Golfing up a Storm

Recently I took a trip to visit my parents new home in Paradise, CA.  Naturally, this provided the perfect excuse for me to take a trip from Seattle down to CA and golf my little heart out along the way.  I booked a ton of tee times, packed a bag, and threw my clubs in the car.  This was going to be a monster of a trip covering 13 golf courses, with multiple 36 hole days, and walking every one of the courses.  Feel free to click on the link of the courses to check out the full galleries and write-ups.

The Oregon Courses:  On my way down to CA I took on 3 courses in the Bend area.

• Aspen Lakes Golf Club - I started the trip off with a bang visiting the #15 Best in State on Golf Digest's rankings.  The cinder red bunkers gave this course a unique look and feel.
• Black Butte Ranch Golf Club - An early morning tee time for a day of 36 started off at this classic Oregon staple.
• Tetherow - Teeing it up with the club champion was a definite advantage in helping to navigate this challenging Kidd design.  I managed only 4 pars, but rolled in 5 birdies.

The view from the 10th tee at Black Butte Ranch 

The 15th hole at Aspen Lakes Golf Club

California Courses:  During my stay in CA, I hit up some local gems with my Dad and friends.

• Table Mountain Golf Course - A local Paradise municipal track.  The Dad and I had fun whacking it around the local layout.
• Sevillano Links -  This John Daly signature course plays just under 8000 yards from the back tees.  Like an idiot, I played the tips and had a blast grinding it out.
• Bidwell Park Golf Course - We teed it up with the local city champion who showed us how to properly strike a golf ball.  The course features many friendly deer that you can walk right up to.  They don't cheer for birdies though and seemed relatively uninterested in that 6 footer you missed for par.
• Bailey Creek Golf Course - One of the local favorites.  This course came highly recommended and did not disappoint.

The 8th hole at Sevillano Links

The 18th hole at Bidwell Park

Complimentary Scoring Pie Chart

The 600 yard par 5 12th hole at Crosswater

The Home Stretch:  With the end in sight I crossed the finish line in style

• Pronghorn Fazio Course - My favorite course of the trip.  For a guy who likes to take pictures, Fazio makes it fun.  Also there is a lava tube hole!!
• Bend Golf & Country Club -  A classic country club experience and a fun course to play.  I managed to make 16 pars for the second 18 on a day of 36.
• Pumpkin Ridge Witch Hollow - For the final round of the trip I teed it up with Sean Ogle of breakingeighty.com.  Sean was a fantastic host and helped me to conclude the trip with finesse.

The 6th hole at Fazio's course at Pronghorn

Awards & Accolades:

• Best Par 3 - The 8th hole at Pronghorn's Fazio Course.  Nicknamed the "Lava tube" hole, this was an easy victory for #8.  Honorable mention goes to #5 at Running Y.
• Best Par 4 - With 130 contenders this one was tough but #6 at Tetherow takes home the honors.  Honorable mentions to #6 at Pronghorn, #18 at Crosswater, and #6 at Pumpkin Ridge. The 6th hole cleaning up in this category.
• Best Par 5 - #12 at Crosswater wins the award here.  I also enjoyed #2 at Running Y, #17 at Widgi Creek and #14 at Pumpkin Ridge.
• Best Photo:  #18 at Pronghorn.
• Best Course:  Pronghorn with a close runner up in Crosswater.

A big thanks to everyone that I played with and who invited me onto their courses.  Until next time!!

The 18th hole at Tetherow

Bidwell Park has more deer per hole than I had strokes. 

By the Numbers:

• 13 rounds of golf played
• 234 holes of golf played
• Average score: 75.1
• Pars: 137
• Birdies: 34
• Bogies: 54
• Double Bogies: 9
• Eagle putts missed: 5

The 3rd hole at Table Mountain 

Oregon Courses:  The trip back to Seattle.  This would be the meat of the golf trip with 2 back to back 36 hole days.

• Running Y Ranch - Definitely the best value on the trip.  The Arnold Palmer design was definitely the best surprise on the trip.
• Crosswater Club -  Considered by every golfer that I played with as one of their favorite courses in Oregon.  Cross water is one of the state's best coming in at #9 in the state on Golf Digest's list.
• Widgi Creek Golf Club -  One of the higher end public courses in the Bend area.  I finished up the day of 36 with a nice twilight round.

The par 4, 4th hole at Running Y Ranch

The tough par 5 17th at Widgi Creek

The par 3, 3rd hole at Bend Golf & Country Club

The par 4, 6th hole at Pumpkin Ridge.

#18 at Crosswater.  A runner up in the par 4 contest

The 8th hole at Pronghorn takes the cake in Best Par 3.

#6 at Tetherow takes home the victory in the par 4 competition

My favorite photo from the trip comes from #18 at Pronghorn.  This photo pretty much took itself.

Matty 18 Unda Par - "Make Dem Birdies Pop"

Sporting probably the best rap game / golf game combination to ever exist in the world is Matty, an 11 year from Cape Town, Vermont.  From what I have gathered, Matty has pledged 90% of his free time to the game of golf in a quest to birdie every single hole in a single round of golf.  This challenging goal has Matty reaching for the stars and meeting several in the process.  Not only has he taken selfies with Blair O Neal, Lexi Thompson, Bubba Watson, Lydia Ko, and Dave Stockton, he has also appeared on the Golf Channel as an "11 year old rapper"

Matty's selfie game is almost as strong as his rap/golf game

Which brings me to what Matty must spend the other 10% of his free time on.... bringing mad raps to the golf tubes.  This past week Matty released the #1 golf rap smash hit "Make Dem Birdies Pop" on his youtube channel.  Historically, fans of dope golf raps have had little to listen to beyond the GolfBoy's smash hit "Oh Oh Oh."  Matty brings a fresh and youthful energy to the game of golf and to the rap game as well.

A good pair of shoes clearly states ones goals, while allowing a simple transition from rap to golf.

Matty poses strong with the World #1, Lydia Ko

Please check out Matty's video Make Dem Birdies Pop and give him a follow on Instagram and Twitter.  Rap on and golf on!

UPDATE: 1-4-2015

Since this post has aired in August, Mr Matty has expanded his game from a simple rap and golf combination to include interviewing the games most elite players at the PGA Championship and an expansive array of trick shots.  Check out the latest from this young superstar below.

Let's chat on Social Media -- Hola @ ya boi, PEACE! INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/md_18undapar/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Md_18undapar FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/md18undapar VINE: https://vine.co/md_18undapar Check out my SHOP and grab a lid: https://www.Shop18UndaPar.com Learn more about what I do and the 18undapar brand: http://www.18undapar.com/ I am going to shoot 18undapar in 1 round of golf.

The Short Par 4

Without question, my favorite type of hole to see on the score card is the short par 4.  If done correctly, it rewards the sensible and aggressive players while punishing the foolish and poorly struck golf shots.  It gives course designers the ability to get creative with challenging green complexes.  It challenges the player to make a smart decision based on a number of factors.  If your course doesn't have one, you are missing the boat...  The birdie boat to fun golf land.  Here are my top 10 short par 4's in no particular order.

• The 14th at  Southern Dunes - A drivable option with sand everywhere.  I went for it and found the sand twice and ended up with a round crushing 6.

• The 4th hole at Pebble Beach - 2 options off the tee.  Driver leaving a short chip or iron leaving a fuller shot.  Most tour players go with an iron, I go with driver.

• The 14th hole at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge - With great views of Mount Si in the background this short par 4 urges you to hit driver over the wooded abyss to find a tight and challenging green.  Or you can just bail out right and wedge in.  Great fun!

• The 16th hole at Bandon Dunes -  One of the most photographed holes on the property.  With a strong tail wind usually in play, the player can go for the green.  Although, truly evil bunkers lurk short and the Pacific Ocean on the right.  Awesome!

• The 4th hole at Spyglass Hill -  Although some players hate it, this is possibly my favorite golf hole in existence.  The more you decide to carry the hazard off the tee, the shorter your second shot will be.  A uniquely designed green complex awaits.  Probably the skinniest green in the world.

• The 12th hole at Chambers Bay - Featured prominently at the US Open, the 12th is a very real chance to make an easy eagle by driving the green.  The green offers all sorts of unique putts if you don't put it in the right space.

• The 2nd hole at Gamble Sands - Probably the best scoring chance on the list, offering a beautiful view and only a 3 wood into the green it's a real chance for the double eagle!!  My buddy John thought he had one here until he find his ball in the bunker over the green.

• The 6th hole at Desert Willow's Firecliff Course - An iron layup or a driver to a well protected green?  A well designed option on my favorite course in the Palm Springs area.

• The 10th hole at PGA West -  Pete Dye continues to keep the water in play here requiring a solid iron and a wedge to this scenic back nine opener.

• The 7th hole at Wolf Creek -  Only an idiot would hit driver at this green.  Fortunately I hit my driver so poorly I missed all of the obvious trouble and managed a sneaky pitch and putt for a birdie.  A real tough green complex to hit in real life and in the video game.

The 14th at Southern Dunes in Maricopa, AZ, a great short par 4.

The 10th at PGA West

Golf Bros Add Some Lady Bros in Utah

The Golf Bros took their talents to the state of Utah in July.  This time it would not be all bros, as two accomplished lady golfers would be joining.  Allow me to introduce them.

Sarah Moodie:  Sarah is an actual doctor.  Which should serve us well as there were several health endangering experiences on the trip.  She also played college golf, but she played in Canada, so....

Ashlee Bradshaw:  Ashlee is 3 years new to the game of golf and already a big star on Instagram. She let 6 Golf Bros stay at her house for the weekend, so we are not sure about her judgement skills, but we like her anyways.

The Courses:

Victory Ranch:  Woah man, the trip started out with a magestic round at Victory Ranch.  An unbelievable golfing experience that left us saying "I can't believe how perfect these greens are" about 25 times.  

Experienced golf bro, Joe Garvey made a bunch of birdies from the perfect fairways and we paid him a bunch of $$.

Wasatch Mountain Golf Course:

For the afternoon round we had two groups tee it up on the Mountain course at Wasatch.  Things started slowly on the front nine, but heated up quickly as Ryan Pearce ambushed Joe and Sarah with a fresh batch of ice from the bushes.  Then Ashlee chipped one in and rolled in another birdie on 17 that left us doing 40 pushups as a penalty on the 18th tee.  Ashlee stood poised to take all of our money and leave us all with tired arms.

The Golf Bros had other plans.  with a raucous crowd looking onto the 18th green, the bros hit their approaches.  Ryan Pearce hits it to 25 feet from 180, I knock it to 8 feet from 198, and Kris Buerkle hits it to 12 feet from 120.  With birdies, pushups and pride on the line, Pearce drains his 25 footer for a closing birdie and the crowd goes wild.  Next up Kris calmly rolls in his 12 footer for birdie, the crowd goes even wilder.  A hush falls over the crowd and I can hear bets being placed against me in the audience.  In one of my finer moments, I roll in the 8 footer for birdie and scream unnecessarily loud and high five everybody.  With a closing bogey for Ashlee, the tides were turned and she still owes us 55 pushups.  Update:  Since this post has aired Ashlee has sent photographic evidence of her doing a pushup, the other 54 are assumed.

Professional prankster Pearce ambushes an unsuspecting Joe Garvey and Sarah Moodie

Ashlee is pictured here not doing the 55 pushups that she still owes us.  Update: After the airing of this post, the pushups were completed.

Mountain Dell:

This round involved 2 scramble teams, ice cubes to the head and a bunch of weird stuff with a large inflatable duck.

Ashlee worked some magic and got us into a great scramble game early Sunday, both teams would fight valiantly but end up defeated in the end.  The highlight of the day would be when Joe Garvey would capture video evidence of Ryan Pearce dousing Joey and I with ice.  

https://instagram.com/p/5DNzJoEJqn/

Joey the Cat attempts immediate revenge on the camera man by running him down in the bushes.  Fortunately, our onsite doctor, Sarah, would not be needed for this incident.

From left to right: Joey the Cat, Kris Buerkle, Ryan Pearce, John Kennelly, Joe Garvey, Danny the Duck, Patrick Koenig.

On call doctor, Sarah Moodie, plays a tough lie from the water hazard on #15

Wingpointe Golf Course:

The final round of the trip would be a shirtless and shoeless one.  Conveniently located by the airport and Buffalo Wild Wings lies Wingpointe Golf Course.

With an apparently lax policy on golf attire, the bros played shirtless, and shoeless, and made a ton of birdies.

The sun starved San Franciscans and Seattleites work on their tans.  Note:  portions of existing tans have been removed for dramatic effect.

Final Golf Bros trip grade by Joe Garvey: 7.8/10.  Update from Joe Garvey:  "Buffalo Wild Wings brought the trip down to 7.8 but some minor airplane landing drama brought it back to an even 8.0."

Flawless for the First Time

Every now and then you have a round of golf that reminds you how much fun the game can be. This round at The Classic Golf Club in Spanaway, WA was one of those rounds for me.  I got right after it by hitting my approach to 1 foot on the first hole and continued with a very enjoyable and bogey free front nine 34.

After some great ball striking early in the round faded, I was forced to rely on my short game to keep things going.  Usually for me, poor ball striking leads to a bogey here and there.  Not today, today, I was chipping like Jesus.  I tapped in 5 times for easy up and down pars and even threw in another birdie on 17.  I just needed a par on 18 for my first bogey free round of golf ever.  Faced with another chip short of the green, I was able to deliver in the clutch and tapped in for a 69 with no blemishes.  YEEEHHA!!  GOLF!!!

The Rare Slow Motion Somersault Drive

During the 2015 Golf Digest Think Young Play Hard Invitational at Royal Links Golf Club in Las Vegas, I completed a rare somersault drive in an attempt to out drive long drive champion Jeff Flag.  This one went about 260 yards with a slight fade.  Jeff hit his 3 hybrid about 320, he won.

2015 US Open Predictions

Here are my US Open predictions for Chambers Bay.  They are in early this year, which should make them even more impressive.  As a disclaimer, I would also like to remind everyone just how hard it is to correctly predict golf tournaments.  

Top: 5

1. Jordan Spieth - about 3 years ago, I predicted Jordan would win his 1st major at Chamber's Bay in 2015.  This long range pick is looking even more likely now that Jordan his risen to #2 in the world and claimed victory at the Masters.  Spieth wins by 1 draining a 12 footer for birdie on 18 that sends the crowd into a frenzy of total madness!!!
2. Rory McIlory - Rory goes down swinging after suffering a tough double bogie on the 16th hole to give up the lead and lose by 1. Rory manages to roll in a nice birdie on 18 forcing Spieth to make his 12 footer for the win.  Ratings glory for FOX!!
3. Jason Day - Another solid performance in a major by J-Day.  His all weather Adidas pants propel him up the leader board with the low round of the day on Sunday.
4. Dustin Johnson- I originally had Sergio here but decided to go with Dustin Johnson.  This was based on the fact that I think Dustin is a better golfer at the current time.      
5. Ryan Moore - Going with the hometown favorite to have a strong showing.  A tough Sunday round sees him fall out of a tie for the lead.

Notables:

• Tiger Woods:  Tiger plays 2 of the 4 rounds under 70 and the other 2 not so much.  He finishes a respectable T-26th place.
• Rickie Fowler:  Rick finishes in a tie for 6th ending that whole "top 5 in a major" thing he had going on last year.
• Jason Dufner:  Dufman finds his grove and leads after day 1, he then turns in 3 sub par (above par) rounds to finish in a T-27, 1 shot behind Tiger.
• Angel Cabrera:   My friend Joe will bet heavily for "El Pato" to pull this one off.  Joe will lose heavily.
• Greg Norman and Joe Buck:  Earn moderate to bad marks as Fox's 1st time US Open commentating team.
• Phil Mickelson:  Phil's driving holds him back this week.  Too much trouble off of the tee costs him a realistic shot at a Sunday run.  He finishes in a T-7 position.  He chips in a whole bunch though and people love it. 

Cinderella Story:

A 21 year old by the name of Ollie Schniederjans (a) from Georgia Tech plays like a man on a mission through 2 days coming into within 1 shot of the lead.  The papers erupt with Francis Ouimet stories of old.  People start chanting Ollie after every birdie, One particularly ambitious fan paints "Ollie Ollie Oxen Free" on her T-Shirt.  In short, people get real excited.....  Unfortunately, Ollie fades into a respectable finish over the weekend right along side Jason Dufner.  Not bad for a 1st timer. 

Winning Score in relation to par:  1 under par:  A near perfect score for the USGA.  The weather ends up being about 1 stroke nicer than expected.