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Interlooper's Adventure at Cog Hill - Dubsdread - BMW Championship

interlooper

interlooper

Wishing I was golfing now
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I have been looking forward to this weekend and next week for quite a while. Not only is this a huge tournament in Chicagoland, but it is huge for the PGA Tour.

Tomorrow I am going to the tournament. My buddy and I snagged VIP tickets for the event (there are many such tickets). We are planning on spending some time following a few players that we not seen much of in person, including Bill Haas and Adam Scott.

Then, on Tuesday morning, we are going to play dubsdread. It should still have the grandstands up and the tournament tees. And I believe that they may have Sunday's pin position still in place (but haven't confirmed yet). We are planning on playing from the pro's tees... until we cry for mercy.

I will update this thread with pictures and a few words of my experience. I am pumped!
 
Have a blast. That's going to be looooonnnnggg. That type of distance would destroy me these days.

Kevin
 
Love it, looper! Have a great few days ;)
 
Not only long but it is going to be tight! That place has trees everywhere man! Good look to you looper, I am insanely jealous and cannot wait to see your pics!
 
Esox said:
Have a blast. That's going to be looooonnnnggg. That type of distance would destroy me these days.

Kevin
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Puttin4Bird said:
Not only long but it is going to be tight! That place has trees everywhere man! Good look to you looper, I am insanely jealous and cannot wait to see your pics!
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Thanks, fellas. Yes... long & tight. I have no doubt that my score will be astronomical. It is all for the fun and experience, not for shooting well. But, of course, I have grand illusions of beating Tiger's score.

hawk308 said:
Love it, looper! Have a great few days ;)
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Thanks, Hawk. Your joining us whenever we come out to play General, right?
 
man, i hope you have a good time this weekend and of course, tee'ing it up next week. i hear through the grapevine that you like to have a good time for an old man......hehe
 
Consider this thread "subscribed"

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
 
Wow, what a time. I can't wait for the entire low down. Have a great time!
 
tcalloway1 said:
man, i hope you have a good time this weekend and of course, tee'ing it up next week. i hear through the grapevine that you like to have a good time for an old man......hehe
Click to expand...

Though the body is frail, the mind is young. HA! I keep meaning to change my forum pic... your bro keeps telling me that it makes people think that I am old enough to have played with a mashie.
 
RxGus said:
Consider this thread "subscribed"

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
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thedue said:
Wow, what a time. I can't wait for the entire low down. Have a great time!
Click to expand...

Thanks, fellas. I will update with pics and everything as soon as I can. Hopefully starting tomorrow night.
 
Thats awesome inter I have always wanted to "Experience" a tour setup. Good luck and have fun!
 
I was able to attend the third round of the BMW Championship at Cog Hill (Dubsdread). Below are my thoughts about the course and some of the players that we followed.

Unfortunately, this tournament forbade all cameras and cellphones, etc. I didn't have to go through the screening facility, but several of the entry folks noticed that I had a camera in my pocket (it is a larger camera). They saw where we parked, so they escorted me to the car so that I could put my camera in the trunk. I did, however, sneak in my blackberry (I am such a rebel!!!). I was only able to get one crappy picture with my BB. I saw another person take a picture with a cell phone and, unfortunately, so did one of the volunteers, who promptly asked the patron to come with him to an undisclosed location. They were pretty fanatical about the whole camera thing; I am pretty sure they broke that guy's knees in the woods. Needless to say, I didn't get any other pictures.

The forecasters expected significant rain and lightning in the afternoon. So they placed the players into groups of three, with all the tee times spread between 7:25 am and 9:15 am. Because of the bad weather and tee times, for most of the morning, the crowd was very light. This led to a much more intimate feeling than usual. It felt more like a Thursday round than a Saturday round.

Practice Range: On the practice range, we watched Bubba Watson, Brian Gay, Ernie Els and Ricky Barnes. Ernie Els swing is as fluid as it appears on TV. Bubba was kinds horsing around on the range, having a fun time with the folks around him. Ricky seemed to be in his element on the range.

Practice Green: Watched Geoff Ogilvy hitting bunker shots out of the wet bunker. We were close enough to talk with him and exchange pleasantries. He seemed nice enough, but I didn't want to talk too much as he obviously was working on his game.

Course: The course was very wet; indeed, it rained off-and-on for most of the morning. This made the rough even more difficult to hit out of. Many of the greens were in bad shape. A lot of them had brown spots and most of the outside (near the fringe) was dead. My guess was that it was difficult to strike the balance between keeping the greens fast enough but still having to water them more than usual due to the heat and lack of rain.

Bill Haas, Zach Johnson and Phil: We started off watching this group for the first 6 holes. There was less than 20 people following them for the first couple holes, so it was easy to get good spots to watch them. Zach Johnson is like a machine, always stone-faced. This might have to do with the sunglasses as well. Phil is charming on the course, always acknowledging the crowd. He just lashes at the ball with his driver. Pretty impressive. Haas has a demeanor between Johnson and Phil.

Chalmers, Sabbatini and Tim Clark: We then hung out between the 4th and 5th holes for a bit, as we thought that was a great spot to be close to stray tee shots. We were right. We were able to surround the wayward drives of Chalmers, Sabbatini and Tim Clark.

This was very interesting to hear the conversations between caddy and player. They all pretty much had the exact same approach shot, but they all had very different conversations with the caddy. Chalmers, for example, had a very lengthy conversation with his caddy. His caddy was prepared to have the exact distance, hole location, slope of green, landing area, wind and green softness. Chalmers hung on every word and hit a decent shot. Clark really just used his caddy to confirm things. Clark would throw out a distance, club selection and wind direction and the caddy confirmed. Rory, however, didn't use his caddy for anything other than holding his club. Rory said his own distance out loud, said it was a tough pin position, and then hit the ball. His tee-shot landed about 3 feet from me. I never moved. I was nearly close enough to use a 3-wood to hit it. He asked a kid behind his line to move, so I asked him if he would like me to move. He chuckled and then said I was fine if I stayed still. He then said thanks after he hit it. Also, I would have thought that Rory would play the penta or a titelist. Nope, he was playing a callaway.

Dustin Johnson, Goosen and Mahan: We then went to the back nine and followed the Dustin Johnson, Goosen and Mahan group.

All I can say about Johnson is that he exudes confidence. His swagger while walking from shot-to-shot is amazing. He looks like he KNOWS he is good enough to beat anyone.

On the 18th hole, Goose's tee shot went way left. I was between him and the hole, but there was a tree in the way, so I didn't move. As he was preparing for the shot (for about 7 minutes) he kept looking at me and right above me. I kept thinking that he was going to tell me to move, but he never did. He ended up hitting a huge draw into a green-side bunker. After he hit, I went to his spot to see what he was looking at. There was a hole in the tree about 20 feet over where I was standing that he may have been considering. He made the right choice for not going fot it; it would have been very tough.

Kuchar group: We followed Kuch for a bit. This was a blast. Kuchar still looked ill and didn't smile nearly as much, but he still acknowledged the crowd a ton.

Poulter, Casey, Donald : We also followed the Poulter, Casey, Donald group for a while. Poulter seems to be a little-diva on the green. If someone was walking down the side of the other fairway about 150 yards away, he would tell his caddy to say something. His caddy didn't even know who Poulter was talking about, so he would just shout loudly for everyone to be quiet and stop moving. Poulter also took about 4 times as much time to prepare his putt; it was brutal and at times it looked as if both Donald and Casey were a bit exasperated with the whole thing.

I am very excited about playing the course tomorrow. I should be able to take pictures of this round, although I am confident it will be less exciting for you guys.
 
were they happy to see you?
interlooper said:
I was able to attend the third round of the BMW Championship at Cog Hill (Dubsdread). Below are my thoughts about the course and some of the players that we followed.

Unfortunately, this tournament forbade all cameras and cellphones, etc. I didn't have to go through the screening facility, but several of the entry folks noticed that I had a camera in my pocket (it is a larger camera). They saw where we parked, so they escorted me to the car so that I could put my camera in the trunk. I did, however, sneak in my blackberry (I am such a rebel!!!). I was only able to get one crappy picture with my BB. I saw another person take a picture with a cell phone and, unfortunately, so did one of the volunteers, who promptly asked the patron to come with him to an undisclosed location. They were pretty fanatical about the whole camera thing; I am pretty sure they broke that guy's knees in the woods. Needless to say, I didn't get any other pictures.

The forecasters expected significant rain and lightning in the afternoon. So they placed the players into groups of three, with all the tee times spread between 7:25 am and 9:15 am. Because of the bad weather and tee times, for most of the morning, the crowd was very light. This led to a much more intimate feeling than usual. It felt more like a Thursday round than a Saturday round.

Practice Range: On the practice range, we watched Bubba Watson, Brian Gay, Ernie Els and Ricky Barnes. Ernie Els swing is as fluid as it appears on TV. Bubba was kinds horsing around on the range, having a fun time with the folks around him. Ricky seemed to be in his element on the range.

Practice Green: Watched Geoff Ogilvy hitting bunker shots out of the wet bunker. We were close enough to talk with him and exchange pleasantries. He seemed nice enough, but I didn't want to talk too much as he obviously was working on his game.

Course: The course was very wet; indeed, it rained off-and-on for most of the morning. This made the rough even more difficult to hit out of. Many of the greens were in bad shape. A lot of them had brown spots and most of the outside (near the fringe) was dead. My guess was that it was difficult to strike the balance between keeping the greens fast enough but still having to water them more than usual due to the heat and lack of rain.

Bill Haas, Zach Johnson and Phil: We started off watching this group for the first 6 holes. There was less than 20 people following them for the first couple holes, so it was easy to get good spots to watch them. Zach Johnson is like a machine, always stone-faced. This might have to do with the sunglasses as well. Phil is charming on the course, always acknowledging the crowd. He just lashes at the ball with his driver. Pretty impressive. Haas has a demeanor between Johnson and Phil.

Chalmers, Sabbatini and Tim Clark: We then hung out between the 4th and 5th holes for a bit, as we thought that was a great spot to be close to stray tee shots. We were right. We were able to surround the wayward drives of Chalmers, Sabbatini and Tim Clark.

This was very interesting to hear the conversations between caddy and player. They all pretty much had the exact same approach shot, but they all had very different conversations with the caddy. Chalmers, for example, had a very lengthy conversation with his caddy. His caddy was prepared to have the exact distance, hole location, slope of green, landing area, wind and green softness. Chalmers hung on every word and hit a decent shot. Clark really just used his caddy to confirm things. Clark would throw out a distance, club selection and wind direction and the caddy confirmed. Rory, however, didn't use his caddy for anything other than holding his club. Rory said his own distance out loud, said it was a tough pin position, and then hit the ball. His tee-shot landed about 3 feet from me. I never moved. I was nearly close enough to use a 3-wood to hit it. He asked a kid behind his line to move, so I asked him if he would like me to move. He chuckled and then said I was fine if I stayed still. He then said thanks after he hit it. Also, I would have thought that Rory would play the penta or a titelist. Nope, he was playing a callaway.

Dustin Johnson, Goosen and Mahan: We then went to the back nine and followed the Dustin Johnson, Goosen and Mahan group.

All I can say about Johnson is that he exudes confidence. His swagger while walking from shot-to-shot is amazing. He looks like he KNOWS he is good enough to beat anyone.

On the 18th hole, Goose's tee shot went way left. I was between him and the hole, but there was a tree in the way, so I didn't move. As he was preparing for the shot (for about 7 minutes) he kept looking at me and right above me. I kept thinking that he was going to tell me to move, but he never did. He ended up hitting a huge draw into a green-side bunker. After he hit, I went to his spot to see what he was looking at. There was a hole in the tree about 20 feet over where I was standing that he may have been considering. He made the right choice for not going fot it; it would have been very tough.

Kuchar group: We followed Kuch for a bit. This was a blast. Kuchar still looked ill and didn't smile nearly as much, but he still acknowledged the crowd a ton.

Poulter, Casey, Donald : We also followed the Poulter, Casey, Donald group for a while. Poulter seems to be a little-diva on the green. If someone was walking down the side of the other fairway about 150 yards away, he would tell his caddy to say something. His caddy didn't even know who Poulter was talking about, so he would just shout loudly for everyone to be quiet and stop moving. Poulter also took about 4 times as much time to prepare his putt; it was brutal and at times it looked as if both Donald and Casey were a bit exasperated with the whole thing.

I am very excited about playing the course tomorrow. I should be able to take pictures of this round, although I am confident it will be less exciting for you guys.
Click to expand...
 
Hey bro, I just found this thread. Man, it sounds like you had an awesome time. That was an awesome write up btw. I think Goosen may have had him a man crush...haha. jk. I cant wait to hear how your round tomorrow goes. thats gonna be so much fun. If it lands in a pitch mark, play it as it lies.
 
Great post man, speaking about Poulter, he had a funny tweet this morning about John Boy Miller

Ian Poulter: Johnny Miller saying today I wasn't a good ball striker. I guess I do alright for a duffer then. He talks such bollocks at times. I will have to try and win a couple of majors like him and see if I can change his mind until then I'm happy being a overrated duffer.
 
Interesting read, thanks! What was Poulter like the rest of time? Did he acknowledge the crowd at all when he wasn't setting up for shots or did he have an attitude the whole time?
 
ripper44 said:
Interesting read, thanks! What was Poulter like the rest of time? Did he acknowledge the crowd at all when he wasn't setting up for shots or did he have an attitude the whole time?
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I wouldn't necessarily call it an "attitude," but I see why some people would characterize it as such. Yes, he did acknowledge the crowd, but it was fairly limited. It appeared that he was just really into focusing on his round, almost as if the crowd didn't exist. Then, when he was about to hit/putt, he wanted pure silence and stillness. I suppose all tour players want that, but he was just a bit more diva about it than the others.

Also, he was with Casey and Donald. Donald had a ton of fans, as he is an adopted Chicagoan. And there were many Casey fans. Perhaps Poulter was a little less interactive (other than having his caddy yell at people) because there were just less people cheering for him personally.

On another note, I followed Tiger for 3 shots. During that very limited time, he was very interactive with the crowd and seemed happy to be there, even though he was not playing his best.
 
Hey loop -- great report.

My instructor was there, too. He said the course was *horrible*, the pros hated it, and that Phil Mickelson actually said it was unplayable. He (the instructor) also said that when he last played the course two weeks earlier, it was in very rough shape, and he was surprised that they didn't seem to have done anything to improve the condition of the course.

Still, it sounds like you had a great time. I'm always interested in what's happening "behind the scenes," and your take on Ian Poulter was intriguing. Perhaps it's because of his clothing, but I always assumed he was a bit of a prima donna.

Can't wait to hear how it all played!

Kim
 
Wish I knew you were there. I went all 4 days and played in the Celebrity Am on the 6th. I commented on the BMW Championship thread. Thought that the course conditions were bad. Greens hacked up, sand traps were inconsistent. Some real fluffy, some had a lot of pebbles and rocks. Trust me, I played more than a few.
 
Hey old man looper, where are the pics from your Tuesday round?
 
coughlin03 said:
Wish I knew you were there. I went all 4 days and played in the Celebrity Am on the 6th. I commented on the BMW Championship thread. Thought that the course conditions were bad. Greens hacked up, sand traps were inconsistent. Some real fluffy, some had a lot of pebbles and rocks. Trust me, I played more than a few.
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Yeah man. Too bad. We could have met up for a beer at the 14th. I played a few of the bunkers as well. It was very wet when we started, so some of my shots that should have hit the "finger" and rolled in, simply stayed on the finger and an awkward lie.
 
One-T said:
Hey old man looper, where are the pics from your Tuesday round?
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I took several pictures and will post them, and a review of the round/course, when I get a chance. Hopefully later this evening.
 
interlooper said:
I took several pictures and will post them, and a review of the round/course, when I get a chance. Hopefully later this evening.
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Sweet buddy, take your time!
 
Love this thread and I can't wait to see the pics. I miss out every year going to the tourney's here in AZ but after reading your experience I won't miss out again.
 
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