Course - Centennial (Carmel NY)
Playing partners - Vak, Tyler, Patrick (All Golfmatch members)
Weather conditions - HOT!
This day of golf was an Outing organized within the GolfMatch app. I've mentioned the app here before. The app has been all over the news lately. Wall Street Journal, Golf Magazine, and other media. As of last week, there were 30,000 members across the country. Outings, such as this one, are happening just about every week somewhere in the U.S.A.
Here are some of the latest articles from the Wall Street Journal, Golf Channel, and Golf.com
Today's outing was organized by GMer (Short for Golf Matcher) Joe Mercurio. Joe put together the outing at Centennial Golf Course, a stunningly beautiful venue of 3 nine hole courses.
Today I was finally going to meet many of my virtual golf friends IRL (in real life) for the first time. All are golf addicts, like me. I also got to Meet Peter Kratsios, the founder of the App. All in all, there were 20 GMers at the event.
Getting back to the golf...
Carmel NY, is about an hour and 10 minute drive from Merrick, on Long Island - according to Google Maps.
That must be at 3 in the morning when everyone in the area is asleep.
I left my house at 7am, and picked up Vak around 7:20. After a quick stop for a bagel and coffee, we were off. Although it didn't appear that we hit too much traffic, we didn't get to the course until 9:30.
If you do the math, this means I've been in my car (except for the DD stop) for 2 1/2 hours. For those of you reading this that are a big younger than me, you might not understand the issues this causes.
a - my bladder was full from that LARGE iced coffee (bad move Howie!).
b - my back was a stiff as a board.
A quick stop at the loo, and we checked in and paid our meager greens fee. Centennial cut us a great deal, charging the players only $65, including cart and range balls.
At the range, I met Joe (for the first time) and a few others in the group. Vak and I wanted to see the short game area, since we don't have that on many courses on L.I.
This was a HUGE mistake for me. I broke my routine of warming up at the range - a bad move, with a stiff back.
I stepped into a large bunker to work a bit on my sand game. The last thing you want to do with a stiff back is swing through the sand. After one swing (yes, the ball popped out very nicely, thank you) I realized my mistake, and went back to the range. As it turns out, my back didn't loosen up until 7-8 holes into the round.
At the range, I did my normal warmup (Squats, leg raises, etc), and hit a few balls. However, the starter was a bit backed up so we sat in the carts for a bit.
This gave us a chance to chat with the others in our foursome. Well, at least one.
Tyler informed us that his friend Patrick was running late, but should be at the course by tee time.(He missed the first hole!).
Tyler, as expected, was a great guy (kid, to me) with a great game. He hits cannons off the tee.
So, we teed off on the first hole of the Lakes course. Both Vak and I hit the drive nicely, if a bit faded to the right. Because this was an outing with a match, we played from the Blues. For mid-handicappers, this is big. (Note, Patrick and Tyler played from the TIPS!!!).
The first hole was a par 5, playing 533. My approach landed a few yards short of the green. So, I was on in 4.
This is where the fun began. The greens were UNDULATING!!! Note the capital letters.
And, FAST (note again).
After a 3-putt, I walked away with a double bogey.
The second hole was a nightmare (the first of many). A par 4, I was on in four. Although my drive was in the fairway, the ball was still about 6 inches below my feet. On Long Island, we don't really have undulating fairways. I'ts pretty flat. We may have an uphill or downhill slope, but not too many sidehills.
Try bending down to hit a ball with a stiff back!!! HA!!! I finally got the green in 4. And then, FOUR PUTT!!! (gotta love this game).
I won't get into the ugliness of the front 9. But, 2 pars and 3 QUADRUPLE BOGEYS - finished me with a 54.
The back 9 was a bit better. Not much, as I shot a 49.
So, by the numbers. 103 score. 5 balls lost. 1 ego shot!
I must say this - the course was a difficult as it was beautiful.
So, after the round we all met up in the clubhouse for some vittles and brews. The first group had already finished their meals, as they finished a half hour before us.
The prizes were given out (no - they didn't give anything out for worst round). I was able to chat a bit with some other GMers. We chatted about Game of Thrones, our jobs, but mostly about golf. Spent some time with Nick A about setting up a Long Island Golf league. A 9-hole weekly event - scheduled after work.
After a burger and a brew, Vak and I piled into the car and made the 2 hour ride home. (My back was kinda pissed by now).
So, today was a great day. Bad Golf, but great day. I made some new friends, played an incredible venue, and wasn't at work.
What today told me about my game was this:
Warm up A LOT after a long drive.
Try to practice hitting off side-hill lies. I'm not sure where I can do this on Long Island, but I'll make a mental note.
There will be a lot of golf this weekend. I'm hoping for a Friday afternoon 9 holes, and rounds on Sunday and Monday.
Until then,
Keep it in the Short Hairs
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