News:

Welcome to the Golf Club Atlas Discussion Group!

Each user is approved by the Golf Club Atlas editorial staff. For any new inquiries, please contact us.


Mac Plumart

  • Karma: +0/-0
2011---The Best Year of My Life
« on: November 12, 2011, 10:04:57 AM »
I wanted to put this post up and thank you guys for helping make 2011 the best year of my entire life.  Golf pulled me out of a tough place in my life and Golf Club Atlas played no small part in that.  

I won’t bore you will non-golf details, except to say my family had a wonderful 2011…business has never been better…and my health will never be what it was, but with the help of golf, I’m fine with that.

**FYI, I think I got all the major golfing items in this post in the correct time frame…however I may have made some mistakes…my apologies in advance if that occurred**

On the golf front, January was kicked off with the “Thaw Out”.  Due to a snow storm in Atlanta, Harbour Town and Penny Branch were cut out of the trip for me…but I was still able to check out Old South and Secession.  But more importantly, I got to see some great friends (all from GCA) and to meet some new GCA’ers as well.  What a way to kick the year off!!

From this...



To this...



In March, I snuck up to check out the “new” #2 with, you guessed it, some GCA’ers.  We also played #1, Southern Pines, and The Dormie.  And while we were there, we met up with even more GCA’ers who make their home in the Pinehurst area…and, yes, I’m insanely jealous of them!!

Master’s Week was NUTS!!  First off, a GCA’er from Chicago was in town, so we played some golf at The River Club…great time.  Darius Oliver was in Georgia for The Master’s, so  I worked it out so Chris Cupit could have a golf get together/meet and greet at Rivermont with Darius.  Some GCA’ers and some non-GCA’er golfing friends of mine took part in this…it was great fun.  After that, I hosted a group out at East Lake…and then high tailed it down to Seminole for a nice quick getaway (no GCA’ers at Seminole this time however).

Two weeks later, I was hosted at Sage Valley…by a GCA’er.  

A few days later, I played The Farm (barefooted for most of the round) with some GCA’ers.


(Worst round of my life...shot over 100...fell in a creek to add insult to injury   :'( )

Then in May…I was off to Scotland.  

Muirfield as a single…met two members at the turn and ended up finishing the round with them.  Great fun!

Renaissance as a single.  Met a GCA’er who works there…who invited my wife and I over to his house and to dinner with him and his wife.  Amazing generosity!!!  And a great time.

Then North Berwick and Old Musselburgh as a single.

Off to St. Andrews, where I met up with a GCA’er for a boondoggle to Crail Balcomie…which was set up by a GCA’er.  This was one of the great times of my life.

Then Jubilee and The Old Course.  And then I hightailed it to Askernish…what a great adventure that was.

A few weeks later, I day tripped it to Shinnecock due to an invite from a GCA’er whom I has down to East Lake the month prior.

In June, I set up a getaway to Rock Creek and, of course, a number of GCA’ers joined me on this adventure.  

July 4th weekend was the 5th Major at Dismal with a quick stop at Ballyneal and, of course, the focal point of that is getting together with one of my best friends and many other GCA’ers…including one who owns Dismal.

A few weeks later was my annual family retreat to Kiawah…and a few rounds at The Ocean Course.

And a few weeks after that I had business in NYC so I figured I’d hit Baltusrol, Tallgrass, NGLA, and Sebonack with some GCA’ers beforehand.

August was a “business trip” with clients to Dismal River and Ballyneal.

A few weeks later, I had business in Chicago…so why not hit Shoreacres and Old Elm?  

A friend and GCA’er invited me for a daytrip to the Honors a week or so after my Chicago business trip.  And later that weekend a GCA’er from Canada was swinging through my neck of the woods, so we met up with another GCA’er in Augusta for a round and then spent the weekend at Chechessee Creek.

September 12th I took part in the most unbelievable of all golf tournaments.  The East Lake Invitational.  I had the pleasure of getting two GCA’ers out there to round out my foursome.  All I can say about that experience was WOW!!!  I was dumbfounded by that experience and I am pumped for next year!!!!!!!

And that next weekend, I went to Dismal with someone who is technically a GCA’er...but isn’t a huge participant anymore.

A few weeks later, I had business in Indy…so I took the chance to hit Harrison Hills as a single.  Upon returning, I linked up with a GCA’er who was in Atlanta for the weekend and we hit East Lake together.

Then in October, I went to Bandon Dunes for a Golfweek retreat.

A few weeks later, a GCA’er from New York came down and we hit Rivermont (which he has subsequently joined as a national member) and East Lake.


Like I said, I post this to say “Thank you” to all of you guys….this experience on the day-to-day front has been amazing.  Talking golf all the time, learning new things, hearing different perspectives from people with the same passions…it is amazing!!  But beyond the day-to-day, it is even better.  The “Thaw Out”, 5th Major and other events that I’ve yet to get to (Dixie Cup, etc) set up times to actually meet one another and begin to have real and meaningful relationship with, again, people who share similar passions.  It is so incredible that I struggle to put into words how fortunate I feel to be part of this.

In addition to saying thanks, I also want to mention I’ve taken to heart the fact that golf has had such a meaningful impact on my life and I’m trying to share that joyful impact with others.  I’m involved with The First Tee, I’m a member of The National Amputee Golf Association, I’m involved with The East Lake Foundation, and I’m a supporter of The Tufts Archives.  

Furthermore, I see what takes places on the positive front from you guys and some of the people you are associated with…and that stuff spurs me on.  One item of specifc note on this front is, The Ben Cox event that Jim Colton did.  WOW!!

I’ll stop/shut up now…but as I look back on this year and think how bad 2008 was for me (most specifically on the physical front) I am humbled, amazed, awe-struck, and overwhelmed that a year this wonderful was even possible.  And you all are no small part of why something this wonderful is possible.  Thanks again!!


(I thought about deleting the detials of all the golfing rounds for fear it would be taken the wrong way...but I left it there because I feel this kind of stuff is how this website can be taken to the next level.  And that is by actually meeting the people who post rather than just post.  To me, it doesn't matter if we meet to play Old South...or Shinnecock...East Lake or Lane Creek...it is spending time with people with the same passions...who usually turn out to be great people).
« Last Edit: November 12, 2011, 11:57:04 AM by Mac Plumart »
Sportsman/Adventure loving golfer.

PCCraig

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2011, 10:08:39 AM »
WHATEVER Mac!  ::)







 ;D ;)

I'm just kidding...what a year!
H.P.S.

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2011, 10:12:37 AM »
Well done, hope you make it to the Burgh one day soon. As we used to say up here, you've got a friend in Pennsylvania.
Big drivers and hot balls are the product of golf course design that rewards the hit one far then hit one high strategy.  Shinny showed everyone how to take care of this whole technology dilemma. - Pat Brockwell, 6/24/04

Peter Pallotta

Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2011, 10:15:50 AM »
Mac - call me a dork, but I'm telling you - the first thing that came to my mind after reading your post was that great old line for The Beatles:

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"

Good for you, pal - putting out the good energy and getting it back pressed down and overflowing.

Peter

PThomas

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2011, 10:20:02 AM »
Mac - call me a dork, but I'm telling you - the first thing that came to my mind after reading your post was that great old line for The Beatles:

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make"


+1

Peter said it perfectly...you're a good guy Mac/i really enjoyed our game together
199 played, only Augusta National left to play!

Mac Plumart

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2011, 11:32:57 AM »
Thanks guys.

I felt I had to post this and highlight a lot of the good that comes not only through the game of golf, but from GCA.com.  I know sometimes there is non-sensicle arguing, fighting, ego clashes, clique-ish behavior and a few wild acts of stupidity that hurt the image of the site ...but the good that comes from it is worth wading through the non-sense.

Not in 2011, but I'll never forget Anthony Gray insisting he carry my bag for me at Holston Hills when I was struggling with pain issues.  Little things can identify clues into someone's character from time to time. 
Sportsman/Adventure loving golfer.

John Kavanaugh

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2011, 12:29:18 PM »
I could have sworn we met in 010.

Mac Plumart

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #7 on: November 12, 2011, 12:30:45 PM »
I could have sworn we met in 010.

My mistake...the title should read "2011---The Second Best Year of My Life"   :D
Sportsman/Adventure loving golfer.

Jud_T

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2011, 12:36:03 PM »
Mac,

What am I, chopped liver?  I must be the only GCA guy you DIDN'T play with this year!  Just kidding, and congrats on a phenomenal year.  You're the most consistently upbeat guy I've never met.
Golf is a game. We play it. Somewhere along the way we took the fun out of it and charged a premium to be punished.- - Ron Sirak

Mac Plumart

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2011, 12:46:40 PM »
Mac,

What am I, chopped liver?  I must be the only GCA guy you DIDN'T play with this year!  Just kidding, and congrats on a phenomenal year.  You're the most consistently upbeat guy I've never met.

Jud...Our paths may just cross in May of 2012 in Michigan.  You've been warned!!
Sportsman/Adventure loving golfer.

Michael George

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2011, 01:31:25 PM »
Really well said Mac.  You start on this site because you have a passion for golf course architecture.  However after a short time, you quickly learn how wonderful the people on this site are.  The generosity of people to welcome gca'ers to their clubs and into their lives never ceases to amaze me.  As I said after seeing the pictures of the Michael Whittaker dinner in NYC, I hope that I am lucky enough to make such wonderful friends after years of being involved on this site. 

Hopefully the weather holds up and we can add to that list.  Since you are the routing guy on the site, I may have to arrange a visit to Firestone S to see the worst routing ever for a good golf course.


"First come my wife and children.  Next comes my profession--the law. Finally, and never as a life in itself, comes golf" - Bob Jones

Ronald Montesano

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2011, 02:29:41 PM »
Jud,

He keeps promising to come up this way, too, so maybe we can have a crybabies "Never Played With Mac" event in 2012.
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Eric Smith

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2011, 02:43:30 PM »
MacRib,

Thanks for the post. A heckuva year for sure and a nice run down of the particulars, though you still have 45 days or so to REALLY round it out. Are you sure you can't slip in a trip to L.A. before the New Year? Direct flights from ATL! Nudge, nudge.. ;) ;)

My cameraman missed the mark on this one, (I had bunny ears held up behind your head before you turned around!) but still I think captures the spirit of our group on the first tee at Ballyneal. Great times!



Tiger_Bernhardt

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2011, 03:10:46 PM »
Mac, It warms my heart to hear people see the beauty i life. I hope 2012 is the best yet and it no doubt will be. cheers

JC Jones

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #14 on: November 12, 2011, 04:31:08 PM »
Fewer people are more generous than Mac. 

Even with all you got this year, Mac, it still doesn't match what you've given to others.  Here's to a great 2012!
I get it, you are mad at the world because you are an adult caddie and few people take you seriously.

Excellent spellers usually lack any vision or common sense.

I know plenty of courses that are in the red, and they are killing it.

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #15 on: November 12, 2011, 06:18:30 PM »
Really well said Mac.  You start on this site because you have a passion for golf course architecture.  However after a short time, you quickly learn how wonderful the people on this site are.  The generosity of people to welcome gca'ers to their clubs and into their lives never ceases to amaze me. 

Michael:

That isn't really about this site.  It's about the community of golf.  I have been a witness to it for thirty years, well before this site existed.

Ronald Montesano

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #16 on: November 12, 2011, 06:29:48 PM »
TD and Michael:

While it's not SOLELY about this site, it is important to concur with what MG wrote. Michael, I've only had the chance to play with Tim Martin and John Lyon on blind GCA dates, although we did receive an all-time assist from GCA for Ballyhack and Kinloch in 2010. I do concur, while at the same time, I trust what TD says about the golf community.
Coming in 2024
~Elmira Country Club
~Soaring Eagles
~Bonavista
~Indian Hills
~Maybe some more!!

Tom_Doak

  • Karma: +2/-1
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #17 on: November 12, 2011, 06:37:40 PM »
Tom. Yes but you are / were always destined to be in the golf industry - the golf community to which you refer is not accessible to everyone  - only if you achieve what you have in the golfing sphere or if you join GCA because you are crazy about golf architecture and hold the traditions of the game dear. This community is not to be found at your average golf club anywhere...but having said that, for folk like Mac and the rest of us who are not high profile figures in the golf world, you will not get the full benefits of GCA without truly engaging with your fellow participants - I can't think of any other forum that would enable an individual to get this close to the heartbeat of the golf industry without formally having a stake in it - I think this is what Mac is celebrating

You are not as close to the heartbeat of the golf industry as you think you are!

 If you were, you probably wouldn't use a term that connotes it having a heartbeat.

George Freeman

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2011, 06:51:59 PM »
Congrats Mac!
Mayhugh is my hero!!

"I love creating great golf courses.  I love shaping earth...it's a canvas." - Donald J. Trump

Tim Martin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #19 on: November 12, 2011, 06:52:39 PM »
Mac- Congrats on a spectacular year. It couldn`t happen to a better guy. I`m coming to East Lake in 2012 to collect on our wager if you can fit me into your schedule. I hope that 2012 makes 2011 look boring. :) 8)

Ben Sims

  • Karma: +1/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #20 on: November 12, 2011, 07:29:01 PM »
I mean this in a really kind way Mac.  Please laugh...

I want to punch you in the face so hard!   ;D

Keep the passion.  Never grow up. 

Bart Bradley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #21 on: November 12, 2011, 07:32:47 PM »
Mac:

Perhaps your great year started in late 2010 in Kiawah playing with me  :o.

Glad yours was a great year.  Nearly everyone who posts on this board can thank golf for making their life better.  I think that is why we all love it so much.  I am constantly amazed at the power of the game and the relationships made through it.  May God bless you with many more years like this past one.

Best wishes to all,

Bart

Joe Bausch

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #22 on: November 12, 2011, 07:43:39 PM »
Mac:

Perhaps your great year started in late 2010 in Kiawah playing with me  :o.


And I thought it was playing with me that time Bart!
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Andy Troeger

Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #23 on: November 12, 2011, 07:45:13 PM »
Good news Mac. You haven't been to New Mexico yet, so 2012 has the potential to be even better!

Colin Macqueen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: 2011---The Best Year of My Life
« Reply #24 on: November 12, 2011, 07:50:32 PM »
Mac,
Good, good, good, good vibrations a la Peter Pallotta. I bet you're so young you have to Google The Beatles and Beach Boys.

 May the good times keep flowing and I was honoured to have been a wee part of it in The Kingdom.

Aye yours,

Colin
"Golf, thou art a gentle sprite, I owe thee much"
The Hielander

Tags:
Tags:

An Error Has Occurred!

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()
Back