Sub4 Hour Rounds at a GCA Outing!!!!!!!

[Mike_Golden]

Shivas, you lost your bet.  We played Mid Pines in 3:57 (behind a rather slow group) and Pine Needles in 3:50, all walking, new back tees on the par 5's and 3's, and a close match as well (Ed Galbavy and I squeaked out a 2 and 1 victory over Messrs. Benham and Trenham, who didn't bring any denim ).

In other early news, Ran Morrissett is not just a true gentleman-he's competitive as well, Ace McBride almost had another (3" above the hole on a 230 yard par 3 at Mid Pines), and Big Ed Galbavy hits it a long, long way-he shot 70 at Mid Pines Saturday morning.

[Brent Hutto]

If you think GCA outings are slow, Mike, you should have been at Tobacco Road today. There was a 36-man "tournament" squeezed in between the first three groups of Dixe Cup II and the rest of our outing. The next-to-last of their nine groups finished in just under 5-1/2 hours and then there was a full 20-minute gap between them and the final foursome. Ye Gods!

Ace McBride almost had another (3" above the hole on a 230 yard par 3 at Mid Pines)...

If I may, I'll rather immodestly point out that McBride passed on the "Ace" moniker this afternoon to its newest caretaker. He appeared to be greatly enjoying his cold beverage on my tab in the Tobacco Road clubhouse when everyone had finally finished their rounds.

[Dan King]

Mike Golden writes:
We played Mid Pines in 3:57 (behind a rather slow group) and Pine Needles in 3:50, all walking, new back tees on the par 5's and 3's, and a close match as well

Way to go guys. Just think if this sort of thing caught on.

Brent Ace Hutto writes:
If you think GCA outings are slow, Mike, you should have been at Tobacco Road today.

So much for it catching on.

He appeared to be greatly enjoying his cold beverage on my tab in the Tobacco Road clubhouse when everyone had finally finished their rounds.

Congratulations Ace. I'm gonna have a shot of Tequila and pretend it's from you. I'm taking a wee break from Scotch and Irish for a while and plowing my way through a bottle of Tres Generaciones Aņejo. I'm enjoying it.

Dan King

I used to play golf with a guy who cheated so badly that he once had
a hole in one and wrote down zero on his scorecard.
 --Bob Bruce

[PThomas]

Brent - since I played with you in CA (and I was also paired with Ace McBride when he got his), I hope I catch the hole-in-fevor since, alas, i have yet to bag my first

congrats!

[Kyle Harris]

Brent,

I heard there was a bit of a smack down placed on you yesterday.

Of course, when I get called from the tenth tee that Doug & Sean were 5 up...  

[JohnV]

We played Mid Pines in 3:57 (behind a rather slow group) and Pine Needles in 3:50, all walking, new back tees on the par 5's and 3's ).

Did they take everyone's cameras away?  

[Mike_Golden]

We played Mid Pines in 3:57 (behind a rather slow group) and Pine Needles in 3:50, all walking, new back tees on the par 5's and 3's ).

Did they take everyone's cameras away?  

John,

No cameras, cell phones, or beer  I can only guess what the interlopers at Tobacco Road had with them.

Brent,

Congrats on your Ace-was it on one of the holes described so eloquently by Forrest Fezler on Saturday night?

[Brent Hutto]

I heard there was a bit of a smack down placed on you yesterday.

Of course, when I get called from the tenth tee that Doug & Sean were 5 up...  

That was Saturday. It was a slow-motion nightmare smackdown, Kyle. In addition to the two rounds of Dixie Cup competition we played a five-way Nassau (four nine-hole matches plus the 36-hole one) with bits on Par 3's, sandies and barkies. We lost the morning Dixie Cup fourball 5-and-4, the afternoon Dixie Cup fourball 6-and-4, and lost all five ways in the Nassau.

Steve and I did great on the Par 3's and were ahead on the bits all day. On the next-to-last Par 3 Sean stiffed it and won two bits (carry over from previous).  Then on the last one (sixteenth at Pine Needles) I was the only one on the green. I made my par but Sean got up and down from the bunker to win a bit and ensure a push on the total bits so we didn't even win 25 cents back from our ten dollars.

A thoroughly discouraging day. I want Sean on my team next time. He's an up-and-down machine. I don't think he missed a five-footer for par all weekend.

[Brent Hutto]

Mike,

I went to bed early Saturday night (well, not early by my standards but early for a GCA outing) so I missed hearing from Forrest.

The sixth hole is the Par 3 with a bunch of tee boxes arrayed around the edge of a sandy waste area full of little bushes and even a mound with some trees on it. That green is a skinnny little wasp-waisted thing on the other edge of the sandbox and by combining tee boxes and pin positions you can get all kinds of funky distance/angle combinations with most of those shots ending up semi-blind because the bushes and stuff block your view of the portions of the green (usually including the base of the flag).

I was playing the "plow" tees and on Sunday they were using one of the center tee boxes about 117 yards from the center of the green. The hole was "front right" although whether it's more "front" or "right" depends on which tee box you're hitting from. I estimate that it was 103 yards straight-line from tee to hole although the yardage book is confusing on the matter. About a half-club breeze hurting and from the left. There was a bit of a backstop slope on the left and a slight slope behind the hole leading up to a bunker over the green. On the line of my shot the green depth is about 14-15 paces.

I wasn't real sure of the distance or my golf swing (I wasn't hitting it worth a crap all weekend) or the breeze so I choked down on an 8-iron and played a little 3/4-swing cut shot that is supposed to go just over 100 yards. I walked over to the other tee where Craig and Steve were hitting and we walked together up to the green. Both of them were in a bunker right of the green and there was a huge ballmark three yards short and two yards right of the hole.

I said "You know, my ball might be underground" but Craig thought it had bounced into the back bunker. He checked the bunker and I checked the cup. I had guessed right, it was in the hole with a mud stain on it from pitching onto the green. Handshakes, high fives and Steve took my picture standing next to the flag after pulling the ball out.

[Evan Fleisher]

Brent,

You dog!!!

Way to go, my man!  I think that Paul is right...hopefully other GCA'rs who have played with you recently are next in line.  I'm still waiting for my first as well!

[THuckaby2]

Brent - since I played with you in CA (and I was also paired with Ace McBride when he got his), I hope I catch the hole-in-fevor since, alas, i have yet to bag my first

congrats!

Don't forget who else had both of those things occur in CA, Paul... so does that mean I too might catch this fever?

Nah.  I'm convinced the golf gods hate me.

In any event, way to go Brent.  

I'm a poet and I know it.  

As for rounds being played at normal quick pace at GCA events, hell I was on record as saying where there's a will there's a way.  These guys had the will.

TH

[PThomas]

Huck - does that mean you are a hole-in-one virgin as well?

[THuckaby2]

Huck - does that mean you are a hole-in-one virgin as well?

Absolutely.  I've done everything but make an ace.  Holed out many times on par 4s, made many many eagles on par 5s... just never holed a tee shot on a par three hole.  I've hit the stick, had a few hang on the lip and/or lip out, you know the drill.

 

[Craig Van Egmond]

I don't know which one is more rare: the ace or the sub 4 hour GCA round.  


Congrats on the ace!!

[Pete Buczkowski]

Did they take everyone's cameras away?  

Patience  ...I am on a ride out crew for the storm but will post a update thread later today...needless to say the weather was nicer in Pinehurst this weekend than in Florida today!

[Lou_Duran]

Congratulations Brent.  Some pics and commentary of the shot must be provided.

As to the sub four hour round, that's only partially surprising.  I wasn't there with my notepad and camera, and Barney and I were not the lead group in the midst of a match to the death.  I also suspect that the greens and rough were not nearly as demanding as at Cuscowilla and Barona.

[Mike_Golden]

Shivas, you lost your bet.  We played Mid Pines in 3:57 (behind a rather slow group) and Pine Needles in 3:50, all walking

Factoring in the obligatory 10-15 minute fudge factor that everybody says they play in, it sounds to me like I actuall won!  

Shivas,

On Saturday morning we teed off Mid Pines at 8:20, waited most of the front 9 for the group in front of us until the pro told them to move faster, and finished at 12:17, then hustled over to Pine Needles, grabbed a hot dog, waited for our clubs to arrive, and tee off at about 1:05 (15 minutes later than our tee time).  We finished at about 4:55.

There was no fudging here and we didn't play particularly fast, especially in the afternoon because we were kind of tired and the match was close.  I repeat, no fudging.  

[Wayne_Kozun]

Factoring in the obligatory 10-15 minute fudge factor that everybody says they play in, it sounds to me like I actuall won!  

Not true!  We had 4:30 between tee times at Mid-Pines and Pine Needles.  It took about ten minutes from the time we got off 18 at MP and made it over to PN.  Everyone grabbed a quick lunch and made their tee times at PN so the sub 4 hour round was indeed accomplished.

[RJ_Daley]

Brent, way to go.  I think it is particularly fun to have had your first ace on such a unique hole.  No garden variety - ho hum ace for you!

I am in Huck's boat...  innocent and virginal.