WORLD AMATEUR HANDICAP CHAMPIONSHIP: DAY 4

Note: Additional photos here. I broke the camera so Steph was shooting blind. Pretty incredible. 

Now grab a cup of coffee or tea, perhaps a strong drink, and find a comfortable nook in which to sit, because this may end up being our first photo novel. Just a little warning that this recap of Day 4 might run a little long. After all, it is the final edition of our reflections from Myrtle Beach in 2014, and we want to stretch it out for as long as we can.

Glorious morning at Oyster Bay

I’ll bet you would like to hear some more good news on the heels of yesterday’s (Wednesday's) glad tidings. Well who am I to disappoint? As Steph and I made the left turn into Oyster Bay for the fourth (and for me, final) round of the 2014 World Amateur Handicap Championship, we could tell that we were in for a special treat. 

Golf is a beautiful walk spoiled- variation of popular quote

The early morning sun sparkled on the lakes, the mix of shade and sunlight slivers glinting through the trees onto the dewy mounds set the stage for a venue that was, in fact, the most intriguing and captivating that we had visited this trip.

The Legends Course Guide touts Oyster Bay, the first of five courses in the Legends Resort complex as “…renowned as possibly the best shotmakers’ course in the area as well as being one of the most visually appealing.” 

Head Golf Professional Tim Jackson

I would concur on both counts! From the aesthetic perspective, Steph remarked, “When I booked my trip to the Hamptons, what I saw today is what I was looking for.” Tim Jackson and the other members of the Oyster Bay staff made an impression on Steph as indelible as the ride around the course itself. Head Golf Professional Tim Jackson was as congenial and cooperative as any we encountered on the trip.

From a golfer’s perspective, with a variety of elevations, doglegs, bunkering, tree types, the arrangement of holes around the multitude of lakes, and natural landscaping, each hole gave you something to ponder, a thing or two about which to wonder. I have played some terrific courses during my twelve World Am rounds, and the Oyster Bay experience was perhaps the most moving. Interestingly enough, although you really had to think about which club to use on every shot, we somehow managed to play the fastest round of the four. Go figure.

Jon, Randy, John, T. A.

As has been the case every round, my playing companions made the travails of traversing the challenging track a pleasure. Today I rode with John Liquori of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, old stomping grounds of mine, and had the pleasure of playing again with Jon Wilke (Day 3) and Noel (Randy) Meadows (Day 2) again. As I noted yesterday, it’s tough to have a bad time with Jon in your group.

Noel (Randy) Meadows

As we were making preparations to begin the final round of the tourney, Randy (Day 2 playing partner) was sitting in his cart appearing quite disinterested as others chipped and putted, belted balls on the range, and did whatever they did prior to a round of golf. I asked him what was up, and he quipped, “I don’t even wanna be here.” “Then why are you here?” I asked. “Because my wife makes me come,” he answered. I noted that he was riding with Jon and told him that Jon would have his attitude fixed up in no time. That was a good call.

On to the golf. The first and last holes that we played exemplify the state of my golf game, which I characterize as “golf lottery,” because you never know which number is going to come up on any given hole. I suspect that Randy can relate to my golf dilemma, as his game is all over the golf map as well. For example, on Hole 15, 121 yards over water to a semi-island green, Randy stuck it to eight feet, barely missed the birdie and carded par. On Hole 1, a 380-yard dogleg left, we were all in the fairway off the tee, and Randy carded a triple. Randy finished with a 90, and 26^th on the leaderboard. I’ll get to me in a few; hang on.

Jon A. Wilke

Jon’s game, at least the past two days, might best be depicted by Jekyll and Hyde, because he hit some of the most beautiful shots I saw over the past week, in both long and short game, but hit a few ugly quackers off the tee as well. On one hole, Jon would hit his 3-metal past all of our drivers, and the next, he would dive bomb the trees left. He pulled out the driver today and posted three birdies, but still carded a 90.

Two holes epitomize playing with Jon. On Hole 3, a 425-yard par-4, Mr. Hyde smoked a beautiful drive in the fairway. However, by the time the hole was complete, he had missed 10-inch putt using the back of his putter to card a double bogey. On Hole 7, a 380-yard par-4 with a drop off at about 250 yards down the fairway, Dr. Jekyll bombed another drive and sat about 50 yards from the pin. He lofted a beautifully soft wedge on the green and rolled it in center cup to card a birdie.

My cart partner, John, played the kind of boring golf today that I’d like to play every day. John was like the base player in a band, laying down the steady rhythm and all we had to do was follow.

We didn’t. His game was Fairways, greens, putts, move to the next hole. There were very few exceptions to this theme all day. John started a little slowly, bogeying our first hole (No.14) and doubling No.16, but cruised with a birdie, pars, and a few bogeys over the next 10 holes, before he forgot he was my cart partner (remember all but Frank the first day shot great rounds with me). We teed off on Hole 9 (550-yard, dogleg right, par-5), and out of nowhere John pushes one into the trees right.

Huh? Where’d that come from? That’s like the mail carrier failing to deliver the mail on a weekday. In any event, after taking five shots to get into any kind of position to go at the hole, John carded a 9! He carded a 42 on the front with a 9 on that side. He closed with an 84, his best round of the tourney (told ya), and finished tied for 15^th.

As for me, when my score was added, I was surprised that it wasn’t 10 strokes higher. If it were politics, you’d think I was in bed with Rush Limbaugh cause I was far right all day long. I have two holes that tell my story, at least the story I want to tell :).

On our first hole, the par-5 14^th playing to 470 yards, downhill with a slight dogleg left, a tree in the middle of the

fairway threatening tee shots, and water in front of the green, I hit a good drive, then laid up with a soft 8-iron. Wind in the face, but downhill to the green from 145 to the back right pin, I hit a 7-iron pin high right, and putted from the fringe to about 2 feet. I’m standing over that short putt for par with latent images of my missed 1-footer yesterday, and, you guessed it, I missed it. Bogey on the first hole, when it should have been par. I did make a 1-footer for par on the next hole and didn’t miss another that short all day, but..

One of my shots of the day- great 3-hybrid on Hole 2

Two double bogeys in a row on 16 and 17, and you can imagine I’m not thrilled with my start of the final round. I had had visions of carding another low 80s score and going home feeling a bit redeemed. Wasn’t looking too good early. I pulled it together and after our first nine holes, I was only plus-7 after that tough beginning.

I can see why I was in the trees

With four holes to go (the beginning of the back nine, we take a little break, Steph brings me a bite to eat, and I had started in on a beverage with a little bite to it. We step up to No.10, a downhill, dogleg right 400-plus yard hole. A good hole but nothing to worry about…unless you push your drive into the trees right, which I did. I chipped out to the fairway of another hole, hit a smooth 6-iron up that fairway that rolled into some penal rough, but I have a nice opening between the trees to the green about 50 yards away.

Need better posture!

I’m lying three and I want to get this close. I took what I thought was a good swing, but with the funky lie, I come up a bit short on top of a mound. No big deal, chip on, make the putt, and escape with a double. I got a double all right, a double hit! Ouch! I carded an 8, and it’s all about the beverage now. I’m shell shocked and woozy for the next couple of holes, barely playing something that looks like golf. It wasn’t pretty and I carded two doubles in a row.

We get to our final hole, and it’s a beauty on which to finish.

It’s a short, dogleg right, par 4, playing 276 yards uphill, with an intricately designed mega bunker complex in front of the green, and two fairway bunkers middle right. Oh yes, and water all down the right side and right of the green. If you fly it about 220 over the first bunker, you have a short wedge uphill over the massive bunker, if you don’t land in it (That’s just what Jon did).

Me? I just pull out my 4-hybrid and hit it down the left side (can’t remember the last time I actually hit it left!) and have about 125 up the hill to the back right pin. With the wind and uphill to contend with, I smooth an 8 iron to about 25 feet (can’t remember the last time I hit a green!). Jon is sitting about 15 feet from the hole after another stellar wedge. John and Randy hadn’t gotten on in two, and made bogey.

I turn to Jon and say, “Watch me make this one.” It’s a left to right breaker, slightly downhill. I read it, line it up, make the best stroke of the day, and rolled it in the cup to finish my World Am with a birdie. 

Jon made a good run at the birdie, but it ran past. After all the horrendous play this week, with the exception of yesterday, I finished with a meaningless birdie, but still a birdie…well, I guess it was not meaningless, because at least it allows me to say that I finished the final two rounds in the 80s. I carded an 89. I’m glad I didn’t enter the skins game this morning because I would have cut my buddy Frank and wasted $40 :).

Speaking of Frank Gates, I'd like to send out major kudos to my cart partner from Day 1. Frank was tied for 37th after the first round, due to a 96 on his card. He then went, 86, 84, 81 to finish in a tie for 9th and claiming the low net on the final day of flight play. Now that's coming up big, and if you know frank, how could he come up any other way :)? Way to go partner. Hope to see you next year. 

I wasn't among the best nor among the worst, finishing right in the middle of the pack.

The best in my flight

Many will say things like, "Well at least you finished higher than half the field." Others may say, like Jon did, "It's just golf." I sometimes wish I could internalize sentiments of that ilk, but it's hard for me to say to myself, "It's just...anything" and make myself believe it. 

Frankie Bordeaux- Glass half full

I wish I could use comparison with others who aren't very skilled, who are less fortunate, who don't care very much, who aspire to reach average, as a measure of myself. I sometimes wish I could own that "glass half full" mindset, instead of the "glass half full and half empty" perspective that I maintain. I haven't yet reached that level of maturity...if that's what it is. 

So, in my immaturity, I come away from my third World Am experience half wet and half dry. There is little doubt that there was much about this journey about which to rejoice, the congenial exchanges, the deliberate absence of daily responsibilities, the indelible images of vivid and varied hues. But there also is much about the journey that tastes of melancholy, that offers shades of blue that are not rhapsodic...I must embrace the whole!

Thanks to all who contributed to this experience, my playing partners, the World Am staff, the volunteers who helped make it happen, the staff at the venues who set the stages on which our experiences were played out. Thanks to my students, without whose patronage, this trip couldn't happen, and to those of you who took the journey with us and shared your thoughts. Finally, I am deeply grateful to Steph, with whom I shared this mini journey and with whom I share the cosmic journey we call life! Until next...

T. A. & Steph