My Favorite Martin ...

[Mike Benham]

... had this silly grin on his face all day ... ( should we talk about what a fabulous golf hole this is? )[/i]




The grin continued after successfully negotiating The Isthmus of Moriarty with a carving driver in the +20 mph left to right zephyr ...[/i]

[Jim Franklin]

That's great that Martin finally got a chance to enjoy CPC. He is a great guy and that is a well deserved treat.

[Tom Huckaby]

 

If ever the term "seventh heaven" could be described in pictures, well these two do it.

And I can report that the man's bliss continued the following day (yesterday) at MPCC - Shore course.

And it was damn blissful also for this "along for the ride" participant as well.

It's been said many times before, but never does hurt to reiterate:  the many friendships made through this website continue to be amazing.  Though I had never met Martin in person before yesterday, we greeted each other like life-long friends.  And that to me is really, really cool.

Oh by the way - Martin's paramour (my Dad loves that word, sorry) Nancy is one hell of a great gal also.  And if there is anything more enticing than a Scottish brogue from a beautiful Scottish woman, than I really do need to hear and see it.  Martin's lucky that I'm happily married and he got out when he did yesterday.  Women do love chunky talkative friendly guys - or at least I delude myself of that.

 

[A_Clay_Man]

Where's the Fat Baldy drummer?

[Tom Huckaby]

Right now, he is likely winding his way to San Francisco, where he will spend the next few days before heading to VEGAS.  He just got through spending the last few days in your former Kingdom, Adam.  And yes he was loving it.

TH

ps - the self-deprecating "Baldy" part does prove true in person.  But if he's fat than I'm HUGE.  And I don't want to admit that.  

[Tim Liddy]

Awesome.  A great gift.  The look on his face is priceless.

[ForkaB]

Tim

Martin always looks that gormless and happy.  That's why we love him!

Mike B

Love the "Isthmus of Moriarty!"  I predict it will soon surpass the "Valley of Sin" in the Golf World annual "Top 100 Feature Names" rankings......

[Evan Fleisher]

Great pics!!!

Martin looks like a pig in the proverbial SH--  

Hope the rest of the trip goes as well.

[Pete Buczkowski]

Wow - congrats FBD on realizing your dream!  Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip...hopefully over a drink in Scotland, though I would settle for one in a fake Irish Pub in Orlando.  

Thanks for sharing Mike!

[ChasLawler]

and who said Golf Club Atlas wasn't about access?

[RJ_Daley]

Is the first the famous place where the before photo of the 9th was taken, and after photo found on pages 145-6 in Geoff's book?  

Young Marty looks shorter on that pose, and seems to be standing 10ft tall on the tee of 16.  Can the lad stretch himself and become thinner as the round progresses?

[Tom Huckaby]

Dick - I don't have the book here, but that is #9 CPC, looking upward at the green site.  My recollection is that's damn near the exact same angle as the pics in the book.  It's the same subject matter anyway - or would be if the Silly Scot would get out of the way.  

 

The difference from the pics in the book is that I think they're taken from closer to the green - they don't show the intermediate sandy part (to Martin's right), do they?

He does have mystical powers, also.  It surprises me not that he's a shape-shifter.

TH

[Mike Benham]

[Tom Huckaby]

Ask and ye shall receive.

That is a false front, no?

TH

[Brent Hutto]

I guess there's a indistinct dividing line between a "false front", such as the ninth at CPC, versus a green whose front portion pitches up so steeply that the ball rolls back off the front,for example the immediately preceding hole.

On the ninth if you land a ball actually on the putting surface it won't generally come back down to the fairway, right?

On the eighth IIRC you can see balls on the top shelf come back all the way to the fairway when the green is fast and firm.

[Tom Huckaby]

Brent:

I guess you hit on the distinction.

On 9, there's just a very small part of grass cut to green-height that the ball won't stay on due to gravity.  That is, only on the small portion will the ball roll off the green and it may not make it past the fringe.

On 8, there's a large part like that, such that speed will be picked up and the ball can roll back quite a long way.

So both are false-fronts, but the one on 8 is far more pronounced.

So my citation of 9 as an example of a false front wasn't a very good one.  

[Brent Hutto]

Well, I've always resisted the temptation to name the eighth my favorite Par 3 on the course so maybe I can just think of it as my favorite false front at CPC.

[Tom Huckaby]

Whoops.

#7 is the par three with a large false front.  #8 is the dl right par 4 that the bold Shivas damn near reached cutting over the sand dune.  It has a rather large false front also, as I recall - but my recollections do tend to get hazy.   #9 is the setting for our favorite Martin here.  

I am right about the hole numbering, though.

[Brent Hutto]

Yikes! I've made a huge mistake.

How I could mentally move from the seventh green straight to the ninth tee is a mystery. The eighth is amazing, almost as amazing as the CPC caddie corps and their ability to find balls hit into the dunes there. But perhaps not as amazing as Mighty Shiv having a go from the tee.

P.S. I guess anyone who succeeded in driving the eighth green would be obligated to attempt sixteen with a wedge.

[Tom Huckaby]

Brent - it's Martin's commanding figure that has all or our thinking messed up here.

As for the mighty shivas, he succeeded in getting his pellet to about 30-40 yards short of the green, and it wasn't even with a driver as I recall (but again insert the caveat there).  I think it was a very bold, very well-struck three wood.  It was documented on this site, long ago.

I'd guess monsters like our Chicago boy there could get it on the green there given enough tries.  Finding the right line would be tougher for them than the distance involved.  They'd also need the proper lucky bounce, landing just barely in the sand, so that the ball would trickle down to the green.

It's fun to contemplate, anyway.

[Dan Kelly]

This is *my* favorite Martin.



Wouldn't surprise me a bit if this thread's favorite Martin
looked a little bit like my favorite Martin at times that day.

[PThomas]

I LOVED #8 at CPC..I think it is a great, great short par 4!! I think its my favorite hole there after 15-17

hasn't Mr. Duran also taken a crack a driving it?

[Mike Benham]

Might as well post the whole damn lot of photos ...

[George Pazin]

 

Nice photos, they say it all.

I've met many of the folks onboard, but I won't consider myself complete till I've met FBD (and Brian Phillips, Greg Ramsay, Paul Daley, Dick Daley...I could go on and on). Only Slag might be higher.

How come no one ever posts photos of golfers with big grins on 'Burgh golf courses?

[Tom Huckaby]

NOW you are talking.  Post more pics of his incredibly better-half Nancy, with whom I am so smitten....

Dan Kelly - I have to say your post did make me laugh out loud.

TH