Never even heard of it (although it looks interesting). Have you played it?

Fazio is interesting, his courses can be a real pain. If I remember correctly that's the reason PGA National brought Nicklaus in to re-design the course, the members were all bitching about it being too difficult (the 1990 re-design).

I know they re-did it again in '02 but have not played it since then. If you've played it since then did they change much?

Caddying for your bro must have been awesome. What an experience that must have been. Awesome.

I'll have to ask around about Black Diamond.

 

Yes, I have played Black Diamond. The pro that I worked for in high school down in Stuart, FL became the head pro at Black Diamond while I was going to college at UCF.

I have not played PGA National since '89.

Caddying for my bro was unbelievable. He won his section of the PGA (Met section) that year and got an invite. The only big name not to play was Tiger. He was hitting ***** on the range next to Ben Crenshaw and Ernie Els.

He was paired with Brett Quigley and Jeff Gove (they were both great guys). He ended up missing the cut but we had a blast all week.

 

Kobi, hope you enjoy the golf. I am playing Colonial friday, supposed to be a sunny and a high of 70 degrees. Looking forward to it, I get to play there a couple of times a year. A trip to St. Andrews would be awesome. If you are ever in Austin, try the Fazio course at Barton Creek.

 

Thanks. Colonial . . . as in Forth Worth, home of the Bank of America Colonial (at crown Plaza)?

Sweet. I hear it's a nice course. Do well.

Never been to Austin, heck, never "really" been to Texas other than to stop to catch connecting flights out of DFW, and about 3-4 months ago drove thru the panhandle (and stopped in Amarillo for lunch, an experience I'll always treasure). I will be stopping in Houston (IAH) on the way home. But I will check out Barton Creek, and if I'm ever there . . .

Had a nightmare last night that I shot triple digits all three rounds. Damn.

 

Awesome. I've got a fun pro PGA story (too long to write here), I'll have to send it to you in private sometime.

 

Yes, that Colonial, Hogan's home course. It is a very tight, old style course. Short by todays standards but a serious shot placement course. Plus, all greens are small and elevated. Tiger played in the tourney one time and has not been back. The course pretty well negated his length.

 

Send me an e-mail: sdmcwilliams@pbsj.com

 

Nice Kobi.

I played at Twin Lakes Golf Course Saturday with the father in law. I shot a 104.

*sigh*

My game wasn't the best, and I only had 1 par. The course has a lot of beach.

It's a nice course, but it's $57 for green fees. That's more then I can afford.

 

Jamz, my brother tells me that Twin Lakes is one of the toughest courses he has ever played. I tried to get him to meet me there to play and he did not want to go back, so we went to Links at Land's End. You should try The Orchard over just south of Tyler. Should be a little easier and less expensive as well. Actuall, no more than you play and as difficult as the course is, 103 is not all that bad.

 

This was back in the mid 70's at the L.A.Open (before corporate name sponsorship when celebs attached their names to tourneys instead . . . back then it was the Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open). Anyway, back then my father was on the Board for the open so we got all kinds of perks which included unfettered access to everything and we also followed the pros in the galleries each round. So between being up close and personal during practice rounds, and watching them in competition, not to mention having played Riviera a lot, we knew just what they were facing and how they could play that course.

My best friend and I, back then would follow Jack Nicklaus every year. One time during the third round, Jack was teeing off later in the day so we just walked around watching all the other players until Jack teed off. We were at the 12th hole and some no name player had sliced his tee shot onto the hard pan beneath some of the Eucalyptus tress (which are all over that course).

So this guy is standing there with his caddy trying to figure out what he is going to do for his second shot. Here's what he was looking at. The ball is on hard dirt. It was also resting on those damn thin, hard leaves that eucalyptus trees have, and is surrounded by those damn little acorns that fall off those trees. One of those little acorn type things is resting right beside his ball so he can't remove it for fear he will move the ball.

In front of him and all along the side, more trees with branches that hang low so he is going to have to punch a shot out to avoid the branches . . . BUT . . .

in front of the green on that right side is a trap, and in front of that is a barranca (whichs run thru the course and if you get your ball in that you're screwed). So if he punches it out he most likely is going to run into the barranca (really bad) or the trap (not as bad).

So he's talking it over with his caddy and he says " . . . so I'll punch it out, lift it up over the trap, then stop it . . . . how far back is the pin?"

And my friend and I are looking at each other and thinking Is this clown for real?!?! He thinks he's going to hit it off this surface, with impediments on the ball, and is going to control it enough to bring it out low to avoid the branches, then have it rise after it passes the branches, high enough to pass the barranca and go over the trap, and then sit down on the green . . . AND BE ABLE TO STOP on the green . . . and he's talking about how many feet back from the edge of the green the pin is ?!?!?!?!

THIS. GUY. IS. DREAMING.

So the caddy walks off distance to end of branches, and tells him the distance to the barannca, to the trap, to the green and the pin. This pro looks thoughtful (like he has a chance or something), then takes his club.

My friend and I are looking at each other, and I can see we both have the same thought. Maybe we should hide behind a tree for safety when he clips a branch and the ball comes ricocheting back at us . . .

And he hits it . . .

And sure enough, the damn thing shoots out low, makes it past the branches, starts to rise, flies over the barannca and the trap, drops down quick and holds the green . . . about ten feet from the hole. One of the most amazing shots I have ever seen. Total ball control. As long as I live I will never forget it.

Oh, and he made the putt for birdie.

And this was some no name guy. Those pros are so amazing, and now they are even better.

It's not the game that I play, that's for sure.

 

Kobi,

That's a great story. These guys are amazing! They look at the course a completely different way than the rest of us.

When my brother was playing with Brett Quigley, who is about 5'9" and 160 lbs, he would complain that if his 295 drive was 5 yards off target.

Michelle McGann used to play in some of the summer events that I played in during high school. She killed the ball even back then. She made the guys look like girls.

I have a funny Jack Nicklaus story. It was 1989 and I was playing at PGA National Squire for Districts. I check the pairings and I was playing with his youngest son, Mike. We were standing on the 1st tee waiting to tee off and I see someone walking up to us in shorts and a wide brimmed straw hat. When he got closer I realized that it was Jack! We were getting ready to tee off Jack turns to me and the other guy in our group and says "watch this...he is going to try to kill this drive and it will go deep into the woods to the right". Mike swings as hard as humanly possible and slices it hard into the woods.

Jack followed us around for 5-6 holes and it was a blast. I have never been so nervous in my life but I ended up shooting a 74 and I beat Mike by 5.

We won Districts and ended up taking 3rd at state. Robert Damron won State honors for low total that year. His team came in 2nd and St. Andrews (private school in West Palm) took 1st. We won 1st my sophomore year.

 

Have fun with the golf and good luck with the surgery.

 

Not sure what day your gonna be in NC but it's cold as a well diggers **** here right now.

 

Jersey has been pretty chilly and WINDY. I would think the winds aren't good for golfing......????