I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!

In an episode of sudden productivity loss yesterday, I did a web search for Christopher Walken. For the life of me I can't remember the sequence of thoughts that led me to do this. Here's the best thing I found, and old SNL skit with Will Ferrell:

2007 Golf League Recap

Last week was the final match of the season for the No Name Golf League. We played nine holes every Tuesday evening at Frear Park for 18 weeks straight. No rainouts! I missed the first week, but made every week after that, due largely to Frear Park's liberal make-up policy.

This was my first time in a league, and I am definitely glad I joined. It made for a great Tuesday ritual: leave work early in the evening, play nine holes, and then get dinner at the Park Pub. I lucked out with the No Name league in that it's full of nice guys and the drinking is pretty limited. I was a bit worried that I would end up in a league full of middle-aged drunks storming around like a bunch of gorillas. As far as I can tell, that's the Thursday night league, so we're good to go on Tuesdays.

I'm not sure where I finished in terms of league standings. I know that Don M. won the first half, and Bob W. won the second half. Our league is handicapped, so to win what you really need to do is get progressively better so that you play at or below your handicap. Bob put in a lot of practice time, and it paid off. I did achieve a moral victory in that I ended the year with the lowest league handicap.

Here's my recap:

• scoring average: 41.8 (6.3 over par for nine holes)
• fairways hit: 43%
• greens hit: 45%
• putts: 17.6 per nine holes

Photo credits: Philip Kamrass/Times Union

The Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell University

My win streak came to an end this weekend at the Golf Channel Amateur Tour event at The Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell University. The field was pretty thin, with only nine people playing, but I struggled early with some rather frustrating double bogeys and ended up shooting 89. Not a bad score for me, all things considered, but it left me in the middle of the leader board.

Robert Trent Jones was a student at Cornell, and he designed the course. Hence the rather unimaginative course name.

Revenge Is Sweet

I played Burden Lake Country Club this morning and shot an 81. I'd played this course once before, last September. Yes, it's true, I kept the score in my golf files. But even without looking I remember the day because I struggled mightily and carded a 107. That means I improved my score by 26 strokes. Take that Chuck Baltzel, mister golf course architect.

The big highlight came on the 16th hole. There were a number of junior golf groups out on the course. Each group was comprised of four kids and an instructor. It looked like they were starting each hole at the 100-yard marker and playing putting games once they reached the green. They were up at the green on 16, and the instructor waved at me to play through, so I promptly pulled my approach shot into the green-side rough. Then, in front of the gallery of eight-year-olds, my chip shot landed softly on the green, tracked to the hole, and rolled right in the heart of the cup for a birdie! Naturally, I received an instructor-prompted round of applause.

34 Years Young

As of August 3rd, I'm twice as old as a high school senior! My birthday was full of old-guy fun: 9 holes of golf in the morning with the lovely wife, a big ol' brunch at the Brewster Inn, and then 18 holes of golf in the afternoon at Green Lakes State Park (a great Robert Trent Jones course).

I got lots of good old-guy gifts, like new reading classes and also some prescription lenses for my Smith sunglasses (did you know you could do that? You can!). I also got a digital picture frame and the Discovery Channel's Planet Earth DVD set, both of which I absolutely needed but didn't even know existed.

I loaded a bunch of pictures onto the digital picture frame and set it up in my office at work. No more having to decide who gets to be on display, everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame!

Foxfire

I played in my second Golf Channel Amateur Tour event on July 14th at Foxfire in Baldwinsville. Once again, I came out on top! This time there were 16 players in the field. As in the first event, we used a quota system where everyone is assigned an initial negative score based on their flight. I shot an 85; highlights included my first-ever left-handed shot and a gold star for mental fortitude for following up a snowman 8 with three straight pars.

Here's a stock photo of Foxfire. My next event is August 18th at Cornell. Wish me luck!

Photo credits: Foxfire web site, Golf Courses 365

4th of July Vacation Part II: Fenton

I'm all set to catch up on a month of blogging! I have the 4th of July pictures and lots of other stuff to write about. I'll start with the last half of our trip to Michigan, which was spent at the family compound in Fenton. Festivities included Wimbledon watching, lounging, eating, and golf. We didn't get a lot of good pictures from the first three activities, but here's a shot of me, Jamie, Ray, and Tom after our round at the spectacular Shephard's Hollow course.

They have 27 holes at Shepherd's Hollow, we played 1-18. If you look closely, you might be able to guess our scores by the expressions on our faces.