The Putter stays!!!!

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Guys check the picture from Barona and Rustic as well as Pasa. I thought the nation was well represented and there were 40ish golfers. I think this year was an aberation and low mostly because of location. That is not about the course just the general location for an okish to good course in many eyes.

[PThomas]

#1. thanks to Huck for all his hard work....now his captaincy and now-infamous "I've got a good feeling about tomorrow" quote on Saturday nite are another story

#2 Tom -- please tell me how I can hurt my hand like you did, so I can play as well as you!!

#3 as others have said, Stevinson is a fine course which is not easy in the wind and some of the long stuff should be trimmed

#4 I have never had a hole in one either

#5 what a shot by Ace McBride...an ace on that hole into that wind...unbelievable!!!

#6 I had foolishly felt that Demarco (sp?) would win, and bet Mr. Getka $1 on it happening, so I'm sure Ed will forward a bit of that to Tiger....

#7 finally and most importantly, I had a GREAT time!!!  so cool finally meeting some of you  and enjoying your company

I look forward to next year's KP

[DMoriarty]

I agree with JohnB regarding the number of participants, last year I think we had something like 44 at RC, which was 4 more than the size allotted by the course.  I seem to recall the spots being scarce at Barona as well.  

[Gib_Papazian]

Well well, my nifty G-5 did not properly post my wink at Moriarty, nor my tongue out at Jakab.

So, for those who were offended . . . . . well, I meant every word, just in a humorous way.

[Mike Benham]

Where the hell is Tommy?

One of the conflicts that we had in scheduling, if I recall, was a GW rater meeting this week ... that being said, no matter when you schedule or where, so people will make it, or some people won't.

I think I remember this line from a movie ... Plan it and they will come ...

[Evan Fleisher]

Where the hell is Tommy?

One of the conflicts that we had in scheduling, if I recall, was a GW rater meeting this week ... that being said, no matter when you schedule or where, so people will make it, or some people won't.

I think I remember this line from a movie ... Plan it and they will come ...

Actually Mike, the movie quote is ... Is this heaven? No, it's Southern California...

[THuckaby2]

Regarding attendance, here's how it's gone:

1. 2002 Barona - we had 36, and not all played both days.  I'm looking right at my pairings sheet.  It was a new course, everyone wanted to see it, and it was also a new concept.  Thus it drew people from far and wide.

2. 2003 Pasatiempo: we had 28 for Pasa, only 21 for Pajaro.  Again I have the pairings sheets right here.  Obviously Pasa was a draw, but see what happens when we go to a more "unsung" course... all of a sudden other plans come up.  Hey, no hassles, I thought the whole event was a great success.

3. 2004 Rustic:  David says we have 44 and I believe him - it was a hell of a crowd.  But of course that's due to the course... it is great, it is cheap, and most of all, it is talked about a LOT in here.  Rustic will always be a great draw for this crowd.  Hell do it there in 2006 and we'll likely top 40 again.  I for one would be all for it...

4. 2005 Stevinson:  we had 21 total players (some were Sat only, one was Sun only).  So equate this to Pajaro in 2003.  Hey as I say that was absolutely fine by me - I like the smaller groups.  But I also was never going to beg anyone to come.  The date was set well in advance... and was set when it was due to having little or no choice in the matter  - miscommunication resulted in us not booking it until far later than we had originally planned, and thus the initial dates we wanted were unvailable.  We took what we could get, and it all went quite well, I think.

So in the end, I don't think this year was either an aberration or that any segment was poorly represented.  If it's a talked-about familiar course, perhaps more people come. But you all tell me where and how we could have done it better or differently, to get more people involved, this time.  Pasa again?  Unfortunately, here in NorCal, we have a lot of heavy hitter courses for sure.... but in terms of doing an event somewhere great and frugal and logistically feasible, well... we just don't have the locations.  If it's gonna happen, it's gonna be in an outlying area like Stevinson... or up by Sacramento... or the likes.

In any case, I've always taken the tack that we plan these events and people either come or they don't.  Everyone has lives, and they have their priorities.

So for those concerned about this, well... just figure on big attendance in the even numbered years, lower attendance in the odd.

Hell both ways is great by me.  I can say without reservation that of all the KP's so far, I had the most pure FUN at this one... but what the hell, I do look at things differently.

TH

[Brent Hutto]

It may take a while to post photos and comments from my trip to the King's Putter IV (and a few very select other courses). I got home about 1:00AM eastern time this morning and I'm beat. I did get many, many ass-pics from the first day of KP-IV but need to sort through a whole memory chip of photos and set up a web page.

A couple comments from the actual event...

My scorecard for the singles match does not match Tom's posted results. I have the loss to Mr. Huntley as being 1-down rather than 3-and-2. By my card the match became tied when he had a 3-putt double on the sixteenth ('twas a pity, that) then he went 1-up on seventeen. We had putts on eighteen (in the immediate aftermath of Evan miracle chip-in) that could have resulted in a half point. He made his from six feet and my "must make" from three and a half was a horrendous decellerating yip job. But a loss is a loss no matter the margin. The little putt on sixteen was the only thing Bob missed all day and my putting wasn't up to that kind of competition.

The King's Putter competition was worth it if for no other reason for the chance to play John VanderBorght's drives for eighteen holes in the Modified Chapman round. The course looks a lot different hitting short irons into greens all day. It was also worth it to see him play my tee shots. I'd poot my little 200-yarder out there leaving 175 to the hole. He'd take a glance at the ball and just swat it with a 7-iron or something instead of the 3-wood I'd be using if I had to play it. Too bad the scoring in the match was pretty much all from the big guy, I didn't contribute on very many holes.

I wonder how many GCA guys could make a seven (or an eight or a nine) after Gene Littler's first three shots on that hole at Pine Valley. Sometimes a seven ain't a bad score--plus I believe he broke eighty for the round anyway.

Bill McBride has interesting taste in Par 3's. I would not have picked the sixteenth in a betting pool for first hole-in-one of the weekend. Also, the 20-something men of KP-IV are real wimps when it comes to making him pay for drinks. I think the tab was well down in the two-digit range including tip. Pikers.

Pittock brings not only a bunch of Pinot but a whole case of nice (huge) wine glasses to drink it from. Hey Pete, where'd you have room in the car for golf clubs and clothes? The finest contribution of the evening, IMO.

The push carts at Stevinson Ranch are very nice. On the whole, I'd prefer they have a couple dozen crummy pull carts than the one (or two?) nice three-wheelers that we had to pass around from round to round.

[THuckaby2]

Brent - can't wait to see your pics.  

As for the score of your match, hey I just wrote down what was reported to me.  But consider it corrected for the archives.  And that modified chapman was fun, huh?  I really enjoy stuff like that... we ought to do that every year.

In any event, I am also VERY interested in a summary of your experiences... particularly the last three days after you left us at Stevinson.... but one does need time to decompress.  In any case, it's good to read you are alive and well and safely back home.

Hope to see all you blokes at the Dixie Cup in November.  The wheels are in motion for that even as we speak.

TH

[Lou_Duran]

Yeah, Huckster, I am sure it was loads of fun beating up on little sissies like me.  All kidding aside, it was a very good KP, perhaps second on my list behind the first at Barona.

The course at Stevinson Ranch was much more than I expected.  Even from the blue tees, the third set, it was extremely challenging under the prevailing weather conditions.  The course allows one to play very aggresively or timidly.  It has considerable variety and numerous opportunities for birdies or better.  With some forced carries over wetlands (savanah) and the extremely punishing high rough, some in the immediate lines of play, x is also likely to appear on the scorecard more than once.

GibP has already noted the course's shortcomings.  I can only add that the course would be more fun and playable if the primary rough was thinned, and not irrigated or fertilized for at least 10 yards on both sides of the fairway.  We looked for so many balls just on the margin of the first cut that it bogged things down.  Thin and whispy rough is much more attractive than the deep green, dense stuff that's currently out there.  I do understand that they've had a bunch of rain this year.

As to operations, I wish that the zeal and efficiency of the starters and marshals could have been shared with the staff in the dining room.  On the plus side, they certainly were much better to look at.  The lodging was very average, which is okay by me, but sleeping in a pull-out couch is not what I would term as double occupancy arrangements.  The conference room was also a disappointment, but that became less of an issue as Pete's fine wine began to take effect amd the BS flowed.

All-in-all, the KPIV was highly enjoyable even for those of us who played like dogs.  The unexpected appearances by Dan King and David Moriarty added continuity.  And once Mr. Huntley got on a roll on Saturday night after threatening to go to bed early, life was back as it should be.

Thanks for a job extremely well done Sir Thomas of Huckaby.  If the SoCal boys don't want to do the heavy lifting for next year, you get my vote.

 

 

[THuckaby2]

Lou - appreciate the sentiments and you summed it up well - I concur with all of it.  Well except the beating up on sissies part... I didn't play against any.  That is unless one equates ability to putt with manliness.

 

Re the accomodations, service, meeting room... well... I kinda knew it was gonna be this way, just figured the less said the better.  Didn't want to scare anyone off, you know.

But methinks we did give Paul Thomas some memories for a lifetime.  Michelle, ma belle, son tre mot you have huge tracks of land, huge tracks of land....

 

[Lou_Duran]

TH,

Was memories intentionally misspelled?

As to Mr. Thomas, I only thank God that I was on his team.  As ROW MVP, if he was on yours, I would be calling for a congressional investigation.

[THuckaby2]

Only Mr. Thomas can tell if I misspelled that or not.

 

As for the teams, my big steal was Jeff Goldman.  Methinks the golf gods wreaked their revenge on both of us in his match against Fleisher.

[Evan Fleisher]

Only Mr. Thomas can tell if I misspelled that or not.

 

As for the teams, my big steal was Jeff Goldman.  Methinks the golf gods wreaked their revenge on both of us in his match against Fleisher.

It's all about good, cleaning living...I always say!!! Ha!  

[PThomas]

yes Lou, I would DEFINITELY agree that the wait staff was more pleasing to the eye....I was waiting for the lovely Michelle to be mentioned here, and Huck gets bonus points for citing the Beatles song!

if she would have been the beverage cart  girl I think I might have lost focus just a tad.....

a great time, and I can't wait for next year's event!!

[peter_p]

The car has made it to three KPs, missing Barona, has 224K+ and is unlikely to make the next one. I found a dead roach in the trunk-lack of oxygen. The glasses (Costco) made it to the trunk for the 14 hour return home as wine was mostly consumed.
I enjoyed Stevinson as a test of golf. Its rating reflects its lack of mountain or ocean views. I liked how many of the greens opened up from the proper side of the fairway and the depth of the par 3 greens was shielded.

If KPV goes to Apache the car (and some wine) could make a final voyage and extend to NM. Who needs air conditioning other than 4-60?