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Tommy_Naccarato

Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« on: May 10, 2007, 03:12:32 PM »
After 40+ years of playing the Sport, Dr. Klein not only witnesses, but makes his first Ace at the par 3, 4th at Caves Valley, a course HE ONCE used to regularly bag on.

What's up with that?

« Last Edit: May 10, 2007, 03:14:06 PM by Tommy Naccarato »

mike_malone

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2007, 03:15:01 PM »
 Well ! He did it on a difficult hole, IMO.Congratulations!
AKA Mayday

Kevin_Reilly

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2007, 03:15:31 PM »
He never witnessed an ace before his own?  That is really rare.
"GOLF COURSES SHOULD BE ENJOYED RATHER THAN RATED" - Tom Watson

Mark Bourgeois

Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #3 on: May 10, 2007, 03:18:15 PM »
bet it bounced off the cartpath curb

Garland Bayley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #4 on: May 10, 2007, 03:19:46 PM »
He never witnessed an ace before his own?  That is really rare.
Not rare in my book!

The difficulty depends on the tees. I suspect he wasn't playing the way backs.
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

Tommy_Naccarato

Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2007, 03:20:44 PM »
Hard to believe isn't it? After all of those years caddying, I mean the guy is in the Caddy Hall of Fame and he never ever once saw an ace. What kind of caddy is that?!?!?! ;)

Mayday, I expect a post by you by the end of the day spouting the virtues of TPC Golf. Any TPC for that matter. I'm trying to comprehend it myself right now....

Tommy_Naccarato

Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2007, 03:24:31 PM »
It's such an original hole. I can only think of the 148 times I've seen the exact same hole on Fazio, Palmer and Dye designs....... Still, I hear the clubhouse and the food at Caves Valley is legendary. About as legendary as the guy that aced the 4th yesterday. (with an 8 iron)

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2007, 03:52:37 PM »
And, in celebration he drove his cart directly over a nearby chipmunk......

BTW, my first guess on that hole would have been Fazio's Glen Oak in Des Moines, IA.  It seems eerily similar!
« Last Edit: May 10, 2007, 03:53:23 PM by Jeff_Brauer »
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Brad Klein

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2007, 04:01:03 PM »
Tough crowd here.

By the way, Tommy, I never looped at Caves Valley, though I did "bag it" in print for its earlier routing.  

It was the first ace I've seen live but I've witnessed two double eagles by players -- on separate occasions, not in one group -- while I was playing. Go figure.

« Last Edit: May 10, 2007, 04:10:10 PM by Brad Klein »

Forrest Richardson

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2007, 04:05:30 PM »
Big deal. I've seen three double bogeys in one group — on one hole.
— Forrest Richardson, Golf Course Architect/ASGCA
    www.golfgroupltd.com
    www.golframes.com

Tommy_Naccarato

Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2007, 04:06:51 PM »
Are you sure they counted them all?

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2007, 04:22:14 PM »
I liked making my holes in one during match play - it allows me to say about any opponents chip shot "Yours is good for for a birdie two".
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Gene Greco

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2007, 04:22:26 PM »
I can only think of the 148 times I've seen the exact same hole on Fazio, Palmer and Dye designs.......

Tommy,

          :)

Was Brad's sweetheart, Pamela Anderson, there to witness this monumental event? Was excessive celebration permitted thereafter?
"...I don't believe it is impossible to build a modern course as good as Pine Valley.  To me, Sand Hills is just as good as Pine Valley..."    TOM DOAK  November 6th, 2010

Garland Bayley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2007, 04:23:30 PM »
...
It was the first ace I've seen live but I've witnessed two double eagles by players -- on separate occasions, not in one group -- while I was playing. Go figure.



Now we are getting into astonomical odds!
"I enjoy a course where the challenges are contained WITHIN it, and recovery is part of the game  not a course where the challenge is to stay ON it." Jeff Warne

Rick Shefchik

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2007, 04:38:01 PM »


It was the first ace I've seen live but I've witnessed two double eagles by players -- on separate occasions, not in one group -- while I was playing. Go figure.



Congratulations, Brad. And I'll vouch for you that aces can be as elusive to make, or see, as unicorns. I hadn't seen one in person till I made mine at age 45.

Can't beat writing "1" in that little square.
"Golf is 20 percent mechanics and technique. The other 80 percent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness and conversation." - Grantland Rice

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #15 on: May 10, 2007, 04:42:14 PM »
What if its a net zero?
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Tiger_Bernhardt

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #16 on: May 10, 2007, 04:42:34 PM »
Congrats Brad. An ace on any hole with any crowd is a great thing.

Bill_McBride

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #17 on: May 10, 2007, 04:42:42 PM »
I liked making my holes in one during match play - it allows me to say about any opponents chip shot "Yours is good for for a birdie two".

My only hole in one in 50 years of golf was during a GCA event in 2005 - on the 16th hole after I had already lost a match 8 & 7!  :o

Or was it 9 & 7?  :P

Apparently that took the pressure off, as I think I was around par for the remaining 7 holes, with the ace helping.

+++

Doesn't that hole look, in aerial view at least, a lot like #4 at Baltusrol?

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #18 on: May 10, 2007, 04:45:24 PM »
Bill,

Sorry to hear that. Maybe next time you can use that line!

Slightly on topic, but I wonder if I am the only one in the world to have remodeled a hole that I made a hole in one on?

My first was at the 6th at Great Southwest Golf Club, in 1984, and I rebuilt the green completely in 1992, with nary shedding a tear for the moment.......

I know RTJ aced his newly remodeled 4th at Baltusrol to "prove" it wasn't too tough.
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

Tom Huckaby

Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2007, 04:49:57 PM »
THis is the bitter voice of an aceless golfer, so keep in mind.

8 iron?  Jeez Brad you must have played a really up tee or you are HUGELY LONG.  I've played the hole in question, and it was a freakin' 3wood for me... 230 over the water.

It's a memorable hole from that distance only because it's so damn tough.  It would be pretty commonplace from normal human 8 iron distance.  That being said, it is a pretty shallow green and I recall some contour.

Sorry to detract from the issue at hand though - way to go Brad!

BY the way, I've witnessed many aces - at least 6-8 - and of course never have had one myself.  Play with me if you want to get one.  I was in the group with Bill McBride.... still say that's the best golf shot I've ever seen.

TH

Jeff_Brauer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #20 on: May 10, 2007, 04:53:29 PM »
Tom,

That is an interesting question - is an ace usually a great shot, or just dumb luck?  On both mine, it was just a normal shot that just went the right line.

I have hit other shots, like great fades around trees, or whatever, that I thought were much greater technical achievements to get anywhere near where I intended them, but without them going in the hole.
Jeff Brauer, ASGCA Director of Outreach

George Pazin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2007, 04:54:45 PM »
Well, I think that makes it just about everyone on the site with an ace, no?

 :)
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

Tom Huckaby

Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #22 on: May 10, 2007, 04:56:10 PM »
I'd say many aces are indeed dumb luck, but that makes me sound even more bitter.  So they're all great shots. ;)

McBride's truly was a great golf shot, absolutely zero luck.  225 or so over water... outside of Bill's carry range.  So what does he do?  Carves it AROUND the water... perfect left to right, as the land allowed... it was on line all the way and basically died in the hole.  I swear it was like a 225 yard breaking putt.

TH

Tom Huckaby

Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #23 on: May 10, 2007, 04:56:35 PM »
Well, I think that makes it just about everyone on the site with an ace, no?

 :)

What took you so long?

 ;D ;D

Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Brad Klein-Fazio's Biggest Fan
« Reply #24 on: May 10, 2007, 04:57:50 PM »
Can yet another club history be far behind? ::)

Well played, Brad.

Mike
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

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