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2011 THP Outing Recap Thread

Ok recap time...

SirSlice and I arrived Friday morning on time for demo day and I get to see all the fellas and ladies, new and old and it's like a family reunion. Belbin and dmb stick out like a sore thumb dressed up as twin Poulters and truetemper dressed as old school McCord. Yes it was blazing hot out and the humidity was on but that was not a deterrent for a bunch of hacks like us. We see a TON of equipment and immediately go right at it. All talks of "taking it easy" and "pacing yourself" go right out the window as all of us start hammering away. A special thanks goes out to all the OEM's that participated as well as some of the sponsors of our goodie bags (BStone, Pukka, Epoch, etc.). You were also part of or enjoyment and I am eternally grateful that all of you decided to participate.

Well after demos and contests (congrats Yoc, belbin, and Slice) it was off to THP Dinner and the BBQ was stellar. I couldn't have eaten enough but I did leave room for dessert which I had the chocolate cake topped with the chocolate fondue. I got chocolate wasted! (KB has a pic I believe). Congrats to all the winners that night and in general we all had smiles on our faces which means a hell of a good time. Yes, I was the one who won the beautiful Bettinardi putter and I was honored to win it (pics will be up in the contest winners thread later). First, I didn't even know they called my number (I had to check three times), then I didn't know it was for the Betti. Yorkem's friend aka Chunky made a comment if I was nervous when I was spinning the wheel because of the prize and honestly I didn't even think about it (plus the fact that GG was talking to me was keeping my mind busy off the possible loss of such a prize on the spin of the wheel). Thanks to all the sponsors that made that happen and you all have left a bunch of folks great impressions of your respective companies.

Saturday AM round was a hoot and extremely painful for the first 2 holes since we didn't even have time for a warmup and all the creaking from demo day's wrath was upon us. I played with DakotaGolfer, SirSlice, and my riding partner cmoors. The squire was a tough little bugger but luckily we were all so hopped up on laughs that it really didn't matter what we shot. You know I got my clubs all spit polished for this and I didn't even touch them since I fell in love with another set (more on that on the equipment recap thread and for those of you in attendance, I'm sure you know which ones they were). I think cmoors made a comment that I'd be a Dan fool if I didn't buy these... brother, I'm in complete agreement as they'll hopefully be in next week.

Saturday PM was a hoot with P4B, One-T and Yoccos. I've known these fools for a while now so I knew we were going to be in for an awesome ride. I know we didn't win but as sure as that pink Chromax was headed to the water on 3 we knew we had them all beat on CFML's. These guys are like brothers to me and I don't need to write a novel on how much I cherish playing with these guys. We had some fun out there, yeah!

Sunday AM round after breakfast + 2 motrins was a riot. Played with Fildini, truetemper, and degoins as my ride partner. We had a blast tearing up the Champions course, literally. On one hole (same one as Yorkem's famous terra cotta shot) both Fildini and Degoins go dead right toward the town houses. We all prepared for some terra cotta and roof hopping and we hear no sound... odd, yes. We drive to their balls (driving down the row of townhouses) and wouldn't you know it they both workabilitied they're shots in the gap between the townhouses hence no sound. Degoins was one gap further than Fildini. I think on the next hole (the one with the horseshoe bunker in the back left of the green) I landed an approach to the right greenside bunker so my sand shot had to go across the green. Here's my shot of the weekend... I decided that, out of the sand, I want to pure a 58 and fly the green into someones back porch, the ball decided it liked it there so much it decided to pinball up and down from the patio floor and the ceiling of the over hang and it decided to take a dip in their pool to finish the shot. So some lucky resident by that hole is now in possession of a Yellow Srixon ZStar #1. I saw the look on everyones faces and it was like in slo-mo when I hit that puppy. Anyways, it was a hoot to tee it up with the guys.

I'm not gonna go in too much about the off hours because they're always a blast at the IBar. It's good to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. For all that were in attendance, thank you for being who you are. It's great to match the face to the name on a forum like this and you guys and gals are all wonderful people. I loved meeting all of you (and I'm sorry for those that I didn't get a chance to talk to much and hopefully we'll all be at the next outing to reacquaint) and definitely look forward to meeting you again sometime in the future.

One award I'm giving is the quote I'm going to take with me to the grave and that's Degoins saying when some other dude that was playing on another hole (non THP'er) was all prepped up (yeah he was THAT guy) and proceeds to duff a shot, "Spank look at that dude, he pisses excellence and sweats success." I cried from the laughter that ensued.

In closing, I want to thank team THP, especially Josh and Morgan. This is such a quality forum, filled with quality members and it's a privilege and an honor to be a part of it. Thank you for allowing us to get together like this once a year and enjoy each other's company. You said during the dinner that the outing was for us the members and it was to thank us for being a part of it... well I want to thank you for building this establishment and an event like this and letting all of us come along for the ride. I look forward to Outing 2012 in Grand Cypress and hopefully can be a part of it.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming... :D
 
A couple of more awards that must be given out.

The Swing it Like a Man Award goes to AHA. He spins the wheel like someone hitting a 12 inch putt. Put something behind that thing man. Next time you might get the Price is Right sound for not making it spin all the way around.

Those are real and scary award goes to P4B and Me. We found out after that those birds floating in the water were fake...HA!

The Loudest Human Being Alive Award goes to TC. You can hear him coming from down on the other side of the resort.
 
Best example why Sunday Red might not be a good idea on the golf course: That red headed crane on the green trying to hook up with Degoins and his Sunday Red. Who knew Tiger's philandering would cross species too?
 
Spank818 said:
Best example why Sunday Red might not be a good idea on the golf course: That red headed crane on the green trying to hook up with Degoins and his Sunday Red. Who knew Tiger's philandering would cross species too?
Click to expand...

Soo funny. We had some good laughs that round. Salad Zone...closely trimmed rough...schlong putting...
 
JB said:
A couple of more awards that must be given out.

The Swing it Like a Man Award goes to AHA. He spins the wheel like someone hitting a 12 inch putt. Put something behind that thing man. Next time you might get the Price is Right sound for not making it spin all the way around.

Those are real and scary award goes to P4B and Me. We found out after that those birds floating in the water were fake...HA!
The Loudest Human Being Alive Award goes to TC. You can hear him coming from down on the other side of the resort.
Click to expand...

LMAO. Decoys, dudes. Decoys.
 
JB said:
Those are real and scary award goes to P4B and Me. We found out after that those birds floating in the water were fake...HA!
Click to expand...

Hawk said:
LMAO. Decoys, dudes. Decoys.
Click to expand...
That was funny, we're like dang dude....look at those mean looking birds, that one just keeps staring at us. Stupid fake birds! Makes me think that snake was fake a couple of holes later too!
 
Yoccos1981 said:
I lost my battle with Travelocity and ended up coming in on a later flight but luckily Coolbreeze was there to share a towncar. Best part was I didn't hold anyone up. +1 ! I have to tell you, Coolbreeze is one of the most laid back funny bro's I have ever met. We got to PGA and dropped our stuff off in our room (I think CB's and Thainers shoes are still there)

I need some time to go over some awards but I do have an award for:

Best Shoes Awards (its a Canadian thing):
Spoiler
ccfe09e8.jpg
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Yoccos same goes for you buddy, I had a great time with you throughout the outing, and look forward to seeing you again in august. Thanks for posting that pic of us not having our shoes that you had hidden in your room. I don't know what you and One-T were doing with them but I'm glad I got them back.
 
Fildini said:
Soo funny. We had some good laughs that round. Salad Zone...closely trimmed rough...schlong putting...
Best example why Sunday Red might not be a good idea on the golf course: That red headed crane on the green trying to hook up with Degoins and his Sunday Red. Who knew Tiger's philandering would cross species too?
Click to expand...

I thought it was cause I was just so sessy!
 
Alright, this is my first time that I get to really chime in about the outing, and how everything went, so here she goes.


I really enjoyed myself this past weekend. CoolBreeze was a heck of a roommate, he was clean, quiet and didnt snore. Which was awesome! He was also super fun to golf with. Got a chance to play with Hanks and golf4life on the thursday, and it was just some good old fashioned NE fun.

On friday, we had the demo day, which to me was completely overwhelming. I never got a chance to hit any wedges or putters(other than the contests), so I didnt really take much from there. The irons were loads of fun to hit and the drivers were fun too. The launch monitor session with JB was awesome, and it helped me find a driver that I could hit fairly straight.

Saturday AM I played with CarstenBF, coolbreeze and AHA, and boy did we have fun. AHA shouldve been under par but he kept leaving putts short, and CB and Carsten went on these wicked par runs in the middle of the round.

Saturday PM I played with Chunky, KellyBo and SeemoreGuy. I honestly cant remember the last time I had THAT much fun in a round of golf. Chunky left me in stitches every time he said something funny, and SMG and KBo are two of the nicest people anyone could ever hope to cross paths with at some point in their life. I am glad that I can call them all my friends.

Sunday AM was the Champ course with OEM, TC and P4B. P4B is by far one of the funniest people i have ever played golf with. Between Chunky on saturday and P4B on sunday, its really no wonder why I played so terrible. By the time all was said and done, we were all pretty tired, but it was an enjoyable round.


A BIG thanks goes out to WR and Bulldog. WR gave me a 3 wood that I actually hit farther than my driver, and Bulldog who luckily let me split the final nights room with him as I was almost stuck stranded.
 
lol it is more like what didnt we do with them?????

coolbreeze said:
Yoccos same goes for you buddy, I had a great time with you throughout the outing, and look forward to seeing you again in august. Thanks for posting that pic of us not having our shoes that you had hidden in your room. I don't know what you and One-T were doing with them but I'm glad I got them back.
Click to expand...
 
JB said:
A couple of more awards that must be given out.

The Swing it Like a Man Award goes to AHA. He spins the wheel like someone hitting a 12 inch putt. Put something behind that thing man. Next time you might get the Price is Right sound for not making it spin all the way around.
Click to expand...

Haha...I was spinning with finesse. Drive for show, spin for dough!

biggsy said:
Awards:

Best seat guarding: AHA and Mrs. AHA saving seats for Mrs. Biggsy and I and she came up to sit down and the two AHAs said they were reserved for us...my wife practically had to show identification to sit down. I guess she cleans up pretty well. :)
Click to expand...

Sorry again to Mrs. Biggsy...I had never met her without a hat on...and yes, she cleans up very well my friend.
 
2011 Outing Recap

2011 Outing Recap

Thursday

Mrs. AHA and I arrived early on Thursday and were lucky enough to be able to check into our room earlier than expected. After unpacking, we grabbed some lunch and got ready for the arrival round on the Squire course.

The weather was amazing (sun shinning, really warm, etc.) which was a trend all weekend. For the first round Mrs. AHA and I played with SW FLA and OEM Kevin. Both are great guys and we had a lot of fun. Everyone had a few swings that showed some fatigue from traveling (including Mrs. AHA's swing and a miss for her first tee shot in front of a small gallery on the first tee), but we still had a great time. SW FLA is a great guy to play with and we always have a lot of fun when we hit the links. Same goes for OEM and I'm looking forward to teeing it up with him again in August at the Morgan Cup.

Thursday night we had a nice dinner at the resort and hung out with everyone at the iBar. Two for one drinks is fantastic, but trouble. We turned in pretty early because we had a long day of traveling and we knew it was going to be a long weekend.

Friday - Demo Day

We were up bright and early for breakfast on Friday before a long (and very hot) demo day. There was so much equipment at demo day it was unbelievable. Pretty much anything you could want to try, they had it there. irons, wedges, putters, drivers, hybrids, etc...it was all there. Mrs. AHA found a few things she liked, and I was fortunate enough to spend some time on the launch monitor and had JB help me find a driver shaft that I really like!

People really brought it for the dress like a pro contest, with a few standouts being Gary McCord, Ian Poulter and Boo Weekley. It was great to see everyone having fun with this and the other contests, including the 70 yard drive contest, the chipping contest and the putting contest. There were some great prizes for these contests that went to some very deserving winners!

Mrs. AHA and I enjoyed chatting it up with everyone on the range during demo day, and really enjoyed meeting and spending some time with Mr. and Mrs. Blind9Golf, Mr. and Mrs. Biggsy, and Mr. and Mrs. Golf4Life.

Friday - THP Dinner

The THP dinner, as with everything else THP, was outstanding. Great food, great company, and amazing prizes. The THP members in attendance presented some gifts to our very deserving hosts (JB and GG) and of course lots of people won some great prizes. In fact, I think our table cleaned up with over half of the people at our table leaving with something! People may claim that my spin of the wheel of destiny was a bit weak, but I like to think that I was spinning (successfully I might ad) with finesse.

I can't say thank you enough to Mr. and Mrs. Bind9Golf for their very generous contribution to the THP Dinner which I was fortunate enough to win. I for one, will be doing my golf shopping on their site (www.blind9golf.com) in the future. They really are some of the nicest people you could ever meet and I'm glad that they made the long trip from California and that we were able to meet and spend some time together.

Saturday (Squire Course)

We played a morning round on the Squire course on Saturday. This is a tough and tight little course, so I was glad that I had already seen the course on Thursday. I was paired with CarstenBF, Thainer and Coolbreeze and we had a blast. It was really a great group and everyone was fun to play with. CarstenBF traveled all the way from Denmark for this outing and he was a super nice guy and a joy to play a round with. Coolbreeze is an awesome dude who I can't wait to spend some more time with at the Morgan Cup in August. And last but not least, Thainer. Other than some pink legs (from sunburn) after about four holes, Thainer is a cool customer with a great swing.

Mrs. AHA played her Saturday round with KellyBo, MaryC and Jen. By all accounts, the ladies had a very enjoyable round and hit some great shots!

Saturday after our rounds Mrs. AHA and I left the resort to explore the area and found ourselves at CityWalk in West Palm Beach. This is a super cool place to explore if you're ever in the area, and we had an amazing dinner at the Kona Grill.

After returning to the resort, we met up with everyone in the Sports bar for a few beverages and a very entertaining bacos eating contest. I have no doubt that TC and One-T are very proud of the iron stomach display by Uncle Daddy...very impressive!

Sunday (Champion Course)

Mrs. AHA and I were lucky enough to be paired with KellyBo and Ole Gray for our Sunday round on the Champion Course. This is a tough test of golf, but were very happy to enjoy it with two of the nicest people in the world. KellyBo and Ole Gray are the type that make you feel comfortable after just meeting them, like you've known them forever. Don't be fooled by their charm and southern hospitality, however, both of these two have game. I don't think KellyBo could hit it any straighter off the tee, and Ole Gray knocked it close a few times as well. We all hit a few stray shots, but had a great time doing it. Mrs. AHA and I are already looking forward to the next time that we are fortunate enough to tee it up with KellyBo and Ole Gray!

Final Thoughts

There is really no way to sum up such an amazing weekend, other than saying it was epic! It was great to finally put some faces to the names and posts that I've gotten to know through this site. Everyone was very friendly, welcoming and we all love golf!

I want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Blind9Golf again for their amazing contribution to the prizes at the THP dinner...you guys are the best!

Last, but definitely not least, a HUGE thank you to JB and GG. These events would not be possible without all the time and effort that they put into make sure everything is perfect. We had a great weekend and want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making it possible.

Looking forward to 2012 already!!!
 
Alright, now that work is over and I have some time, its time to do a recap of the outing. After a long trip I got into West Palm beach and found Yoccos right away at the airport. What a great guy he is genuine funny guy that was fun to hang out with, we split a towncar to the resort and was nice enough to let me store my clubs in his room for the night which I later regretted as TC took them out for a spin in the middle of the night. It was great meeting everyone at the ibar that night and everyone was great and as nice as everyone has said. From JB, to GG, TC, P4B, One-T, Yoccos, Ddec, Hawk, Hanks, Bulldog and anyone else I am missing from that night it was a great time.
After a short sleep it was time for the demo day. There was not a lot of lefty equipment there (maybe 8 clubs?) but it was fun just to spend time on the range with everyone (especially my lefty brothers TC, and Yorkem). There were some great swings out there and it was fun watching all the righties try all the great stuff out there and tell you there thoughts on it. JB was great on the launch monitor and he helped me find the right shaft for my R9 for now (Miyazaki Blue stiff flex) and for the Morgan Cup (Project X 6.0). The friday was crazy hot, I mean just stupid, to the point where I was wearing a visor that I bought just for the look like a tour player contest that could barely contain my much talked about hair, and made me look like an idiot but I didn't really care, it was keeping me a little cooler.
The dinner that night was amazing, some of the best food I have had in quite some time. I shared a table with great people and the conversation was great all night. SeeMoreGuy, Mr and Mrs Golf4Life, Clam Fist and his wife Panduate?, Mr and Mrs 9-iron man (minus his wedding ring) and they were all great people and we had a great night.
Saturday morning I played a nice round with Thainer, AHA, and CarstonBF. I didn't play well at all until the back 9, but it was a really great time just to play with those guys. AHA is an amazing player and I'm glad he's on my team at the morgan cup because he should have been under par that day, except for some putts left just a little short, and Thainer hits the ball a mile, and has just a beautiful swing.
Saturday PM was the Captains choice game that we put together that I played with TC, Cmoors, and White Rhino (Team Bushwood) and what a fun round with some great guys. Rhino is a really great guy, who has a lot of fun golfing, we all know TC and his game, and cmoors can really play, especially putt. After being -6 through 7 holes we stummbled a little bit and came to the 18th thinking that we didn't really have a shot at winning it anymore. We get to hitting our third shot onto the par 5 18th and find everyone there around the green trash talking a little bit as we were pitching on. After we got on the green we find out that our birdie putt is to win, we all know what happened next, BOOM, TC knocks it home for the win. I can tell you that 36 holes in that florida heat with that humidity is exhausting and any morgan cuppers who were not there are going be shocked a little I think when we get there in August.
Sunday I played the Champion Course with SouthDakotaHack, UncleDaddy, and Captain Golf. They were three great guys, and you can't find a better playing partner anywhere than UncleDaddy. The bear trap kicked my bum, but I had a great time and then quickly had to run to the airport with Dr Teeth, SeeMoreGuy, and DMB and I can't thank SE FLA enough for the ride he gave us to airport. My trip home has been cronicled already and I don't want to go over it agian, but to sum up, I had the greatest golf weekend of my life and I have to say thank you to JB, GG, PGA National, and all the wonderful THP members who made the trip so much fun. I'll see some of you again in August, and the rest of you I will see again next year. Oh, Dr Teeth might be the nicest most genuine person I have ever met, and I hope to tee it up with you soon.
 
Well, I tried doing this once already and it wouldn't capture so here it goes again...
Wednesday made for a long day! Flying in tight spaces with no leg room is not enjoyable at all. We finally arrived at the airpost at 5PM and met up with White Rhino. It was great to see a friend... Especially since we didn't have any luggage! Gr! We had to wait for a shuttle for what seemed like forever and didn't arrive at the resort until around 7PM. What a long day!

Arriving at the resort made it feel like we had almost never left. It's so beautiful here! Checked in and went to The Bear Trap for dinner. It was a good time. No one's order was screwed up! Thank goodness.

Went back to the room expecting our luggage to be delivered around 1030PM. I fell asleep waiting.

Woke up early on Thursday and still no luggage. Turns out, 9iron got a call around midnight to let us know that our luggage would be delivered around 830AM. No such luck! It did finally make it here around 1030AM and I was finally able to relax and enjoy my honeymoon!

Spent most of the day meeting people as they came in and relaxing by the pool. It was a good time! The meet and greet and that night a good time. Lots of great people getting together, chatting, eating and drinking. Couldn't ask for a better group of people to be around.

Demo day was fantastic! Lots of equipment available to be tested made for an endless supply of equipment to be tested. I made sure to take it easy this year and not exhaust myself right away by hitting too many balls. Ate lunch at the i-bar. I almost didn't make it back outside for the afternoon. I was so relaxed and ready for a nap! In the end, I decided I needed to go back. After all, this is what I came here for. The girls were great fun during the demo day. We all took turns sharing and switching clubs. There were so many times where we either liked certain clubs (or didn't) and gave them to someone else to turn out and see if they worked for them. It also nice to see the everyone taking turns using the spots to practice as there wasn't emough room for everyone to practice all at once.

Thanks to all of the companies (I couldn't possibly name them all) for all of the equipment that was sent out for testing! It was truly appreciated and made for a great time to be had.

Thanks goes out to the resort for getting a table set up so quickly for 9iron, Seemoreguy, Coolbreeze, Mr. and Mrs. Golf4Life, Mr. and Mrs. Clamfist and myself. It was great... And we had a great view of the prize wheel for later on in the evening. Dinner was delicious! Watching everyone spin the wheel for a prize when their ticket number was picked was a LOT of fun. You almost felt like you were right up there with them. Especially watching KellyBo jump up and down with excitement as she won her Yonex prize!

I was really tired after the dinner so I didn't spend a lot of time up at the ibar on Friday night. Plus, I needed my rest for the 36 holes of golf that I would be playing on Saturday.

Met up with some people for breakfast early on Saturday morning before playing my first round. I was teamed up with Patty, Monica and Jurgita. What a fun loving bunch of girls they are! Patty's distance and accuracy is amazing to watch. She really shows that ball whose boss! Monica is always so positive that it makes playing golf with her really fun and enjoyable. Jurgita was my driving partner and we spent a lot of time chatting it up throughout the round. Just don't stand anywhere in front of the ball when she's taking a swing. I nearly lost my left arm, LOL! Well, it was surely pretty close to hitting me. It's just a good thing that I swerved out of the way at the last minute. Everyone stood behind each other from then on out.

The scramble in the afternoon was GREAT! I was in a group with Belbin, Flashy and Yorkem. It was SO much fun! We all contributed to the team. It was a great balance. We almost thought we would be taking part in a playoff which would have been really cool but it was LOTS of fun nonetheless. I won't talk about dinner at The Bear Trap that night. That was just sad... Except for the bacos challenge. Now THAT was entertaining!

The round with Mary, Monica and Estelle on Sunday was loads of fun. Those girls are SO great! And Estelle even got her revenge on the birds. LOL!

On Monday, 9iron and I played the Haig! Worst game ever! It was terrible. Except for my shot from 50 feet away on the par 5 17th. If only the ball had turned just a little bit more it would have dropped into the cup. Gr! ... Well, I tapped in for bogey and moved on my way. That had to have been the best shot of my weekend. :smile:

Spent the day today relaxing and spending time by the pool. We'll probably do the same again tomorrow. Then we'll be going home on Thursday. It'll be good to see my puppy Cooper!

A HUGE thanks goes out to Josh, Morgan and the THP staff for everything! The entire time was full of entertainment and good people. Completely worth it!
 
Oh! I forgot to mention one thing in my last post! When 9iron, Carsten and myself were at the ibar last night, I was asked for my I'd before I could order a drink. I thought she was kidding and when I asked her if she was serious, she said yes and asked me again if I had it. I couldn't believe it. I sat there in shock. I'd been ordering drinks since Wednesday and they ask for my I'd 5 days later??... Eventually I went downstairs to go get it so I could keep enjoying my evening. I still can't believe it to be honest.
 
Well after getting my first outing I figure I can try and recap my incredible experience. On the drive down I was so nervous about meeting everyone and it doesn’t help that I’m pretty shy. So we get there at about 6AM after an 11 hour car ride and we check in and sleep for like 3 hours. Should have slept longer. We decide to go on down to the range and hit some balls. I notice some people at the range had some THP covers on but I was so nervous that I couldn’t just walk over and say hi. I think eventually Anthony walked over and it ended up being AHA and Mrs. AHA who were both incredibly nice. Then all of a sudden the ground starts shaking and up walks the mountain man. TC is as cool in person as he is on the forum which is such a relief. What was really weird was that TC was hitting balls next to Uncle Fester

Everyone we were meeting was awesome which is when I started to relax. I was hitting the ball halfway decent so I told Anthony that we should hop on the course. That was one of the bigger mistakes I’ve made. I won’t recap that round but needless to say it was my worst. After the round we went up to the Ibar where a bunch of THP’ers were all getting their drink on. We said what the heck and joined in. Everyone was just incredible and so funny. You can’t believe how relieved I was. I saw JB out of the corner of my eye but I was too nervous to approach him so we sat down and ate instead. Hawk came up and semi introduced himself and started cracking jokes. He was hilarious and when he walked away I asked Anthony who he was and he tells me it was Hanks. So of course when I see him later I call him Hanks and I probably will never hear the end of that. After dinner we slinked away back to our room and that is also something I will never hear the end of. I was tired!!

Demo Day—The day arrived and I was ready for some action. We got there too early so we went back to the putting green to hit some putts and wait for the fun to begin. Walked up and saw Belbin Poulter. That was an awesome outfit dude. I can’t remember who the other Poulter was but I joked with him that he could probably just go back and get changed and he laughed. After that the madness began. Found my Z-Stars and hit a bunch of balls with them and proceeded to hit about 1000 balls that day. It was like a crack addict hanging out at Pablo Escobars house. Had a great time hitting balls side by side with Thainer although it was quite humbling. The sound that comes off his clubs when he hits them is unreal. Great ballstriker. Once he finds out how to actually score he is going to be phenomenal. KB you are just about my favorite person in the world. Certainly not a nicer person that I’ve ever met. JB I will be picking your brain as soon as I start looking for shafts. I really enjoyed my time on the launch monitor. Best demo day ever!! The contests were a load of fun. I don’t know how Belbin got his short game rep but it needs to be changed quickly. I feel badly for whomever goes against him in the MC. Degoins you have the best Dalyesque driver swing that I’ve ever seen. Yoccos everytime I was looking for a club I just had to find you as you were hitting it. We have the same taste in equipment I guess. OEM Iron Sheikh looked like he was in a club lust stupor. Just a great day that I wish I could have back.

Dinner—Awesome. Simply put great food and great company. My entire table was awesome. Got to find out about Mary C’s pretty cool life. Found out Spanks and Fildini are flipping hilarious and lucky. Sat next to KB who if I haven’t mentioned it already is one of the best people on the planet. OG you are one cool dude. Elvis has definitely not left the building. Anthony and I kind of just sat down and took it all in. Also found out TC turns into half a woman just by giving him a putter cover. Just a great time. We all went back to the Ibar and I downed a few beers and got to know everyone better. I still can’t believe how nice everyone is.

Saturday—Morning round was early. I was feeling it a little from the night before. Got paired with One-T in the cart and Yorkem and OEM Kev in the other. What a fun time. Despite all of the crap I will be unleashing on Jarret for the next year he is a great golfer. Just a great all around game with one heck of a short game. I can’t remember laughing that hard during a round in my life. Had a good round going until a quad on a par 3 took the air out of me. Limped home until 18. That is when I noticed that Jarret had been somewhat generous with his gimmes with me. Well my old friend Yorkem tells him to have me putt out the 1 footer that would have given me the outright victory. I will forever blame the damn high noon sun glaring off my Seemore for that push right. Oh well

Afternoon scramble was Thainer and I paired with KB & Keith aka SMG. This was just a fun round of golf. We missed every single putt that we took but we still had a good time. Thainer hits absolute bombs. 300 yard 3 wood. Insane. Very nice iron play as well. Just a great ball striker. As I said, once he matches his short game with his long game he is going to be scratch or under. Impressive young dude that I can’t wait to tee it up with again. Keith is one of the best guys I’ve ever met. So nice and friendly and man can he read a putt. If any of us could actually hit a putt, SMG would have been team MVP. And of course KB. Have I mentioned that I think the world of her? And man can she crush a golf ball. I think we may have played more shots of hers then anyone elses. As for me I just sucked. 36 in that Florida heat was just too much.

The night was spent in the sports bar watching the lamest attempt at a food challenge ever. Hawk you are hilarious. The things you will do for beer. Your wife is even funnier. Her pep talk during the epic Baco challenge was truck driver like. Loved it. Found out that I might never look at a blueberry pie the same way again. Uncle Daddy has an iron stomach. That man can eat anything dead or alive. Some more **** talk ensued between JB, One-T, and I. Jarret had been telling me for at least a month now that JB had some serious quirks on the golf course and he just kept reiterating that to me. I had asked Thainer earlier in the day about it and he looked at me like I had 6 heads. I said don’t you have to stand off the tee box when he tee’s off and off the green when he putts? Don’t you have to keep your cart behind his at all times? Thainer was like what the f are you talking about? I knew Jarret was trying to f with me. At the end of the night JB comes to say good night and tells me that we were going to have a great round and he would explain some of his quirks on the first tee. Jarret comes right over and says I told you so. I don’t know why I didn’t think JB was in on it. I gotta say I walked to my room that night very nervous.

Sunday—Champions course. Beautiful morning. I haven’t slept in 3 days. My shoes are soaked and stretched from me sweating in them. My feet are full of blisters. My driving range time is spent topping drives and hitting hosel rockets with my irons. Yeah I’m ready to tee it up. JB walks up and we all stand off to the side. Hits a perfect shot right down the middle. Everyone else goes and they are all acceptable drives. We drive down toward our balls, of course keeping an acceptable distance from JB’s cart as I didn’t want to get him angry. I stop behind his cart in the fairway probably about 30 -40 yards away from my ball. Poor Gus was probably 60 yards away. I take about half my bag with me because I have no clue how far I am out. We all hit our shots and we drive to the green. Once we are all on JB is first to putt. I stay off the green and poor Gus doesn’t remember that no one can be on the green while he putts. JB looks up and just waves him off the green. Gus slinks off. JB hits his putt up close and the rest of us go on and finish out the hole. As we walk off Gus is whispering to me that he understands etiquette and all but this is ridiculous. Being the wuss that I am I tell him to suck it up. As we drive up to the 2nd tee box Jarret and JB are dying laughing. Yes I am that gullible.

The rest of the round was filled with some good shots, some bad shots and one dude that looked like he was trying out for the part of Bernie from Weekend at Bernies. One-T was so hungover I felt bad for him. That won’t stop me from hanging the beating over him until the next time we play though. When you beat a better golfer you can’t let him forget it. I could probably write a few pages on this round as it was just one of my favorite rounds ever. I won’t bore everyone with a more indepth recap though. Suffice to say that if you get to tee it up with JB you will love it. It’s competitive(maybe not so much) but a ton of fun at the same time. He will always cheer you on and make you laugh. Although he struggled early you could see the short game magic that everyone raves about. Just when you think you are going to pick up a stroke on a hole you walk off having lost a stroke. Jarret is …well he’s One-T. You pretty much get exactly what you get on the forum. I would tee it up with him anytime. 2 hilarious rounds of golf with a really good golfer. He knows a ton about the golf swing and is very willing to try and help you out when you’re struggling. Heck he was giving me pointers about my putting during the middle of our match. Well to call it a match is an insult to matches but still. Great guy. Gus you are a great partner man. You tried keeping us in it early but we just didn’t have the juice. You just need to get your confidence up a little and your handicap will fall big time. I of course just stunk it up. There is no water too small for me to pull the ball off the planet to get away from it. Good good is the best phrase ever said.

Biggest surprise: PVB. Damn dude you are incredible. Just about the nicest dude ever. Don’t get me wrong. You come off great on the forum but you are even better in person. You make a shy guy feel welcome and I needed that. I really appreciated you buddy. Heck I can say the same for Hawk as well. He just came right up to me and started cracking jokes like we were old friends. Hmm I guess I can also throw TC in there for coming right up to me at the range like we had met each other a 100 times. I guess that is a testament to JB & GG for picking great people as Forum leaders/testers. Biggsy came right up to me at demo day as well and introduced himself and we started chatting. Hanks also…..well he pulled an Amelia Earhart but I’m sure he is awesome also.

I had such a good time that I’m not sure I can fully write down how great a time it was. I met some fantastic people with not a stinker in the bunch. I could literally write a great thing about everyone I met. I didn’t get to talk to everyone but that is because time just flew by. Hopefully I can make it to the next one and meet up with some old friends and make some new ones. I was blown away JB & GG. 2 amazing people that deserve all good things that come your way. Morgan I was too shy to talk to you for pretty much the entire weekend but I finally got to sit down and talk on Sunday and you are amazing. I can’t wait for the next one. Thank you so much THP’ers for making this such an epic trip. And please take it easy on me with the pictures and nicknames.
 
Great to read up on everyone's experiences. So, who is NOT a THP fanboi at this point?
 
Finally home after another day of driving.

Thursday: We arrived at the Resort a bit later in the evening, was pretty tired after driving from SC so we got checked in, freshened up a bit then went down to the iBar to meet up with some of the THPers. First thing Hawk comes up to me and says "you must be cheffor" dude knew who all was already there and figured we were the last to arrive, very cool. We headed into the grill and got some dinner, met a few more folks but I was so tired I couldn't stay standing much longer and retired to the room.

Friday: Demo Day - one word - "wow" I think I spent the first 20 minutes just standing under the awning looking at all of the irons trying to decide what to hit. I finally gathered my thoughts and grabbed some of the clubs that were on my list and started swinging away. Overall the winners in the iron catagory for me were the Mizuno JPX 800's, Cleveland HB3's, Callaway Razr X Tours, and the Nike Cavity Pro's. Driver contest was awesome, I never came close to the bag but I at least got it past the tee area. Lunch at the iBar then back to the range for some driver testing, I was pretty tired from all of the swings I took with irons so I only grabbed a few of the ones I really wanted to try as well as one I didn't have on my list that Golf4life recommended the Ping K15. The K15 was definitely the surprise of the day for me, seemed like no matter what swing I put on it that thing wanted to go straight. Unfortunately I never got my chance at the launch monitor to see just how the K15 fit me but I definitely need to give it a few more tries. Wedge and Putter contests were completely epic, was awesome to see Belbin stick it close after all of the trash talk.

Dinner: Excellent time at dinner, even though nobody at our table got called for the contest it was quite a wonderful night. Enjoyed the evening with Patty & Dennis, Bulldog, Ddec and Nerfy, and Dr. Teeth. Food was great, company was great quite an amazing night.

Saturday: Played the Squire with 9-iron, True Temper, and True Tempers dad. This course put a hurt on me, everytime I thought I finally hit a nice shot it ended up being in water, I put a nice new yellow e6 into a tree (completely forgot to get a picture of it) which was quite a funny thing to see. It was quite an enjoyable round it was a pleasure getting to know each of my playing partners. After the round I freshened up and the wife and I spent the rest of the day on the town celebrating our 10 year anniversary.

Sunday: Champions course, this was the course I was dreading, got to tee it up with True Temper's dad again, P4B's dad, and Spraytech and had a wonderful day. P4B's dad was an awesome resource throughout the day, he knew exactly where and where not to hit into having someone in the group who had played the course before was quite a benefit. Spraytech was wonderful and let me try his Zstar driver and V3 irons throughout the round it was my own personal demo day. Overall another wonderful day on the course with some wonderful people. After the round the Mrs. and I went to the beach (only my second time going to the ocean) then had a nice dinner. After the dinner we hung out at the iBar with some other THPers and stayed up way too late with a 10 hour drive ahead of us the next day.

Again big thanks go out to JB and GG for putting together such a wonderful time, and opportunity for us to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. I don't think I even met everyone who was at the outing and I'm certainly upset I missed the baco's challenge sounds like a hilarious time. Hopefully we'll be able to attend another outing however I know we will not be driving next time, I'm completely wiped.
 
Reading Yorkems friends recap (Chunkylover) made me laugh out loud at least 3 times.
 
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