ALICO FAMILY GOLF- WITH LIBERTY AND GOLF FOR ALL

Ok, so the title is kinda hokey, but what I'm talking about here isn't, and it has been a long time coming!!! If we had had the financial wherewithal we would 

have done it ourselves some time ago (Steph and I), but we didn't. I’m glad someone else did it though, and did it with more pizzazz than we would have. So what’s the “it?” A first class driving range right here in Fort Myers.

Wait, I owe the owners (Jim St. Germain and company) an apology. Alico Family Golf (AFG) is not a driving range, it is, in fact, a complete “golf practice facility," 

replete with a snazzy mini golf course that delights both young and, uh, not so young (Why not bring the grandkids?). AND, it has disability access!

But that’s not nearly all! You can get custom fitted for any club or series of clubs, get fitted for a golf ball to suit your game, take private or group lessons, drop in for a

 clinic, join a golf club for handicap purposes, grab a bite to eat, slurp down a beverage or two, cool off or watch TV in the pristine clubhouse, or simply just sit outside and enjoy the ambience.

The point is that about the only golf-related thing that you can’t do at Alico Family Golf is to play 9 or 18 holes of “real” golf. But sometimes you just need that little tune up, and all you have is an hour or two, and there just is no better place anywhere near Fort Myers to do it than Alico Family Golf.

Seriously, if you are a beginner or wannabe golfer, clinics start with the very basics, like rules and etiquette (don’t you wish everyone took this clinic?), and moves through full swing, bunker play (which I need), and course management. As I look at the list, I realize that I could do every clinic offered and learn something to better my game.

Just want to hit balls on one of the 60 grass tee boxes, or one of the 10 covered hitting bays? You can do that all day with small to jumbo baskets, or you can get yourself an Advantage Card. Oh yeah, get an Advantage Card with more than $50 on it, and AFG will add up to $125 cash to it! You cannot be serious! Oh sorry, that’s tennis.

I can see myself spending some serious time on the putting green, working on that consistency from 10 feet in. I know they'll have to replace a ton of sand in the practice bunker when I'm through, and I'm gonna love chipping up to the elevated chipping green. 

In any event, in case you don’t get the picture from my ramblings, you can click here for actual pictures, or you can hop on down to Alico Family Golf and see for yourself 

if I have come close to what’s available for all golf-interested parties. Whether you’re deadly serious about your golf or merely want some serious golf fun, AFG has something for you.

Me? I’m looking forward to the end of April when my down time starts, and I can start swinging the clubs again. Being off of Alico on Lee Road, it’s a little bit of a hike for me, but it is hike that will be worth it! 

I'm sure the courteous and knowledgeable staff at AFG can answer any questions you might have (239-334-4653, but if you want to head down there, they are at 16300 Lee Road. Just tell 'em T. A. Sent ya. 

Grip it and rip it...T. A.

WORLD AMATEUR HANDICAP CHAMPIONSHIP PHOTO LINKS

Steph, officially the world's most beautiful photograher, took hundreds of photos at the 30th Anniversary of the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship in Myrtle Beach. Most of the photos are from Flights 26 and 27 and the four courses we had the pleasure of playing. I know her being there made the tournament even better for me, but I suspect she made it better for a lot of other participants as well. Thanks Steph!

Edited Photos from the 19th Hole

Billed as the world's largest 19th hole, and I surely won't argue after hanging out there all four nights. Food, drink, games, camaraderie, dozens of vendors, gadgets, you name it, it was at the 19th Hole. 

Edited Photos from Day 1

Tiger's Eye Golf Club was a prettier course than I remembered. Guess I was really focused on the business at hand, but seeing the shots that Steph took makes me want to go back just to tour the course. Finished with an 81 to tie for second in the flight with playing and cart partner Craig Forbes.

Edited Photos from Day 2

Aberdeen Country Club was the site for Day 2, and the scene of my two-stroke penalty golf crime! You'll just have to check out the Day 2 blog post to find out what my boo boo was. I played the course two days before the tournament round and had time to look around and take in the landscape. As we traversed the course, we couldn't help but note the bridges of Aberdeen. another course I would be happy to play multiple times.

Edited Photos from Day 3

Tournament Players Club of Myrtle Beach on Day 3 was where the ground beneath my new Puma golf shoes began to tremble. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the ground shaking. Bottom line, was that I went into that day with my only double bogey being my penalty the day before, and I started Day three with two doubles. It didn't get much better. Lightning greens snatched the newly found confidence in my putting stroke.

Edited Photos from Day 4

The meltdown that began the day before reached its climax at Myrtlewood Golf Club. As lovely as this course may have been, my most prominent memory will be of my ugly collapse. Such a shame, huh? 


Edited Photos from Championship Friday

Well, we didn't have the world's loveliest photographer doing her thing, especially since I wasn't a part of that special day. My heart wasn't in photography on Day 5, and we didn't travel the course, but there are a few worthwhile shots. 

When as is said and done, the best photos are the ones the 3310 competitors carry with them in the albums of their minds and hearts. Thanks to Golf Holiday staff for putting on a tremendous event!  Swing away...T. A.

DAY 4: WORLD AMATEUR HANDICAP CHAMPIONSHIP

What an event! My second time playing the Golf.com World Amateur Handicap Championship (WAHC) was even better than the first, despite my crumbling like a stale cookie, my folding like a pathetic poker hand...but I'll get back to my personal disappointment later...

The bottom line is that It's hard to imagine anything more enjoyable for someone who loves golf, the beach, camaraderie, good food, free drinks, and four days of just total good times! 

You're on top of the leaderboad!

Ok, if you have a problem with 5 1/2-hour rounds, then maybe you won't be in heaven. I don't like 5 1/2-hour rounds, but when I add everything up, as long as circumstances permit, I'll be playing the WAHC every year until I can't play anymore.

Mike Thompson

Life is all about the experiences for me, and here's one experience that made me shake my head: On either the first or second day, I met Mike Thompson, who lives in Columbia, South Carolina, and was playing his first WAHC. On the third day we finally had a few moments on the putting green before tee off to get acquainted. 

We chat a bit about his military experiences, my military experiences, our love for the game, etc. It was a brief but pleasant interaction. I can say that Mike is one of the most pleasant individuals you'd want to meet in any venue. 

19th Hole entertainment

In any event, Steph and I stayed late at the 19th Hole for the first time...why not? I had shot myself in the foot and out of the tournament anyway, right?...Well, as we were walking to the car, we ran into Mike chatting with another competitor, Calvin Cross of Newington, Connecticut (although I didn't know that at the time). 

Calvin & Mike

We were recapping the WAHC experience, chatting about any number of things, and just as we were saying goodbye, Mike and Calvin started talking about "Hartford." That moment was like when I held my playing partner's club in my hand in the second round and recognized that something was odd...a subconscious, twilight zone kind of moment. 

I was still trying to determine if they were saying "Hartford" as in Hartford, Connecticut, or something else, when they mentioned "Weaver." Weaver? Weaver High School in Hartford, Connecticut? Are you kidding me? These were homies who had gone to the same high school I had gone to! To say I was blown away by that bit of serendipity would be an understatement.

With Calvin & Mike

So there we stood in the parking lot reminiscing about old times, some of the people we knew, neighborhoods that no longer existed, what was new back in the hood, etc. What a moment! I'm sure if Steph hadn't been with me we would have gone off for a few brews and more reminiscing. 

Craig Johnson, Steph & I

If you are wondering why I'm not talking golf yet, although the golf experience was outstanding, what made the event for me were the moments like the one above, like taking a late afternoon dip in the crisp, clean ocean with Steph; or like running into Chip Verrette (whom I had played with on the final day in 2011) at the end of the event, after my emails to him before the event had been returned. 

Getting ready for beach cornhole

Another of our highlight experiences was when Steph and I had the opportunity to play cornhole with Craig, Khristi and Caitlyn Johnson at the 19th Hole. One of the 19th Hole vendors (Craig's Custom Cornhole Boards), Craig built us a custom board with a photo we took of the setting sun on one of our Fort Myers Beach evening moments. I ordered it prior to getting to Myrtle, and Craig delivered at the 19th Hole...Perfect anniversary memento. 

The Final Day on Course

Myrtlewood Clubhouse

But what about the golf? On the final day, playing at Myrtlewood Golf Club- Palmetto, my foursome consisted of 54-hole leader and eventual flight co-winner, Ken Gahr; Mylon Metcalf, the Day 1 leader, who was two behind me in third; and Bill Clarke, one of my playing partners from Day 2, who was three strokes behind me in fourth. 

Flight Winner Ken Gahr and I

I sat in second place, just three strokes behind the leader, and the challenge in front of me was clear: play well enough to finish three strokes better (or more, cause ya never know who's coming from behind) than Ken, while keeping my nose in front of Mylon and Bill. 

Mylon and I rode together and we both started the round as though we hadn't played golf before. We started on Palmetto No.10, a short par 5 (484 yards), and I scraped a bogey together, while Mylon posted a double.

The only shot I remember from the hole was a chunky sand wedge from about 50 yards on my third shot. To their credit, Ken and BIll started with pars.


It was evident that I was not responding well to the moment, because on the second hole, a par-3 playing about 186 yards, I hit a short pop up with my 3-hybrid, a club that has been like money in the bank for me over the past several days. 

I hit a good sand wedge to 12 feet or so and two-putted for bogey. Okay, two bogeys to start. Not great, but heck, I can live with bogey golf given the way I've hit the ball so far. I'm sure I'll come around. 

Meanwhile, Bill posts another par, but Ken doubles the hole. At this point I haven't lost any ground to Ken, but Bill has already picked up two of the three shots I had on him going in. Mylon bogeyed the hole as well, and had fallen into fourth. So far, I'm not doing much that looks like golf...other than my practice swings. 

As we move to the third tee, a short (327 yards) dogleg right par-4, I'm trying to call upon all my years as a competitor in all sorts of sports and activities to help me settle down. I size up the hole, thinking there's no need for driver here, just a nice 200-yard 3-hybrid down the left side of the fairway, a pitching wedge to the green, one or two putts, and we're back on track...

Okay, pull it together and make this

I took my practice swing, stood over the teed ball, and began what I envisioned as a smooth swing. Somewhere on the downswing, "Spaz Modic," a well known golf demon that preys on golfers near the lead in tournaments, invaded my body, and I  pulled the ball out of bounds left. Okay, so stuff happens. 

I did my best on-the-fly exorcism to get rid of Spaz in preparation for my third shot: "Spaz be gone!" All righty then...Just tee it up again, rehearse that smooth swing, and stroke this one down the fairway.

Still possessed it seems

Obviously, Spaz had not been properly exorcised, because my new, favorite club continued its rebellion, and I hit the ground about five feet behind the teed ball...all right, so maybe it was more like two inches, but nevertheless, the call for for my historical (and I mean wayyyy historical) competitive toughness went unanswered, and I had popped the ball up short again! 

In all, it took me eight, that's right, eight shots to get the ball in the hole! It took all of my mental and emotional fortitude to successfully complete the exorcism. I parred four of the next five holes, and bogeyed the other. Seems like I had managed to pull it together. 

We came to the ninth hole of the day, a 357-yard, pretty straight ahead par-4, and I just needed one more par to post a 43 on our first nine, which, considering the quadruple bogey on my card, would not be too bad. 

"Oh C'mon" says Ken

A par would keep me within three shots of Ken, and within two of Bill, who was just plus two after the first eight. I was not out of it yet! Mylon had pretty much shot himself out of contention at that point with 10 over after the first eight.

We can call the hole, our ninth, Palmetto No.18, "Return of The Spaz," because I don't remember a single shot from this hole. All I remember is that I posted a seven on a hole where none of my co-competitors did worse than bogey. With my 46 on the first nine, I was now six shots back of Ken, who posted a 43, and four shots behind Bill, who posted a 39.

As Richard Pryor might have said, "It don't look good for da kid!"...But hey, just keep playing and ya never know. I started the second nine with two bogeys, which gained me one stroke on Ken, but lost me two more to Bill, who was still playing solid golf, shooting even par on the previous eight holes. I parred our twelfth hole, before shanking a 7-iron into the water on the next to post double. 

Here we go with the exorcisms again! "C'mon man! Finish strong." The following four holes I post: birdie, par, par, par, and I'm hitting second off the tee, given Mylon's birdie on the last hole. There's water down the right side, out of bounds to the left, but I've been hitting the driver pretty well, and just a little fade down the left side ought to get the job down. 

The job did not get done. I all but whiffed, barely hitting the ball with rear of the hosel, and watched it dribble into the rough maybe 30 yards in front of the tee box...Spaz drifted up from my body cackling all the way. I can only imagine how Steph felt, sitting there in her cart...

Regardless of one's degree of disgust, the game must go on, right? I'm thinking, "I'm not out of the hole yet. Just get this thing in the fairway, then hit your best shot of the tournament, and par the hole." I pull out my favorite club again, and hit a pretty decent shot to about 150 yards out in the middle of the fairway. 

"Okay pal, you have to smooth this 7-iron close to the hole. There just isn't any other option." There's a bunker left, a bunker right, and water short right. I take dead aim, and the ball starts right on line. It was a good stroke. I look up, and the ball is faaaading now, right into the sand on the right. "Just perfect *&%#!"

Well, I still haven't had my bunker lesson yet, but I've hit good bunker shots before, and now would be the time to do so again. Not! I chunk it and watch it trickle right back into the sand. I'm lying four in the sand, hit a pretty good sand shot to about eight feet, but as has been the theme of the day, when it mattered most, I didn't perform. I two-putted to close the day and the tournament with a triple bogey 7, and posted a 42 for the final nine holes. 

I have had to struggle to stay away from all the the "ifs" attached to my fourth-place finish, but I have succeeded for the most part. To say I was disappointed in my performance would be like saying Augusta National is a pretty decent track. Sure, I was only shooting for top ten coming into the event, but when opportunity knocks, you had better be ready to open the door or she'll go next door. When opportunity knocked for me this past week, I must have been in the bathroom taking a...nevermind, you get my drift. 

Jeff Finlen- Co-Flight Winner

Ken hung on to the flight lead with an 86, and getting one stroke more than Ken and I on this course, Jeff Finlen came back from eight strokes back of the lead to tie for the flight lead. Funny, they have Jeff listed as 14.5 getting one stroke more than Ken and me, and he shoots 81, 79 the final two days. In 2012, his course handicaps were 12 and 13. Go figure. Bill's 83 vaulted him two strokes past me into third. Mylon managed to match my 42 on the second nine, and finished in a tie for seventh. 

To sum it all up, although the event was a tremendous experience, I wasn't thrilled about my failure to finish. Fortunately I have some past successes to remind me that I was a good finisher at one point, and to give me hope that I can be again. 

Thanks Steph for all your loving support and hundreds of photographs! Thanks Sean for the chipping lesson; without it my scores would surely have been worse. And, of course thanks to you for reading this stuff and sharing the experience. I can't wait for next year! "Golf is a game that is played on a 5-inch course- the distance between your ears" (Bobby Jones)...T. A.

DAY 3: WORLD AMATEUR HANDICAP CHAMPIONSHIP

After two rounds in the low-80s, and a spot atop the leaderboard, Day 3 of the World Amateur Handicap Championship at TPC Myrtle Beach was full speed ahead for me...in reverse! Basically, the golf gods giveth and the golf gods taketh away. Today was a taketh away day.

I felt good going in, had a nice warm up, and felt ready to shoot another nice round. That is, until we got to the opening hole, the 138-yard par-3 17th. If this were the third or fourth hole, rather than the opener, it would still have presented some visual challenges, but I suspect our group would have handled it better.

As it was, two of the players in the foursome that started on the same hole, but just in front of us, found the water,

 one on his first shot and the other on his second when his chip rolled through the green. The second shot of another member of that foursome saw his chip flirt with the wet stuff, but it hung on.

Our foursome, Norman Bolen, Ron Colville, and Kevin Ashe (5th, 35th, and 47th respectively after 36 holes), watched the carnage, and it did nothing good for our first-shot jitters. 

The lighting practice greens didn't help at all either.

Kevin was the only one to find the green, with Ron taking a dunk, and Norm and I bailing to the left. 

Had I not seen one ball find the water and another hanging on the edge, it might have been a routine up and down...at worse a bogey from where my ball sat. But I had seen the fate of the first foursome, and I chipped away from the hole. 

Fear of fast greens dominated me as I approached my downhill 30-footer, and I just waved my putter at the ball and yelled for it to go. It didn't go, and I missed the subsequent 15-footer. 

After just one double bogey in two rounds (not counting my two-shot penalty for absent brain matter yesterday), I had started the day with a double.

I vowed to shake that off, and off we went to the par-5 18th, the fourth hardest on the course (yeah, right!). Looking at this hole was no picnic after you were just shell-shocked on your opening hole (the 6th hardest). 

I'll skip most of the gory details and just tell you that I moved to the third hole (TPC No.1), a virtual walk in the park in comparison, with my second double bogey already on my card. Great way to start when you're atop the leaderboard, no? 

In any event, I got my first par on the third hole, and that was merely a brief respite before I carded a triple bogey 8 on the par-5 second. 

Par 5 No.2

Can you feel my pain yet? Believe me, I was feeling it! To put it in perspective, the first two days I was 9 over par (minus yesterday's penalty) for 18 holes. Today, I was 10 over after 8. 

Was there anything positive about the day? Well, yes. Norm, who, as I mentioned was fifth coming in, had picked up his game after his triple-triple start. Having pretty much shot myself in the foot as far as leading the flight was concerned, I had to find another goal. I decided that if I could stay ahead of Norm and post the best score of my foursome, it would be a moral victory.

How could I miss that!

Despite my struggles, my front-nine score was one shot better than Norms (44 to 45 respectively), and I knew I had had a two shot edge on the back from our first two holes (12 for me, 14 for him!). When Norm posted three pars on holes 10 - 12 (our 12th, 13th, and 14th holes), and I went bogey, bogey, double bogey, even that goal wasn't looking too good. Norm had taken a one-shot lead with four to play.

Pretty good form

Norm held that lead with three to play, but although I botched a very makeable birdie attempt on the par-5 14th and came away with par, Norm missed his short par-putt to even things up with two to play. I finished the lat two holes, bogey, par, and Norm doubled both. And that moral victory, my friends, is all I have to show for 5 1/2 hours in the sun.

At the 19th Hole

Today I just didn't hit enough good shots, and when I did hit good shots, I failed to capitalize on the greens. Basically, on the way to "Fantasy Land" I took a detour in "Realityville." I shot a 90, which dropped me to second place, three shots behind the leader going into the final day of flight play. 

And this is what we wake up to

But how bad can it be? I have the most beautiful photographer in the world with me, our anniversary is tomorrow, and I still have a shot to win my flight. 

Just a note about the play at TPC today. Other than getting beat up by the terrific course itself, what I will take away was the "thock" of golf balls bouncing off trees on almost every hole! At least my pain was shared. "Play it as it lies"... T. A.