The Putter stays!!!!

[Mike_Golden]

After an interesting, fascinating weekend of back and forth play, the King's Putter remains in SoCal.  The final score of 9 1/2-9 1/2, forged when Evan Fleisher flopped a pitch shot into the hole for birdie #18 to top Jeff Goldman 1-up, means the putter will be on its way back home with Captain Jeff Fortson tonight.  Made even more remarkable was that just before Evan hit this shot, it is reported that Bob Huntley commented, 'he's f**ked' to Jeff Goldman.

The shot highlight of the weekend, however, belongs to Panhandle Bill 'Ace' McBride, who cut a driver into the hole on the 205 yard par 3 16th hole at Stevinson Ranch, his first hole in one in 50 years of playing.  A truly remarkable shot, particularly since the hole was playing into a 20 mph quartering head wind from left to right.

The award for dedication no doubt belongs to David Moriarity, who drove up Saturday morning from LA (over 300 miles), arrived in time for the morning round, played in the afternoon, and drove back home (and maybe even stopped for a quick 9 at Rustic Canyon).

I'm sure others will chime in with their own comments but it was a wonderful weekend of golf, humor, cowboy poetry, and camaraderie.  Oh, and some really, really good Oregon Pinot Noir donated by Peter Pittock.

[A_Clay_Man]

Exciting stuff! Thanx.

But... How was the course received?

[Joel_Stewart]

I agree that the highlight was Bill getting his first ace and then happily paying the tab for our drinks, congratulations.  He's off to Pasatiempo on Monday and Cypress Point on Tuesday for a reward.

The dinner on Saturday was classic, hard core golfers joining the locals (mostly ranchers and farmers) for a BBQ dinner and cowboy poetry which was really a form of story telling.

The great thing about this event is we all know each other by the internet and an occasional round of golf.  The get together is like a family reunion, very warm and generous.

Who in Southern California is going to organize the event next year?   Is Las Vegas a potential site?

[Jeff Goldman]

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

[Mike Benham]

Quote of the weekend from Gib, "We lost the King's Putter to a guy who ran out of golf balls ..."

[THuckaby2]

I think it is safe to say a great time was had by all.  I know I sit here with every ounce of my soul and my liver completely exhausted.  As for next year, it was pretty unanimous that we go to Apache Stronghold - great course, not that tough to get to, great prices.  But the tradition is that SoCal "hosts" next year so the final decision is up to them... that is, up to whoever takes this ball and runs with it!

But yes, all hail and glory and laud to the "victors", if you can call them that after a halved match.  It did indeed end up 9.5 - 9.5.  Exact details were:

Sat am - Partners Hi-Lo

Fortson/Moriarty (ROW) halved with Huckaby/Tennyson (NC)
note - I am rather proud of the 4 foot putt I made to save the half in this match.  I will never admit that it was for an 8.  You can never get that out of me.  I didn't write that.
VanderBorgth/Perches (ROW) def. Benham/Pieracci (NC)
Duran/Golden (ROW) def. Papazian/Humphrey (NC)
Huntley/Getka (NC) def. Pittock/Hutto (ROW)
Fleisher/Thomas (ROW) def. McBride/Goldman (NC)

score ROW 3.5, NC 1.5

Sat pm - Modified Chapman

Benham/Humphrey (NC) def. Fortson/Moriarty (ROW) 5&4
Pieracci/McBride (NC)  def. Duran/Fleisher (ROW) 1up
Huckaby/Getka (NC) def. VanderBorght/Hutto (ROW) 2&1
Perches/Thomas (ROW) def. Papazian/Huntley (NC) 1up
Golden/Pittock (ROW) def. Tennyson/Goldman (NC) 3&2

Score stood at ROW 5.5, NC 4.5

Sun am singles:

Pieracci (NC) def. Golden (ROW) 4&3

Huckaby (NC) def. Duran (ROW) 4&2
Thomas (ROW) def. Ace McBride (NC) 8&7

Pittock (ROW) def. Getka (NC) score unk.
Papazian (NC) def. VanderBorght (ROW) score unk.

Fleisher (ROW) def. Goldman (NC) 1up
Huntley (NC) def. Hutto (ROW) 3&2

Fortson (ROW) def. Benham (NC) score unk.
Stewart (NC) def. Perches (ROW) score unk.

Thus the final was 9.5 to 9.5.  Yep, Fleisher's pitch-in won the Putter.  If that misses by an inch, Goldamn calmly two-putts, the match is halved, and we have that extra half point we so desparately needed.  Evan is either not invited next year, or I find a way to get him on a NorCal team.  Evan, come on, you love it out here, right?  

I must say also I witnessed McBride's ace and I am neither lying nor exaggerating when I say it was the single most perfect shot I have ever seen in my 30+ years of golf.  205 over water, into the wind... the only way to do it was to cut it along the fairway grass on the left, let the spin take it in... which is exactly what the shot did, and it died in the hole.  Apologies to Paul Thomas for smashing his sunglasses in the post-shot revelry.  We were going nuts.  Good lord, what a golf shot.

So OK, how was the course received?  Generally well, I think.  There is a lot of fun to be had at Stevinson.  BUT... there is a lot of severe rough, some very oddly placed.  #11 has the poster-tree for the stupid tree concept.  All in all, it is a great course, but what, did you expect this group to just fawn over it?  We can't even agree on Cypress freakin' Point.

 

[Doug Wright]

Congratulations Bill!

Best,

[John Keenan]

Will we be seeing any pictures of this tradition like no other?

[THuckaby2]

John - well let's just say a LOT of pictures were taken, that's for sure.  Quite a few of the participants, and picture-takers, are out playing golf today, tomorrow, Wed... I'm sure before too long photos will be posted.

Just remember the camera adds 20 pounds.

 

[Mike Benham]

I have more, even some of the golf course ... quite a few folks are still golfing/travelling today so comments might be a bit sparse ... and some of us have work to do ...

[THuckaby2]

Well now that came out quite nicely - thanks, Mike.

ID'ing the players...

left to right
row one sitting

Gib Papazian, Ace Mcbride, Ed Getka, the devilishly handsome Tom Huckaby, Peter Pittock

row 2
Paul Thomas standing, then Lou Duran, Mike Golden, Mike Benham, Bob Huntley, that rat bastard Evan Fleisher  

row 3
Steve Pieracci standing, then Joel Stewart, Jeff Goldman sitting

Row 4
THE Dan King, Joe Perches, Jeff Fortson with the victory cigar, holding the Putter he better not get too used to keeping.

[RJ_Daley]

Wild Bill, super congratulations!!!

With Evan and Jeff living relatively close here in IlliIowasin, I'm sure that Evan will find a way to give Jeff a rematch this summer. Perhaps I could referee.

Somehow, I can't picture either of those fellows sitting around a campfire in cowboy hats, wearing pointy toed snake skin cowboy boots waxing poetic on last fall's round-up in the Chicago stockyards.  Or maybe it was a sequel to "City Slickers-Maxwell Street Days"  Might Uncle Boab have played the role of Jack Palance's Curly, "there's just one thing" - in golf.

Did Mr King just shine his putter all weekend? :-/

Nice to see you lads having FUN!  

[Mike_Golden]

Dick,

The cowboy poetry was undoubtedly the high point of the weekend.  Seeing a bunch of California farmers dressed in their cowboy best was just too funny.  Of course, when they started singing songs about killing the Redman and taking his land (I didn't stay, but Jeff Fortson did until he heard that) might have been a little over the top.

I managed to come up with a short poem in the cowboy mode that seemed pretty true to the theme:

I backed up my truck
Ran over a duck
What the f**k!!!

[Scott_Burroughs]

Just remember the camera adds 20 pounds.

How many cameras are actually ON you?


 


Someone tell Gib to lighten up a bit...

The King doesn't look too happy about his putter staying in SoCal.

[THuckaby2]

 

I have never felt so crestfallen as having to report our "loss" to our leader, who had driven all the way the hell out to Stevinson just to hang with us for a few hours, assuming he would take home his Putter.  My captaincy was an abject failure.  Dan has every right to appear displeased.

 

As for Cowboy Poetry, I had a feeling you guys would get a kick out of that.  But I was also wise to make sure we had that separate meeting room, no?

 

[Mike Benham]

Huckaby is to shy to mention that he was persuaded to take the mike a spit forth a short poem he had prepared for the Cowboy Poetry portion of the evening's entertainment ...

[JohnV]

I wish I could have stayed for the awards ceremony, but I wanted to get back to Roseville and spend some time with my dad.  Great seeing everyone.

For the record, Gib drummed me 7 and 5.

[Gib_Papazian]

Gentlemen,

I hope it will not be considered too presumptuous to have blurted out the suggestion of Apache Stronghold for next year. It seems to qualify as an ideal destination because:

#1. Not everyone has seen it.
#2. It is a bonafide *Hidden Gem.*
#3. The course has a pedigree.
#4. Architecturally, it is a wonderful match play layout.
#5. It is not crowded so we can play 36 holes or more.
#6. There is a chance we can lure the architect there to play.
#7. For discussion purposes, there are a few controversial holes (#10).
#8. Phoenix airport is convenient from all points on the compass.
#9. Plenty to do apres' flog.
#10. So cheap that everyone can easily afford it.

The motel on the property was $39 for us (two years ago) and included breakfast and dinner with four drink coupons. The facility is located on an Indian Reservation with a casino. The food is better than decent and Pocahontas behind the bar doesn't know nor care about the difference between good booze and well crap. The prices are all the same.

If you think Cowboy Poetry is something to see, try a gaggle of little old ladies playing the slots, chain smoking with an oxygen tank and a hose shoved up their noses.

Attached to the casino is a spacious theatre where cheesy lounge acts, desperately hoping for a gig in Vegas, butcher 1970's Top 40 crap that sounds even worse than the original.

In other words, all the elements of an epic gathering. *Our* kind of place, I promise you.

If you fly into Phoenix the day before, Talking Stick North is an essay on how to build a stellar course on a dead flat piece of land.

I might also point out that Apache Stronghold has some of the most imaginative greens I have ever seen. I have few REAL quarrels with the GD Best in State rankings, but that Apache Stronghold is not in the Arizona Top-25 frankly astonishes me. I can think of 10 courses on the list (IMNSHO) that are not even in the same league as Apache.    

[Gib_Papazian]

And for the record, John obviously did not have his mind on the match. If he had played like he did the day before (2 under on the back side in the wind), I would have gotten bitch-slapped 7-6.

As for a thread on Stevinson, I think we wait a few days until the rest of the gang has returned home. Obviously, I am the president of the Stevinson Ranch Fan Club, but the rough lines they recently grew for a qualifier and those two trees on #10 & #11 are gutter puke.

The cabbage in the grass bunkers has been left to grow in part because of the weather, but it ruined some of the strategies and really detracted from the Stevinson Ranch I know and love.

Of course, I mentioned some of this to the owner, who is a friend from Olympic. When we start a thread, I'll send off the comments to him. Believe me, George Kelley is an insightful man who listens.

[Jeff Goldman]

True about Bob.




Birdied 8 and 15 at Pasa today.

[Dan King]

RJ_Daley writes:
Did Mr King just shine his putter all weekend? :-/

The weekend didn't work out well for me. Much to my regret
I'm a working man now. After a couple weeks in the wilds of
Paraguay it didn't seem right to then take off Masters
weekend. So I didn't play, I just drove from home that
morning to be on hand for the drinking, smoking and cursing.

Thanks to Pete for supplying the Pinot Noir.

Scott_Burroughs writes:
The King doesn't look too happy about his putter staying in SoCal.

I'm not. I can't believe that heathen Moriarty is going to have
 it another year and be able to do all sorts of unimaginable,
 liberal, weirdness to my putter.

But in the picture I was just trying to look tall -- not an easy
thing for someone with a round figure like mine. I figured I
was just standing in until someone could photoshop John
 Vander Borght into that spot. That's why I'm in the back
 (not because I'm smoking a cigar) so with PhotoShop they
 can make it look like he was standing one step below me.

I even left some room between myself and Joe in case
 someone wants to drop Moriarty in there (though I can't
 think of a reason anyone would want to do that.)

We didn't lose the putter. Some genius agreed that in the
 case of a tie the putter would go to who had it in their
 possession, which at the time was NorCal's very own Ed
 Getka. For some strange reason the putter got handed over
 to socal. I don't know why.

In a previous post, DMoriarty wrote:
Like many fresh to Southern California, K.P. was attracted to the magic of Hollywood.  K.P. became a consultant on Sideways, but quit in protest after the producers refused to film all the golf scenes at a course more representative of the classic California style.  The cast and crew were so impressed with K.P.'s backbone, they had a picnic in his honor and drank more than a few Southern California Pinot's in his honor . . .

While watching Sideways I kept wondering when they
were going to actually drive up to the wine country. I
 couldn't figure out why they were hanging out in Santa
 Barbara for so long. It took me until the end of the movie to
 realize they thought Santa Barbara has a wine country. I
 laughed.

Cheers,
Dan King

The women I've known I wouldn't let tie my shoe
They wouldn't give you the time of day
But the slit eyed lady knocked me off my feet
God I was glad I found her
And if they had the words I could tell to you
to help you on the way down the road
I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats
'cause it's all been said before
Make the best out of the bad just laugh it off
You didn't have to come here anyway
So remember, every picture tells a story don't it
 --Rod Stewart/Ron Wood

[Andy_Lipschultz]

The facility is located on an Indian Reservation with a casino.

I was going to suggest La Purisima for next year (not halfway; but somewhat), but then I read the above.

Casino? I'm in.

[ed_getka]

Mucho thanks for Tom Huckaby for all the legwork he did in making this years event go off without a hitch.
 
 A few guys made it by the skin of their teeth for the opening round. Stevinson is not easy to find, even with mapquest.

Hats off to David Moriarty for his supreme effort to come up from SoCal, play 36 holes, and then drive right back home.

Some glorious shots were played over the weekend, with Ace McBride being the standout.

The course was a little tough along the edges due to the rain we've had this spring, and the grass bunkers were positively penal, but the super had the fairway and greens in great shape.

I will leave the course opinions to those who saw it for the first time this weekend. It is in my estimation the second best public access course (that costs less than $150) in NorCal, behind Pasatiempo.

It was cool to have the chance to talk to George Kelley about his creation. George routed the course himself, and had close to 20 architects come in to look at the property, including Tom Doak and Bill Coore among others before settling on Harbottle.  George wanted to codesign whatever the course ended up being. With the exception of #4 and #11, I think he did a great job teaming up with Harbottle.

It was a pleasure to meet Brent Hutto, Evan Fleisher, and Paul Thomas for the first time.

Condolences to John Bernhardt with the passing of his father. Hang in buddy, we're thinking of you.

[JohnV]

Many thanks to Tom and all the others who helped organize the KP IV.  Lots of fun and great to see everyone again.

Dan King, sorry I missed you.

The greens at Stevenson were as firm as any I've seen in a while, especially considering the amount of rain this year.  Wonderful job on maintenance.

[Doug Wright]

I hope it will not be considered too presumptuous to have blurted out the suggestion of Apache Stronghold for next year. It seems to qualify as an ideal destination because:


*****
In other words, all the elements of an epic gathering. *Our* kind of place, I promise you.

*****

I might also point out that Apache Stronghold has some of the most imaginative greens I have ever seen. I have few REAL quarrels with the GD Best in State rankings, but that Apache Stronghold is not in the Arizona Top-25 frankly astonishes me. I can think of 10 courses on the list (IMNSHO) that are not even in the same league as Apache.    

Gib,

All of the above you say is true and AS would make a great site for the KP V; BUT (and the reason I suspect it's not in the AZ top 25) the fairway conditions are really bad with no prospect of improvement unless they're torn up and redone. I played Apache Stronghold two years ago and again just 10 days ago and if anything the conditions are worse. This despite the hard work, diligence and care devoted to the course by Superintendent Ron Mahaffey, who is giving up the ghost and leaving, I suspect in frustration over the inability of the owners to devote the resources (human and $$) to fix the problem.

Believe me, I'm no green grass purist--far from it--and I had a great day of 36 holes at AS (for $68!!). The layout and greens are still as compelling as ever; however, the fairways are of the goat track variety and might offend some--of course far fewer of the GCA KP V crowd than mere golfing mortals... I fear that without Mr. Mahaffey around the whole place may be a mess in a year's time, so an advance visit early next year might be in order.

Best,