2011 Kings Putter - Battle at Bandon

[Scott Szabo]

The Czar Bill McBride and North Captain Cesc Fabregas making the pairing selections for Saturdays play:




[/quote]

So the fella in the black shirt is the esteemed Mr. Huckaby?  Thought for a second Woosnam had come to pay a visit...

[David_Elvins]

My first GCA event exceeded all of my expectations and effectively ruined Bandon for me because I know I won't be able to have as good a time there again. Well, that is unless I play Old Mac in a north wind

you only needed to stay an extra day.  We had a north wind this morning.  The 4th was a much different hole! So was the Redan.

What a great event.  A nice bunch of blokes and very well organised.

[John Kirk]

A few thoughts:

Two big plays during my matches.

Will MacEwen rolling in a 10 foot birdie putt at Bandon Dunes #18 on Friday afternoon, sealing a 1 up victory.  Will made several medium length putts, inspiring me to get into the game and compete.

The second round on Friday was the toughest for me.  In a round where all four players struggled, Alex Stavrides birdied the difficult 14th at Bandon Trails, Bob Jenkins parred the 15th, and then Alex rolled in a 12 footer (for bogey) at the 18th to erase a 2 down deficit and win the match 1 up against Kirk and Lou Duran.

I spent a lot of time with Mike Benham and Tom Huckaby, two guys my age from my part of the world.  A natural affiliation.

Mike Hendren and I continued a fine conversation that began a couple years ago.  We have a great rapport.    

Alex Miller said, "John Kirk, I'm pretty sure my natural instincts were wrong about you."

Nice setup line, Alex...

1.  Gee, I didn't know kids your age had developed natural instincts yet.
2.  If your instincts were generally kind, with a jaded view of the world, then you are right.

Like Alex, everyone was so kind and enthusiastic.  So many gentlemen golfers, and very fine golfers.  Conditions were very tough, especially on Friday.  Thanks for having me.

[Scott Warren]

Alex Miller,

You're a hell of a player if you're giving Benham shots!

[Bill_McBride]

Alex Miller,

You're a hell of a player if you're giving Benham shots!

Alex 0.4

Mike 2.7 - at Olympic Club.

[Alex Miller]

Alex Miller,

You're a hell of a player if you're giving Benham shots!

Alex 0.4

Mike 2.7 - at Olympic Club.

Mike probably outplayed me this week which is not out of the realm of expectations. He's an incredibly solid player who I hope to get revenge on eventually. We were only able to get a point from him thanks to a 2 on 1 match where I Joe Perches shined. I don't think I quite played to my number either, but I still had a great time.

[Bryan Izatt]

Thanks to Bill and the others in organizing the event.  It was great meeting you all and putting real people to the names we see on the board.  Even discussing economics with Lou and Joe was entertaining and enlightening.  Being trashed by Whittaker's 77 in singles convinces me that he's not really a southern gentleman.  Just a cut throat competitor.  

Joel, the picture is the real shot that Hamilton was hitting, and the sucker hit it on to the green.  Zuckerman is recreating the shot he hit just previously.  It was one of the few holes that Evan and I won.



A couple of more images from Monday hangers-on play.  Elvins and Bosella admiring the results of 4 of our approach shots on OM #7.  All hit on different lines from different positions.  Talk about collection areas.  And, man, does that green look severe from this angle.  And, why are these guys dressed like this with such sunny skies and warm temps?




Bosella finishing off the par putt on #7




And, Bosella extricating himself from a rarely visited bunker left of the Alps while Elvins does some mountain climbing.  Nice out!

[Joe Bentham]

Although my participation was limited to the other side of the bag for Jed Peters I enjoyed myself throughly.  Meeting and placing some of the names with some faces was fun.  More fun was discussing my favorite place in the world with some veterans of Bandon trips but especially the first timers.  The smiles can be seen on those guys two fairways away. 
If the GCA outing at Bandon becomes a annual or semi annual event I'll have to find Jed a replacement looper  and threaten to play myself.

[Bill_McBride]

I would have paid real money to see Whitty shoot a Sunset Strip on Pac Dunes!  Amazing recovery from the Down Under flu.

[William_G]

Finally, a bonus picture of Joel Zuckerman:

Is it a surprise that he's in the middle of saying something?  
[/quote]

Now that is funny!!!!!

[Bryan Izatt]

I would have paid real money to see Whitty shoot a Sunset Strip on Pac Dunes!  Amazing recovery from the Down Under flu.

Bill,

Well actually it was really quite boring, not worth any money to see.    Fairways and greens.  Nice drive Mike. Nice shot Mike.  Good chip Mike.  Nice putt Mike.  The man was a machine.  I don't remember a squirrelly shot all day.

[Mike Benham]

And this would be a Double Bonus:

[Joel Zuckerman]

Great meeting everyone at Bandon, and thanks to Bill McBride for the organizing!

Bryan---it only took you 4-5 posts (not to mention 3 entire rounds) to get my name right...Glad you finally did, otherwise I would've asked my younger brother Mark "Zuckerberg" to head north, purchase Canada and have you expatriated!

[Bryan Izatt]

Yikes. Brain cramp.  Sorry about that.  Honest, I really did know, but too much sun, wind, rain, and golf has addled my brain further.  Does this mean you're not a multi-billionaire?

[Evan Fleisher]

A GREAT event, as always, with this group.  It is a real treat to catch up with old GCA friends and make new ones at the same time.

This was my second trek around the resort circuit, and all it did was solidify my feelings that Trails is my favorite (sorry Roch Choi!)...which was a sentiment shared by many more folks than I would have guessed originally.

Even though the weather sucked, it was so fun to be out there with the bretheren sharing stories and making shots.  I will cherish the memories always.  Thanks to both Bogey and Joel for their inspiring and humorous speeches at dinner Saturday night. Also, a big shout out to Bill McBride for organizing another "home run" event on the West coast...a highlight of my golfing year.

Lastly...who is going to share the story of Matt Bosela's BEAR sighting on #12 at Trails Saturday afternoon?    What an experience!!!

[Matt Bosela]

Lastly...who is going to share the story of Matt Bosela's BEAR sighting on #12 at Trails Saturday afternoon?    What an experience!!!

Evan,

You beat me to it! 

Here's the story, one that proves just how good the service truly is at the Bandon Dunes Resort...

I'm playing Bandon Trails on Saturday afternoon, paired up with Joel Lahrman in a match against Michael Whitaker and John Moore.  We had just fallen two down in the match after I took three shots to get down greenside on the 11th and I continued my clutch play with a wayward 3-wood tee shot into the trees left of the long par 3 12th hole.

I figured I was out of the hole but decided to take a look for my ball, just in case.  The esteemed Mr. Whitaker asked if I needed help but I just said I'd take a quick look. 

Anyway, I'm peering into the trees and all of a sudden, I start hearing noises - branches being stepped on - I squint and try to get a closer look. 

Then I see it: a burly black THING slowly lumbering toward me with a little white spot near the head.  I start RUNNING from the trees as Mr. Whitaker looks on with concern.  He thought it was a hive of bees but I stammer that I think there was a bear in the trees.  All of a sudden, the bear continues with its walk and steps out of the trees!!! 

Only, it's not a bear but a big, burly Bandon Trails ranger, wearing a black rainsuit with a floppy rainhat and the Bandon logo.  As the colour returns to my face, the punchline to this joke is revealed...he holds up a ball, like George Costanza in that one Seinfeld episode...

"Who was playing the Titleist 8?", he asks.

The guys start howling in laughter and I can only laugh myself.

Thankfully, my sense of humour remains intact after that embarrassing moment...

[Eric Smith]

LOVE IT, Matt!! Definitely one of the better ones I can remember reading on here. Thanks for sharing!

[Evan Fleisher]

And this would be a Double Bonus:

All he needs is the "v-neck" for a spot-on match!

[JLahrman]

I think any of us would have been a little spooked by the "bear".  The guy appeared from out of nowhere, and it was not an area where a ranger would usually be found.  It was funny stuff.  Matt was a little flummoxed but unfortunately he did not run away screaming, which really would have capped it off.  Living in Canada, Matt is probably a little less scared of bears than the rest of us.

We saw Bear several times on the back nine, silently appearing out of the shadows and dressed all in black.  His stealthy nature caused his nickname to migrate from "Bear" to "Ninja Bear".  On the 18th tee he met up with our group and John actually asked him if he is a ninja (he is not, but he did get a chuckle out of the question).

It's too bad that the Ninja Bear was not around to locate some of my wayward tee shots (uh let's see...#1, #3, #9, #18)

[Will MacEwen]

Firstly, big thanks to Bill for organizing.  It was a well run event, to say the least.

Great meeting so many GCAers there.  If you are on the fence about attending an event, try to make it happen.  The longstanding members were beyond welcoming to us first-timers.

Highlights for me were the Friday match with John Kirk against Huckaby and Bosela.  Watching John grind out pars in tough conditions to hold us in the match was really fun.  Nobody was giving an inch on the back 9.  Lowlight would be getting caught in Matt's birdie binge in singles. 

GCA thoughts:  I've probably been a little hard on BD.  Some special holes out there, and it was really playable in brutal conditions on Friday.  I miss the way 17 used to play though.

Trails really has some great holes - off the top of my head 1,3,4,10, 13, 15.  7 and 8 are a nice back to back of long and short.

Third play on OM and really enjoyed it.  Liked the feel of it the first two times, really liked the play of it more this visit.

Weather was the most challenging I have ever had in March at Bandon (6th trip or so).  The hail really hurt.

[Joe Perches]

I'm peering into the trees and all of a sudden, I start hearing noises - branches being stepped on - I squint and try to get a closer look. 

Then I see it: a burly black THING slowly lumbering toward me with a little white spot near the head.  I start RUNNING from the trees as Mr. Whitaker looks on with concern.  He thought it was a hive of bees but I stammer that I think there was a bear in the trees.  All of a sudden, the bear continues with its walk and steps out of the trees!!! 

I guess you were scared straight after that unbearable encounter.
You seemed like you didn't miss a fairway or green on the Sunday morning match against Will.

Bandon.  It always finds new ways to improve your game...

[Pete Lavallee]

My turn to join the parade of people heeping praise on Captain McBride; unquestionalby the best organized GCA event ever. Of course having the good folks at Bandon as your middle man doesn't hurt; they really do think of everything there and have the operation of the Resort functioning like clockwork.

It was great to see many familiar faces and meet the newbies. Kudo's to the Canadian contingent for prying themselves away from their hockey games and joining us for fun in the sun. I can't fathom how the organizers managed to pair me with studs like Grieve, Kirk, Bosela, Huckaby and Benham, but it was a pleasure to witness how the game should be played on Championship courses.  

Having last played there in 2001, I forgot how stunningly beautiful PD is and how much trouble you can get into there. BD is much better than I remembered, but the changes to #5 tamed a real ball buster of a hole. OM was as good as advertised; playing the templates was a comforting feeling. However I was blown away by BT, that course is every bit as good as the other three in my book. Perhaps the tranquility of the forest setting clouded my judgement, but I really loved the mix of holes and settings; hell I even liked the lake, even after going into on each round!    

[Tim Leahy]

Any Southern Californians stepping up to arrange the 2012 Kings Putter in warmer weather area like Palm Springs, Los Angeles or San Diego? Arizona? Mexico?

I thought this was the So Cal event organized by So Cal team member Bill McBride. I think NoCal is up next.

Posts #292 and 293 in the previous thread attempt to address some of this...

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=74e7d00fa66d85410693237b7db5ff04&topic=46974.280

Technically, the next event is already accounted for and the captains were chosen from this year's event.  Of course, Bill has to confirm if any of this transpired or not...
 

Patrick and Kyle, I really enjoyed your last KP Tahoe event and I hope the new captains, whoever they are, get some advice from you guys on how to show off No. Cal golf as well as you did. A Bay area event would be nice in May or June.

[John Kirk]

My turn to join the parade of people heeping praise on Captain McBride; unquestionalby the best organized GCA event ever. Of course having the good folks at Bandon as your middle man doesn't hurt; they really do think of everything there and have the operation of the Resort functioning like clockwork.

It was great to see many familiar faces and meet the newbies. Kudo's to the Canadian contingent for prying themselves away from their hockey games and joining us for fun in the sun. I can't fathom how the organizers managed to pair me with studs like Grieve, Kirk, Bosela, Huckaby and Benham, but it was a pleasure to witness how the game should be played on Championship courses. 

Having last played there in 2001, PD I forgot how stunningly beautiful PD is and how much trouble you can get into there. BD is much better than I remembered, but the changes to #5 tamed a real ball buster of a hole. OM was as good as advertised; playing the templates was a comforting feeling. However I was blown away by BT, that course is every bit as good as the other three in my book. Perhaps the tranquility of the forest setting clouded my judgement, but I really loved the mix of holes and settings; hell I even liked the lake, even after going into on each round!   

I'll pile on.

I am so grateful to Bill McBride for setting this up.  Terrific work, old friend.

The difference between the best and worst course at Bandon is pretty slim, in my book.  I think sometimes we tend to underrate at least one of the courses.  Playing them under tournament conditions, or least friendly match conditions with pride at stake, was both fun and demanding.  I was tired for...wait a minute, still tired because of grinding so hard.

[Mike Benham]

A few photos from the social side of the 2011 Kings Putter:






The Oregonians:  Ortho Grieve and Pinot Pete discussing who brought the better wines ...





A pair of combatants, Pete Lavallee and Bob Jenkins while North Captain Huckaby is being a bit too cheerful turning over the Kings Putter to the South Captain Bill McBride under the watchful eye of Barrister Will MacEwen (wait a second, the South retains the Kings Putter, why does Huckaby even have his hands on the putter?)