In spite of the stubborn persistence of cold weather around here, the sun broke through today and at my wife’s suggestion (ain’t she the greatest?), I loaded my golf clubs back into my car.  How soon I’ll actually get to use them is still in question, but having them on hand again is a good sign.

So next year, you can take your shadow and shove it, groundhog.

The boys and I packed up the car, left the wives and headed out for (man|gay|golf|bro)cation this weekend.  Here’s how it went…by the numbers:

• 54 – Golf holes played in 2 days
• 2 – Birdies scored
• 2 – Houses hit with golf balls
• 0 – People who caught us in the act of hitting golf balls at their houses
• 116 – Highest golf score recorded (*cough* T-Daddy *cough*)
• 166 – Times the phrase “It’s too late to ‘pologize” was sung
• 1 (out of 5) – Rating I gave Eagle Eye after watching it this weekend
• 1 – Surly waitresses encountered
• 11 – Strokes to finish hole 17 at Sand Hollow
• 8 – Score recorded on 17th hole at Sand Hollow
• 154 – Yards I can hit out of a fairway bunker with an 8 iron
• 1 – Bunnies photographed
• 88 – Bunnies shot (inside joke)

I declare the golfcation a smashing success.

So, enough has already been said about Tiger’s truly amazing U.S. Open extra-innings victory over Rocco Mediate. But here’s the thing: it was amazing, but it wasn’t that hard to believe…yet.

Now it is.

A broken freaking leg?  Are you kidding me?

So I guess the PGA Tour is going to be pretty boring for the rest of the year. Even with Tiger in the field, it would be pretty hard to match the emotion of the Open, but now that Tiger’s season is over, I can’t even imagine caring much about what happens in the other events for the rest of the season.  I love golf.  But the thing for me is, I don’t much care to watch it, unless Tiger’s on the course.  I am a Furyk fan, and an Ernie fan.  It would be nice to see either of those guys get back up on top.  But without the drama that accompanies history’s greatest golfer (maybe history’s toughest athlete) from tee to green, without that sense of anticipation in wondering what astounding feat of will and skill will be on display this weekend, golf on TV loses much of its savor.

It’s a great day for the other players who want a shot at a Tour win; but for me, I’ll likely be getting my golf news from the headlines and clubhouse conversations for the rest of the year.

With all the questions about Tiger returning from surgery and the condition of his knee, who would have guessed that he would be forced to hold out for not the regulation 72 holes, not even the playoff 90 holes, but sudden death 91 holes, and he would win by one stroke with a final score of one under par for the tournament. One word: UNBELIEVABLE!

Bully for Rocco Mediate for giving the number one player in the world a genuine run, more than anybody ever has, I think. Rocco’s surely earned a lot of fans out there this week for being a great golfer, a personable fellow, and a real class act. Kudos to him on his performance this week.

My prediction of Tiger by seven ended up way off, but I have no reservation in saying that this was the single most exciting golf tournament I have ever watched. Great stuff. The PGA ought to be paying Tiger for what he’s surely doing for their ratings.

I joked during the sudden death, “When did the PGA start writing scripts to make their events so compelling?”
To which somebody responded, “They’re learning from the NBA.”

The guy’s got ice water in his veins. I’m going on record to suggest that with the pressure of the US Open tournament riding on one long putt, Tiger Woods is the only player on the tour that sinks that shot. The guy is amazing. I’m putting it on my list of dream to-do’s in my life to play 18 holes with him.

Oh, and by the way, he’s going to win the playoff today. My prediction is he wins by 7 strokes. What do you think?

I’ve now shot a 46 on nine holes three times in a row, and a 47 on the last 9 before this stretch.  For my game, that’s an improvement in consistency, and a good step toward the lower average scores I’m looking for, but I don’t think I’m quite ready for the tour just yet.  I know you’re eager to have some tougher competition out there, Tiger, but you’re just going to have to cool your jets.  Stop calling me already.

Let me start this post with an assertion: everything contained herein can be backed up by three witnesses (Mike Woffinden, Trent Davies, and Jacob “Cubsy” Lords).

This is definitely the shot of the day, and it would have been the hole of the day, had it not been for the inherent complexities of this particular shot.  You see, this was on hole #14 on the beautiful Mountain Course at Wasatch Mountain State Park.  The hole is a fantastic downhill par 5 that measures 529 yards from the blue tees, where we were playing.  I crushed the ball off the tee, landing just left of the fairway exactly level with the 150 yard marker.  That’s a 379 yard drive for all you non-mathletic types.  It was very impressive, I must say. 

Unfortunately, I had no look at the green from my resulting approach angle, so I had to play up to the right.  I had a solid 8 iron shot right into the base of a small pine tree above and to the right of the green.  When I went to look for my ball, however, it was not at the base of the tree as I had expected. 

 

 So this tree took what would have been a very birdie-able hole and turned it into a double bogey.  I had no angle to hit the ball out of the tree except to crouch beneath the branch and uppercut it with my wedge, hitting the ball back over my head about ten yards.  Lousy tree.  Even so, it was one of the more memorable shots I’ve ever had to hit. 

The other good news was that I shot a 93 (47/46).  It could have been better, but for me that ain’t half bad.  It’s much better than what I’ve been shooting so far this year.  If I can shoot an average of 45 on 9 holes, I’m pleased with my game.  So hooray for me.