Monday, November 2, 2020

Weekend Wrap

We got nine holes in yesterday before the monsoon hit...  Frustrating in that before I hit "publish" in a couple of hours, our first green will have been punched.  Normally my thoughts would be turning to ski season, but that's its own issue in our current moment.

I know my vast readership is not expecting posts over the weekend, so I'll just point out a Sunday morning frost-delay allowed for a post memorializing a friend of the game who earned distinction in a different field.  Look for it below this post.

Gay Pride - It was quite the retro week in Bermuda...  I didn't watch much, but in the hour I saw on Thursday there were Hunter Mahan and Bo Van Pelt sightings, which only serves to remind me that I need to pick up some milk.

I am contractually required to run a game story on Monday morning:

But on Sunday in Bermuda, Brian Gay proved that on rare occasion there’s still a place in the game for the little guy, and the old guy, too. All it took was the PGA Tour playing on a windswept island in the middle of the Atlantic with none of the game’s top players showing up. Two days after 64-year-old Fred Funk made the cut in the Bermuda Championship, Gay, who ranks 136th on tour in driving distance and turns 49 in December, beat long-hitting 26-year-old Wyndham Clark to win the fifth title of his PGA Tour career and first since 2013.

“I did wonder [if I’d win again],” Gay said. “I’ve struggled the last few months and been quite miserable on the course at times. Everyone around me kept telling me you’re still going to win. My wife says you’re still going to win, do it again. Just kept at it. Crazy game, you never know what’s going to happen.”

I saw very little of it, though I did have an hour's fun watching them battle the wind on Friday.  As our weather turned gloomy, Port Royal looked spectacular, so it's a wonder I didn't watch more.  Except that I need to pace myself in advance of you-know-what...

We typically introduce the weekly Tour Confidential gabfest at this time, and I'm pleased to report that CTR:F - Gay does draw a single response. but the question is quite the diss of this week's event:

3. Brian Gay won the Bermuda Championship thanks in large part to his stuffed approach from on the 72nd hole, which led to a closing kick-in birdie and a place in a playoff with Wyndham Clark. With the end of 2020 in sight, it’s time to start assessing shot-of-the-year candidates. Which swing has your vote?   

Hmmm, doesn't that depend on your definition of "year"?  Because I had been reliably informed that the year ended at East Lake in August...

Shipnuck: Morikawa’s drive on 16 on Sunday at the PGA Championship is the only acceptable answer.

Notwithstanding my agreement with him on the merits, Shippy seems to be auditioning for a position in academia.  Yanno, a place where all dissenting opinions are considered hate crimes. 

But as much as I want to poke him over his monovision, the other answers only prove his point:

Colgan: What about Jon Rahm’s Memorial-clinching chip-in? I’d argue the conditions at Muirfield made Rahm’s shot a slightly higher degree of difficulty than Morikawa’s at the PGA (though, obviously, it’s hard to quantify the difficulty of shotmaking while holding a major championship lead).

Bamberger: Any shot by Sophia Popov at the British Open.

Sens: Rahm’s playoff putt was nails, no doubt. But the putt DJ made to get in the playoff in the first place was maybe even ridiculous because of the circumstances. It was an absolute must, or he was done.

Berhow: Sangmoon Bae hit two straight shots into the water, then dropped his third, from 250 yards out, into the cup. Good par.

See what I mean?  It's 2020, so why would we expect anything different...

The event peaked on Friday, courtesy of a guy only one year younger than your humble blogger:

The only person more excited than Fred Funk on Friday may have been his playing partner.

That’s understandable – it was his son, Taylor.

With two birdies in his last three holes, including a dramatic chip-in on his last hole of the day, Fred Funk survived 30-mph gusts and made the cut – and some history – at the Bermuda Championship.

Funk became only the fourth player 64 or older to make the cut on Tour, joining Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.

“That’s really good,” said Funk, 64. “And then Funk. You throw that in there, it doesn’t sound right, does it?”

I do love that self-deprecation at the end, but good for him.  The TC panel actually snuck in a question on this accomplishment as well:

5. Fred Funk, at the Bermuda Championship, became the fourth player in PGA Tour history age 64 or older to make a cut — while averaging 243 yards off the tee. Where does Funk’s effort rank among the golfing accomplishments of 2020?

As a golf accomplishment, meh.  But as a human accomplishment it's pretty good...

Shipnuck: Well, his lusty celebration told you how much it meant to him. It’s just a cute footnote to the season but another reminder that tournament golf is the ultimate meritocracy.

Colgan: Forget about what it means to him, what does it mean for ME that I can drive the ball past him all day long and yet he’d still properly rip my soul from my body on a golf course?

Bamberger: It’s just neat, that he did it, that it can be done, that he enjoyed it so much. Early in the pandemic, I talked to Fred and one of the things that became apparent was just how much he loves to play and compete, no matter the stage or the purse. Having his son trying to follow in his path adds to the whole thing.

Berhow: It’s pretty cool and a nice reminder to everyone that if you can golf your ball, you can golf your ball.

Sens: As out-of-nowhere achievements rank, I wouldn’t put it on the same level as Sophia Popov’s, but that celebration alone solidified it in the year’s top 10.

OK, what's with the Sophia Popov fixation, boys?  

As for the penultimate answer, it's also a reminder that this is the only acceptable use of the word golf as a verb... Please adjust your style books accordingly.

All Things Masters-Related - Lots to chew on, including some widely-disparate reports on course conditioning, so let's begin with this from Josh Sens:

6 ways a November Masters will be different than April, according to experts

 Well, if you can't trust experts...

1. Cooler air, colder winds

 Augusta National’s executive committee — aka “the green jackets” — have dominion over many


things, but they can’t control the weather, which is cooler in November, according to National Weather Service data, with average high temperatures 8 degrees lower than they are in April. The wind is different, too. It prevails out of the north (the breezes at Augusta aren’t always “swirling,” despite what you might think from watching on TV), the most challenging direction, according to Tour veteran Jay Haas, who competed in 22 Masters and has played the course often in the fall as well. “It’s in your face right there on the 1st hole, and it’s usually a cool wind,” Haas says. “As if that hole weren’t difficult enough.” On the long par-4 11th, the fan blows right to left, pushing approaches toward the greenside pond. And it works against the players on both back-nine par-5s — crucially pivotal holes. “These guys all hit it so far these days, I’m sure they’ll still be able to get there in 2,” Haas says. “But at least they might be hitting longer irons in.”

I'm far too lazy to Google it, but Bobby Jones famously wrote about the risk-reward trade-off when playing a long iron or wood (and back then, they were, literally, woods) into the 13th green, so it might be an interestingly retro week.  But it triggers my memories of the year Zach Johnson won, when it was so cold and windy that no one could reach the Par-5's, so the assumption that it helps the bombers is true, unless it isn't.

Daylight is scarce in November so you might wonder, as I did, why they didn't schedule this for October.  Here's a long answer:

2. Fast, but maybe not as furious

Show up at Augusta National in the fall and you’ll find the fairways softer than they are in spring. Just as balls don’t fly as far in the cooler air, they don’t run as much after they land. Those softer conditions aren’t due to rainfall; average precipitation levels are the same in November as they are in April. The explanation? Agronomy.

Toward the end of September, Augusta does what many courses around the Southeast do: It overseeds the soon-to-be dormant bermuda in its fairways with perennial rye, the cool-season grass on which the tournament is traditionally played. That rye is lovely turf, but it needs a lot of water to take root. “For those first four or five weeks after over-seeding, it’s damp and wet and hairy and not great for golf,” says Rhett Baker, an Augusta native who is now the superintendent at Ohoopee Match Club, an exclusive course in Georgia. “To hold a tournament, you need to adjust.”

Because Augusta keeps its maintenance practices close to the vest, it’s hard to say exactly what the green jackets might do. But Baker says he wouldn’t be surprised if the club had bumped up its overseeding schedule by a few weeks to give itself more time to whip the fairways into shape. “They’ve got things so dialed in over there,” Baker says. “I’m sure they can get that place playing almost any way they want.” The fact that the tournament was pushed back to November, as opposed to October as originally rumored, suggests that the club is confident it can get the course in primo condition. This is the Masters. They don’t mess around. But it’s still fair to assume, given overseeding, that the fairways will be lusher than they usually are in April. A modest difference, maybe. But in a competition that calls for such precision, even minor changes can mean the world.

Further interesting, if lengthy, speculation:

4. A hole new look

The final major of 2020 will also be the first major of 2021, which means we get two Masters in five months. In the interest of variety, a tournament known for its unwavering consistency might

make a simple change that could have a profound impact down the stretch: It could modify its hole locations. Picture what we think of the Sunday pin on the par-3 16th hole tucked on the left between a fronting bunker and a backstop. That “traditional” position was not always tradition.

“If you look back to the early 1970s, that hole was more often back-right on Sunday,” says GOLF’s architecture editor Ran Morrissett. “Which brings a different set of challenges into play.” Similar alternatives exist throughout the course — on the par-4 3rd, for instance, where the hole could be cut on the far right on Sunday, as opposed to the customary left-side location, to tempt more players to try to drive the green. And on both back-nine par 5s, where the margin between eagle and something very ugly grows more frighteningly thin the closer the flags are to the creek. On the 18th hole, the front pin location of recent decades has yielded clinching birdies for the likes of Mark O’Meara and Phil Mickelson, among others, but the green jackets could always make “3” more elusive by placing the cup on the top tier in back, where it was when Jack Nicklaus won in 1986, sealing his victory with a testy two-putt.

“One of the hallmarks of great design is having a variety of great hole locations on your greens,” Morrissett says. Don’t be surprised if Augusta shows off a few new options in November, which will make the script feel fresh again in spring.”

For sure these greens have all sorts of hole locations, just not actually the 16th.  I've been criticizing that green for decades for that very reason.  The back-right hole location might have once been interesting, but in modern times it's simply dreadful, unless you get a kick out of watching each and every player in the field hit the same uphill 35-footer and tap in for par.

 The Tour Confidential gang jumped in with this opener:

1. With the Masters now just two weeks away, Augusta National revealed a series of new wrinkles for the year’s final major. The Par-3 Contest was canceled. Players will go off split tees because of the lack of daylight. Viewers will have the ability to create, and watch, their own personally curated featured groups. And … a college football preview show? Yep, ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast from ANGC on Saturday. Which addition (or subtraction) is most significant?

Depends what you mean by significant...  

Alan Shipnuck: Two-tee start. There are going to be some unfortunate souls who tee off on 10 on Thursday morning and will be 3- or 4-over when they arrive at the 13th tee. That’s just a brutal way to start, whereas holes 2 and 3 are among the best birdie chances on the course.

At the risk of our tenuous continuity, This same writer dropped his mailbag feature on Friday last, and had this on the same topic:

How does the Thursday-Friday setup going off both tees affect the mindset of a player so in tune with Augusta National? Number 10 as your first hole is brutal. Seems those starting on 10 on Thursday would have a tougher time. – @Squizz612

I think you’re right. Overall, the front is the more difficult of the nines but it is a pretty gentle beginning: No. 1 is a short-iron in, and 2 and 3 are two of the best birdie chances on the course. Meanwhile, the 10th hole is hard, the 11th is really, really hard and we all know 12 can be a round-wrecker; it’s easy to imagine some jittery competitors who start on the back nine on Thursday will arrive on 13 tee three or four shots over par. Just another wrinkle to keep an eye on in a Masters unlike any other.

First and foremost, No. 1 is by no means an easy hole, just ask Tiger.  The next time he hits the fairway might be his first...

I'm having trouble seeing this as much of an issue, given that each player will start on No. 10 one of Thursday/Friday.  I know these guys are different than us. but I'd much prefer to play the harder holes early in the day, before my grooved, driving-range swing has regressed to its mean.  But I also think Nos. 2 and 3 are high-risk holes for these guys, because of the need to birdie them before those two brutal, front-nine Par-3's.

Michael Bamberger: By Sunday afternoon, we won’t remember the two-tee start. It’s unfortunate, but a small price to pay to get in this fall Masters. It’s the same for everyone. The loss of the Par-3 Contest is a stark statement on what it will be like to have a Masters with no fans. Augusta’s bosses realized that you can’t have a Par-3 event with no fans, but the implication is that a Masters with no fans will be a totally different thing. That decision to cancel is, for me, a wake-up call to our expectations. As for the “personally curated featured groups” (nice phrase!): Watching the groups as you choose is a mighty nod to the youth of America – and the world. The CBS audience is old and getting older. This is the future. ESPN figured this out about 40 years ago. Just show me what I want to actually see. But now the viewer decides. It’s an extension of the culture. The iPad. The iPhone. iTunes. Have it your way, etc. Watch what you want when you want. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just where we are and where everything is going.

I agree its an interesting feature early in the week, though we know what folks will watch on Sunday, no?  Of course, this is appeasement of the gambling community as well, as one of the guys notes below.

James Colgan: Don’t get me wrong, GameDay is a fun idea, but the show’s inclusion to Masters week won’t move the needle for a single golf fan. From a tournament standpoint, the split tee times are going to play a huge role — but I’m particularly bummed about the Par-3 Contest. Tradition is Augusta’s calling card, and for as hokey as the contest is, the week will feel just a little bit less “normal” without it.

Agreed, in large part.  The GameDay thing might carry over to Saturday play, in that I assume that Justin Thomas will be in crimson, no?   

Josh Berhow: The GameDay addition is great, the split tees could be a factor but has happened before due to weather, and the latest from Masters Digital, while great, seems like just the next step in the evolution of their superb broadcast. But the loss of the Masters Par-3 is the most significant, even though it has no impact on who wins on Sunday. It’s really a striking reminder of what’s happening outside the gates of Augusta National, in the U.S. and in the world. This is a different Masters. Let’s hope the Par-3 returns in April, because that will also say a lot about the world we’re living in, too.

Josh Sens: The customized group-watching. In every other respect, we hope, this Masters will be a one-off. But viewers curating their own groups – that points to a fast-approaching golf gambling future that won’t recede after it arrives.

It's a bit early still, but they take a shot at handicapping the field:

2. Our Josh Sens spoke with various experts to better understand how a fall Masters will differ from the spring edition. In your mind, are they any particular type of players whom the November date will either favor or hamper?

Shipnuck: Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and other huge talents who have been snakebit in April. Everything about this Masters is going to feel a little different, and I think that will help loosen up some of the guys who habitually get in their own way.

Rory's been snakebit?  I basically agree with Alan that this is his best chance, I just have a widely divergent diagnosis of his previous Masters efforts.

Colgan: To Shippy’s point, both majors in 2020 have given us first-time major winners. I think we’ll see much of the same at Augusta. Some names I like: Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm – maybe even Tony Finau?

Always fun to pick the guys who can't close to solve that issue on the biggest stage...  But it does happen, at least sometimes.

This is the reference above:

Bamberger: Looks like the course will play fast and short. Takes away the bombers’ advantage. Brings in 40 other guys.

Mike is the first and, thus far, only guy to hint at the course playing firm.  

Sens: I second Alan’s Jason Day call. I’m thinking of earlier this year, when Day acknowledged feeling more at ease in Ohio, without the added expectations of the crowd around him. I think we’ll see more of the same from him at Augusta, a course that has always suited him.

Berhow: Not having fans will help players who are a little more fragile between the ears. Standing on 12 tee, on Sunday, while in the hunt, for example, is going to be a gut-wrenching shot with or without fans. But it’s still going to feel different knowing there aren’t thousands of patrons breathing down your neck. I think this might benefit the unseasoned Augusta player more, but I still think the cream will rise to the top this year. With less on-course distractions, I think the favorites will thrive.

Does it help those more fragile between the ears?  You mean like Tiger, just one of the many alpha dogs that have noted the lack of energy and its affect on their game.  

Of course, this guy factors into each and every projection:

“I have put on a little bit of weight since Las Vegas,” said DeChambeau, who weighed 190
pounds in the fall of 2019 when he started packing on mass and gaining speed. “I’m at 240 and I’ll be pushing to get up a little bit more. And I’ve gained some strength. I’m more interested in gaining strength than gaining weight.

“I’m pumping more weight. I did a bench press today for the first time just to see what I could do. And now I understand why people lose range of motion and they get injured. You are not going through full triceps extension and you’re not going through full range of motion. So I won’t be doing that anymore because it’s not the greatest motion for golf, let’s just say that.

“But I will tell you I got up to 295 pounds, free weights. It was fun.”

That 295 might be interesting, though the number on everyone's mind is either 211 or 403, as Bryson explicates::

As was the day he crashed the 400-yard barrier for the first time. DeChambeau, 27, who topped the PGA Tour in driving distance with an average of 322.1 yards last season, posted on Instagram a picture of his FlightScope X3 launch monitor screen that revealed eye-popping numbers – a ball carry of 403.1 yards and a ball speed of 211 mph. And he did so with a 45-½ inch shaft in his driver, not the 48-inch shaft he’s experimenting with.

“I was speed training, there was a lot of electricity in the air, a lot of music going on. I’m up there for 45 minutes swinging my butt off and the numbers go up and they go down and they go up and they go down,” he said. “And all of a sudden, I swung as hard as I could and caught one really good in the middle of the face.

“I turned around and saw 211 and I just went, ‘Oh, my god.’ I was jumping up and down and then I saw the carry distance over 400 and I went, ‘Oh, my god.’ I was going crazy. That was moving it. It was a bit of a draw but it was really good.”

 Big deal.  In the cold air he can't possibly carry it more than 390...

Click through for an update on his work with the 48-inch shaft, if you have the stomach for it.  

Before we move on, a couple of offbeat Masters-related queries from Shipnuck's mailbag:

What is the Washington Road experience going to be this year? Is there going to be anything different from a non-tournament week? Think T-Bonz will be bumping? – @GoDuckYourself

It’s going to be pretty dead. I’ve been looking at hotel prices and they are actually normal instead of jacked-up by three or four times, as during a traditional Masters week. Without fans and corporate entertaining it is going to be as sedate outside the gates as in Amen Corner.

I guess John Daly won't be parking his RV in the Hooters lot?  What a sacrifice for mankind...  The one thing we never get pictures of on the Master broadcast is Washington Road, the tackiness of which comes as a surprise to most folks.  There's a reason they have those gates...

Can Rory win in Augusta considering how many bogeys or worse he’s finding these days? – @Biff11

Seems unlikely, especially when you add in all the scar tissue McIlroy has acquired there over the years. But maybe Rory’s milquetoast play in 2020 is his secret weapon — expectations for him have rarely been lower. Perhaps he can play Augusta National with a freedom that has eluded him since his epic meltdown in 2011. Here’s hoping.

So those would be Rory's personally curated expectations?  I do love when a plan comes together, but he better also have a plan to control the distance on his wedges... 

This questioner absolutely deserves the stinging rebuke Alan provides:

Will Augusta National have to sew an asterisk inside one of the lapels of the winner’s Green Jacket? – @GOLFFOODADDICT

C’mon, man. Seriously? This has been one of the most challenging years any of us have ever endured. For this Masters the players will have to deal with new turf conditions, different winds, and the strange sound of silence. Whomever prevails shall be properly celebrated.

Having a Masters is about the only break 2020 is giving us...

Et Tu, Boris -  Boris Johnson is a mixed bag for sure, but this sub-header is about all you need to know about the former British Empire:

People will only be allowed to leave their homes for specific reasons under the new measures.

England descended into a dystopian nightmare so slowly that we hardly noticed...  What, you think I'm exaggerating?

UK Police: It’s Your ‘Civic Duty’ to Inform on Fellow Britons Breaching Lockdown

 Kids, The Lives of Others wasn't intended as a how-to guide....

I do encourage you to click through and read that alarmingly lengthy list of proscribed activities, which shockingly fails to allow for Neil Ferguson's booty calls.  When government can decree the reasons we're allowed to leave our homes, we are no longer a free people, which I for one find highly troubling.  I would encourage others to think through where this ends, but for now I'll stick to the topic at hand:

Outdoor exercise and recreation encouraged and is unlimited - only with your household/bubble, on your own or with one other person from a different household (golf is not allowed)

Why is golf not allowed?  That's none of your business, plebe.  Has there been a single instance of a transmission of the virus on a golf course?  Racist!

Let me leave you with this exit question.  If our leaders decided to make their lockdowns as harsh as humanely possible, what might they do differently?

Leftover Alan - That item above has taken it out of me, so I'll wrap this up with a couple of bits from that mailbag.  

If Tiger makes a fist pump at the Masters and no one is around to see it, does it make a roar? – @MidwesternGator

The roar will be digital, and deafening. Just think how Golf Twitter pulsates when Tiger does something even remotely cool at a run-of-the-mill Tour event. Now multiply that by one of the most anticipated Masters ever, with a host of sophisticated streaming options that guarantees fans everywhere will get to deconstruct Tiger’s rounds in forensic detail. So, if there is in fact a fist pump, all of us will see it and rejoice together.

Might just be time to move on, Mister Gator.  Or should that, you know, be Master Gator?

An important distinction to be made between post-wreck Hogan and post-fusion Tiger: Hogan practiced. Constantly. Tiger, by his own admission, does not. Can Tiger remain competitive for 5-6 more years with his approach? – @CHFounder

He can keep competing but that’s not the same thing as being competitive. Tiger has looked rusty all year long, which is reflective of the lack of tournament reps and his body preventing him from practicing hard at home. Tough to see that changing as he gets older and even less supple. But he’s still Tiger bleep’ing Woods and will always be dangerous, especially at the Masters. As we saw last year, the guy hasn’t forgotten how to execute when it really matters. The challenge is being prepared enough to give himself a few more chances.

Quite frankly, i doubt the premise of the question as regards Hogan's practice.  I've read Miracle at Merion and  The Longest Shot, both of which feature a detailed description of the lengthy process by which Hogan prepared his body for a round of golf, a process so time-consuming that it's hard to imagine he would go through it much unless teeing it up in competition.

With Tiger, I simply can't tell whether the fire is still burning...  I get the sense that he's good after rescaling the summit last April, and I don't begrudge him that.  It's only that there's little point in us caring if he doesn't.

Since no one, and I mean no one, cares about pros wearing hoodies on the course can we please stop talking about it? – @fakePOULTER

Nothing would make me happier. Especially since the most pressing issue facing golf today is the length of Tiger’s shorts.

And to think I had been reliably informed that the biggest issue in our game was Tiger's Dad jeans...

Courses that name their holes, pro or con? And follow up question, did you play Sheep Ranch in the morning or afternoon? – @mvf510

I’m not a fan of named holes, at least not a course with 18 of them — that’s just a little too precious. The Road Hole is cool, the Dell Hole is cool, and there are a few others. But in general, less is more. Per Sheep Ranch, I’ve been lucky to play it at different times of day and in differing wind conditions, and I can tell you it’s an absolute blast no matter what.

I certainly agree about modern courses that name their holes... But hole names are typically wonderful history lessons in the context of the great links of Scotland and Ireland, and that's the point I think Alan was trying to make.  As further support, I'll offer this history lesson from our overseas club, whereby one learns all sorts of interesting facts about the history of the site and surrounds.  

If Paul Lawrie shoots a final round 68 (instead of a 67) in the ’99 Open, and Jean van de Velde misses his 8 foot triple-bogey putt on the 72nd hole, is Justin Leonard in the Hall of Fame? – @War_Eagle1988

Your hypothetical would give Leonard two British Open wins, along with all-time Ryder Cup heroics, a Players, U.S. Amateur and NCAA title. I’d have to say yes to the Hall.

Ummmm...given that players with no majors are now being enshrined, are we so sure they won't come up with Justin Leonard in that scraping of the barrel's bottom, even absent this hypothetical?

Why is there any dissent for bifurcation? – @Chadly643

In part, because Tour players are on the payroll of the equipment companies and are integral in helping the manufacturers sell clubs. And a cool part of golf has always been that weekend warriors can play the same gear as the pros; indeed, this FOMO drives the whole equipment industry. And we watch pro sports to be wowed; do I really want to watch Bryson drive it 280 yards when I can do that myself?

I'm not going to get sucked in, but there's no way we play the same equipment as these guys do given the shafts they use.  Wake me up when Ernie, even in his fifties, uses XXIO's stock shafts.

This last one is interesting, but only if you know the Bandon courses:

How did you do in the Uncle Tony Invitational? If you had 10 rounds at Bandon, how many would you play at which courses? – @JeremyPoincenot

Well, last Friday was one of the best days of my golfing life: shot a career-low 73 at Sheep Ranch and then won our cut-throat tournament at the Punchbowl with a walk-off putt in the dark, punctuated by a lusty hug from my partner, former Tour winner Dean Wilson. But I didn’t play that well in the other rounds and me and my partner Steve John finished 4th. Le sigh. My 10 round splits:

  • 3 at Bandon Dunes. One of the most rollicking courses on the planet, with a delectable mix of scoring chances and nerve-jangling challenge.
  • 3 at Trails. An incredible routing across wondrous terrain with many of the best holes on the property.
  • 2 at Sheep Ranch. Utterly and ridiculously fun.
  • 1 at Pacific. Holes 1-13 is some of the best golf there is but I think the finish is lacking and some of the greens (9, 14, 16) drive me crazy.
  • 1 at Old Mac. I really enjoyed it this time around. I think 13-18 is the best finishing stretch at the resort, and 3 is one of my favorite holes anywhere. But all the elevated greens get tedious in the wind, and the dead-flat section in the middle of the round can be a slog.
I similarly came away from our last visit with a renewed appreciation for that original track, though I think more highly of Pacific and Old Mac, and less of Trails.  

I'll release you here to get on with your day.  I expect to blog tomorrow, though I will have to run out just before 6:00 a.m. for reasons you'll easily intuit.

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