2011 Pictures of the Year Contest - Finalists Now Up

[Jordan Wall]

Benham's photo.  Those of you who've seen Cypress know how wonderful of a walk that is and to see it captured like so is quite extraordinary. 

[Matthew Mollica]

Benham - if for nothing else than the expression of love and respect it must be for a son to take such an image of his father.

[Tim Bert]

Benham - if for nothing else than the expression of love and respect it must be for a son to take such an image of his father.

Or more likely dad saying, " take a picture of me while I walk to the green or you'll never be invited to this course again..."

But it doesn't change the fact that it is the best of the finalists!  Can I vote twice?  It seems like someone would need to launch a lofty campaign to pull out of this early voting abyss into which the competitors have fallen.

[Mark McKeever]

Benham

[Tom Yost]

Some good stuff, very hard to choose.  I'll try to base my vote on good photographs, eliminating a few that are superb golf porn.

Honorable Mention: (#11) Colton marathon.

Runner Up: (#3) The Wedding Guest (Boonn)

Winner: (#6) The Fog (Benham)

[Bob_Huntley]

Benham in a landside.

Mike is a wizard with the camera; he took an action shot of me last week and you would have thought I could actually play the game.

Bob

[Ian Andrew]

Joshua - rich texture is so hard to accomplish

[Jud_T]

Colton easily

[Ash Towe]

Mike Benham

Followed by Brian Sheehy and Kevin Pallier in a tie.

[Kevin Pallier]

Mike B at CPC gets my vote.

I hear it was pretty windy that day and his 3W didn't land in a back bunker this time 

[Steve Salmen]

Mike B.  Fellow Giants fan.

[James Boon]

Sheehy's Shinny photo still does it for me!

I like Mike Benham's photo, but the guy himself has doctored it for his avatar so surely isnt too happy with it himself? 

Cheers,

James

[Terry Lavin]

I, too, like Benham's shot, but it also contains one of the worst features of any golf course.  I refer to the crutch holding up the cypress tree.  If it can't stand up on its own, a tree ought to be removed.  The tree in the photo may even be dead, which would be even sillier. Riviera has a bunch of these abominations, with metal poles holding up sycamore trees.  They even go to the extent of camouflage painting of the poles to make them blend in with the bark.  I say, "put them out of their misery."

[Michael George]

Terry:

You would cut down the "lone cypress" on 17 mile drive and say that it interfered with one of your shots on Pebble or Cypress.

Hope you are having a great holiday.

[Sven Nilsen]

Before the final votes are counted, thought I'd chime with the list of photos that were on the bottom of the list for nomination (all comments fully meant in jest, please don't take them personally):

1.  Three things I don't get, flash mobs, v-neck t-shirts and planking:



2.  Glad I saw this picture more than a half hour after lunch:



3.  The only thing worse than reading about bad golf is reading about bad college football teams [insert winking emoticon]*:



4.  Did I miss something here?  Playing all five Bethpage courses is pretty cool, but couldn't we find a better background for this shot than Grandpa's chess board?



5.  Sorry, but like the Stanley Cup this one should only be lofted by the winners:



6.  Thanks for spoiling one of my favorite places in the world of golf.  Don't think I'll be able to go anywhere near that back porch without subconsciously wondering who extinguished the fire.



*This is as close as you'll get to seeing me actually use one of those smiley face things.

[Pete_Pittock]

bend it like benham

[Tim Bert]

Sven - I can't help it if you have no artistic vision.

[Jud_T]

Sven - I can't help it if you have no artistic vision.

Or sense of humor...

[Sven Nilsen]

Congrats to Mike Benham.  PM will be sent to work out prize delivery details.

Thanks to all for the submissions.

[Ronald Montesano]

Sven, Sven, Sven...golf, chess, golf, chess...don't they have chess in Finwaydenland or wherever you live?

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven, Sven, Sven...golf, chess, golf, chess...don't they have chess in Finwaydenland or wherever you live?

Come on Ronald, you're better than that (and you can do better than that).  I'm surprised you didn't use the Swedish Chef voice when typing that post.

[Ronald Montesano]

A) I'm not better than that. I didn't even think of the Chef's voice;

B) I thought it was a pretty snazzy retort, but you can't be all things to all people;

C) I figured it was open season, since you cracked on the chess set, which is a pretty unique way to connect the chess game that is golf with the greatest 5-pack of courses on one site (Bandon doesn't count, as it only has 4 & 13/18ths) in the USA. I'll put it up against Mission Hills, too.

Above and beyond this silliness, your thread idea was an excellent one and I applaud you for it. The number of photos that were presented demonstrated yet another skill found on this DG. I can't promise that I will spend 2012 searching for the photo that will win the Second Annual Sven, but I certainly will set one aside if I think it has the right stuff.