Well, I think I can safely say this was the worst tourney performance I’ve had yet this year. Certainly not the TD’s fault! The courses were awesome and everything ran super-smooth. The only problem was that I was working until 4am the day of the tournament. Got home at 5am, got in the car at 6am, drove 2 hours to Winter Park and teed off around 9am. If were not for my absolute love of the game and abundant sense of humor, I would have just curled up under a tree and passed out. The first course (YMCA Rockies) has been absolutely decimated by the dang pine beetles. It was a layout that I would have totally loved if I had even just a few hours sleep.

The second course was pretty cool, it was at the top of the Winter Park ski resort and played about halfway down the hill. A few downhill bombs mixed with challenging uphills and winding woods shots. I really liked it, just wish I could’ve had some rest beforehand.

On the morning of the second day, I split my head open on the TV stand at the hotel. The round didn’t get much better :( Oh well, gotta have the bad round to make the good ones look better. The other bummer of the weekend is that my fiancee and a bunch of good friends were injured in an alpine slide crash after the round. We were able to use our lift tickets to ride the slide down. I got down fine, but a light rain started while they were halfway down. The brakes are useless when the track is wet and they all crashed into each other at the bottom. Fortunately it was just bumps, scrapes and bruises for her and my friends, but some others weren’t so lucky, some bones were definitely broken :(

Well, cause of yesterday’s performance (or lack thereof), I had the unparalleled pleasure of caddying for my friend Jay Reading this afternoon. Man, what a nice guy. It was really fun to walk the round with these guys and see the lines and the shots without the pressure of competing. It’s quite an interesting perspective! Jay had a couple of bummers, especially hole 12, but pulled out a pretty darn good round. I think it really says a lot for a player’s game when the can recover from a particularly bad hole and face the next one with a smile. I can learn a lot from that :)

I can’t wait to play this tourney next year. I would put this and Roscoe’s Revenge as the two best tourneys I’ve played in (besides the Japan Open, of course). I think I’m already going into ‘Vibram Withdrawl’

Well, today didn’t quite go as expected :( I just wasn’t getting it done. I definitely improved on some holes I struggled with yesterday, but a few bad kicks and just plain bad shots put me just short of the cut and thus, out of the cash :( On the plus side, I pulled off that ridiculous hyzerbomb upshot on hole 18 again. I’d say the highlight of my day was campin out on 18’s green and watching the rest of the field come in.

Ugh! What a day! Started off with a short-arm into the pond for a six, and it didn’t get much better. The only highlights of my day were a near-deuce on 16, which is ridiculous.. and planting a 350′ uphill sky hyzer over the barn on 18 for birdie, almost canned it :) There was a pretty big gallery up there and they all went nuts when it landed, that was sweet!

Still, I hit a ton of ceilings and cabbage, really need to learn to look UP before throwing approach shots. Tomorrow is going to be better. Chances of making the cut are slim, but ya never know.

Still in shock that Barry shot what he did, even with a six in there… that is just plain nuts!

I’m gonna keep this one short, as I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow. We got in a rather damp practice round today, then got to watch all the dubs action. I suppose I’m gonna be all over the DVD as I was in the gallery for most of all three dubs rounds. It was super fun to watch, although I’ll admit I was hopin to see a bit more exciting play. I think the ladies were my favorite as their attitudes were relaxed and their shots smoother. Not to say that the guys weren’t playing good golf, just that the ladies were a bit more fun to be around.

Player’s meeting was pretty cool, we all met in the big barn and they had a huge box of little apple pies for everyone. Because I got in off the waitlist, my player’s package wasn’t ready yet, but Steve said they’ll be in tomorrow. We each get a sweet tourney collared shirt with our name and state embroidered on it! I think we also get a vibram putter and some other cool shwag.

I’m gonna try to get some zz’s as were gonna throw the front nine at Pyramids for warmup tomorrow! I know the focus is on Maple Hill these days, but I’ve always wanted to play that course, even if just for a warmup. Man, I’m like a kid in a candy store! A giant, muddy candy store filled with trees, ponds and baskets :D

Think happy thoughts for tomorrow, I’m gonna need it :oP

I had a great start to the day. Greg sent me a brand-spankin new BLACK DOUBLE NUTSAC!!! It looks freakin sweet. Steve Dodge delivered it to me just as Mitch and I were getting outta the car to start our second practice round. I’m gonna transfer all my gear into it tonight and take it for a test drive tomorrow!

This newer model includes a few alterations that I had suggested, specifically improved suspension and a snap to collapse the 2nd compartment if only carrying a few discs. It really looks sharp in black!

So I got the pleasure of playing a practice round with Jay and Des Reading, definitely two of my favorite tourin pros! We had a great time! I forget the hole number, but there was one that both Jay and I were havin a hard time with. We had noone behind us so we informally agreed that we weren’t leavin until we hit the gap and put it in deuce range. We took turns shankin, fading early, grounding out, hittin trees. Jay finally got one through putting it high and right, leaving about a 40′er. I had littered the hole with most of my favorite mids to no avail. The group said ‘keep goin till ya get it’, then someone added ‘but what if it starts rainin’. That was apparently all the motivation I needed. I threw my fave QMS straight down the gut, skipped twice and stopped about 25′ short, CTP! Hope I can remember what I did so I can do it again come Friday :)

Missed out on dubs qualifier visiting a friend in Connecticut. Ended up playin a few rounds of darts later in the evening, at which I am proud to say I am still undefeated! Mitch, Yeti and Cuz each put up good fights, but my bar league days came through :)

We’re plannin another practice round in the morning and then gonna spectate dubs. Should be some exciting golf. I’ll try to get some pictures up!

:) The Chad

So I’m in Leicester, MA for the 2009 Vibram Open, the last stop on the 2009 National Tour. The field is absolutely stacked and the course shows no mercy! Got a good practice round in today with my friend Mitch, who has a lot of experience on this course and a good chance to place high in the pack.

A good deal of water and trees come in to play on this course, but all the shots are fair. You just really have to commit to your shot and hit your line or the results can be devastating. There are a few open bombs that you’ll need a good arm and solid throw to have a chance at. However, the holes in the woods are a different story altogether. I was trying all kinds of silly angles with various drivers and eventually determined that I really have to choose which holes to ‘go for’ and which to play smart.

I definitely have issues with controlled distance. If I want to make the cut, I’m going to have to stay in control in the woods. So that means midranges. I’m going to be relying heavily on my QMS (Quantum Midrange-Straight by Millennium for those unfamiliar). There is no point in trying to crush something 450′ down a gap only to drill a tree 50′ off the pad and skip 80′ into the woods. If I can get a safe par on those holes, I’ll take it.

On a similar note, it really is a pleasure to play true par 4 holes. Park and putt gets old after a while. Having to get over a hill or through a gap and then turn the corner for a 150′ approach is a different kind of golf than i’m used to. I was once advised to travel if I ever wanted to advance my game. That is great advice!

Anyway, we joined the local random-draw doubles league tonight. I was paired with a real nice fella named Chris. He single-handedly eagled hole 3, which is no small feat. It’s a par 4 up and over a hill ending left on the back slope through thick woods. He buttered his drive and it faded perfectly leaving a 60′ jumper which he hit! I pulled off a few shots of my own, although he carried me through most of the tougher holes. Still, we took my drive on hole #18, which was a little short and left but in the open. I yanked a sky hyzer into the woodchips left of the bucket and hit the 40′ putt for bird. We played well into dusk and the last few holes were almost crapshoots. We ended up shooting a 55, and doubling our money. Not bad considering all the 1000-raters in the field :)

Tomorrow: Practice Day #2, Dubs Qualifier

Man, another scorcher. I got burnt to a crisp, seems i need to reread my earlier post regarding hot-weather play and sunscreen. When we left the house, it looked like it was gonna be overcast, but the sun burnt through about a half hour into the first round. The tourney was two rounds at Exposition Park in Aurora, CO. A pretty wide open course with the only real obstacles being the centralized sewage-filled ponds. I’ve played this course more than i’d care to admit and was feelin pretty good. I came out birdin’ the first 7 holes in a row. I picked up several more and was sitting at -14 with 3 holes to play. All were easy holes that i can drive with a putter and are pretty much gimmees. For some reason, my brain went on vacation and i only parred them. Still, -14 ended up being a 1008 and 1 stroke outta the lead! My second 1000-rated round this year, woohoo! Second round was a little rough, playing from the long tees, my lack of controlled distance really exposed itself. Threw my 1st drive into the pond, getting a bogey 4, choked on the island hole for a 5.. A few other bad shots put me out of the running. The crazy thing today was really my putting though. I hit a good 9-10 putts from several feet outside the circle. My jump putt is really starting to click. I ended up tying for 7th and takin home a little cash, always a good thing!

I hope this putting trend continues! Sounds like I’m gonna really need it with the stacked field at the Vibram Open. Oh yeah, um, I got into the Vibram Open off the waitlist, my flight leaves at 7am tomorrow morning. I’ll be there for a week, it’s really a dream come true. If anyone is interested, you can follow the live scoring online here.

This is gonna be awesome!!!