Your Hack is heading west/southwest. Desert golf awaits.
My last round of outdoor golf was back on January 2nd on the winter tees at Cripple Creek. The course is only playing between 5650 and 5700 yards with several temporary holes and a par of 68 considering temporary tees and pins. I shot 73 with 2 birdies and 32 putts, losing a little in a Wolf game to the Voice who birdied #18 to my par. Other than that, I’ve had 2 practice sessions indoors at 24/7 Golf on the simulator.
Physically, your Hack is not primed for a golf trip, but mentally we are in overdrive. I also want to shoutout Ryan Diehl from Eastern Shore Custom Clubs for adjusting my lies and lofts after a fitting at 24/7 Golf before our trip.
We have eight (8) guys on the trip, including a familiar cast of local characters - the Senator, Pip, the Voice and your Hack. Joining us are Jim Prete (Sir-Yes-Sir) from CA, Shaun Weaver (Weavo) from NM, Erik Brubaker (Bru) from MD and Bob Frick (the Mechanic) from MD.
We arrived at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale about 6PM last Wednesday after a long day of travel between flights from the east coast, an 8 hour drive from NM for Weavo and a 5 hour drive from LA for Sir-Yes-Sir. Luckily, our first tee time on Thursday was not until 11AM, so your Hack hit the blackjack tables after check-in and a quick bite to eat.
Talking Stick is very nice, but masks are currently required and plexiglass is setup between all the table seats in the casino. It took some getting used to, but I settled into a couple of 2 1/2 hour sessions and, when I finally called it a night around 1AM (3AM east coast time), was up enough to cover the expected betting on the golf courses over the next 4 days.
Thursday - Day 1
For the trip, our overall game was cumulative quota over the four days with a daily skins game. Handicaps were at 80%: Bru (+2), Weave (+2), Pip (3), Sir-Yes-Sir (4), Hack (5), The Senator (8), The Voice (8), The Mechanic (10). Stableford points were not modified - Eagle-4, Birdie-3, Par-2, Bogey-1, Double or worse-0. We (Your Hack) tracked each player’s cumulative plus and minus to their quota over the trip.
We played the O’Odham Course (Scorecard) at Talking Stick. Everyone played the 1 up tees (6510 yards) except the Senator and the Mechanic who played a modified course at 5950 yards. After a quick shuttle ride to the course, we were told the times had been pushed back an hour because of an overnight frost. Amazingly, it was 55 degrees at 10:15 when we arrived, but everything was backed up. The practice facility was adequate and we killed time playing a chipping game on the large practice green. We each put up $5 and the furthest from the cup was eliminated after each “hole”. Your Hack and Sir-Yes-Sir made it to the finals. Alas, my opponent chipped it to 3 inches, lipping it out for the slam dunk.
Finally, around Noon, we teed it up for our first round in the desert. I played with the Senator, the Voice and the Mechanic. As usual, Steve (the Voice) was a problem on the first tee as we tried to negotiate a game. He refused to play Wolf because we were playing from different tees and we ended up with a $50 2-down game with your Hack partnered with the Senator. He further stirred the pot with Mike (the Senator) negotiating a stroke a side in their personal game. I was riding with Mike and finally got him calmed down on the first green.
The first hole was a welcome handshake and I had a gap wedge to the green from the middle of the fairway. Of course, it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t 3-putt for a bogey to start the trip. A tap in birdie on the par 5 2nd hole brought me back even and another birdie on #5 brought your Hack to 1 under for the day. My partner added a net birdie on #6 while I added another 3-putt for bogey. We had our opponents 3 down at this point and were cruising in the 2 down match as the Voice and Mechanic struggled.
I missed the green on #7 and #8 and couldn’t get up and down which added two more bogeys to my score. The Mechanic posted a net par on #7 to win the hole, but they we too far behind. The Senator and I won the front 2 ways and the Voice automatically doubled the bet on the back. Of course he did!
Your Hack made the turn shooting 37 which was 2 over with three 3-putts. I was feeling great about everything and only slightly worried about my putting. The Senator turned in 44, the Voice in 50, and the Mechanic in 46. Not a strong showing by our boys.
On #10, the Voice drained a nice birdie putt for his first par or better since #1. That put them 1 up on the back as I missed my birdie, then missed the comebacker - another 3-putt. Pars halved #11 and we got the second nine back to even with a net pars (both the Senator and I) on #12. I decided that it wouldn’t be right to not add another 3-putt on that hole and my score was slowly melting up to 4 over.
Pars on #13 and #14 steadied the ship, or so I thought. After missing the green on #15 and not getting up and down, I was now 5 over for the day. The match continued to be “all square” (or even for you folks following the new rules of golf). The Senator made a couple of pars to keep us in the mix.
But, your Hack loves to do Hack things by ending the round with three additional 3-putts and a shank on #18 for finish the day off right. The Senator and I lost the back nine to a net bogey by the Mechanic on #18 and they were able to halve their losses.
All told, I shot 79 with 2 birdies and 41 putts! How does anyone 3-jack the ball 7 times in one round? The other boys in the group struggled, posting an 89 and a pair of 94’s.
The good golf was played in the other foursome as Bru posted a 71 (17 pars and a lone bogey). Weavo bounced back from a 4 over front nine to shoot 72 making 3 birdies on the back nine. Pip and Sir-Yes-Sir posted 84 and 81 respectively and each made two doubles.
Weavo cleared 2 gross skins, while your Hack got 1 birdie through. The Senator cleared 2 net skins and Sir-Yes-Sir got one skin for the day.
Quota Standings After Day 1:
Bru - 3, Weavo & Hack -4, Sir-Yes-Sir -6, Pip & Senator -11, Voice -13, Mechanic -14
We headed back to the resort and had a fantastic dinner at the Ocean Trails cajun restaurant. Your Hack made the mistake of getting the gumbo at heat level 8 of 10 which almost blew off the top of my head. I ended up sending it back for something tamer after being counseled by the Voice - our resident restauranteur - that if something has a heat scale it ceases to be food at the highest levels, it becomes a weapon. There wasn’t enough bread or water in the place to calm down my mouth.
Not letting the potential intestinal distress get to me, I headed for the blackjack tables for a different kind of pain.
Troon North is on the itinerary for tomorrow. Stay tuned and keep it out of the desert where bad things await.
From the photo it appears you might be the senior player. As such, I am impressed by the game for day one. Keep it up🐸