Man, it's been a great past 6 days for me. Here's a recap starting from last Friday, the 29th.
I got to meet Pete Johnson and hung out with just he, Dan Welsh from New Havana, Dan's brother and another fella, matt, from Akron. Hung out for about 3 hours. Dan and Pete kept shoving cigars in my hands being extra sure i had one lit at all times. It was like meeting the Tiger Woods of Cigars, or at least that's how i felt; but only for a minute. Pete's just an average guy who really, REALLY knows cigars. he seems to be enjoying himself and al the travel and he's got some great stories. Besides buying a box of Red Hermosas and getting all the freebies, Pete signed 2 of my boxes.
I also got some SWAG for the wife. I'm super pumped about that, for obvious reasons.
To keep with cigars, i stopped by this little b&m in Winchester, VA. Not a huge selection, but this guy had several lines that were very new; this was the first i'd seen of them. Only a few us hear on BOTL have seen this stuff in b&ms. LFD III, Mi Barrio, AVO LE 08, and my personal favorite, La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial. I picked up a few of those and couldn't resist lighting one up on my drive home yesterday. I love it!
I spent Saturday at a camp ground with my family and some friends. Had a nice relaxing time, got drunk, smoked some good cigars; Tat red corona gorda, Tabacos Baez toro, Tat Verocu West side, and another i can't remember.
Sunday and Monday were spent with more relaxing at home. SMoked a few more good cigars and enjoyed doing pretty much nothing.
On Tuesday however, i played the esteemed Oakmont Country Club in PA.
What a day. The place is unbelievable. I saw the spike marks from the old spiked shoes that had left there 100 + years worth of marks on the benches in the locker room. I showered where all the greats of golf have showered. I sat at the bar that so many of those greats have surely sat at. I ate lunch on the verandah as many of them have. and of course, i marveled at the golf course that each of them has played and endured just as i did. Thank God i played well, because had i not, it would have been a long, long day. To sum up the philosphy of this golf course, if you hit it 10 feet off the intended area (fairway or green) then 9 times out of 10 you'll be in a sandtrap. The arcitect was a firm believer that you should be penalized for an errant shot, and penalized you are. There are over 200 bunkers on teh course, adn the church pews only count as one. I hit 11 shots out of 8 bunkers...do the math on that, i know, it doesn't add up. Despite my 11 bunker shots, i managed to hit plenty of good ones.
Going into the day i said i'd be happy if i broke 85. I'm happy. I shot 79.
3 double bogeys
4 bogeys
9 pars
2 birdies
Highlights:
Birdies on #4 and #18...what a way to finish.
Hole out from the sand on #2 for a par
Drove over the church pews on #2 and #3. THey never came into play for me....thank God. Those things are crazy huge. Look for the golf ball and the rake in these pictures for a reference of how big they are. And keep in mind that these are 150-210 yards from the green straight up a club and a half hill.
My putter was on fire. I must have made 10 putts that were 10 feet or longer. It certainly didn't hurt that i had a great caddie who was right on with every read. All i had to do was hit it where he told me to and get it to the hole. if i did that, it went in. I swear i could shave 5 strokes off my game with a full time caddie.
Hole #1 may be the most impossible hole i've ever played. I hit a great drive that had a little fade. it landed in the fairway and rolled into a bunker. it was on the face of that bunker so i had to chip out sideways into the fairway. i had 195 left; all downhill. my objective was to hit it 160 and let it roll to the green, which slopes severly front to back, away from you. I hung it out to dry with a huge push/cut that ended up about pin high about 30 yards off the green. I then played a beautiful flop shot that landed exactly where i wanted it to, 15 feet right of the hole that i hoped would trickle down the sloping green to the hole. it trickled all right; all the way to the back of the green, 30 feet passed the hole. So in essence i hit a soft flop shot that landed on the green and then rolled 45 feet. my caddie sincerely said it was a great shot. 2 putted from 30 feet for a double.
Hole #8 is the crazy long par 3...288 from the tips, about 245 for us. I hit a smooth 2 iron and was 15 yards short of the green. Fortunately i chipped close for a tap in par. However, the par 3 sixth is much tougher. It was about 180 for us with a narrow green surrounded by 2 deep bunkers and everything else was deep heather. From the tips its 194 and looks absolutely impossible. Very intimidating.
I could go on and on, but i'd bore you to death.
Let's just say that Oakmont doesn't suck, and neither does playing with a caddie. I played with Tom Usher; he has memberships at Muirfield, Oakmont and Augusta, just to name a few. His other memberships are at courses of equal caliber. When asked where he played last week his answer was Muirfield and Double Eagle both in Columbus, OH, and Augusta. A very nice guy indeed.
I got to meet Pete Johnson and hung out with just he, Dan Welsh from New Havana, Dan's brother and another fella, matt, from Akron. Hung out for about 3 hours. Dan and Pete kept shoving cigars in my hands being extra sure i had one lit at all times. It was like meeting the Tiger Woods of Cigars, or at least that's how i felt; but only for a minute. Pete's just an average guy who really, REALLY knows cigars. he seems to be enjoying himself and al the travel and he's got some great stories. Besides buying a box of Red Hermosas and getting all the freebies, Pete signed 2 of my boxes.
I also got some SWAG for the wife. I'm super pumped about that, for obvious reasons.
To keep with cigars, i stopped by this little b&m in Winchester, VA. Not a huge selection, but this guy had several lines that were very new; this was the first i'd seen of them. Only a few us hear on BOTL have seen this stuff in b&ms. LFD III, Mi Barrio, AVO LE 08, and my personal favorite, La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial. I picked up a few of those and couldn't resist lighting one up on my drive home yesterday. I love it!
I spent Saturday at a camp ground with my family and some friends. Had a nice relaxing time, got drunk, smoked some good cigars; Tat red corona gorda, Tabacos Baez toro, Tat Verocu West side, and another i can't remember.
Sunday and Monday were spent with more relaxing at home. SMoked a few more good cigars and enjoyed doing pretty much nothing.
On Tuesday however, i played the esteemed Oakmont Country Club in PA.
What a day. The place is unbelievable. I saw the spike marks from the old spiked shoes that had left there 100 + years worth of marks on the benches in the locker room. I showered where all the greats of golf have showered. I sat at the bar that so many of those greats have surely sat at. I ate lunch on the verandah as many of them have. and of course, i marveled at the golf course that each of them has played and endured just as i did. Thank God i played well, because had i not, it would have been a long, long day. To sum up the philosphy of this golf course, if you hit it 10 feet off the intended area (fairway or green) then 9 times out of 10 you'll be in a sandtrap. The arcitect was a firm believer that you should be penalized for an errant shot, and penalized you are. There are over 200 bunkers on teh course, adn the church pews only count as one. I hit 11 shots out of 8 bunkers...do the math on that, i know, it doesn't add up. Despite my 11 bunker shots, i managed to hit plenty of good ones.
Going into the day i said i'd be happy if i broke 85. I'm happy. I shot 79.
3 double bogeys
4 bogeys
9 pars
2 birdies
Highlights:
Birdies on #4 and #18...what a way to finish.
Hole out from the sand on #2 for a par
Drove over the church pews on #2 and #3. THey never came into play for me....thank God. Those things are crazy huge. Look for the golf ball and the rake in these pictures for a reference of how big they are. And keep in mind that these are 150-210 yards from the green straight up a club and a half hill.
My putter was on fire. I must have made 10 putts that were 10 feet or longer. It certainly didn't hurt that i had a great caddie who was right on with every read. All i had to do was hit it where he told me to and get it to the hole. if i did that, it went in. I swear i could shave 5 strokes off my game with a full time caddie.
Hole #1 may be the most impossible hole i've ever played. I hit a great drive that had a little fade. it landed in the fairway and rolled into a bunker. it was on the face of that bunker so i had to chip out sideways into the fairway. i had 195 left; all downhill. my objective was to hit it 160 and let it roll to the green, which slopes severly front to back, away from you. I hung it out to dry with a huge push/cut that ended up about pin high about 30 yards off the green. I then played a beautiful flop shot that landed exactly where i wanted it to, 15 feet right of the hole that i hoped would trickle down the sloping green to the hole. it trickled all right; all the way to the back of the green, 30 feet passed the hole. So in essence i hit a soft flop shot that landed on the green and then rolled 45 feet. my caddie sincerely said it was a great shot. 2 putted from 30 feet for a double.
Hole #8 is the crazy long par 3...288 from the tips, about 245 for us. I hit a smooth 2 iron and was 15 yards short of the green. Fortunately i chipped close for a tap in par. However, the par 3 sixth is much tougher. It was about 180 for us with a narrow green surrounded by 2 deep bunkers and everything else was deep heather. From the tips its 194 and looks absolutely impossible. Very intimidating.
I could go on and on, but i'd bore you to death.
Let's just say that Oakmont doesn't suck, and neither does playing with a caddie. I played with Tom Usher; he has memberships at Muirfield, Oakmont and Augusta, just to name a few. His other memberships are at courses of equal caliber. When asked where he played last week his answer was Muirfield and Double Eagle both in Columbus, OH, and Augusta. A very nice guy indeed.
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