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I just completed our member-member tourney this weekend, the first major of the year at the SPCC.
The format is similar to just about every member guest in the civilized world. Flights based up combined handicap of each two man team. 6 teams per flight. Round robin 9 hole matches against everyone in the flight. 3 matches on day one, 2 matches on day two, with the shootout for flight winners afterwards.
Each hole is a point, and there is a bonus point for winning each nine hole match. One low net ball, ties are 1/2 point each.
My team was in flight 2. We played absolutely inspired golf. Our first match was a total dogfight. Our opponents birdied the first two holes and we were immediately two down. We fought back hard and ended up winning 6 points. If we played that way against anyone else, I would expect about 8 points, which is a beatdown.
Our second match was a bit sloppy, but our opponents weren't on form. We took it 6.5 - 3.5.
The third match was absolutely crazy, with my team going up big, the getting a bunch of birdies thrown at us. We split 5 - 5.
17.5 points after day 1 (where 15 is average). We've got a team at 20 points. It's two new members that I don't know, but the other teams who played them said they were absolute beasts. We would end up playing them in the last match.
We go out and crush our morning match, winning 7 - 3. We're thinking we must have closed the gap on the leaders, needing only perhaps a win of any kind to win our flight. Wrong, they destroyed the basement dwellers 8.5 - 1.5. They are now up 4 points on us with only our match to go. We would need to win 7 - 3 to win the flight (tiebreak is head-to-head). These guys were absolutely crushing people, so the task was daunting.
Our very first hole, they are both in position and my partner is in his pocket. I'm out of position and get a punch shot to just off the green, short right. One of the guys is 10 feet away for birdie. I chip in, he misses, we win the hole. They are younger guys, probably not used to many of these tourneys, and they had never been down in any match. I wanted to see if we could rattle them. We tie the next with pars, then win the next hole, which is our #1 handicap. Everyone stroking but me. I make a standard 4, and my partner hits a flop for a gimme net birdie. 2 up.
They fight hard, winning the next two holes, and I get up and down from absolute jail to win our 6th hole. We somehow push the seventh. We have to win the next two holes.
Par 3, 165 or so. My partner hooks one off the planet to a terrible spot. I fat-hook one into a nasty lie, short-sided needing a flop out of the rough over a bunker. One of them (the worse of the two, but still pretty solid) is on, the other has a pretty simple up and down. He hits it to 6 feet, but he's above the hole. Bad move on that green. My partner fats a flop attempt, then does it again and puts it in the bunker. He picks up. My flopper was probably the best flop I've ever hit, but it still goes 20 feet past and just off the front of the green. The dude on the green hits a phenomenal putt to 2 feet. I miss and I promptly make my bogey putt from 5 feet, right on my opponent's line. He misses the two footer, but makes his bogey.
We end up winning the last hole to go 6.5 - 3.5. Half a point short. We're a bit disappointed as we turn in the card. We had 31 points for the tourney, which would have 6 of the 9 flights.
Our pro announces the teams in the shootout, and our team is called. Apparently there was one wildcard available since we had an odd number of flights.
The shootout is true alternate shot. We would be playing 10, 11, 12, 13, and 18. Teams get eliminated all throughout and the two teams standing play 18 for the title.
#10 is a tough hole from the back tips, but this tourney is played from our regular men's tees. My partner didn't like the tee shot on 12, so it was decided I would tee off on 10, 12, and 18 if we made it that far.
Well, I almost hook the shot OB on 10. I don't know what happened, but I can only attribute it to choking. My partner pitches out and leaves me 70 yards, a bit up hill and into a pretty good breeze. A very good recovery shot. We talk it through and decide 5 is a good score in this format, and short is worse than long. We settle on 80 yards as my distance. That is a dead armed 60 for me. I hit what I thought was a perfect shot but it probably carries 85 (even with the wind and uphill). Again, it's got to be nerves or adrenaline or something, because I really hit a shot that shouldn't go that far. My partner hits a great putt and I tap in the bogey. Lots of great scores on that hole. 2 natural birdies, 3 pars. 5 bogeys, but nothing worse. I would have expected some of the higher flight choppers would have made 6 or worse. So, we've got a chip off. 3 teams get eliminated out of 5 in the chip off. Since I putted out, my partner has to chip. We lose out by a couple feet.
Excellent tourney. We were disappointed that couldn't have advanced further, but we won some good cash for winning day 2 and finishing 2nd in our flight. Plus, we won just about all our side bets.
The format is similar to just about every member guest in the civilized world. Flights based up combined handicap of each two man team. 6 teams per flight. Round robin 9 hole matches against everyone in the flight. 3 matches on day one, 2 matches on day two, with the shootout for flight winners afterwards.
Each hole is a point, and there is a bonus point for winning each nine hole match. One low net ball, ties are 1/2 point each.
My team was in flight 2. We played absolutely inspired golf. Our first match was a total dogfight. Our opponents birdied the first two holes and we were immediately two down. We fought back hard and ended up winning 6 points. If we played that way against anyone else, I would expect about 8 points, which is a beatdown.
Our second match was a bit sloppy, but our opponents weren't on form. We took it 6.5 - 3.5.
The third match was absolutely crazy, with my team going up big, the getting a bunch of birdies thrown at us. We split 5 - 5.
17.5 points after day 1 (where 15 is average). We've got a team at 20 points. It's two new members that I don't know, but the other teams who played them said they were absolute beasts. We would end up playing them in the last match.
We go out and crush our morning match, winning 7 - 3. We're thinking we must have closed the gap on the leaders, needing only perhaps a win of any kind to win our flight. Wrong, they destroyed the basement dwellers 8.5 - 1.5. They are now up 4 points on us with only our match to go. We would need to win 7 - 3 to win the flight (tiebreak is head-to-head). These guys were absolutely crushing people, so the task was daunting.
Our very first hole, they are both in position and my partner is in his pocket. I'm out of position and get a punch shot to just off the green, short right. One of the guys is 10 feet away for birdie. I chip in, he misses, we win the hole. They are younger guys, probably not used to many of these tourneys, and they had never been down in any match. I wanted to see if we could rattle them. We tie the next with pars, then win the next hole, which is our #1 handicap. Everyone stroking but me. I make a standard 4, and my partner hits a flop for a gimme net birdie. 2 up.
They fight hard, winning the next two holes, and I get up and down from absolute jail to win our 6th hole. We somehow push the seventh. We have to win the next two holes.
Par 3, 165 or so. My partner hooks one off the planet to a terrible spot. I fat-hook one into a nasty lie, short-sided needing a flop out of the rough over a bunker. One of them (the worse of the two, but still pretty solid) is on, the other has a pretty simple up and down. He hits it to 6 feet, but he's above the hole. Bad move on that green. My partner fats a flop attempt, then does it again and puts it in the bunker. He picks up. My flopper was probably the best flop I've ever hit, but it still goes 20 feet past and just off the front of the green. The dude on the green hits a phenomenal putt to 2 feet. I miss and I promptly make my bogey putt from 5 feet, right on my opponent's line. He misses the two footer, but makes his bogey.
We end up winning the last hole to go 6.5 - 3.5. Half a point short. We're a bit disappointed as we turn in the card. We had 31 points for the tourney, which would have 6 of the 9 flights.
Our pro announces the teams in the shootout, and our team is called. Apparently there was one wildcard available since we had an odd number of flights.
The shootout is true alternate shot. We would be playing 10, 11, 12, 13, and 18. Teams get eliminated all throughout and the two teams standing play 18 for the title.
#10 is a tough hole from the back tips, but this tourney is played from our regular men's tees. My partner didn't like the tee shot on 12, so it was decided I would tee off on 10, 12, and 18 if we made it that far.
Well, I almost hook the shot OB on 10. I don't know what happened, but I can only attribute it to choking. My partner pitches out and leaves me 70 yards, a bit up hill and into a pretty good breeze. A very good recovery shot. We talk it through and decide 5 is a good score in this format, and short is worse than long. We settle on 80 yards as my distance. That is a dead armed 60 for me. I hit what I thought was a perfect shot but it probably carries 85 (even with the wind and uphill). Again, it's got to be nerves or adrenaline or something, because I really hit a shot that shouldn't go that far. My partner hits a great putt and I tap in the bogey. Lots of great scores on that hole. 2 natural birdies, 3 pars. 5 bogeys, but nothing worse. I would have expected some of the higher flight choppers would have made 6 or worse. So, we've got a chip off. 3 teams get eliminated out of 5 in the chip off. Since I putted out, my partner has to chip. We lose out by a couple feet.
Excellent tourney. We were disappointed that couldn't have advanced further, but we won some good cash for winning day 2 and finishing 2nd in our flight. Plus, we won just about all our side bets.
