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Post by pippsheadache on Feb 20, 2019 19:45:56 GMT -5
BTW, I meant earlier to note on here the passing of one of golf's greats, Gene Littler, a few days ago. Inger at least is old enough to remember him. A golfer's golfer with what Gene Sarazen called "the perfect swing," thus his nickname "Gene the Machine." One of several top-tier golfers from San Diego, along with his boyhood pal Billy Casper -- maybe the most under-rated top-tier golfer of all time -- and of course Phil Mickelson and LPGA legend Mickey Wright. I recall the name, but had no interest in golf at that time...But the name was one that was often on the sports pages in the newspaper and the sports broadcasts on TV at night...So proof enough that he had some star power and was near the top of leader boards frequently... You know who I regret never having gotten to see play? Moe Norman. That had to be a trip. Weird set up and swing, odd personality quirks, a self taught golfer who is the still the post-humous sen-sei of Natural Golf, which is still sold to beginners. I understand he was incredibly shy and felt bullied on the PGA tour, so played primarily in Canada. Two neat stories...Once a caddy told him that he could reach the hole with a driver and nine iron, so he hit his nine iron off the tee and then hit his driver onto the the green for his second shot. One another occasion, instead of hitting short of a water hazard he couldn't carry, he bounced his shot off a bridge to carry the hazard... I remember Moe Norman. He was himself Canadian -- Canada has not produced many great golfers compared to say South Africa or Australia -- I am sure the weather has something to do with that. Anyway, Moe was one of those guys with a flukish skill set, amazing in its way but not something that necessarily works on the tour. Reverting back to Walter Hagen who I just mentioned above -- he used to tour with an Aussie golfer named Joe Kirkwood, who was famed for his trick shots. Among them was hitting his tee shot off the back of an elephant. He once had two holes-in-one in the same round. Would hit the ball in mid-air like a fungo and place it on the green. Stuff like that. But it never translated to PGA success. Gene Littler, true to his name, was only 5'9" and had a rather withdrawn personality. His career was interrupted by a bout with cancer, from which he bounced back to rack up 29 tour wins. I loved golf even as a kid, so I have fond memories of those old-timers beyond just Jack and Arnie and Gary, who are rarely mentioned today except by golf historians. |
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Post by michcusejoe5 on Feb 20, 2019 21:32:54 GMT -5
Inger, I am not afraid to take a mulligan here and there. My buddies and I are golf cheats by any stretch but we know we arent great players either haha. Pipps, I have a funny story about Oak Hill I will post when I log back on tonight. I think mulligans have been around since at least the 16th century. I don't think there has ever been a time when gambling and playing to the limits of the rules (and maybe just a bit beyond the limits) was not a part of golf. I look forward to your Oak Hill story. Although I've done nothing more than be a spectator there, I enjoyed the course, plus the cheapest PGA tickets and hospitality tent I ever experienced. Also, it's very close to the home of one of my favorite historical golfers, the amazing Walter Hagen. Pipps you are right. I have been plowing through both the Golf Magazine and Golf Digest Top 100 public course lists. Counting all that have been on the list since 2012, even if they have dropped off since, I think I have played about 35 between the two (there is a lot of overlap but also a lot of differences on the two lists). So the Oak Hill story isnt really a golf story and its a bit inappropriate/NSFW and has a sad element. Here is your warning... One of my golf foursome from my trip lives on one of the finger lakes outside of Rochester. He works at an engineering firm in Rochester. The guy who owns the company is a cool dude he said and has membership to some nice clubs. This includes Oak Hill. So last year, a friend of his (the owner's) reached out and let him know that his brother in law (I think) was diagnosed with a very bad form of cancer (forgot specifics, may have been terminal). The friend told my buddy's boss that he has always wanted to play Oak Hill having lived in the area his whole life. So naturally he got them a tee time and they went out to play at Oak Hill. Come the second or third hole the brother in law approaches his ball in the fairway and is just standing over it staring off into the distance. Minutes pass and hes just not taking his swing. The boss goes up to him and asks if everything is okay, he can tell the guy is a little shaken up. The brother in law says yes this is just so great Im just taking it all in. So he leaves him to it but the guy just continues to stand there so the boss approaches him again and asks him if hes alright and feeling up to continuing the round. Finally the guy tells him the truth...NSFW! "They have me on this medication...it gives me massive painful erections that I cannot control and I have one right now and cant take a swing." They all started hysterically laughing and the guy finally got himself together and they had a great round together. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Feb 20, 2019 21:43:29 GMT -5
Pipps you are right. I have been plowing through both the Golf Magazine and Golf Digest Top 100 public course lists. Counting all that have been on the list since 2012, even if they have dropped off since, I think I have played about 35 between the two (there is a lot of overlap but also a lot of differences on the two lists). So the Oak Hill story isnt really a golf story and its a bit inappropriate/NSFW and has a sad element. Here is your warning... One of my golf foursome from my trip lives on one of the finger lakes outside of Rochester. He works at an engineering firm in Rochester. The guy who owns the company is a cool dude he said and has membership to some nice clubs. This includes Oak Hill. So last year, a friend of his (the owner's) reached out and let him know that his brother in law (I think) was diagnosed with a very bad form of cancer (forgot specifics, may have been terminal). The friend told my buddy's boss that he has always wanted to play Oak Hill having lived in the area his whole life. So naturally he got them a tee time and they went out to play at Oak Hill. Come the second or third hole the brother in law approaches his ball in the fairway and is just standing over it staring off into the distance. Minutes pass and hes just not taking his swing. The boss goes up to him and asks if everything is okay, he can tell the guy is a little shaken up. The brother in law says yes this is just so great Im just taking it all in. So he leaves him to it but the guy just continues to stand there so the boss approaches him again and asks him if hes alright and feeling up to continuing the round. Finally the guy tells him the truth...NSFW! "They have me on this medication...it gives me massive painful erections that I cannot control and I have one right now and cant take a swing." They all started hysterically laughing and the guy finally got himself together and they had a great round together. Whew, talk about everything coming together on one day. Reminds me of the apparently apocryphal story ending with Johnny Carson telling Arnold Palmer's wife "I'll bet that makes his putter rise." This kind of story cries out for commentary by Inger. |
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2019 GOLF
Feb 20, 2019 22:12:54 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Feb 20, 2019 22:12:54 GMT -5
Johnny Carson was a large portion of why I was an under-achiever in high school. I wanted to have a show like his so bad. I’d practice in class constantly. One teacher sent me to the principal in a fit of pique when I won the class over in witty exchange with him and HE became the laughing stock. Another one who was a pretty young woman who took life way too seriously called me out in front of the class and loudly called me a “big faker”. Of course I had to say “of course I am. I’m fourteen”.
But Johnny was funny enough by himself and just risqué enough that people could make up water-cooler stories about what he said the night before because so few people stayed up that late. My mom had a late night part-time job that the family pitched in to help her with because she was so painstakingly slow at it (cleaned a laundromat until you could have eaten your dinner off those damned machines. We all had to help on weekends, but on week nights my little sister went to bed for school the next day while I stayed up and watched Carson.
I thought the joke was funny though. According to the story, Winnie told Johnny that she kissed Arnie’s balls for luck before every match. I’m only reporting this for the historical value for the youngsters on here. The Tonight Show is the funniest show. Or WAS in history when Johnny was on. He wasn’t a great comedian, he was great at pulling humor out of others and out of situations...
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2019 GOLF
Feb 20, 2019 22:43:37 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Feb 20, 2019 22:43:37 GMT -5
Golf stories, funny golf stories, seldom translate well into writing. They usually require beer and verbal/physical expression. I have one here that I MIGHT be able to get a chuckle out of. To make it a bit tougher, I wasn’t there. This story was relayed to me by a guy that wouldn’t make it up. I’m pretty sure I shared it once on PP, but it’s been a while. If you’ve heard it before, send me a transcendental message to stop typing... (:
So this member of a foursome has knocked his ball into the water. As everyone else goes to their ball there’s a delay while the guy is staring intently into the water. He finally announces that he’s going to play it out of there. But wants advise first.
After the foursome gathers and they all decide he can hit the ball out, he meticulously removes his left shoe and sock. Being a neat fellow he folds the sock and carefully places it on his golf bag and sets the shoe just so next to the bag. He again starts to study the shot intently in no apparent rush. He carefully rolls up his left pant leg.
Several minutes have passed and the foursome starts giggling behind his back as they notice the next foursome waiting on the tee. After much thought and analyses the guy then puts his RIGHT foot, including shoe and sock along with the unrolled pant leg into the water, at which point he whiffs on the ball and it rolls hopelessly further into the pond.
Now the entire foursome is laughing so hard that they all fall on the ground in tears. No one can move for laughing. After several minutes they see the group behind them talking to a course ranger. Uh-oh...
The ranger rolls up on his cart and asked them what the hold up is. As they struggle to speak and tell the story, the ranger never cracks a smile, but tells them...”You boys go ahead and get done laughing and take as long as you need. I”ll tell the groups behind you what happened and they can either understand or go home”...
Charlie told me it took them at least fifteen more minutes before they could get up and play again because every time a couple of them would pull it together someone would start laughing again...
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2019 GOLF
Feb 20, 2019 23:11:26 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Feb 20, 2019 23:11:26 GMT -5
Then there was the day a guy named “Butch” decided to wear white shorts to the golf course after apparently eating something that gave him gas. No one told the poor guy that his little “sneaker” he let out didn’t have complete “control”... so he played with a stripe all day...
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Post by michcusejoe5 on Feb 21, 2019 12:41:46 GMT -5
Oh and Pipps...I have indeed played Bethpage Black twice. Once back in 2014 and again this past season. They only have 3 sets of tees there...tips, middle, and ladies. When we played there in 2014 we played from the ladies tees and its still over 6200 yards (my dad and one of my buddies group are not big hitters). This past year I played it from the middle tees from nearly 6700 yards which is definitely a little long for me (plus the grueling walk of the course) and it was possibly one of the best rounds of golf I have ever played. I was +7 through 11 holes before falling off a cliff with 5 straight double bogeys and 6 in last 7 holes, as the course showed its teeth! Still ended up shooting a 90 on one of the hardest golf courses in the country...shot 104 there less than four years prior (and from tees 400-500 yards shorter). Its so hard but I love that freaking course.
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2019 GOLF
Feb 21, 2019 15:19:07 GMT -5
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Post by pippsheadache on Feb 21, 2019 15:19:07 GMT -5
Good for you, Joe. Just for taking on that monster. And I like your goal of working your way through all of those courses. I am guessing you will find a way to hit some of the private ones as well. Isn't Baltusrol nearby to you?
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Post by michcusejoe5 on Feb 21, 2019 15:41:50 GMT -5
Good for you, Joe. Just for taking on that monster. And I like your goal of working your way through all of those courses. I am guessing you will find a way to hit some of the private ones as well. Isn't Baltusrol nearby to you? Yea the private ones are a lot tougher for sure. Baltusrol isnt too far away...I wasnt able to make it out to the PGA Championship when it was there a couple of years back but it was probably for the best becuase the weather was horrible that weekend. My dad and I hit Shinnecock for the US Open last year (just viewing obviously), that course has some teeth too. "Theyve lost the golf course" was the line the players were using haha. There is this auction site a guy at work turned me on to that auctions off rounds of golf at private clubs for an environmental golf institute so he and I are going to try to win the bid for Somerset Hills in NJ (https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/somerset-hills). Also going to try to get myself on Yale out in New Haven this summer...#1 course in Connecticut and one of the classic old time designs by CB MacDonald & Seth Raynor. My dream trips are to do a couple week long trek around Scotland and to Bandon Dunes (waiting for them to build their 5th championship course at the Sheeps Ranch...think it may finally be underway). I have my eye on Streamsong in Florida, Cabot Cliffs up in Nova Scotia, and Sand Valley out in western Wisconsin too. Once kids and the mortgage come though my golf adventures may slow down quite a bit! Have you played any big names pipps? Not sure why I think you are located in Connecticut but thats probably wrong...if its not, have you ever been out to Yale Course? |
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Post by pippsheadache on Feb 21, 2019 20:36:06 GMT -5
Yea the private ones are a lot tougher for sure. Baltusrol isnt too far away...I wasnt able to make it out to the PGA Championship when it was there a couple of years back but it was probably for the best becuase the weather was horrible that weekend. My dad and I hit Shinnecock for the US Open last year (just viewing obviously), that course has some teeth too. "Theyve lost the golf course" was the line the players were using haha. There is this auction site a guy at work turned me on to that auctions off rounds of golf at private clubs for an environmental golf institute so he and I are going to try to win the bid for Somerset Hills in NJ (https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/somerset-hills). Also going to try to get myself on Yale out in New Haven this summer...#1 course in Connecticut and one of the classic old time designs by CB MacDonald & Seth Raynor. My dream trips are to do a couple week long trek around Scotland and to Bandon Dunes (waiting for them to build their 5th championship course at the Sheeps Ranch...think it may finally be underway). I have my eye on Streamsong in Florida, Cabot Cliffs up in Nova Scotia, and Sand Valley out in western Wisconsin too. Once kids and the mortgage come though my golf adventures may slow down quite a bit! Have you played any big names pipps? Not sure why I think you are located in Connecticut but thats probably wrong...if its not, have you ever been out to Yale Course? Joe, I did go out to Baltusrol that year for the PGA -- the day I was there it was brutally hot and humid, so much so that it was hard to enjoy the golf. I almost went to Shinnecock for the 2004 US Open when I was living in NYC and had to back out at the last minute, so I envy you for getting there. I love watching it on TV and hearing the players gripe about it. You have to do the Scotland tour. My wife and I made it to St. Andrew's one year and it was like going to Heaven. We weren't there for the Open, just walked the course, stayed at the Old Course Hotel -- amazing. To think they have been playing golf there since the 1400s -- I can't wrap my brain around that -- Old Tom Morris designed the first and eighteenth holes -- it seems unreal. It is as you probably know a public course; I think greens fees now are around $250. You absolutely have to do that, even if it means missing a mortgage payment. You won't regret it!! You are clearly a far better golfer than I am. I put down the clubs for good long ago for various reasons. You asked if I played any of the big name courses -- and for the record I am near Philly rather than CT -- the only courses I actually played where PGA events were held were Whitemarsh Valley (had a PGA event from 1963-1980, Arnie won the first, Jack won three times) and Philadelphia Country Club. They were far beyond my meager capacity. I have to say at Philadelphia Country Club they had a plaque from where Byron Nelson holed an eagle with a one iron from the fairway on the fourth hole during a playoff round in the 1939 US Open to pretty much wrap it up. It was hard to believe, given the shaggy fairways and hard greens and technologically primitive clubs of that day, that he could pull that off. It increased my respect for the old-timers. Byron Nelson was sort of the Mariano Rivera of golf. An absolute Prince of a man, modest, faith-based, universally respected. Even Tiger was deferential to him when he used to play his tournament in Fort Worth, as were Jack and Arnie before him. No, never been to Yale, either for golf or education, in order of importance. I did once play one of the Ivy courses, Hanover CC at Dartmouth. One of my high school classmates was for many years the women's golf coach at Dartmouth and she got me up there because she enjoyed kicking the butt of men golfers, and I was an easy mark. Anyway, I really enjoy your golf enthusiasm and your dedication to the game. Golf seems to me to be a natural first cousin of baseball as a thinking person's game, and I believe every real baseball fan would learn to love the game if they invested some time in it. |
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Post by domeplease on Mar 3, 2019 8:56:47 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Mar 3, 2019 12:14:42 GMT -5
Ahh, unions and labor, labor and unions. Bosses and employees, employees and bosses. The battle shall rage on forever... |
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2019 GOLF
Mar 3, 2019 16:27:09 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Mar 3, 2019 16:27:09 GMT -5
Honda Classic full of drama down the stretch. Very close...lots still in contention...
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Post by michcusejoe5 on Mar 3, 2019 16:53:05 GMT -5
Honda Classic full of drama down the stretch. Very close...lots still in contention... Vijay making a run! My lineup fell apart again this week. I was in like 26th place in my league midway through Friday's round but completely cratered over the weekend. Sungjae Im really imploded...went from tied for the lead heading into the weekend to 50th place after a +7 round on Saturday (not the moving day you wanna see). PGA National definitely tough for a youngster. Oh my god the shot Keith Mitchell just executed on 15...wow! Ballsy line over the water on the Par 3 and just stuck it next to the couple (4 feet). |
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2019 GOLF
Mar 3, 2019 16:58:34 GMT -5
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Post by pippsheadache on Mar 3, 2019 16:58:34 GMT -5
Just what I'm watching now as a late winter storm is hitting us. Even without most of the top-ranked players, it's an exciting tournament. Vijay with a real shot to become by far the oldest to ever win a PGA event. Koepka looking tough, good run by Lucas Glover.
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