Awesome course. Obviously conditions weren’t great and we were playing the 1946 tees so things were a little different but it had a great layout and some really tough approaches. Seemed like every hole had 3-5 bunkers around the green that I couldn’t stay out of.
But the course is closing for a year after the 2022 Colonial and Gil Hanse is coming in to do a complete redesign.
Wish I would’ve bought a hat in the pro shop.
Course was in great shape for the weather and it sounds like the Hanse reno will make it even better. It’s funny how much of a penalty those bunkers are with the old equipment.
Hard to have a good feel of tee to green if you’re not ball striking well with the hickories, not really playing the course approximately in regulation, and it’s raining. Course was in obviously great shape, it’s aesthetically appealing, the whole clubhouse setup is pretty sweet.
Being honest, I didn’t find the routing or tee to green to be especially memorable (including the horrible horseshoe) except for a few holes - 1 and 9, 15-18 is a pretty cool stretch. The green complexes, however, I thought were great, some ridges and internal contours that sent balls away from what you expected based on overall pitch of the green, and I liked how the bunkers looked framing your approach shots with various pins. It’ll be fun to watch what Hanse does with it now that I’m familiar with the course.
It’s also awesome to play a course that has an annual tour stop, so you can really visualize the holes. I haven’t played many.
Setting all that course geekiness aside, everything about the experience was incredible.
And not just playing the hickories and hanging with all the Refugees and NLU guis. The members, pro and asst pro, and Schwab guys who either played or just hung out with us were very welcoming and enthusiastic to our group. We felt like the opposite of interlopers or being there on borrowed time. Like they were happy to have us here and thought the whole thing was cool and fun.
Also, as high gross and high net by a good margin, you should ask someone like Neil who actually played the course as it was designed.
For reference, here I am on 18 after a shallow popup drive skanking my driver off the deck down the third base line (photo stills credit to the Merch Czar who gave me an encouraging “that is so safe after the shot)
The RRRR visor and Criquet is looking really sharp though. After winning the horse race, can’t win em all!
Absolutely. The lightning left the bottle quickly.
That last picture looks like the head of the club is gone
Haha yes it does but really it is just #YOTB
You only made one tiny mistake: the hickories shun gloves.
I cannot explain why. I have been playing hickories almost exclusively since last fall and I’ve played with and without. In my roughly ten total rounds those with and without a glove. The no glove plays. The sticks know.
Yeah the clubs tore up my glove and the ball. Those irons really just chewed the crap out of the ball.
And we only had 2 broken clubs all day I think. @SpiethGotMono broke one on the range and Brad broke the 3 iron on a pretty decent shot.
I should’ve taken that as an omen to how the round was going to go for me.
I would have to hard disagree here in the rain…I had one swing sans gloves on 10 and the club slipped out of my hand right at the bottom of my swing and just stuck in the ground…rain gloves after that were perfect.
Gotcha I think they let rain gloves go. The wood has a way. 
Hey everybody, still catching up (and getting my voice back!) from last week, but just wanted to say thanks to all of you who participated in the event at Colonial, both the locals and those who traveled in from afar. Fantastic group of people and so nice to put faces to names/refuge handles. The Colonial and Schwab Challenge Tournament folks were thrilled and want to turn this into an annual event. Thinking next year we do only clubs manufactured pre-1990, with a specific emphasis on Hogan irons + wound balls.
Again, thanks for making it a special day!
Thank you and everyone involved, Tron. Special day for sure.
It was an amazing event and extremely well put together by all of the companies involved. It was really cool seeing how invested both the Schwab and Colonial guys were in making sure we were having a good time and that everything was taken care of for us. Above and beyond.
Can’t say enough how much fun I had playing with @djpie @OliveLoaf and our main man Jim, with Julie as our sherpa. The aura surrounding our group carried us to victory, even if they had to pick up my slack. The event is now enshrined in my home office (with minimal smudging) as the local on the team.
Too soon to ask if winners get auto exemption to next year’s event?
Thanks for having us out, I have no idea how y’all were able to wake up early and drive to DFW with the amount of drinking going on at the Woodshed and the Courtyard the previous night, impressive stuff.
Are those Claire W’s on the wall? Been wanting to snag a couple for awhile now.
Yessir, my wife got them for me for my birthday a few months back. Love them and my wife said she was great to work with too.
