We've launched the new forums! Read more here

Recap & Picture Thread - 2013 THP IL Invitational

Zenger said:
Oh! Can't wait for the review of the Top Golf 3 Hybrid to get posted!
Click to expand...

And only Hawk, would so eloquently put it.

"You know a club is awesome when it has glide rails on the crown".
 
manlai said:
Thank you again to the THP crew for bringing the event to Chicago. It was great fun as promised.

Had a great time playing cog hill with dleavitt and coughlin (real funny dude) on Tuesday. Rambler had to work or some silly thing. That was the first time I met THPers in person and it was a sign of good things to come.

Met a ton of THPers at the practice round at Poplar Creek Friday (thanks to local dan for the hookup). It's really amazing that people who've never met just show up and then start bantering really like it was on the forums or like they knew each other forever. Played a great round with tom (hitman?), bill, and new guy wolfy. Sometimes I think the random stories people tell while on the course is the best part of golfing. Tom had me in stitches all day. THPers were in rare form at Top Golf. They say you learn something new every day, and I learned the flop 3 iron (thanks blugold). So mission accomplished. I was hanging out with like the 6th Dan I've met in the week that it was all becoming a blur. All I know is that the Top Golf branded clubs were buttery grain flow forged goodness. Tyler agrees. Review thread upcoming :p

And then there was the day of the outing. It was awesome to meet even more THPers. I saw some sweet swings out on that range and some ridiculously long hitters. I was definitely in awe! JB subbed in as my partner for the first 3 holes and I got to enjoy some great caddie/couple banter between JB and GG. JB just walks onto the tee cold and hit 3/3 fairways. Thanks for joining us for the stretch! I think we had a shot at the title. Zenger and Lance were great partners and the round breezed by. For short hitters like me, the 6400 gold tees were challenging. The course was in great shape, challenging but still fun to play. I left some shots out there but really can't complain too much about how I played. I think Top Golf fixed my swing...

As for the product placement portion of my recap, Callaway Hex Chrome+ really performed for me and will be my ball on meaningful rounds going forward. The Bushnell Neo X watch got through 3+ rounds of golf on the same charge and the distances were right on the money each time. It was about as easy to use as a gps can be. Finally, I'm in final negotiations to dump my underperforming TM's and Mizzies and sign with Top Golf for all my club needs. Laser light show presentation and unveiling to soon follow :)

In sum, it was a pleasure meeting everybody and thank you all for welcoming me to the THP community the way you have. My spare bedroom is open to any of you should you be back this way again.
Click to expand...

You know you're going to be looking for a 3iron flop shot on the course.
 
I would also like to thank JB, GG, and Hawk for planning this awesome event. What a tremendous course and people to golf it with. I had the true pleasure of teeing it up with two #Grandaddy team members in my first THP event ever. Hawk and TheTopDogg (Dan #2 I think?) were such a pleasure to golf with and Illinimick was the perfect playing partner and nice enough to help me look for about half of my drives in the knee high heather. I wish I had Mike's consistent roll out on his drives of about 50 yards and right down the fairway, I don't recall him missing more than 1. Top Golf was so much fun. Great food, great company, and lots of laughs. Although I didn't get the pleasure of hitting the Fister, my eardrums could tell it was present and my eyes hurt from watching blugold using up all his fun energy driving the ball a quarter mile. Putting faces to names and names to real life names was very cool.

manlai said:
All I know is that the Top Golf branded clubs were buttery grain flow forged goodness. Tyler agrees. Review thread upcoming :p
Click to expand...

You can say that again. For a two shafted offset on a 3 hybrid, baby draws and slices were the shot of choice. For all the laughs we got swinging those clubs, whether it was hitting the rattling driver off the deck or 3 hybrid into the pond outside of the range, it was awesome. Even for a Michigan grad, you are a fun guy.

Last but not least, Lou Malnati's pizza and atmosphere was fantastic. Talking with other THPers and carrying on about 2 or 3 conversations simultaneously was so much fun. Again, I can't understate my sincere gratitude for all of those that made this event possible, even the sponsor Fairway Styles, of which I now have a sweet t-shirt of. This may have been my first THP event, but it certainly won't be my last.
 
First off want to thank JB ,GG and hawk for putting this all together and dleavitt39 one of the dan's for fri. round had a blast .This was my 1st thp event was'nt sure what to expect and a little nervous about meeting people who you have talked with but never met it didnt take long and was out till 10:30 fri night hanging out at topgolf with everyone.I had a good time and glad to start putting faces with names.. Oh and bluegold does drive the ball 350+ "Impressive...for primitive rocket technology."
 
Another great invitational is in the books, congrat's to the new HOF inductees. Hawk, JB and GG did a great job planning the event; fantastic courses for Friday and Saturday. Friday was one of the slowest rounds I've played in a long time but had a great time. Rode with Kosmo who has a great looking swing and a good dude. I hope you stick around and make it to more events in the future. Illini -- Mike you crush those altitudes and are automatic with that Amp cell. If I had a blue or red driver maybe I could hit it that straight every time! Saturday I had the pleasure with playing along side Ryan - Threshold, Canadan and Tbonafide. It's always great to watch how the game is meant to be played by those like Dan; he crushes that three wood classic and was rolling in puts from everywhere. I wish I could hit my drives as far as he hits that 3W. Whoever plays Dan in the MC is going to have their work cut out for them. I couldn't hit a ball to save my life on Sat but was great meeting a couple new guy's and playing with Dan again.... even if he is from Canada. It was great to see everybody make it to this event on their holiday weekend.

JB and GG; thanks for coming up for this event and making this all possible. Hawk, putting one of these together is a lot of work and while frustrating at times it came off great. Thanks for all the hard work and coordination putting this event together. Fairway Styles provided some sweet swag for everybody and sponsored a solid event for all of us. Dan, thanks for putting together the round on Friday. I wish I could have stayed around later for pizza and golf tales but had to make the drive home that night. It was a pleasure gentlemen and am looking forward to future events already.
 
Congrats Sleuth and Datguy! Sounds like it was a fantastic event.
 
That bhilin... Such a good dude. Far too kind, but it seems to just be the kind of awesome THPer you are.

Can't wait for our next round.
 
99srxman said:
First off want to thank JB ,GG and hawk for putting this all together and dleavitt39 one of the dan's for fri. round had a blast .This was my 1st thp event was'nt sure what to expect and a little nervous about meeting people who you have talked with but never met it didnt take long and was out till 10:30 fri night hanging out at topgolf with everyone.I had a good time and glad to start putting faces with names.. Oh and bluegold does drive the ball 350+ "Impressive...for primitive rocket technology."
Click to expand...

I love the Optimus Prime quote brother.
 
Congrats to Sleuth and Datguy! Great playing. Really enjoying reading the recaps, it gets me all warm and fuzzy for the Atlanta Invitational in just over a month!
 
Zenger said:
... Oh! Can't wait for the review of the Top Golf 3 Hybrid to get posted!
Click to expand...

This! TPluff and Manlai owe us extensive write-ups.
 
Congrats Sleuth and Datguy! Man I love reading these recaps threads but this one stings a little because I know I missed out on a great time at the closest Invitational to home. I am eagerly awaiting 2014's event calendar to come out so I can have one of these events to look forward to.
 
Friday was pretty awesome day. Busy as can be, but full of greatness.

My day started before 4am and I was on the road by 7 to pick up ATLGolfer, to be known from this point forward as ShandyGolfer. Seth is special and maybe I'll be able to explain why here in a little while. thetopdogg was already in town, so getting in touch with him was our first priority. We made our way to Portillo's for a first #Grandaddy date, all having the Beef with hot peppers, some fries and salt. No cake shakes since we wanted to be on top of our games for the Friday round.

Big thanks to dnickleavitt for picking a course and organizing our Friday round. Bridges of Poplar Creek is great looking course and a pretty good challenge. Lots of water and bunkering and a good set of par 3's. We played it backwards, starting on 10, and followed the angriest group of golfers we've ever seen. After watching them attempt to fight a group of eldery people, doubling back to the clubhouse for 15 minutes only to request to cut back into the course and just generally sucking, ShandyGolfer was on edge and preparing for battle. For such a friendly fellow he really seemed ready to rumble, but fortunately I was able to draw his focus to helping me count the number of sleeves of balls I required to limp through 18 holes. We were able to marvel at the exotic leg tattoo and some strawberry blonde goodness of the cart girl staff.

ShandyGolfer, blugold, and dnickleavitt all hit the ball really far. Disgusting really. We laughed our behinds off on Friday. Just a hilarious round that I'll remember for a long time. ShandyGolfer really put us all to shame with a strong round. dnickleavitt destroyed a townhouse with one swoop of his X-Hot hybrid, but he either brained or scared the resident enough that she could only yell, which was good (because ShandyGolfer was still a bit fired up). blugold impressed us all with his general buffness. He's inspired me to get back on the roids, so I thank him for that. The golf was slow. Oh man was it slow. Regardless of that, a great day that I'm grateful for. Getting a chance to tee it up with those three was a treat.

So, what do you do after playing a 13 hour round of golf? Head to a hopped up driving range than combines beer, darts, and golf all together, of course. Top Golf was something else. I'd kill to have that place around here, though I don't think it would quite be the same without a big group of THP'rs to share the evening with. We drank, hit a bunch of different clubs, celebrated my stunning round one victory, and ate pizza with salad (and salt) on top - all from 40 feet above the coolest driving range you'll ever see. If ShandyGolfer didn't rack up cheap points by hitting 198 yard 8 irons I totally would have won both rounds. I called Rambler the wrong name like the moran I am. Hitman always hits the ball well. Every damn time it seems. tpluff is also on the blugold roids and his dad didn't run screaming when he saw all of us, so he's cool in my books. Everybody really seemed to enjoy TopGolf and I'm glad we chose it. Later that evening, thetopdogg, ShandyGolfer and I reflected over the day and the greatness of THP in general. A great way to cap off an incredible day.
 
Hawk said:
...I called Rambler the wrong name like the moran I am.
Click to expand...

Hell, you could have just called me Dan #57. (Is having the name "Dan" some sort of weird pre-req on THP?)
 
I'm so glad that I was able to make it to the IL Invitational. So many THPers from the midwest that I've enjoyed meeting in the past, and several more THPers that I met for the first time this weekend. Just really glad that I was able to make the trip work.

Thanks to JB, GG and Fairway Styles for setting up the invitational. As usual, the event was an outstanding success. It seemed like a fantastic time was had by all who attended (and even a few who attended by the invitational thread).

I also wanted to thank Hawk for setting up the course, dinner location, and basically every other logistical issue for the weekend. I had the chance to interact with Internet Hawk on the forums and by text since being selected for the #DreamTeam, but this was my first chance to meet Real Life (RL) Hawk. It's an interesting juxtaposition, almost like adding refreshing lemon to beer. At any rate, tip of the cap to Ryan for taking me to and from the airport and setting up the hotel for him, Topdogg and me. A weekend of #DreamTeam slumming put everything over the top. The only real issue is that neither Hawk nor Topdogg will play with me at the Grandaddy, because I ruin their games. (That last sentence was not intended reading for TexasHacker, JLukes or Pkieldog.)

Thanks to NickDan for setting up the course for Friday. Poplar Grove was a fun track, and the THPer turnout was really excellent. I started warming up by not being able to get the ball off of the ground, but I was able to get a swing going and really enjoy the course. It was also my first experience with golf "Illinois Style," which includes near-fistfights in the fairway. And, for a guy who had his guts literally ripped out a month ago, NickDan can play some golf.

Friday's round was also my first experience meeting blugold. Quality guy who shares a little too much of my sense of humor. I still quite don't understand his love of the Covert, which is unnatural and should be mocked by most, but he absolutely crushes it when he decides to not hit a 20-yard slice. I was also impressed by the amount of deer antler spray that blu consumed during the round, as he was hitting his 3W out to my driver for a lot of the round.

Friday night was also an awesome experience. I had never been to a Top Golf facility before, but I wish I had invented the concept. Range balls + good bar food + alcohol + golfing games = FTW. Throw in some Top Golf demo clubs with junior flex shafts and three inches of offset, and you have a winner. It was too much fun beating Hawk and crew during our only match that counted. I seem to recall Hawk keeping it close during the warm-up session, but I don't remember the exact score (and, unfortunately, no one remembered to photograph the final scoreboard).

THPers were also absolutely crushing the Fister (don't even know her -- Bang!) and Callaway Optiforce drivers during the Top Golf session. The only real issue was that we weren't getting points for the drives, because a ton of us were hitting balls over and out of the driving range. The Fister, in particular, is just a monster driver.


Saturday was a classic THP outing, which is a really good thing. Within about five minutes of arriving, it felt like I was back around "the gang" again. Anyone who is reading this post who has not attended a THP event, attend one near you. It is some of the most fun that you will ever have on a golf course. Seeing Canadaniel, Playdough, DB, Bhillin, Interlooper, Zenger and a bunch of guys that I had not seen since the Outing, but it's like we didn't miss a beat. Just awesome. Meeting the guys who had never attended a THP event before was also pretty awesome. You see the initial reservation, but it quickly just goes away. It's really fun seeing that on the first tee.

For Saturday's round, I had the chance to re-tee it up with blugold, and I had the opportunity to tee it up for the first time with ragram and Jugger18, who will now be known as JuggerTron (soft J). JuggerT can flat out crush the ball. He is another one of those jerks that can hit a 3W (for him, a Stage 2 RBZ) farther than most hit their driver. We both played like hot garbage for the first six or seven holes, but we finished out fairly respectable. Regardless, a fun time was had by Team JuggerATL, and I would tee it up with him any day. He even handed me a sixer of local beer when we were done. The Spotted Cow is no Shandy, but it is a solid beer.

Team blurag also had some user-error issues on the first few holes, but they kept it going as well. Ragram had played the course before, and it showed. While I was having trouble figuring out where to hit the ball, Ragram casually stepped up and hit it in the perfect spot. Blu hit possibly the best golf shot that I have seen in person this year -- a 215-ish hybrid, uphill, into the wind and to a tight pin, to within 10 feet. The most amazing part of that shot was that the ball stayed on the back edge of the green instead of falling down the slope to a collection area. I'm still not sure how that happened.

Saturday night was excellent. Pizza casserole for all, which was delicious and surprisingly filling. Banter all around while also trying to get JB to divulge some more details of the Grandaddy (Spoiler Alert: No dice). Some Shandy would have made the pizza that much better, but the IPA that RL Hawk chose was acceptable. (Paying $4 for his single Miller Lite bottle was not - just sad.) Additional post-dinner banter and brews afterwards finished the evening strong. The only disappointing parts: 1) again, no Shandy, and 2) the Fister somehow didn't make it into my bag.

A weekend of fun like this makes the travel worth it. I'm already looking forward to Atlanta next month, and after hanging out with (albeit, RL) Hawk and TopDogg I am really excited to see how the Grandaddy turns out.
 
Saturday couldn't have gone better. I stressed about this thing for months and to see it unfold like it did was a pleasure.

Highlands of Elgin rules. I'd play it all the time if I could. I knew it was going to be awesome when the starter literally yelled at us for 5 minutes before we teed off to tell us he'd personally kick all of our a$$es if we played a round longer than 4:20. I wish every course did that. My goal in picking the course was to have something that was memorable, but also something that could be played by both long knockers and the rest of us. It was a tough course, but it gave you the chance to do well. Some fantastic holes on this course.

Range time was a treat as it's the first chance to see everybody all together in one place. I got to sit back and watch people try out some new clubs, chat, make fun of each other, etc. Fairway Styles hooked us up with some awesome tee shirts that I hope end up with a THP logo on them at some point.

Fast forward to the first tee. I played with my partner, thetopdogg, and Illinimick and tpluff. Not going to lie - I was nervy out there. GregDan and I both were and we showed it by going a combined 12 or so over par on the first three holes. Ouch. In the meantime, Mike and tpluff are out there tearing the course up. I really thought they were going to win the thing at that point. They were just SOLID. Illinimick literally never misses a fairway and somehow gets 40-50 yards of roll on each drive. It was so impressive. At the same time, tpluff is longknocking the hell out of the ball and hitting close approach shots like it's his job. A very impressive front nine for those two.

We made it the fourth hole and all hit the green for some easy pars. Look at tpluff striking a pose...
aratumyq.jpg


Still, we struggled. Just couldn't shake it, so thetopdogg and I decided we needed to chill the hell out and looked for the cart girl. A Miller Lite was just what the doctor ordered. Well, two ML's is really what he ordered, but we didn't get that far until the turn. After that, it was like we were different golfers. Both of us dropped 7 strokes from front nine to back nine and played like we thought we could have.

The 7th hole at Highlands was a fantastic par 3, playing 200 yards for us. Thankfully, none of us went left. The only person to hit the green was Illinimick and here he is taking his swing.
havydy3y.jpg


Let me say now that thetopdogg is not only a very fun guy to share a cart with, he's a damn good golfer. He's got a great putting stroke to go with his long-knocking. I was freaking impressed at his +1 back nine performance. Here he is on the 15th hole - a beauty of a par 3.

y3y2epy4.jpg



We even birdied the same par 5, which was really cool. My putter got hot and it was like golf was almost not unbearably difficult for a couple hours :D A good sign of things to come was the 18th hole. It's a tough par 4 up a big hill and we both missed the green. Two wedge shots and a total of 3 feet or so from the pin for both of us.

yhydatuh.jpg


Had a great time watching each group come in and almost everybody stuck around to see the last group finish up. That was a great chance to chat with everybody and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Seeing everybody happy made it all worthwhile.

9adejyze.jpg


I thought we were going to be sporting some new Oakley's as well, but Sleuth and DatGuy came in three strokes ahead of both my team and the team of Rambler and kozmo. They deserved that prize for the rounds they put up. Well done guys. The fact that we were able to come back from the brink of absolute garbage to where we finished was something that made me proud - especially for thetopdogg. GregDan went out there and beat up the last nine holes.
 
Rambler said:
Hell, you could have just called me Dan #57. (Is having the name "Dan" some sort of weird pre-req on THP?)
Click to expand...

If you're not Dan, you're nobody!
 
I'll have to finish this all up tomorrow. I'm beat.

Thanks to blugold for some DAMN good Black IPA that he gave me. Enjoyed that very much this evening my friend.
 
That $60 SeeMore putter of yours was a steal Hawk. That thing was money for you from the start. Fantastic putting display, especially when you and Dan matched birdies on the par 5 12th with that mile long draino putt. I really appreciated Dan giving me some pointers on the driver/3 wood area, I'll be looking to improve on that. All in all, combine our front 9 with your back 9 and we would be sitting at home with a monocle of an Oakley and half a sweet golf bag. I'd tee it up with you guys anywhere, anytime, or for that matter, everyone I met this weekend.
 
It's interesting to look back on the weekend and try and put into words how awesome it was, but I'll give it a go.

I already mentioned all the fun I had on Friday with Dance_Business, Rambler, and ToppDogg, but once again fellas thanks for the round. I'd consider myself lucky to do it again sometime.

Saturday was something else. This event that I'd been looking forward to for months was finally here. Got around to put as many names and faces together as possible. I think I've finally got them all down thanks to the pics!

It was awesome watching my partner Canadan pick apart this gorgeous course. That 3 wood is lethal!

Bhilin, Threshold, and Canadan were a great group and the scenery couldn't be beat. If I could've just hit a couple shots it would've been a perfect day. But, while disappointed with my (lack of) game, I had to keep it all in perspective that I was taking part in such an awesome event made possible by so many great people.

I wish I could've partaken in all the extra-curricular activities, but things are a bit hectic around the Tbone homestead lately. Looking forward to any and all opportunities I have to play with THPers in the future.

GG, JB, and Hawk deserve a huge pat on the back. Thank you all very much. I had an absolute blast!
 
Just got home and read all the posts so far. I love the recap threads. Glad everyone had a great time and congrats to the new HOF members.
 
Congratulations to Sleuth & DatGuy on making the HOF.

Looks and sounds like it was a blast!
 
Tbonafide said:
It's interesting to look back on the weekend and try and put into words how awesome it was, but I'll give it a go.

I already mentioned all the fun I had on Friday with Dance_Business, Rambler, and ToppDogg, but once again fellas thanks for the round. I'd consider myself lucky to do it again sometime.

Saturday was something else. This event that I'd been looking forward to for months was finally here. Got around to put as many names and faces together as possible. I think I've finally got them all down thanks to the pics!

It was awesome watching my partner Canadan pick apart this gorgeous course. That 3 wood is lethal!

Bhilin, Threshold, and Canadan were a great group and the scenery couldn't be beat. If I could've just hit a couple shots it would've been a perfect day. But, while disappointed with my (lack of) game, I had to keep it all in perspective that I was taking part in such an awesome event made possible by so many great people.

I wish I could've partaken in all the extra-curricular activities, but things are a bit hectic around the Tbone homestead lately. Looking forward to any and all opportunities I have to play with THPers in the future.

GG, JB, and Hawk deserve a huge pat on the back. Thank you all very much. I had an absolute blast!
Click to expand...

That's my partner right there!!!! Sorry you had to depart after golf man, but we'll meet again. We'll meet again indeed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top