Pebble Beach - August 28, 2005

This is my first trip here, and although it's beautiful, magnificent, almost too magical for words, it will likely be my only. Getting here - and paying for it all - make Pebble Beach for many a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The golf course is memorable. We've seen it on TV for U.S. Opens and AT&T Tour events so many times, we all practically know it...the way we know Augusta National. Here's the 18th green, for instance:

Walking this course it's so very hard to focus on the shots you need to hit because you're looking out at the seals playing in the cove or up at the mountains in the distance or over at the lone pine tree between the sixth green and seventh tee... You just do the best you can, hit the few good shots, and move on. At least that was my experience.

Getting here from back east was an all-day trip. We departed Charleston on a 6:10a Eastern flight on Saturday, August 27, and pulled off 17 Mile Drive and into the resort at Pebble Beach around 2:30p Pacific. That's almost 12 hours. Fortunately, we didn't schedule golf for that day, but on the next day, Sunday, our time was 8:10. It couldn't have been a prettier morning. A low fog over the water, the sun coming up over the trees, the first tee area abuzz with activity...

My round got off to a decent start: I bogeyed the first, then had 8 feet or so for eagle on 2 (tapped in for birdie), but I couldn't sustain it. By the time I hooked two tee balls into the rocks at 18, I was beaten in golf, but captivated by the beauty of everything that is, I guess, Pebble Beach.

I'd love a chance to play the golf course in competition, when the camera isn't in the bag, when the group ahead and behind are just as intent on the golf as on getting their caddie to snap this husband and wife team in front of Bing Crosby's former residence...

Maybe I will come back. But in the meantime, we play Spyglass today (August 29) and Cypress Point tomorrow.

VA vs. SC Matches - August 23-25, 2005

Yesterday's post focused on a single issue, the "scorer" for an event or informal tournament. Today I'll report - at least briefly - on the event itself. Not so much the score, although the SC squad amazingly defeated the VA group by 1 point - 1 POINT! - over a three day competition. No, this is a bigger, more emotional look at these matches.

I don't know how this event originated, whose brainchild it was, or even who did most of the work pulling these eight guys together. But I know I was fortunate to have been included, not only because they are all great guys and we played very good golf courses and it was a formal, organized, formatted competition. In fact, it was all those things that made these VA vs. SC team matches an absolute joy.

As with most successful golf outings, I made several new friends, and I have golf to thank for it. You get to know someone so quickly, so well, on the golf course. You peer into their head, get a glimpse into their hearts, learn a lot about their character. You learn to laugh with them. You get to know and (vicariously) meet their families. You learn what's important to them, what isn't. You see how they respond to pressure, what it does to them, how much better - or worse - an individual they are when something's on the line (even if, sometimes, it's only pride).

The first day we played Secession, two groups of better ball. Three of the VA guys had no luggage, no golf clubs, so they played with rentals and spanked us. Out of a possible 36 points, they had 19.5, and after one day a 3 point lead.

(Each hole represents 1 point. If you halve, each team receives 1/2 point. If you win, you receive the full point. If you lose, you receive nada.)

On Day 2 we traveled just down the road to Spring Island's Old Tabby Links. The morning round was another better ball session; the afternoon was alternate shot. For the day there were 72 points in play, and we clawed closer. After two days only one point separated us: VA had 54.5 points; SC had 53.5 points.

Today, Day 3, was singles day: four individual matches, each worth 18 points, a total of 72 points for the day. The first and second matches were in one group; the third and fourth in the next group.

Match #1 yielded SC 10.5 points, or +3. Match #2 yielded SC only 8.5 points, or -1. So after the first two matches, SC had gone from being one point behind to one point ahead overall.

Match #3 yielded SC 10.5 again, or +3. But Match #4 - the two captains going mano a mano - SC lost by 3, capturing only 7.5, or -3.

If you're not totally confused, that means SC won overall by one point - 1 POINT! After three days, out of a possible 180 points, and two teams of four golfers each, only one point separated the two teams. 90.5 to 89.5.

The score was close, strangers became friends, good friends became better friends; the golf was good at times, not so good at others... But, my friends, these three days represent the best the game has to offer. If you don't do anything like this, put it together, do it now and do it often.

Thanks, fellas!

The Scorer - Spring Island, August 24, 2005

There's one in every group. But in this group of eight, there are at least four...

I'm playing in an informal VA vs. SC residents team match at Secession and Spring Island's Old Tabby Links this week. After two days and 54 holes, the VA guys lead by 1 point.

The format has been Better Ball, Better Ball, Modified Alternate Shot. Each hole is worth a point - if we halve it's worth a half point - and it's this close. Tomorrow we'll have singles matches at Secession.

Here's the SC captain, Kirk Davis, working on the afternoon scorecards today in the lounge at Spring Island Club. Beside him is Dennis Kern, one of the VA players. At the time of this shot, we're between rounds and waiting for lunch and, for me, at least, another round of beers.

I'm accustomed to being the scoring guy, setting up the groups, preparing the scorecards, tallying the scores... But this time there are at least four of us who do that sort of thing, and it's fun to watch: so many type A golf personalities, pencil in hand, counting and recounting, checking the dots.

Tonight over dinner we'll set the pairings for tomorrow's final matches. The Old Dominion, aka The Commonwealth, they're tough. But they're going down.

More red shirts on Sunday?

A quick heads-up from my "rip and report" file. (I routinely rip pages of interesting pieces from magazines, thinking I'll keep them somewhere nearby until I decide what to do with them.)

In the September 2005 Atlantic Monthly, I came across the following:

"In many animal species red coloration in males - a sign of high testosterone levels - is associated with fitness and dominance... The color may also be linked to prowess in human athletes. Two English academics examined four 'combat sports' (boxing tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling, and freestyle wrestling) in the 2004 Summer Olympics; participants in these events were randomly assigned either blue or red attire. The athletes in red won 55 percent of all the competitions - and when contests in which the competitors were deemed unevenly matched were eliminated from the pool, more than 60 percent of the winners were found to have been wearing red... The researchers speculate that because red is associated with anger and violence, competitors may be sub-consciously intimidated by opponents dressed in it - and that wearing red may boost an athlete's testosterone levels and thereby improve his performance."

Who'll win this match? And are we likely to see Tiger's challengers duplicating his preference for a red shirt on Sunday?

Briar's Creek - August 18, 2005

Gus Bright was kind enough to invite me out to The Golf Club at Briar's Creek (near Kiawah Island) for a round of golf with him and the CEO of the club, Dave Bailey.

Briar's Creek was Golf Digest's pick as the "Best New Private Course" in 2002. It's a Rees Jones design, fun to play (even as we danced between thunder heads), and, for the most part, straightforward. I love playing a course for the first time when you can see on virtually every shot what you need to do. No hidden bunkers or water hazards, and the shape of the shots is intuitively "there"...that's a great experience. (I recall Fazio's Forest Creek near Pinehurst is similar in this respect.)

Briar's Creek aims to be a private golf retreat for a (very) limited number of members. It likely will have a healthy combination of local, Charleston and national members. All guest play requires a member in each group, so national members can't just send their pals out there to "experience" the club. (And that's a good thing.)

In fact, the "experience" Briar's Creek offers is one of two noteworthy aspects about the Club. There's a kind of formula that director of golf Chris Edwards has instituted, beginning with a member of the golf staff meeting you at your car, standing near you on the practice grounds and insuring you have all that you need. Impressive, but not over the top. Very comfortable.

The second thing.... Part of the golf experience has to do with how golf and the homesites mesh. Like the best golf and real estate communities, the homes at Briar's Creek will be set back from the course, visible but not encroaching. Here's the view from the 8th tee area back toward the club's founder's home. Between the back tee and the home is a goodly-sized pond, and (I'm recalling here) about 100-to-150 yards (a good 7-iron to a wedge).

I played pretty well, but, as has been the case for a few weeks, got off to a slow start. We started on the back, where I shot 40 (+4). Then we made the turn to #1, where I birdied, missed a close one on #2 and again on #3. shot 37 (+1) on the back for a 77.

It's getting there...

Comment: The golf ball

Someone pointed out to me recently that golf is the only professional sport that allows the players to supply their own balls. Well if you put it that way, I guess, maybe we should consider ratcheting back - or at least holding at its current state - the golf ball used in professional competition.

That's a debate for another day, however. Today, let's consider the awesome task of the range attendants at a professional event such as the PGA Championship. A lot of people may not realize that on the range at a Tour event, players practice only with balls like the ones they play on the course, causing a lot of extra, taxing, time-consuming work for the range guys and gals.

Here's a photo from pga.com:


So raise a beer stein to the attendants.