OT- Your Buddy Up Experiences

[Kalen Braley]

I was playing Talking Stick in Scottsdale about 10 years ago with my Uncle. They we getting ready to send us off as a two-ball when the starter escorted a very muscular African-American from the range to the first tee and asked, "Do you mind going off with a single?" This large man, with a stylized "A" as his belt buckle, stuck out his massive right forearm and said, "Hi, I'm Bo."


So I played 18 holes with the greatest two sport athlete of all time. And he couldn't have been a sweeter guy - helped me look for my wayward shots, smiled often and even talked a little smack. The subject of his playing career didn't even come up until the 17th hole when I just couldn't hold it in anymore and the dam broke. He handled all of my predictable questions with patience and grace. Been a big fan ever since.

John,


Great story.  Reminds me of when Joel Zuckerman and myself were playing Jeremy Ranch in Park City years ago.  We get to the pro shop and the pro asks if we wouldn't minding joining a single on the first tee, so we said sure.  Ramble out to the first tee, and this older gentleman reaches out to shake our hands... and i'll never forget, he had these ginormous hands that made mine look small....and i'm a big guy myself.  He then introduces himself: "Hi I'm Merlin Olsen, pleased to meet you!"


He could only play the front 9 with us as football had taken a nasty toll on his body, but he couldn't have been a more pleasant and accommodating impromptu buddy up partner. 


An experience I will never forget!!

[MCirba]

Most interesting Buddy-Up Miss...


Arrive at Bayonne GC to be informed they are going to have to send me out as a single as they had me paired with Roger Waters and Nick Mason who had just called the pro shop needing to cancel. 

[Rick Lane]

Dozen years ago or so........arrive at NGLA, first time, very excited.    Get there super early so as to soak it in, with a buddy.  We are in locker room getting shoes on, talking, and there is a guy on the floor stretching, who joins in our conversation about the weather, the cool locker room, etc.   This goes on for a while, until he stands up and its Raymond Floyd.  Super nice and welcoming, tours us around a bit, and as we get to first tee, he is to be behind us.    I'm super nervous to tee off in front of Ray Floyd, and promptly hit a topper.    He exclaims "Oh, no, I have to be behind you all day!"...
And then laughs, and tells us to relax and enjoy ourselves.  Cool moments   

[BHoover]

I went to Jacksonville a few years ago for a quick golf trip with two friends. On the first tee at Hyde Park, which used to host the Jacksonville Open, the starter asked if we would pair up with a single (despite the course being wide open). Before I could say anything, my friend told the starter, bluntly, “no”. He said we hadn’t seen each other in a couple years and we wanted to play by ourselves. We apologized to the single and invited him to play ahead of us. As soon as he teed off, we realized that we dodged a bullet. The guy couldn’t get the ball in the air.

A potential BuddyUp disaster was averted by my friend being so blunt. BuddyUp might be fine at NGLA. But at an unknown muni, it’s an invitation for possible disaster.

[Josh Tarble]

I played as a single at Harding Park a couple years ago.  Got paired up with 3 nice guys out to enjoy a Friday morning stroll.  One of them though, kept telling me how to play every shot, "this San Francisco air is heavy" he'd say.  He kept on providing his commentary, despite him being about a 22 handicap and myself striping it all morning long.  This goes on throughout the entire round.  Finally on 17 I miss the green right with a 9 iron.  He tells me, "you should have hit an 8, with the air and uphill nature you always have to club up."  I finally snapped back at him "I think it was the right club, I'm 3 under on the day, would like to par in to break 70, so more nerves than club selection" He didn't tell me how to play a single shot on 18, I got up and down for par to shoot 69 and ended my favorite BuddyUp experience with a nice handshake.

[Terry Lavin]

Played Pebble as a single. Paired up with two Asian guys who spoke no English and an American guy. I asked him if he was going to walk or ride. He said the latter. I said “okay I’ll ride with you.”  He said no because his wife was with him. “We playing a fivesome?”  No, he said, “she just wants to ride along.”  He probably shot 140. She kept barking swing and strategy instructions from the cart. Very annoying. The other guys took photos before every shot, and the round took something like 5.5 hours to play.


Not every Buddy up story has a happy ending.

[Kalen Braley]

Terry,


That would suck indeed, especially playing something like Pebble.


My worst "forced buddy up" was at a crappy Doak 1 muni in Cali.  Got paired with 3 guys on the tee who had 1 bag of clubs between the 3 of them.  I'm not exactly a good player either, so I just went with it.  After the first few holes I really didn't mind the constant running back and forth to share clubs, but when we got on the greens and they were all standing around the hole, literally 5 to 6 feet away while I was trying to putt that really sucked.  The course ranger finally caught up with us on about the 7th hole and chucked em for only have 1 set of clubs.... 

[Tim Martin]

Probably deserves it’s own thread but how about a few Buddy Up Red Flags


Iron Covers
New Age music playing from inside a gigantic Datrek bag with 47 different storage areas
Bushwood Bag Tag
Multiple Alignment Sticks
Wide Brim hat regardless of logo
 
It’s a start

[Kalen Braley]

Probably deserves it’s own thread but how about a few Buddy Up Red Flags


Iron Covers
New Age music playing from inside a gigantic Datrek bag with 47 different storage areas
Bushwood Bag Tag
Multiple Alignment Sticks
Wide Brim hat regardless of logo
 
It’s a start

Those are good Tim, but in the case of being paired up by the pro shop, often times you don't know all this till its too late!! 

[Peter Pallotta]

Reading this, I thought: forget the effects of history and settings on raters and their rankings; focus instead on who the raters were buddied up with.
NGLA with Rick and Ray Floyd and it’s the best design in the history of design and the greatest course in the world — a 10+.
Pebble Beach in Terry’s scenario, on the other hand, is 6 good holes and some bits of ocean views — a stretch even to crack the Top 20 Classic.

[MCirba]

Do "Buddy Up" half-hour lunch foursomes before or after rounds count?


If so, I buddied up with both Cory Lewandowski and Donald Trump on separate occasions at Bedminster.


Trump's first words to me were, "Here...have some of my fries.  They're great!"

[John Kavanaugh]

If only redanman had said no...he might still be with us.

[corey miller]

Years ago as a first tee single early morning single at Pebble Beach (I had slept at Motel 6 and had breakfast at Dennys).  Paired with two older guys in a cart and a single who I had yet to meet.  Decided to carry my bag (as did the single) and we hit it off.  Great day and felt like a twosome as we took our time. 


A few months later my friend (who lived in Santa Fe) came to town (NYC) and took me golfing at the home club of his college room-mate.  They were retired.  Next time he was in town I invited him to my club and told him to bring the room-mate.  Also invited my Brother Brad....as it turns out Brad and the room-mate had gone on a Scotland gold trip just the year before.






Second strange moment was being invited to play my home course with Ralph Branca.  Yes I know everyone in westchester has probably met Ralph who was a fine gentleman.  Greet meeting him though I was probably the only person to ever be paired with him that did not ask about the home run.  Anyway, the next day my Brother goes to play his home club and gets put with Ralph in his group. 


We did not find out about this until a few days later with one of those "oh BTW guess who I played with" stories.

[Joe_Tucholski]

A small world type of buddy up.  My wife wanted to visit her sister in SoCal.  I ended up playing Old Ranch in Seal Beach.  I get to the pro shop to check in and they tell me I'm playing with a guy from Pinehurst.  I say no that's me, the assistant says no there's another guy and he says his name.


On the first tee we get to talking about how we are both local members at Pinehurst.  I explain I don't live in there but bought a house we rent out.  He asks where the house is.  Come to find out he was our previous tenant while he built his new house.

[Mark Kiely]

A small world type of buddy up.  My wife wanted to visit her sister in SoCal.  I ended up playing Old Ranch in Seal Beach.  I get to the pro shop to check in and they tell me I'm playing with a guy from Pinehurst.  I say no that's me, the assistant says no there's another guy and he says his name.

This reminds me of a couple years ago I checked in at El Prado in Chino and said my last name, Kiely. The guy behind the counter said something like, "Oh, John already checked in" and I said, "No, I'm Mark, and I'm a single." Turns out the guy in the group right in front of me shared my surname, spelled the exact same way.


Another coincidence took place when earlier this year my friend and I got paired with a guy at Cimarron in Palm Springs who looked familiar to me. After a few holes, I realized it was the same exact guy another friend of mine and I were paired with at the same course one year earlier.

[Mark Chaplin]

I was playing Talking Stick in Scottsdale about 10 years ago with my Uncle. They we getting ready to send us off as a two-ball when the starter escorted a very muscular African-American from the range to the first tee and asked, "Do you mind going off with a single?" This large man, with a stylized "A" as his belt buckle, stuck out his massive right forearm and said, "Hi, I'm Bo."


So I played 18 holes with the greatest two sport athlete of all time. And he couldn't have been a sweeter guy - helped me look for my wayward shots, smiled often and even talked a little smack. The subject of his playing career didn't even come up until the 17th hole when I just couldn't hold it in anymore and the dam broke. He handled all of my predictable questions with patience and grace. Been a big fan ever since.

John gives us a clue on who “Bo” might be? As you maybe aware GCA.com doesn’t stop at the US border.

[Michael Graham]

Jackson.


Per Wikipedia:


Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson is a former baseball and American football player. He is one of the few athletes to be named an All-Star in two major sports, and the only one to do so in both baseball and football.[/size] [/color]

[Cory Lewis]

In 2007 I drove up to play Lawsonia in the afternoon after my flight landed in Milwaukee.  The pro shop told me I was playing with a twosome and their names were Dick and Adam.  On the 2nd hole I realized they were GCA Legends Dick Dailey and Adam Clayman. 


We had a marvelous time playing together.  There was nobody behind us and I still remember Adam on several holes saying "Let's play it again!"  Great times!

[Joe Bausch]

I played as a single at Harding Park a couple years ago.  Got paired up with 3 nice guys out to enjoy a Friday morning stroll.  One of them though, kept telling me how to play every shot, "this San Francisco air is heavy" he'd say.  He kept on providing his commentary, despite him being about a 22 handicap and myself striping it all morning long.  This goes on throughout the entire round.  Finally on 17 I miss the green right with a 9 iron.  He tells me, "you should have hit an 8, with the air and uphill nature you always have to club up."  I finally snapped back at him "I think it was the right club, I'm 3 under on the day, would like to par in to break 70, so more nerves than club selection" He didn't tell me how to play a single shot on 18, I got up and down for par to shoot 69 and ended my favorite BuddyUp experience with a nice handshake.

Geez, I rather enjoyed the day Josh.

And you really should have hit an 8 iron.   

[Jim Lipstate]

Some years back decided to take a quick trip to Cabo and secured a tee time at Cabo del Sol as a single. I was paired up with two other golfers both of them with game.  The name of one of the golfers did not register with me until after the round was completed. It was only then I realized I played with Bill Rogers winner of the 1981 Open Championship at Royal St. George. I remember him congratulating me on my only birdie for the day. Nice!

[BHoover]

Dozen years ago or so........arrive at NGLA, first time, very excited.    Get there super early so as to soak it in, with a buddy.  We are in locker room getting shoes on, talking, and there is a guy on the floor stretching, who joins in our conversation about the weather, the cool locker room, etc.   This goes on for a while, until he stands up and its Raymond Floyd.  Super nice and welcoming, tours us around a bit, and as we get to first tee, he is to be behind us.    I'm super nervous to tee off in front of Ray Floyd, and promptly hit a topper.    He exclaims "Oh, no, I have to be behind you all day!"...
And then laughs, and tells us to relax and enjoy ourselves.  Cool moments   

Not to get picky, but wouldn’t a true BuddyUp! experience actually mean you joined up with Ray at NGLA? Merely seeing and speaking to Ray at NGLA does not a true BuddyUp! make. I once spoke with Tim Herron on my club’s putting green. It was a great experience, but not a BuddyUp! in the strictest sense.

[Rick Lane]

fair point....So here's one that I think qualifies:

Got paired up with Tim Rosafort when he was to be a guest speaker at an outing.   Nice enough guy, but it turns out he grew up very close to where I did, and he bartended and was a bouncer at a bar I used to frequent in my HS and College years.   We compared lots of notes and bands that played there and concluded that we were likely in the same room together many times in the 1970's.  He came back the next year and we played again. 

[Kalen Braley]

fair point....So here's one that I think qualifies:

Got paired up with Tim Rosafort when he was to be a guest speaker at an outing.   Nice enough guy, but it turns out he grew up very close to where I did, and he bartended and was a bouncer at a bar I used to frequent in my HS and College years.   We compared lots of notes and bands that played there and concluded that we were likely in the same room together many times in the 1970's.  He came back the next year and we played again.

Rick,


I'm glad to hear the guy is legit.  If there was one guy in the golf broadcast circles that I thought for sure was a huge douchebag in person (other than Johnny Miller),....it was Tim.

[Rick Lane]

Well, he IS a bit of a namedropper, but he is a pretty down to earth guy down deep.  I liked him.  (Heck, he used to go see Twisted Sister and the Good Rats and Rat Race Choir in the mid 70's in little rock and roll bars, that's pretty normal for then in my neck of the woods!)

[Mark Smolens]

Jackson.


Per Wikipedia:


Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson is a former baseball and American football player. He is one of the few athletes to be named an All-Star in two major sports, and the only one to do so in both baseball and football.[/size] [/color]

I guess it's not that big a surprise, but clearly Mr. Chapin don't know baseball...