Haha, this is amazing!

Keep 'em coming ...

BUMP!

Tuesday, July 27th

Same schedule as Monday with a similar tee time for a practice round, this time nine holes off the front. Pick up caddie at 9am and once again drive around the road closed signs and the state troopers and into player parking next to the clubhouse. I don't think that would ever get old!

Walk into player dining and 90 seconds later we are chowing down on an excellent breakfast. Such a great time saver. Another range session followed by time on the putting green with my Eyeline putting mirror. This $35 training aid has been instrumental in me finally becoming a good putter.

I then make the 10 minute drive back to the hotel to pick up my parents. They had their own car and could have driven but it's just so much easier to haul them right to the clubhouse instead of parking miles away and having to take a shuttle. Meet my caddie for a light lunch before we play and watch my parents eat more food for lunch than they do over a 3 day span.

Before heading out on the course stop by my locker for some more pellets. Titleist hooked me up for the week with 3 dozen balls, 4 gloves, and 2 hats. Standard for a tour event but still nice.

Walk on the first tee just after 1 looking forward to playing with Fred Funk and Marco Dawson, but they are nowhere to be found. USGA official says they already teed off and I am now currently a single. Just fine by me, can spend the nine just doing whatever needs to be done and since I've already seen this side I can study all the minute details.

Then I hear a voice from behind inquiring about getting out for nine holes. Turn around I find myself a couple of feet from Colin Montgomerie. Official tells him than I'm just a single and that it's OK if he joins me. Monty looks at the official and says that he's heard the rumors about me but he'll still give it a go. Hilarious.

At tee time the USGA official announces my name and hometown and the spectators applaud politely. I manage to find the fairway. Then the official announces Monty and the spectators applaud significantly louder. He finds the fairway and next thing I know I'm strolling down #1 chatting it up with an 8-time Ryder Cupper.

There are a surprising amount of people following our group, especially for a Tuesday practice round. And cell phones were constantly raised from them taking pics or videos, mostly of Monty. But he couldn't have been nicer to me, my caddie, or the fans. On #2, a lake to the right of the fairways squeezes off where spectators can walk and so the marshals rope it off while we are playing our second shots.

While waiting for the group in front, Monty notices the fans are a good 50 yards farther back than they would like to be. So he tells the marshal that it's OK to let them through and come up farther so they can see. The marshal is dubious but Monty says, "don't worry, we won't hit them". Just a simple, nice gesture that didn't bother us in the least.

Monty's home course is Royal Troon in Scotland, a course that I've played, so we talked about that in detail for a while. He asked about other Scottish courses I played so we had some good common ground there.

Nine holes lasted at least 2.5 hours and good work was accomplished. We shook hands at the end, wished each other good luck this week, and went on our separate ways. Of course we paid attention to how he was playing throughout the week and rooted for him.

Parents got a few pics of the two of us walking and talking and discussed things in detail while cooling down in player hospitality. Left the course a little earlier than the day before and we were able to clean up before dinner. We are certainly not pushing the envelope in terms of work, but are still at the course for at least 8 hours a day. Make no mistake, this is certainly a ton of fun, but we are also working very, very hard. It's not easy both physically or mentally. But very rewarding.

Cliffs, played a leisurely nine holes.

Good story. What stood out to you re: his game? I know he was a ball striking machine back in the day

Did Monty, or anyone else, give you any tips--particularly about the course? Or was it just a couple of guys chit-chatting while going about their day at the office?

It's great to hear that about Monty seems like a super nice guy!

i'm curious what other scottish courses you discussed.

Swing is just smooth and rhythmical, exactly like it was 25 years ago. No stress on his body. Covers the ball very well at impact.

He stated that it was a proper open course, imagine it in his Scottish accent. Obviously have to find the fairway, nothing earth shattering.

St. Andrews Old and New, more New than Old. Cruden Bay. Nairn. Discussed the town of St. Andrews as well.


And this nit finally broke down and put up the USGA pic for an avatar.

so you can now refer to monty as 'half-round' with a straight face?

Understated excitement.

I like it.

what a fun read

keep em coming!

I'm loving the trip reports, but have to admit the mixing up June and July is bugging me

Nit.

Thanks, I probably would have continued had it not been pointed out. And who knows? I still might.

I don't care what dates you put on the posts, but please continue.

Wednesday, June 28th

I had already scheduled a very early practice round for today for a couple of reasons. I figured I'd be going very early one of the first two days because they put qualifiers off either very early or very late in the wave. Also, I wanted to be off property not long after noon today to simply decompress and rest up for the rest of the week where we'll be playing 18 holes a day instead of 9. Therefore the 742am tee time for my last practice round.

Leave hotel at 6am with both girlfriend and Dad. Girlfriend had actually been working the previous two days and hadn't been on site, and Mom just didn't want to get up that early as she is definitely not a morning person. Dad wasn't missing any of this for the world.

Pick up caddie at 615, on site at 620, eating breakfast at 625. So streamlined, so appreciated and enjoyable. After a standard warmup we arrive on #10 tee a few minutes before time and are joined by former tour player and now reinstated amateur Joey Gullion.

Nothing special during the back nine, just going over the layout and hitting lots of shots, chips, and putts. Behind #17 tee there are four kids standing there with flags and sharpies looking for players to sign their flags. Of course I'll sign, talk to the kids for a moment and then back to work. One of the pics on the USGA website that day and a few kids lined up proudly displaying all the signatures on their flags. I was able to find my name on two of them.

Chill for a while after the nine and eventually have some lunch. A shortish session on both the putting green and range and we are done for the day. Back to the room for some well deserved down time before tomorrow's 710am tee time. The question is, will I be able to sleep?

question is does your ink increase or decrease the value?
thanks for the update!

Thursday, June 29th

Round 1, 710am tee time. The day I've been waiting for my entire golfing life is here. No pressure.

Believe it or not was actually able to fall asleep shortly after 10pm last night with a 445am alarm. Girlfriend had an earlier alarm set but no matter, I was awake a little before 4 and ready to rock. Quite honestly, I was pretty chill, a little nervous but nothing crazy.

Pick up caddie and the five of us roll into the parking lot at 530. No rush on the breakfast and onto the practice facility for a standard hour long warm up. Putting first so I can go straight from the range to the first tee without getting stiff. For probably 10 minutes I had the green to myself. Round 1 of a major championship and here I am on the putting green by myself. Sweet. Get out my mirror and slowly go through my routine, it's all I can do to not speed things up. The greens are definitely faster than they have been all week but that's par for the course.

Make my way to the range and continue the routine as slow as possible. Go through the bag and get the body nice and loose. Hit a few drivers as hard as I can to ensure this. Shortly before 7 we make our way back to the putting green to roll just a couple more but to also watch the first group go off. The USGA gave the honor of the first shot to a qualifier from just a little north of here and there were a bunch of people in the stands rooting for him.

Once the first group is off we make our way to the tee walking past a bunch of spectators in the process. There is a small grandstand behind both 1 and 10 tee and this one is pretty damn full first thing in the morning. Cool. Go through the standard process, meet my group, the standard bear and walking scorer, get rules sheet and hole location sheet, identify golf balls, etc.

At exactly 710am the starter speaks and announces this is the first round of the U.S. Senior Open and introduces the first player in our group to polite applause. Then introduces the second player. Then it's my turn, now playing out of Fort Worth, TX, Chris Gum. Polite applause echoes in my ears. I tee up my Titleist and step back behind the ball. I fully realize where I am and embrace the entire experience. I have apprehension but am in no way frightened. Let's do this. Aim down the left edge of the fairway to play the weak cut I'm going with today. (really the only shot off the tee I've been able to hit so far this week) Follow my routine and after one look I go after the ball aggressively and find the middle of the fairway. Definitely not the most solid of shots and it's certainly not far, but it's in the middle on the first hole of a major championship. I'll take it. Stride down the fairway curious to see what the round brings......

nice tempo to your story
we've all had first tee jitters in one form or another,
so what's the experience like building up to it.

This is great! Kudos to you!

There were six weeks between successful qualifying and the event. The first three weeks I was literally bouncing off the walls with pure unbridled joy and excitement. The next three I came down somewhat and was totally focused on preparation but still pretty upbeat. The first day on site I was bouncing everywhere and had unlimited energy. But the longer I was there the more I came back down to Earth and the more I got used to and was comfortable with everything that was happening.

So by the time Thursday rolled around I was actually pretty good with the setting. Also the fact that this was the end stage, it wasn't a qualifier where the result determines if you continue on. I had already reached the pinnacle so that actually made it not as stressful as one might think. Now, had I been on the cut line coming down the stretch, there probably would have been some nerves.

What's the putting tool you were hyping a bit ago? Is it more for alignment?

https://eyelinegolf.com/products/put...ignment-mirror

I put tees in certain spots to groove the stroke I’m looking for. Also helps with eye position since you can see your reflection.

I promise to get some more round 1 content out soon.

As much as I enjoy reading them, just clicking on this page with the anticipation of seeing a new one posted is nice. This is a fairly dead period for golf content, so I am good with the installments just dribbling out.

#1, par 4, 465 yards. Simple, short par 4 to begin for someone over 50. Ha. Pin back right tucked behind a bunker and since I’m not hitting it anywhere with the driver I’ve still got 204 left. Decide to go with a cut hybrid hopefully landing around middle of the green and skipping back towards the hole. Got the cut part right but didn’t catch much of it so it comes out low and dives directly into the bunker. Plenty of green to work with and not an overly difficult shot, I catch it perfectly, lands a little short and left of the hole right where I wanted but it gets right a lot quicker than I expected leaving maybe 7 feet uphill for par. Hit the putt just outside right where I wanted but it didn’t carry enough pace and barely misses low. Bogey.

Walking to #2 tee I had a special surprise planned, something I had always dreamt about. I had taken a couple of golf balls the night before and written a personal message on them to both my parents and my longtime girlfriend. I see them and hand one ball to my mother and the other to my girlfriend. In doing so I did keep my head down afterwards to focus on the task at hand and not get emotional. Funny thing, girlfriend thought I was just giving her the ball I played the first hole with for safe keeping after the round and immediately put it in her pocket. It was only after she saw my parents reading their message that she started to wonder about the ball I gave her. She brought it back out and learned the truth. And of course I have the ball I played that hole with.

#2, par 4, 484 yards. Another drive in the fairway leaving 224 to a front hole location. 3 hybrid dead on line but again a bit thin and it kept on scooting to the back part of the green leaving an totally impossible putt. Have to trickle it over a ridge and hope to stop it before it rolls off the green. Added to that I need to start it quite a bit right of the hole to account for break but the farther right I go the steeper the slope is. I honestly think my chances of getting it over the ridge and keeping it on the green are slightly less than 50/50. In retrospect I should have thought about hitting it past and made sure I stayed below the hole in two shots. I just barely trickle it over the ridge but it starts moving hard left leaving probably 10 feet for par. I know it sounds very strange but it was an above average putt from where I was. 2nd putt never had a chance as I tugged it left. Bogey.

#3, par 3, 182 yards. Pin is in the middle and 7 from the right. Tricky part is 5 yards from the right edge is a false edge where it will run 20 yards off the green and into a collection area. So only 6 feet right of the hole and you’re 20 yards away. My target is 15-20 feet left of the hole and that’s exactly where I hit it pin high. So my caddie and I are looking at this putt which is just a smidge downhill and we just cringe. The greens are already just scary fast and if we hit this putt a bit too hard we are chipping back. We read the putt pretty straight, I just barely push it but with proper speed. It ghosts by the right edge of the hole and stops 2 feet past. I can’t emphasize just how I barely got the ball rolling. Knock the 2 footer dead in the middle. Par.

It’s Thursday morning, it’s now 8am and there are just people everywhere. Everything a player does is being seen by countless spectators no matter what. It’s certainly not bothersome, just the opposite really. But it’s totally different from any other event I’ve played in over the last 20 years.

#4, par 4, 367 yards. Fairway bunker left, serious cabbage right. Plan was to start it at the left edge of the fairway and bleed it back into the middle. But I couldn’t commit to starting it over some water and pushed the starting line into the middle and the ball predictable ends up in the right cabbage. Have 110 to a front left hole location with a pond guarding the entire left half of the green. Obviously cannot go at the pin, not even sure I could carry anything over the pond regardless. Take gap wedge and lash it out of the hay towards the right part of the green where it lands a bit short and trundles on leaving a good 60 feet but it’s the best I could have done. A good lag putt down to 3 feet. Par.

#5, par 5, 505 yards. Similar to #6 at Bay Hill, this dogleg left wraps around a lake the entire way. A good drive favoring the right side and it rolls out a foot too far and into the deep stuff. Take 7 iron and chop it down the fairway best I can. Stays in the left edge but am now blocked out by a pesky tree. Try to rope hook a sand wedge around the tree but don’t draw it enough and end up in a bunker. Another decent enough shot that rolls out about 7 feet just under the hole. Putt was not good. Bogey.

#6, par 4, 487 yards. Fairway bunker guards the right half of the fairway that must be avoided. Good enough driver down the right half leaving 6 iron to a ball left hole location. Decent shot but leave it just far enough right that it stays on the wrong side of a ridge bisecting the green and gets into the back fringe. Very quick downhiller moving hard left. Pretty good line but hit it just a bit too hard and I’ve got another 7-8 footer coming back. The greens are so fast that I’m having a hard time getting comfortable and just can’t put a good stroke on these length putts right now. Bogey.

#7, par 3, 231 yards. Pin is in the back but accessible. With the greens so fast and firm I figure all I have to do is land the ball on the front of the green or even perhaps just short. I pull 4 hybrid and caddie thinks I’m crazy, I can’t hit a 4 hybrid that far. But I’ve done the math and I’m starting the figure out a little better how to process some of these shots. Finally hit a shot pure landing on the front and stopping 18 feet under the hole just like I had in mind. A good read, a good putt, and the ball falls dead in the middle leading to the reaction captured by the USGA photographer that is now my avatar. Birdie.

#8, par 4, 391 yards. A hole where driver is not needed but with the fade I’m playing it fits the shape perfectly so I go with it. Sneak it past the fairway bunker on the right but it gets into the primary cut leaving no shot to a front right pin tucker just over a deep bunker. There’s a little gap between bunkers by the green that I try to find but by shot finds the left bunker, not in a bad place. Or so I think. The green is pretty narrow here and there’s a steep false edge on the right part of the green. If I don’t catch this bunker shot perfect it will not stop on the green. I miss it just enough that the ball lands by the pin but has no chance of stopping. It rolls way down below green level into a collection area. I think I’ll be able to putt it but unfortunately the ball has gotten in the first cut by less than a foot. No big deal, I’ve practiced this shot earlier in the week with both a chip and run and a putter. Hit the chip and run the way I wanted but the ball doesn’t react anything near like it did in the practice rounds. During the practice rounds there was very little friction and the ball just magically climbed the hill regardless of what clubs was used. But it seems to be stickier and the ball doesn’t quite make it up to the green and rolls back to my feet. Now it’s in the fairway cut so I putt it and it doesn’t even come close. Overnight it’s turned from glass to molasses going up this hill, just very hard to wrap my head around. Another member of my group is going through the exact same sad thing so at least I wasn’t crazy in my assessment. The third try makes it on top but not by much even though I pounded it so hard I was worried it was going back off the other side. 9 footer left for triple bogey as my entire being is spinning. Somehow I manage to knock it in dead center. Triple Bogey.

In retrospect I made a couple of bad decisions on this hole. First was hitting driver off the tee, anything in the fairway left a pretty simple shot in whether it was from 100 or 150. Anything in the rough and you’re not hitting the green. Second was planning on missing the 2nd shot in the left bunker as opposed to the front bunker. From the front bunker you may knock it 20 feet past but at least you’ve got more than enough green to work with as opposed to the bunker I was in. The top players, the tacticians don’t make these kinds of mistakes. They take the high road and once in trouble and make no worse than bogey.

#9, par 4, 431 yards. A converted par 5 with the pin in the left corner sandwiched between a creek short and a bunker behind. The green in maybe 10 paces deep in this corner. Creek is in play right of the fairway and of course cabbage left. This hole played to a 4.88 stroke average today. Hit what I thought was a good drive down the left half but find it a step in the primary. But worse yet, walking off the tee we are informed by a USGA official that we are now on the clock, we had been warned a couple of holes earlier. Two things led to this, one of my playing competitors was stupid slow over both full shots and putts, it was ridiculous. Second, the fact that between me and the third player it took forever to play the previous hole. I chop my ball out of the rough down the fairway leaving a good yardage for my third. Hit the 80 yard show the way I wanted landing it a little past the hole expecting it to spin back down the slope close to the hole. But it didn’t spin, it just stayed there. Try to coast it down there but instantly knew I hit it too hard and it cruised a good 12 feet past. Missed that. Double bogey.

Something I’ll note here is that the greens were the fastest of the week on day one with speeds just short of 14 on the stimpmeter. For the rest of the week they slowed them down noticeably. Of course they weren’t slow, but on Thursday they USGA come pretty damn close to letting them get over the edge. Not unfair, but brutal in many spots. How often do you see a player in a major championship knock a 15 foot putt 12 feet past? Ha!

Also, we are all 50 or older. Three par 4’s on the front nine played 465 yards or more. The USGA definitely wants to test their tournament participants.

looking forward to the back nine summary