I can hear the wheels whirring in Tennessee.......
This should be interesting, George, have fun!
When and how did you start playing golf?
Have you played Oakmont yet?
What did you think of #16 at Black Mesa? (aka "Stairway to the Stars")
As I mentioned to Mac, I started playing 14 years ago (in '96, just before Tiger won his 3rd Am, but I really didn't know who he was, so don't blame him...). I mostly played that summer at local mom and pop 9 holers (the kind of courses where "500 yard par 5s" are reachable with 2 5 irons
) and at my still home course, North Park Golf Course, a wonderful old muni north of Pittsburgh.
I've never really discussed my own experiences at Oakmont - don't know if anyone ever picked up on that in those threads - because I didn't want them to be a distraction. I've only played it once, a long long time ago, when I really shouldn't have, I wasn't nearly good enough. My love affair with the course really blossomed during the 2003 Amateur, when I walked the course every day from the first practice day to the final round with the swashbuckling Aussie and Casey Wittenberg. I was fortunate enough to meet a member that last day, and though I've had several invitations to play since, life has conspired to prevent me from joining him. It's probably for the best, though, as I don't have the game to play it right now. It's not a course you can really enjoy when you are a very sporadic golfer like me. I haven't played anywhere in about 18 months now.
The 16th at Black Mesa? Wow, that's a tough one for me to answer honestly... I can't say I much cared for it, mostly because the tee shot seemed way too difficult for most to find any sort of reasonable result. I may have been one of the few golfers that day that really liked the green, however. Or maybe a lot did and my memory is just fuzzy... My feelings for Black Mesa always seem to draw out criticism from others - mostly Matt! - but I did enjoy the course very much. More to follow in my response to Garland.
My experiences with Bill McBride - One of my very favorite people I've met on this site. Warm in a very genuine way. I've been fortunate enough to tee it up twice with Bill down in Florida, as my wife's sister lives in Pensacola and we've visited her a couple times. Those were two highly enjoyable rounds, let me tell you, I highly recommend looking Bill up if you find yourself down there. The first time, we were playing with Mike Golden and Bill's son (David? apologies for not remembering). I felt sorry for Mike, as he was teamed with me, and I'm not a dream partner for any good golfer. But Bill's son said to me at one point, how many posts do you have on gca? I said, I think around 3,000 which at the time, put me around 11th or so on the list. Bill said with a grin, that's not something to be proud of...
Have you looked at our respective totals lately, Bill?
Thanks for being a good friend.