them in person before either.

Here is a shot from the tee on the dogleg par-5 2nd hole. The drive is down into a valley with the Rock River in the background (the river also runs adjacent to the 16th hole). It's not particularly long so I imagine the pros absolutely rape this hole.



Here is a shot from the left side of the fairway, ~110 yards out.



The next picture adjacent to the large tree in the middle of the fairway on the 4th hole. I had never seen this hole before so was surprised at how nice it was. The green appears to have a "negative edge" to it, and in fact directly behind is a large drop-off in the direction of the 2nd fairway.



As we were putting out on the fifth hole, fairly heavy rain started to fall. We waited it out. Here is a picture of the sixth hole from the tee, a short par-4 lined with trees:



We finished this hole and it started raining again. And didn't stop. It may still be raining for all I know. Unfortunately that was the end of the golfing day for everyone on the course. The guys behind us bravely finished the sixth in the rain before coming over and attempting to stay dry under a canopy of trees. The group on the 8th fairway eventually just drove off, leaving their balls in the fairway. Here are a couple of shots before we gave up as well.

8th fairway:



7th tee:



We were forced indoors and continued golfing with much better results, playing the Bar Game of Kings:


The folks at Deere Run were "kind" enough to give us a nine hole rain check even though we only played six holes. I did a poor job of attemptinng to negotiate a full 18 and meekly accepted their offering. At least it has no expiration date and is effectively 50% off a future green fee so it will do.

What was the ruling /decision?