Well folks it’s that time of year again. What time is that?
The time of year when I head to Myrtle Beach to play the World Amateur Handicap
Championship of golf. Yep, it’s about as close as I’ll ever come to playing
an event like the big boys and girls do on TV. Four rounds of golf on four
different courses, and if I win my flight, I’ll get to play the championship
round against the other 60-odd other flight winners.
Will Smith & Matt Damon in The Legend of Bagger Vance Photo by David James |
According to the World Am website, “Nearly 3,400 golfers from 48 states and 28 countries are
preparing to descend on the Grand Strand for the 32nd annual Myrtle Beach World
Amateur Handicap Championship, golf’s largest and most inclusive event.”
Listen, there are 48 guys in my flight, and according to reported handicaps, I’m
about 12th from the bottom of the flight. In other words, I am not
even one of the top seeds in my flight, much less the tournament with 72
flights (66 men’s, 6 women’s).
Ah, but we’ve
all heard about upsets, right? Nobody ever won anything on paper, and that’s
all we’ve got so far. I gotta go play some golf and see what happens. The bad
news? My on-course performance the past couple of weeks has been mediocre at
best. The good news? The last two shots I hit today at The Hideaway before the
sky opened up were excellent shots. I’ve got to lock in those images for next
week. I’ll keep ya posted unless you tell me not to.
For those who
would like to follow along, I’m in Flight 21, with players carrying handicaps
from 9.4 – 10.1. Perhaps being in over my head is just the kind of challenge I
need. The courses we are playing on are offering some nice challenging all on
their own.
For example, on Day 1 (Mon) we’re playing Prestwick
Country Club, the work of Pete Dye and his son P.B. For a short-knocker
like me, a 444-yard par-4 hole is essentially a par-5, and that’s what Hole #3
presents.
If you know anything about Pete Dye designs, you know there’s all
sorts of sand traps, water, and undulations to keep your mind busy the entire
round (you can check out the
club and holes here). If the photos, course tour and scorecard on their website
are any indication, this is a lovely track that should both aesthetically
pleasing and mentally stimulating…not to mention nerve-wracking.
On Day 2 (Tue), we’ve got the Jack Nicklaus-designed
Long Bay
Club that features some crazy bunkering, an island green, and greens that Myrtle
Beach Golf called, “among the fastest on the beach.” I just hope I’m not to
worn out by the time I get to Hole #18 on this one, because although it isn’t
very long (only 368 yards), it could present all sorts of trouble with a tree
in the left fairway just where a fader wants to hit, and water all down the
right side.
Day 3 (Wed) features Tradition
Golf Club, a Ron Garl design
that I’ve played on one of my previous visits to Myrtle Beach. Of course I have
no recollection of playing it, but at least the surroundings should be
familiar. Locals might be familiar with Garl’s work as he designed both courses
at Fiddlesticks, as well as the sweet track at Cypress Lake Country Club. I’m
really looking forward to Hole #7, a 377-yard par-4 with an island green (see scorecard
here).
We close out
flight-play on Day 4 (Thur) with the
shortest of the four tests we’ll have (just 5841 yards), and I’m guessing the
least challenging, River
Oaks Golf Plantation. Unless you’ve golfed in the Carolinas you probably
haven’t played a Hamm track (list of his
courses).
River Oaks has 27 holes, and we’ll be playing the Fox & Otter
nines. I’m going into the final day of flight play with a positive attitude,
because I shot my best round of the tournament last year (3rd best
in the 12 tourney rounds I’ve played) on a Hamm course. Hopefully, I’ll be
higher up the leaderboard this time around when we get to that point.
Ok, that’s the preview of my 2015 World Amateur HandicapChampionship of golf. I’m preparing mentally for a soggy affair (which doesn’t
favor a short-knocker like me), and getting pumped because I’ve played some of
my best golf in the rain! Go figure.
Anyway, for those of you who choose to
follow along, thanks for sharing the journey, and I’ll be back at you from
Myrtle Beach next week.
Oh, for those who have followed my exploits before, please don’t be as disappointed as I will be without those fantastic photos that Steph usually takes. Hasta next…
Oh, for those who have followed my exploits before, please don’t be as disappointed as I will be without those fantastic photos that Steph usually takes. Hasta next…