Doubleheader Saturday

The early plan for Saturday is River Run II in Kirkwood at 9:30, followed by Endwell Greens at 2:00.

I don't think I can win the competition this weekend, but I could certainly lose it. I'm not thrilled with my position at this point, but I'm not overly concerned, either.

I haven't spent the hours to aggregate all the data, but I'd be willing to bet I've outplayed Alex on the par-3's this summer. My best shot of the season came on a short, downhill par 3 -- No. 12 at Apalachin, where I missed a hole-in-one by 2 feet. I'm confident in my short irons, and Alex's old strength -- chips from just off the green -- has not been as much of an advantage this year. On top of that, I've been putting very well lately.

On top of all that, Alex will be at the disadvantage of having not played for two weeks, while I played 45 holes during my vacation (48 on 9 with Dad at the course where he lives; 106 at Great Rock in Wading River, Long Island; 113 on Sunday evening at Ely Park). I've also played Endwell Greens before, so that course is one I've targeted to make up some strokes since the day we bought the discount cards.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it: I've been outplayed to this point. But this competition is nowhere close to over. Alex's nature as a choke artist notwithstanding, I think both courses planned for Saturday play to my advantage. Traditions at the Glen is another course that I've played quite a bit, so therein lies yet more opportunity.

I may be losing, but I am as confident as ever.

Afton

Strub is right to be discouraged after our respective showings at Afton. It looks like the only thing keeping him in the contest is my continued struggle with my driver. I had it under control at Afton, and the result is that even Strub playing his absolute best was just not good enough.

Strub gave me a speech today before the start of the round about how good he was feeling, how today was his day, and how he was going to beat me by 12 strokes. Things looked like they were going to break his way after he hit a nice straight drive right up the middle on 1, and I topped one 100 yards. I gave him 2 strokes on 1 and his confidence swelled a little more. His first major mistake was on the par-3 4th. I teed my ball too high and left 20 yards worth of work to the green, and Strub was sitting pretty just off the fringe on the short side of the hole. I hit one chip 4 feet, with my club passing entirely under the ball and only slightly grazing it. However, he hit his chip all the way over the green, and then left a lot of work coming back to the cup. Both of us came away with 6s and Strub lost his first best chance.

The next hole, I drilled a 5 iron into the women's tee box markers, and bailed Strub out a little more. However, on 6, my day turned around. Playing through a group, we both went up to the tee box and hit monster drives to within yards of the green. Both of us easily parred the hole. I played 7 in good fashion and took an 8 because I lost a ball in the fairway somehow. I hit 4-5 out to come into the clubhouse with all the momentum.

Lunch: 2 hotdogs, 1 Diet Pepsi. I ate one of the hotdogs and about half of the other one. Not sure why I felt I needed 2. To be fair, they were more sausage-sized that hot-dog-. Strub had nothing, and I question the wisdom of this decision. I realize he doesn't normally eat meals before 3 pm and he did have breakfast, but you need some sort of sustenance if you expect to win.

The back 9 saw a stretch of holes that showed why Strub had no chance in this tournament. After a 6 on 10, I ripped off 5 straight holes of pars or bogeys. I was hitting huge drives, and nice straight long irons, and giving myself chances at birdie on most holes. Strub wasn't playing bad, but he just couldn't keep pace. I knew I was in great shape to break 100 going into 16, as long as I didn't have a colossal breakdown. I had a few minor bumps, but I easily came in with a 97 to card the best score of the year. If I play anywhere near the level I showed I could play for an extended period of time, Strub is going to have a rough summer.

Going into 18, I needed anything less than a 12 to break 100. I had no idea what Strub's score was, but he was actually in that ballpark as well. He managed to score exactly 100 by losing a ball, and then making the decision to play off the rocks near a cartpath because he decided that was a better lie than he would get on the leaves behind it. He made these sort of poor decisions all day. He was about to play a ball out of a creek to save a stroke until I strongly suggested he just drop it and take the stroke penalty instead of wasting 2 in the creek. In that regard, Strub is the Rajon Rondo of this tournament. Strub's irrational love for Rondo is a common point of contention between us. I feel that Rondo is overrated as an offensive point guard because he makes circus passes to get on the highlight reel, and the result is that many of his passes are just far enough off target to ruin the shooting opportunity. Strub is out there showboating just like Rondo, hoping that his unbelievably bad fashion sense and willingness to play shots out of creeks and off cartpaths will get him on SportsCenter. Unfortunately for him, nobody's watching, and instead it is just costing him strokes.

Can Strub ever break 100? The question is open, but maybe not. He may just not be quite a good enough player. He just doesn't make the big putts when it matters, and he is just not good enough around the greens. Its ok, there's no shame in being a 100 golfer. It's a tough game, and its not for everyone. Maybe if he keeps plugging away at it, he'll get there eventually, but I think he should be very proud of what he has accomplished. Feel free to congratulate him on shooting 100, and maybe he will see that sometimes the attainable goals are the best ones.

Afton note

By the way, and I can't believe I forgot about this until right now, the shot of the day was clearly Alex's tee shot on No. 5. I had honors and hit a driver on this long dogleg left dead straight, a bit to the right perhaps, leaving myself a lengthy shot to the hole from the adjacent fairway. Alex based his decision to hit a long iron off the tee on my errant tee shot, and proceeded to approach the ball, take 7 or 8 practice swings like always, then step up and absolutely drill the ball, 5 inches off the ground, into the bright crimson women's tee markers about 20 yards in front of us. The marker broke in half, with the top half flying about 7-8 yards ahead, and Alex's ball dying on the front of the women's tee box.

Hilarious.

Afton - 6/19

I played the best golf of my life today and still lost three strokes on the season.

I shot 100, and left eight lengthy putts within 6 inches of the cup. I missed a 20-footer on 18 that would've given me 99, which has been my target score for 2 years now. I lost a total of two balls all day, on a course where losing balls is not a difficult task. Needless to say, I was crushed by this result.

I played unbelievable on the front nine. Out of this world good. Lost just one ball, into the water on 7, which is a long, difficult par 5. I left the scorecard in Alex's car, so I can't really go through the whole round like I normally would, but it doesn't matter. I killed it on the front, and Alex played well enough to only drop a stroke, as I went out in 49 and he went out in 50.

We made the turn and I continued my stellar play. I was hitting my driver tremendously well, hitting excellent long iron shots, and when I needed the hybrid to help me out, it was there, too.

Somehow, Alex outplayed me on the back. It was tremendously discouraging as it relates to my chances of winning this whole thing: I played well enough to shoot probably low-to-mid-90's, ended up not breaking my only true goal for the day, and wasted what may well be my best opportunity to really post a low number for the season, as now we are approaching the point where we need to start playing some of the more difficult courses, like Tioga.

Halfway through this challenge, I find myself down nine shots, and lost ground on one of the few courses where I thought I had an advantage, seeing as I'd played Afton last fall. The conditions were simply perfect today, I had a good night's sleep, I felt great, played great, and lost three shots. I walked off the course shaking my head, for myriad reasons.

Other quick notes from Afton: The ads are true, it's really not fa ... As Alex may touch on (if he ever decides he's going to write again), the girls working the clubhouse here were better than "golf course hot" ... The course was in spectacular condition, especially compared to how I remember playing it (very) late last fall ... I really can't overstate how disappointed I am to not break 100. My only 8 of the day was on 18, and I was in great position hitting 4 -- even after drilling my tee shot OB (the second ball I lost all day) -- to chip on and make 6 or even 5. Eight was an unacceptable score from the position I was in. What a chokejob on my part.

I'm going to need help to close the gap soon. Read: I'm going to need Alex to melt down soon. He's proven to be quite the choke artist, but then again, so have I.

We may not play next week as I'm going home, he's going to a wedding, and some other lame excuses like that. It sucks, because this is not the note I wanted to leave this challenge on. I'll need to be ready to make up some ground the next time out, that's for sure, before this thing gets out of hand.

Blue Stone - 6/10

There's a reason why we didn't go out of our way to post about Blue Stone: we played terribly.

In fact, I didn't play too terribly on the first nine (we played the back 9 first). No. 18 is a spectacular, long, very downhill par 4 where I hit my best shot of the day, a towering, arcing drive to the right side of the fairway.

In retrospect, it's a shame we didn't finish at 18, because when we closed at 9, we both made an absolute mess of it. Badly.

Long story short, we both shot 12s. Alex took about 7 shots from right off of the green. At least the GSP after the round was amazing.

I have to cut this post short because we are almost at Afton (it's not fa). I plan a major victory today. Talk to you soon

Ford Hill - 6/5

After nine holes on Saturday at Ford Hill in Whitney Point, our first sub-100 round seemed well within reach.

Just not for me.

Standing in the clubhouse at the turn, I had lost 12 strokes in nine holes -- a potentially devastating deficit, especially if the trend continued on the back.

Alex went out in 47 -- the best nine holes either of us had played yet. My game, on the other hand, had been atrocious. I carded a 9, and 8 and 4 7's en route to an ugly 59 at Ford Hill's 'White' course.

There were a few highlights on my part, most notably a par on the 575-yard par 5 5th hole. I had hit my new TaylorMade hybrid club fairly well, despite what the scorecard said.

But Alex was tearing it up. He carded only one 7 -- on No. 5 -- and was eyeing his first sub-100 round. I knew, at the turn, I need to turn things around.

And I did.

We played the 'Red' as the back 9, and I'm glad we did: I came right back with a 47 of my own to finish the day with an unusual 59-47-106. A terrible second shot on No. 9 -- the course consists of four 9-hole courses, so it was our No. 18 -- left me a country mile from the hole, leading to a double-bogey 6 that left me wondering what could've been (par would've meant 45).

Alex fell apart a bit right after the turn, but closed strong to still win the day, coming back in with a 56. He picked up three strokes, extending his seasonal lead, but after an abysmal front 9, I'll live with that.

Also worth noting is that Jay Boulia joined us for this 18 holes. Despite a long night of teetotaling with his girlfriend on Friday, Jay managed to drink 13 beers by the 14th hole, which really enhanced his compliments of my outfit and occasionally unorthodox swings as the day went on. I wouldn't let it bother me, though; if we were dragging him around the course, I might feel differently, but Jay actually shot 53-47-100 and beat both of us, so there's not much I can say.

Ford Hill

Almost home from Whitney Point. Alex beat me by 3 strokes, 106-103. If you told me after I went out in 59 that I'd only lose 3 strokes on the day, I'd have taken it in an instant.

We also had a special guest along with us today; he did not benefit my game.

Full post to come later, probably Sunday night sometime.

Absolute Meltdown

I cannot believe I played so bad here. The first 14 holes here were a perfect example of how bad days of golf for me snowball out of control I hit terrible shot after terrible shot. I lost easily 6 balls on the front 9. Every time I holed out a bad hole, I would walk back to the cart and calmly try to tell myself that I would do better on the next one. Then I'd tee it up and crush it 400 yards out of bounds. In general, I am not particularly calm when playing golf (or any sport for that matter) but I could not control myself. Strub is not lying when he says I threw clubs and balls.

Strub quietly made good shots this entire time. He kept hitting perfect drives, and I kept shanking it even when I tried to lay up. I hit a pitching wedge on a par 3 20 yards past the hole, and an approach on a par 4 15 yards past the hole into a forest. Through 14, Strub was solidly kicking my butt.

However, at that point, my luck changed a little. I was down 12 at this point and I caught a few good breaks on chips and putts. With a few bad breaks for Strub, I picked up 5 shots on the last 4 holes to bring it to a respectable 7 stroke loss.

Strub has a theory that he has the advantage whenever we play in the evening because I have worked all day, and I have the advantage on weekends because he doesn't usually get up that early. This was patently obvious here. We had to play fast because I was late getting out of work and the course was in China, NY, and I was tired and hungry. Under better conditions, I really think I could have played a bit better.

Grandview Farms definitely had the most character of any course so far. The names for individual holes are awesome, and a lot of the holes are memorable and unique. Also unique are the 50 feral barn cats hanging out all over the place. The course is overall very hilly, so my frustrations were magnified by problematic lies on almost every shot. Even on the tee box, I couldn't seem to find a shot where my feet were level with the ball. I really think I would have liked this course a lot more if I wasn't playing so awful.

Strub is already talking a big game about tomorrow. Don't expect him to close the lead anymore- based on the scorecards, I am still clearly a better golfer than him.

Grandview Farms - 6/2

I was due for a bounceback round after nosediving to a 121 at Willowbrook, and Wednesday at Grandview Farms, I delivered.

We were again up against the possibility of darkness, as we didn't even get out to (lovely) East Berkshire until a few minutes after 6. And let me tell you: I had thought Willowbrook, in Cortland, was seven turns past the middle of nowhere ... Grandview Farms makes Willowbrook look like it's in Manhattan. The stench of cow manure along Berkshire's main thoroughfare, much of which is not even painted, really gets you stoked for some country-style golf.

While I loved this course, the highlight of the day was the scorecard; each hole has a nickname, names that appear to get more intimidating as you progress through the course. You open with the benign Valley View, High Road and Easy Street -- and close at Intimidator, Challenger and finally, Terminator.

As well as I played on the front 9, finishing Devastator with a double-bogey 7 to go out in 52, Alex played just as poorly. He was cursing, throwing clubs, and pounding the ground. I think he might've ruined his pitching wedge after crushing it across his leg. I don't think I've ever seen him so frustrated on the course.

I made pars on Whispering Pines (par-3 No. 7) and Shady Glen (par-3 No. 12), but I think my best hole might've been Corner-Stone, a hugely uphill, hard dogleg right par-5. On the cart drive from No. 12, I caught a medium-size bug in my right eye and had to bail out of the cart twice. I went to the 13th tee and completely missed the ball with my driver, leaving me in great position to start to card a snowman or worse on what is the hardest hole on the course.

Instead, I drilled a four-iron to a great spot, reached the fringe on my fourth shot and left a 20-foot par putt on the lip for an unlikely tap-in bogey, picking up two more shots and essentially guaranteed that I'd gain back some of the 11 shots I'd given back at Willowbrook.

No. 14, Indomitable, was another highlight: on the long par-4 with water in play, I went driver-8-iron to about 6 feet, giving myself an excellent chance for birdie. Maybe I was psyched out by the turtle on the cart path -- I short-armed the putt and tapped in for par.

I limped in with 5-5-8, with 18 being, for my money, the toughest hole of the day, especially considering the darkness.

I let him back in a little on the back, carding a 10 on Tormentor, the 458-yard Par-5 15th, but 52-53-105 becomes the best round of my life, and gives me plenty to build on going forward. The gap is closed to 3, with Ford Hill in Whitney Point appearing to be the next challenge.

I also added a hybrid club to my bag yesterday, a sleek-looking TaylorMade 3 that feels like it hits like a driver. I'll drop the 3-iron, a club I may have hit once this season. (Note: I think Alex is the last guy under age 60 to carry a 1-iron.)

Stay tuned.

Re: Choke Artist?

Let the record also show that I am still winning, and that Strub clearly can't capitalize on a day when I am at my worst.

Re: Choke artist?

Let the record show I destroyed Alex at Grandview Farms tonight, closed the deficit to 3 and played much better than the numbers would reflect.

More tomorrow.

Choke Artist?

For days and days after he went up 1 stroke, Strub used every opportunity he could to remind me that he was better than me at golf because he was beating me by 1 stroke. He used the momentum from that taunting to lose to me by 11 strokes at Willowbrook.

The thing about our matches is that when one of us plays bad, the other doesn't pile on the taunting to make it worse. But at Willowbrook, we got grouped with another pair to make a 4-some, and they would not let Strub hear the end of it. After we politely declined their offer to smoke weed on the third tee box, they decided we were going to be fast friends. They immediately felt comfortable enough to start in on our club selection on every shot, Strub's clothing choices, and our golf games in general. However, instead of going easy when Strub was struggling, they just let him have it. They would crack up when he would hit a shot out of bounds or miss a putt and they questioned his sexuality constantly. They were absolutely brutal. It probably was worth a couple strokes to me.

But I don't feel that bad about it. They were also worth a couple strokes to him. On 9, when he hit a putt that was going 10 feet long and off the far end of the green, our new stoner buddy Tony put his foot and stopped it. This set him up for a 6 foot putt instead of a chip and a 2 putt. They also helped him out with a little foot wedge action on at least one occasion.

Other highlights:

Strub got made fun of by at least 3 separate groups on the day. The lady in the clubhouse, Tony and Scott (our playing partners), and some old guy we passed on the course who asked if he was wearing clown condoms on his legs. For the record, he wore: plaid shorts, horizontal striped socks, striped shirt, solid hat.

It's unclear how this outfit affected his confidence. On the way to the course, he told me he was absolutely sure he was going to win. Nope. I told him afterwards that I was absolutely sure I was going to win as soon as he told me that, but I had kept it to myself.

Tony and Scott were obnoxious to the group in front of us all day. The 2 dudes in front of us, Notre Dame visor and his pudgy friend, got the pleasure of Tony/Scott harassment almost every hole as we all waited for the super-slow 4-some in front of them. I made sure to let them know we didn't know the Tony/Scott duo. We actually tried to ditch Tony and Scott at the turn and join Visor and Pudge, but the backup at 10 let them get hot dogs and meet us before we even got close to teeing off. Waiting to tee off on 10 did give Tony a chance to show us a picture of his 16-year-old daughter. I asked for her number and apparently its 1-800-eat-me. Not sure thats enough numbers but I'll try anyway. As an aside, she called to ask Tony to pick her up some cigarettes on the way home. He unironically expressed his disapproval of cigarettes to Strub and me after smoking a joint less than 20 minutes earlier.

And the highlight of the day: Strub's phone alarm going off before we teed off on 16, and him saying that it meant that we absolutely had to be in the car by then if he was going to make it to work less than 30 minutes late.

Final tally: I beat Strub by 11, and am now a better golfer than him by the only objective measure we have.

Invitational update

Through four courses, Alex has a 10-shot lead, as well as a 2-1-1 lead in terms of match play.

The season started with a one-shot victory at Dimmock Hill for Alex, followed by a two-shot win for me at Belden Hill.

After a 110-110 tie at Apalachin, I went to Willowbrook up by a stroke, and gave back 11 shots at the Cortland course on Saturday.

So that's where we stand now: Alex, up by 10 shots. We have 13 courses left to play.

The next course we're aiming for is Grandview Farms, in East Berkshire. From what I can discern online, it will be a step down from Apalachin and Willowbrook, but golf is golf, and I've got a lot of ground to make up.

I still like my chances for the season. I think I have an advantage at Endwell Greens, having played the course earlier this season. And I've played Traditions at the Glen at least 15 times, so I'm aiming to make up some ground there as well.

Plus, Alex is a choke artist. I don't expect him to hold a lead for very long.

Stay tuned.

Willowbrook - 5/29

Long story short, Saturday's round at Willowbrook was not kind to me.

It was our first Saturday morning trip, and we visited one of the outermost courses on the schedule, up in Cortland. Being Memorial Day weekend, it was packed.

With the crowd being as it was, we were grouped with two guys named Tony and Scott. Tony is a round, loud gentleman, while Scott was unusually skinny. When they pulled out a joint on the third fairway, we knew we'd be in for a long day.

I left a 10-foot birdie putt on the lip on the par-3 2nd -- a theme that would become pervasive for me as the first 12 or so holes went by. The super-dry greens didn't help my cause, as what seemed like perfect putts would take a last-second turn and scoot 6 feet by. Must've happened to me four times in 12 holes ...

The course is nicely designed, with plenty of beautiful landscapes. The long, uphill sixth hole, over a ditch, left Alex making a Tiger-esque driver toss after he hit a second ball out of bounds. But I would give back several strokes on No. 12, when the course brought us back across the same deep ditch.

In retrospect, the hole that really killed me on Saturday was No. 3, where I carded a season-worst 12. I had a terrible time trying to hack out of a bush against a tree with my third shot, then took a round-ruining four chips from the deep grass to the right of the green to get on.

Having to make it back to work at 4 p.m., I got a bit flustered on the last couple holes, finishing 10-8 to give Alex an 11-stroke margin for the day. No excuses, though: I played poorly, lost too many drives, and left myself way too many knee-knocking six- and seven-footers to two-putt.

I'm not overly discouraged: Saturday was about the worst I think I can play (knocks on wood), and Alex had -- not surprisingly -- quite a bit of good fortune, like on No. 5, a par-3 where his tee shot went way long, hit a tree and found a perfect lie to the right of the green. No way that sort of luck will keep up.