I finished my first round feeling great after ending with a par and a birdie, then started second round with 2 pars and 7 bogeys. On my 10th hole, I hit my tee shot a little heavy and either dirt or tee hit my eye and knocked me off my game. Started to get tired and could only score on one hole the rest of the way. Thought I could keep the vibes going through rest of the round and win the group after 2 rounds.
Showed up Saturday morning to the course with no golf shoes. Went back to hotel to get shoes. Rushed through maybe 15 balls. Bogeyed first hole. Then did not score on next 11 holes and felt like I was sinking on the Titanic. Really struggling to get off the tee and with ball striking. Found a par and two bogeys on last 6 holes, but was pressing and couldn’t find a birdie or two pars on the other 3 holes.
TL;dr excuses from a shite golfer.
All of them seem valid, especially the dirt in the eye and rushed warm up. That’s why you have to get there early!
I got there an hour before tee time. My golf shoes, did not get there…
Gotta lay that stuff out the night before!
I laid it out the night before and still forgot. It’s all on me.
Oof. Sorry to hear that, man.
My excuse is that I don’t trust leaving golf clubs and shoes in a SUV trunk at a hotel.
If you stupidly hit the wrong ball it’s two penalty strokes.
Can’t imagine doing that with the lights on.
Tuff scene when two of the few guys not playing Titleist are grouped together
Warming up staring directly into the sun on the range did me zero confidence favors. Shank City. Couldn’t get off the range fast enough.
Fuck it let’s go.
What a God. Damn. Week.
To start, a true “I never got this far in my dreams” situation. I play de facto host at the Tussle - I am there to entertain new players, talk shit about the course, shepherd folks around and generally have fun. Turns out, with zero pressure to perform I went out and careered it to qualify for the NIT. Moved one vacation, skipped a family wedding, and we were on to Arizona.
Week got off to a solid start with the Airbnb shitfight late Tuesday. Had a wonderful and relaxing round with @3PuttKing Wednesday, caught a fall series ball game, and then went to Dobson to say hey to Erin. Also, mandatory shoutout to @Privatecollection because holy shit what an event. Truly in awe of Erin and team for such a flawless event from start to finish.
Also met our local hero @Jpop942 Wednesday night, and he took us our for a great dinner before running us through Aguila Thursday AM.
All you Aguila naysayers in here (I think realistically it was mild ambivalence from one or two folks at most) - you’re so wrong. Aguila fucking ROCKED. Cool land, wildly good value, enough trouble to make you think but super playable. Hit the ball great, and had a wonderful time with a mix of locals and tourists alike. Felt good going in to game time… more on that now.
I cannot imagine playing worse golf, yet having more fun than I did Friday and Saturday. Slapped it around, couldn’t get the ball in the hole. But it didn’t matter. From Seth’s whole hatless / gloveless / flatline vibe and flawless game, Dilly’s exceptional ballstriking (and club toss after a sloppy double), Josh’s fratboy-with-a-heart-of-gold energy shotgunning Nooners with me… just fucking awesome all day. Add in Lucas, meeting and spending time with the PNW crew, the games on the range… just an all-time day. Oh, and I can’t forget Alex’s DOD on 1 - epically good swing, shot, and result.
So I played like ass which really took the pressure off going in to Saturday. Our group with Nev / Drew / @wiz (also an all-world beauty of a human) was just a perfect tonic to my bad game. Drew had a decent little round going, so towards the end I gave up hope of actually making anything and turned hype-man - we were so close, pal!
And then the championship round. @Manhattan and I grabbed a cart, planned to watch a few shots and then go play some holes, but we were glued to the action. Or, glued to hanging out with a fantastic crew, talking shit and cementing friendships. And hitting the Yeti cart frequently. It was such a freaking fun afternoon, cheering on our pals, cruising between holes, talking future events… everyone has talked about filling their cup and it is so, so true - had a proper sense of joy ripping through me all this week.
I have never been a super active poster here, but have lurked around forever and spent a ton of time and energy to help grow the Duck Club both pre and post-Roost structure. Now I’m out west, I am proud to be a TDC ambassador - I’ll forever talk shit about our frenemies at Mayhem but I’m stoked to have met a couple more of them. I am super grateful to have been a part of the NIT this year - the welcome from everyone coming down solo was huge. We have a fucking GREAT community here and we should be proud of it.
Love it. And yes, @Privatecollection is the best.
Extra shoutout to @ChickPhilA for being a total gem - just pure infectious joy and laughter at all times, always with an hilarious comment on deck - and for the Vibes Award. It came with this nifty (many people, Casey included, are saying “horrific”) hat which will now become a running theme for me on the Refuge for the next 12 months.
Another one for you - on 18, hole 10 is to the right as Ben so clearly showed. I blasted my driver way way right, like, so far it should be in 10 fairway. We get up there and its nothing but range balls littered everywhere.
I’m in a frenzy searching a sea of range balls looking for my ProV1. @RobRosson is being an absolute gem and helping me too. We are losing hope. Finally he says “did you check the bunker” referring to the right bunker on 10. As I meander over there despondent - I see it absolutely plugged just outside the bunker, we are talking completely buried. Thank god Rob told me to go check, never would have guessed it would be plugged but based on the amount of mud balls all week, I’m not surprised.
The sinking feeling of knowing your ball is in play, but being unable to locate it, is something I dont wish on my worst enemy
I hit a drive on 11 that looked to be center cut and could not find it. I was shook, and knew my reign as the NIT Champion was surely over.
I know for sure we overplayed the Bubba “MUDBALL” cries but it still made me chuckle every time someone yelled it in his voice…
I’ve played some sloppy ass winter golf here in the PNW and never had as many mudballs as out there. It was wild stuff
There was a little mud puddle in the fairway that my group was 99% my ball ended up in on 11. Could not find my ball after what looked like it to be right down the middle.
I found if I only went right or left on 11 I had no problems finding my ball…
Didn’t make hitting the green easy, mind.