In Michigan? 5.5 hours from your house?
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Dude has a course he wants to play and he wants it to be a match. I can empathize with that.
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Diamond Springs is kind of my golf mecca. I’ve been making the trip for the past few years - it’s a long day, but it’s worth it. With my firstborn showing up this summer, I haven’t gotten to make it happen yet this year, but I’m hoping to get up there sometime in September. Making it part of an OATW match would be even cooler.
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Hell yea brother. I had no idear about the area. TIL
Signed up and paid! First match tomorrow against @Gobrownies09 at Ellsworth Meadows.
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It honestly makes me so happy to hear/see matches being played/scheduled already.
This is why we wanted to open it up.
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I’ll be in GR for a wedding on 9/23. Possibility that my wife stays behind and I jet up and try to play a bunch of golf around the wedding. Would definitely be in for this if that’s how it works out.
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I’d love to play a match on the 22nd, if it works out that way!
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@Gobrownies09 and I squared off in a match Saturday at Ellsworth Meadows. Colin was spotting me two shots on a perfect weather day. The course was still wet in spots, but the greens rolled true and fairly fast.
#1 495yds Par 5. We both hit perfectly placed opening drives. Colin had some trouble after that. The dreaded iron right into the turf that just spins an inch behind you, followed up by a top. He recovers well from there, but finishes with a double. I hit a good lay-up to ~100 yds then tug a wedge just off the green. I hit a decent chip, but shove a 5-footer. My bogey is still enough to win.
Joe 1 up
#2 295 Par 4. I decide to go with 3 wood to leave a full swing in, and proceed to pull it into the small trees on the left. Colin hits an absolute seed down the middle. I catch a lucky break and have a fairly good lie and no tree trouble. I hit wedge to about 30 ft. Colin hits his wedge to about 20-25 ft. We are both above the hole, and have some tricky first putts. I hit a pretty good putt and leave myself a couple feet. Colin protects a little too much and then misses a ~5 footer for par. I make my par putt for the win.
Joe 2 up
#3 443 Par 4. I hit a meh drive down the left. I try to hit a rope hook 3-wood second, but overcook it then get a huge break when I get through the worst of the trees and run down to about 30 yds short of the green with a clear shot. Colin hits one of his few bad drives of the day and goes way left. His punch out doesn’t get all the way back to the fairway. He lays up short for his 3rd, but then his 4th goes long over the green. My 3rd ends up about 12 feet. Colin struggles once he goes long and finishes with triple. I two-putt for a bogey win.
Joe 3 up
#4 186 Par 4. I hit a super ugly toe hook hybrid that lands about 20 yds short. Colin flushes an iron but goes just long of the green. My pitch from the thickish rough ends up about 30 feet. Colin hits a super classy chip to a few feet. I hit a good first putt and leave a tap-in bogey. Colin just misses his par putt. Hole halved with bogeys.
Joe 3 up
#5 528 Par 5. After a couple big breaks early I get my first bad one when my slightly pushed drive kicks a little right and ends up under a small tree. Colin hits another great drive. I hit a great punch shot giving me a ray of hope. Colin hits an ok second shot to the left rough but gets an awful lie, a really bad break. Colin’s 3rd finds the pond right in front of the green. I seize my new lease on the hole by hitting it in the pond right on top of him. Colin doubles, I triple. A true mid-handicap masterpiece.
Joe 2 up
#6 351 Par 4. We both hit good drives. Colin’s second spins just off the front of the green. I tug my iron shot just left. I hit an indifferent chip to about 6 ft. Colin putts from the fringe to just inside my ball. I hit an awful putt and Colin drains his par putt.
Joe 1 up
#7 146 Par 3. Colin’s tee shot finds the front left part of the green, leaving a long two-putt across the ridge in the middle of the green to the back right pin. I pull the shit out of my tee shot and get a little bounce off the path to boot. I’m about hole-high. Despite having a ton of green, it’s all running away from me. And the tree hanging in front of me takes anything with a 60-degree out of play. I proceed to hit maybe the best chip I’ve hit all year. I hood a 56 and land it in the the rough just short of the green and it rolls down to about 3 ft. Colin’s tricky first putt ends up maybe 15 ft short and he can’t convert. I clean up my crazy up-and-down and steal one.
Joe 2 up
#8 421 Par 4 (Joe strokes) Such a tough tee shot. Fairway slopes severely from left to right, despite the hole climbing more to the left. I hit the cut I try to, but it’s also a little pushed. Colin hits a gorgeous drive. I try to hit a big slice punch out second, and it goes dead straight left, out of bounds. We’d agreed prior to the round to play everything lateral. Despite the great drive, Colin is faced with having to hit a cut around the trees to get to the green. He hits it solid, but also doesn’t get the cut he wants and joins me on the wrong side of the white stakes. We both hit ok pitches, but neither make our putts so after a couple of ugly doubles on this truly tough hole my pop gets me the win.
Joe 3 up
#9 176 Par 3. I hit my tee shot short and left, and Colin misses right. The pin is front left and there’s a pot bunker between me and the hole as well. Advantage Colin. He hits a good pitch to about 7-8 ft. Still feeling my short game after #7 I dial up a flop shot that I’m sure I’m going to pull off. Narrator: he did not. My wedge goes right under the ball. You know, a whiff. I follow up that with a chunked 3rd shot, and after failing to hole out for bogey I concede so I can go get a High Noon.
Joe 2 up
#10 401 Par 4. We both hit good drives. I get no roll so still have a long way home. I hit an ok second just short and right but in the fairway. Colin’s second gets away from him. Not a shank, but just a dead block that finds the shit. He hits a solid 4th onto the green. My 3rd ends up about 6 feet. Colin can’t convert his bogey putt, and he concedes.
Joe 3 up
#11 500 Par 5. I hit an ok drive that just kicks into the right rough, but my lie is fine. Colin hits yet another good drive. I hit a good enough second so I’m 60 yds out. Colin hits his 2nd on screws and ends up about hole high in the left rough. I hit a pitch that doesn’t check at all and rolls out to about 30 feet. Colin hits his chip to about 10 feet. I proceed to HAMMER my birdie putt and leave myself 15 ft for par coming back. I miss the comebacker, and Colin easily two-putts for par and the win.
Joe 2 up
#12 172 Par 3. Pin is way back and we’ve got a little wind in our face for the first time all day. Hole is playing every bit of 200 so I’m pulling headcovers. I hit a solid shot to the right fringe, hole high about 40 feet. Colin hits an iron to the front left of the green, and has a monster putt. His first putt leaves him another 15 footer. I fare a bit better and hit mine to about 4 ft. Colin just misses his par putt, and I roll mine in for the win.
Joe 3 up
#13 379 Par 4. I won’t lie, I remember nothing of this hole. The scorecard says Colin made bogey and I doubled. So…
Joe 2 up
#14 181 Par 3. Colin’s iron struggles continue, and he pushes it right of the green into the pond. I hit a hybrid that takes the same exact line but covers the pond. We don’t see it from the tee, but I must’ve gotten a great kick and end up about 20 ft from the hole. My stress-free two-putt par gets the win.
Joe 3 up
#15 433 Par 4 (Joe strokes) we both hit great drives. And both hit good-looking seconds into the elevated green but neither get any roll out and have to play across the big green to a back pin. I go with the Big Randy play, and my hybrid chip rolls to hole high but 15 ft right thanks to a mediocre read. Colin’s putt leaves him 10 feet uphill. I make my longest putt of the day for par, and my pop closes out the match. Not realizing this quite yet, Colin cooly drains his par putt thinking the hole is halved. He realizes then that the match is over. We’ll now be calling this the reverse Anthony Kim as an homage to the ‘08 Ryder Cup.
TLDR: Joe over Colin 4&3. Our games are very similar—shortish hitters who can find some big numbers if our approach games aren’t there. That was unfortunately the case for Colin on this day. I was pretty pleased with how I played. I still need to hit more greens, but my distances have been solid and I’ve been keeping disasters mostly at bay.
Bonus content: shoutout Colin for one of the best fairway woods I’ve seen in a minute. On 17, a par 5 that is all carry over water if you wanna go for it, Colin hits a dead nuts 3 wood that looks to be all over it. It pitches just short of the green and he gets no roll. He two putts for a pro birdie, but man I thought he made a deuce or was going to have a kick in big bird.
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Just didn’t have it for @joecline41 yesterday. Played great off the tee and the irons were on a milk carton. Golf is a humbling game. Incredibly steady round from joe. Fun walk and talk on a beautiful day. This place rules.
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I just realized that we halved exactly one hole. That’s kind of wild.
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My kind of people
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Looking to arrange a home and home with some who wants to play their home round at Manakiki. Has to be a Monday or Tuesday, though.
Willing to play east of Indianapolis to shorten your road trip.
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This is some aspirational shit right here! Wish I could join in this adventure but the PTO bank is cooked. Maybe in the spring…
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Anybody up for a match Friday morning? I’ve got a 6:57 tee time at Indian Ridge
Just got signed up and would love to do a Home & Home with someone willing to get to NW Ohio on a weekend this fall. With school starting up my weekday golfing is pretty much over. 
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809a at Elks Run next Friday, have 3 spots open if anyone is interested. I have never played there, thought I’d try it out.
Or I’d be happy to play more central at Blue Ash if anyone prefers.
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Happy to play a match at Kiki for my home course but will have to be next summer for Monday or Tuesday to work.
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Anyone interested in getting a match in thursday evening in NEOH?
What is considered “evening”?