We just knew when we could miss. That's all
THP Bridgestone Indy invitational Pics & Recap
We just knew when we could miss. That's all
Darren K.
Pittsburgh Panther
Strategic misses were certainly a part of our game plan.
Just not with the putters. And if it makes you feel better, I was 1/8 with birdie putts yesterday too. Same deal. Great rolls just wouldn't drop
Darren K.
Pittsburgh Panther
Hey, I'll take easy par clean-ups any day, my man. Especially alternate shot.
mikedean441
6X HOF
Darren K.
Pittsburgh Panther
Didn't you double that though? From 104? Hahaha
Nice video recap, Mike. I'm not jealous. Nope, not at all.
Adam Hartzell
Yup, I'm a lefty.
Weekend Recap Post
Weekend Recap Post
This will probably be long and long winded, but for my first THP event it was a truly amazing one.
JB, Morgan, and Mike Dean. A HUGE thank you for putting all of this together. I'm sure it was no small feat to organize 40 internet golfers, courses, hotels, and restaurants. All of the decisions that were made were all great ones.
Friday
The morning started no earlier than normal when Michigan Slice picked me up at 0500. I'm usually out the door by then for work, so it was a nice change to be heading out for golf instead. CJ, tpluff, and golf3rguy are three of the best folks you could ever want to road trip with. The van was filed with great THP and golf discussion the whole way down.
We got to Purgatory around 10:00 and checked out the clubhouse. The course had range ball put out for us shortly after we had arrived. Once we began warming up, the range began to fill with other THPers that I had not yet met. I was paired with DarrenK, ParShooter, and xThor for my round. Let's just say the course kicked my arse, but it was a lot of fun.
ParShooter - Thanks for staying so relaxed and keeping my worst round in 2 years fun. I don't think you'll ever actually ned to change your name to BoggieShooter.
DarrenK -You and I need another shot at number 7. I don't think that I have ever seen a ball fly backwards before.
xThor - You deserve another shot at that 13th green. It truly was the funniest moment of the day, and I'm glad that you were able to laugh about it.
All three of my partners for Friday's round were a blast to play 18 with. But the best moment of the day was sitting back in the clubhouse watching the later groups roll in with tired and defeated looks on their faces. That course tool a lot out of every one of us.
Dinner was stellar with 100oz. towers of beer set at each table. The burger with the egg on it was AWESOME, and I think that O'Carroll would truly have eaten two if the waitress would have brought him another. I was great to finally meet my internet friends that I've never gotten the change to if it weren't for this event. Sposey8675309 and O'Carroll had me rolling at the dinner table and made me feel like we were long time friends.
Oh, one last note for Friday.........Angry Orchard is not a manly drink, I don't care how hard PhillyV tries to convince me that it is.
The night wrapped up with a putting contest in the hallway on the 3rd floor of the hotel. It started with everyone using one of my left handed putters and I will say that I was amazed at how well most did.
Saturday
For Saturday I was paired with Canadan against J-Man and DevRickus. The Fort was a challenging track and playing from the mixed tees, it was a little longer than I'm used to playing. Thankfully, Canadan can hit it a long way off the driver and that helped. I just wished that I could have taken better advantage of those long drives. I played WAY better than I did on Friday but just not up to my potential. I have always struggled when playing a course for the first time and that is all just a mental block I have in my head that I'll need to work through.
Canadan - Thanks for putting up with me. It truly was a thing of beauty to watch you hit that high draw off the tee. Thanks for not getting upset with the poor iron play and even worse wedge play that I struggled with. Even more so, thanks for advice you gave me Saturday night. I'll be changing my focus on what I work on when I'm on the course, practice range, or even just sitting at home. I'll be more than prepared just in case I get into another THP event. Oh, and you need to get a set of Apex irons. No question about that.
J-Man -I know fully understand how you are able to write so many reviews for the site. I don't think you sat still the entire time we were on the course. You kept it light out there and it helped to take my mind off of how awful I was playing. I can't wait until we can tee it up again.
DevRickus- I was glad that I finally got to meet you in person. You sir are on the way to a low handicap as long as you stay away from the cottonwood.
For the three of you............it did get weird, but it was a lot of fun.
Dinner Saturday night was great, put the post dinner festivities were a riot. 4 man air hockey is the greatest thing ever invented, and I really can't wait to play it again. And watching lightningbolt with 1000 tickets almost back to back was just plain cool.
Sunday
This was without question my favorite course of the weekend. It also happened to be my best round of the weekend. Sorry Canadan,I brought my A-game a day late. I was paired with lightningbolt, sposey8675309, and bhillin. The course was in great shape and the layout was well designed. Bunkers wern't over done like Purgatory, and the elevation change was no where near that of The Fort. The 6200 yards that we played fit my handicap much better too.
lightningbolt - Thanks for keeping the round fun. When you step on it, that ball really flies and those dumb golf shots that you called them are the ones to play. Everytime I heard you say, "I'm gonna take this shot while my brain is still being stupid" you freakin crushed the ball.
bhillin - Great round yesterday. I can see that your handicap will be dropping very soon with the way you were hitting the ball.
sposey8675309 -Yes I know that isn't your user name, but that song just keeps popping into my head. You need to just buy a Sunday bag and carry your hybrid, 5i, and putter only. Those clubs are money for you.
All three of you helped make Sunday my favorite round of the weekend.
The most important part of my weekend was finally getting to meet about 30 THP member that I haven't yet had the chance to meet yet. It is so awesome to finally put faces with the names and to really get to know some of you better. THP is my favorite golf site and thanks to this weekend it also feels like my second home. I now have a real connection with some of the members here, and as long as we can get burgers with a fried egg on it, I know that we're good.
A brief summary for those of you TL;DR folks.
1. Purgatory kicked my arse.
2. DarrenK will hate number 7 at Purgatory until the day he gets an Ace there.
3. All burgers need to come with a fried egg on it.
4. O'Carroll is probably making a burger with a fried egg on it right now.
5. I hate Pete Die designs and even re-designs. I have yet to find one what I can play even close to my handicap on.
5. Canadan's swing embodies the term "Sexy ball flight"
6. Unsolicited advise is always welcome from any THP member.
7. It got weird.
8. 4 man air hockey is the second greatest sport ever.
9. Midnight putting tourneys in the hall of a hotel are best if you don't try to go end to end.
10. Explaining bruises to your wife that were caused by 4 man air hockey is not fun when she is falling out of the chair laughing at you for getting bruised playing 4 man air hockey.
11. lightninbolt truly is internet long
12. My internet friends are more than just internet friends. That to me is the greatest and most important thing about this weekend. I truly cannot wait to tee it up with all of you again.
Congrats again to Mike and Derek (autocorrect didn't screw it up this time Derek) on the win. You guys must have played your butts off out there and it showed.
I'm sure there is more, but I just can remember it all right now.
Oh, I'm still looking for my IceyShanks starter kit. I don't remember where I packed it.
Weekend Recap Post
This will probably be long and long winded, but for my first THP event it was a truly amazing one.
JB, Morgan, and Mike Dean. A HUGE thank you for putting all of this together. I'm sure it was no small feat to organize 40 internet golfers, courses, hotels, and restaurants. All of the decisions that were made were all great ones.
Friday
The morning started no earlier than normal when Michigan Slice picked me up at 0500. I'm usually out the door by then for work, so it was a nice change to be heading out for golf instead. CJ, tpluff, and golf3rguy are three of the best folks you could ever want to road trip with. The van was filed with great THP and golf discussion the whole way down.
We got to Purgatory around 10:00 and checked out the clubhouse. The course had range ball put out for us shortly after we had arrived. Once we began warming up, the range began to fill with other THPers that I had not yet met. I was paired with DarrenK, ParShooter, and xThor for my round. Let's just say the course kicked my arse, but it was a lot of fun.
ParShooter - Thanks for staying so relaxed and keeping my worst round in 2 years fun. I don't think you'll ever actually ned to change your name to BoggieShooter.
DarrenK -You and I need another shot at number 7. I don't think that I have ever seen a ball fly backwards before.
xThor - You deserve another shot at that 13th green. It truly was the funniest moment of the day, and I'm glad that you were able to laugh about it.
All three of my partners for Friday's round were a blast to play 18 with. But the best moment of the day was sitting back in the clubhouse watching the later groups roll in with tired and defeated looks on their faces. That course tool a lot out of every one of us.
Dinner was stellar with 100oz. towers of beer set at each table. The burger with the egg on it was AWESOME, and I think that O'Carroll would truly have eaten two if the waitress would have brought him another. I was great to finally meet my internet friends that I've never gotten the change to if it weren't for this event. Sposey8675309 and O'Carroll had me rolling at the dinner table and made me feel like we were long time friends.
Oh, one last note for Friday.........Angry Orchard is not a manly drink, I don't care how hard PhillyV tries to convince me that it is.
The night wrapped up with a putting contest in the hallway on the 3rd floor of the hotel. It started with everyone using one of my left handed putters and I will say that I was amazed at how well most did.
Saturday
For Saturday I was paired with Canadan against J-Man and DevRickus. The Fort was a challenging track and playing from the mixed tees, it was a little longer than I'm used to playing. Thankfully, Canadan can hit it a long way off the driver and that helped. I just wished that I could have taken better advantage of those long drives. I played WAY better than I did on Friday but just not up to my potential. I have always struggled when playing a course for the first time and that is all just a mental block I have in my head that I'll need to work through.
Canadan - Thanks for putting up with me. It truly was a thing of beauty to watch you hit that high draw off the tee. Thanks for not getting upset with the poor iron play and even worse wedge play that I struggled with. Even more so, thanks for advice you gave me Saturday night. I'll be changing my focus on what I work on when I'm on the course, practice range, or even just sitting at home. I'll be more than prepared just in case I get into another THP event. Oh, and you need to get a set of Apex irons. No question about that.
J-Man -I know fully understand how you are able to write so many reviews for the site. I don't think you sat still the entire time we were on the course. You kept it light out there and it helped to take my mind off of how awful I was playing. I can't wait until we can tee it up again.
DevRickus- I was glad that I finally got to meet you in person. You sir are on the way to a low handicap as long as you stay away from the cottonwood.
For the three of you............it did get weird, but it was a lot of fun.
Dinner Saturday night was great, put the post dinner festivities were a riot. 4 man air hockey is the greatest thing ever invented, and I really can't wait to play it again. And watching lightningbolt with 1000 tickets almost back to back was just plain cool.
Sunday
This was without question my favorite course of the weekend. It also happened to be my best round of the weekend. Sorry Canadan,I brought my A-game a day late. I was paired with lightningbolt, sposey8675309, and bhillin. The course was in great shape and the layout was well designed. Bunkers wern't over done like Purgatory, and the elevation change was no where near that of The Fort. The 6200 yards that we played fit my handicap much better too.
lightningbolt - Thanks for keeping the round fun. When you step on it, that ball really flies and those dumb golf shots that you called them are the ones to play. Everytime I heard you say, "I'm gonna take this shot while my brain is still being stupid" you freakin crushed the ball.
bhillin - Great round yesterday. I can see that your handicap will be dropping very soon with the way you were hitting the ball.
sposey8675309 -Yes I know that isn't your user name, but that song just keeps popping into my head. You need to just buy a Sunday bag and carry your hybrid, 5i, and putter only. Those clubs are money for you.
All three of you helped make Sunday my favorite round of the weekend.
The most important part of my weekend was finally getting to meet about 30 THP member that I haven't yet had the chance to meet yet. It is so awesome to finally put faces with the names and to really get to know some of you better. THP is my favorite golf site and thanks to this weekend it also feels like my second home. I now have a real connection with some of the members here, and as long as we can get burgers with a fried egg on it, I know that we're good.
A brief summary for those of you TL;DR folks.
1. Purgatory kicked my arse.
2. DarrenK will hate number 7 at Purgatory until the day he gets an Ace there.
3. All burgers need to come with a fried egg on it.
4. O'Carroll is probably making a burger with a fried egg on it right now.
5. I hate Pete Die designs and even re-designs. I have yet to find one what I can play even close to my handicap on.
5. Canadan's swing embodies the term "Sexy ball flight"
6. Unsolicited advise is always welcome from any THP member.
7. It got weird.
8. 4 man air hockey is the second greatest sport ever.
9. Midnight putting tourneys in the hall of a hotel are best if you don't try to go end to end.
10. Explaining bruises to your wife that were caused by 4 man air hockey is not fun when she is falling out of the chair laughing at you for getting bruised playing 4 man air hockey.
11. lightninbolt truly is internet long
12. My internet friends are more than just internet friends. That to me is the greatest and most important thing about this weekend. I truly cannot wait to tee it up with all of you again.
Congrats again to Mike and Derek (autocorrect didn't screw it up this time Derek) on the win. You guys must have played your butts off out there and it showed.
I'm sure there is more, but I just can remember it all right now.
Oh, I'm still looking for my IceyShanks starter kit. I don't remember where I packed it.
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2010
- Messages
- 19,618
- Reaction score
- 4,085
- Location
- Liberty Lake, Washington
- Handicap
- GHIN 7.1
Congrats to MikeDean and Derek. Sounds like a great time was had by all !
Quote of the day. As the starter at The Fort greeted our 40 man group, he gave us the course rules such as cart rule and free drop zones. He continues to tell us to please keep carts off of the greens and tee boxes. Then behind me I hear...
"We can't drive carts on greens or tee boxes? What the hell kinda course is this"- DevRickus
"We can't drive carts on greens or tee boxes? What the hell kinda course is this"- DevRickus
Adam Hartzell
Yup, I'm a lefty.
A few items I forgot.
1. If you put Michigan_Slice and PhillyV in the same room for long enough, schemes will be conjured. Usually ones that involve Dave in a weird way.
2. kc720 has to be the nicest person on THP. At least in my book he is.
3. CJ needs to change his user name to Michigan Butter Cut. That is no longer a slice my friend.
I'm sure there will be more
1. If you put Michigan_Slice and PhillyV in the same room for long enough, schemes will be conjured. Usually ones that involve Dave in a weird way.
2. kc720 has to be the nicest person on THP. At least in my book he is.
3. CJ needs to change his user name to Michigan Butter Cut. That is no longer a slice my friend.
I'm sure there will be more
mikedean441
6X HOF
Haha, we gotta try sometime outside of South carolina
DevRickus
The Dirty Jerz
Well this may get long winded...but you are just going to have to deal with it..haha
Things started out for me on Thursday night when I flew into Dayton Ohio to meet Canadan and Jman. I have been wanting to go out to Ohio (I know I know) for a while and play Dan's home course and to meet his wife and dog. For those of you that do not know, me and Dan have been friends for close to 10 years. Started out on a hockey forum a long time ago and have just been friends ever since. This was also the first time I have met my buddy Jman who I talk to daily so that was a big deal for me as well. We went from the airport and ate Italian Chipotle (Piada). I was skeptical at first but it was actually pretty good. We had some laughs and the headed to Casa de Canadan where I got to meet Dan's lovely wife Laura and his awesome dog Zeke who I have been looking forward to meeting for as long as I have known Dan.
Friday we headed to Dan's home course The Oasis and met up with Andy (Amart). I jokingly have been calling Andy Canadan Jr but I think they might actually be related. They almost look alike, wear similar clothes the same way, both dont tie their shoes, and are members are the same course.... Andy is a great dude and I am glad to now call him a friend. Thank you for chauffeuring us around to Indy and all over Indy. The Oasis...you dirty dirty mofo. Haha That is one of the hardest courses I have ever played. I truly dont know for the life of me how Dan can be a scratch-ish golfer and play that course regularly. The last 3 holes are just awful (in a good way). Just brutally brutally hard so naturally James had been struggling a bit leading up to them and he decides to turn it on and play those 3 holes in 1 over. Got to meet CanaDad also which was pretty cool.
We then loaded up and heading straight to Cheeseburger in Paradise. Meeting some awesome new people and seeing some old friends is always my favorite part of THP events. I put faces with names and did alot of hugging and hand shaking. One of my biggest regrets from the last 2 events was that I didnt meet and talk to everyone so I really tried to go out of my way to make sure that didnt happen. I sat at dinner with PhillyV and his stupid Manziel shirt. David Windchell who apparently doesnt like me and backed out of our pairing Sunday, JB, Jman, and Gregdan. Alot of laughs were had. Apparently the waitress knew GregDan.....#GregDanLoveChild After dinner alot of us just hung around chatting and then we headed off to the hotel out of shear exhaustion.
Saturday morning we woke up and headed to The Fort. When they say The Fort, they mean it. Apparently its an active military installation so on the range we heard a whole lot of yelling and drills being done which was kind of neat. Got to meet some more people Saturday who couldnt make it Friday night. Seeing 40 THPers on a range is always a sight to behold. What's not fun is trying to find your bag in a sea of golf bags. There were maybe a few....hundred Bertha's in attendance which was cool to see also. We all headed to the tee box to see if PhillyManziel would indeed duff his tee shot but he delivered in a big way. My group consisted of me, my PATNA Jman, Canadan and Adam Hartzell. I had an absolute blast with these guys. I had the worst allergy attack of my life due to that godforsaken cottonwood. It was a nightmare for me but I grinded my way through. Just want this in writing, Canadan hit a 240 yard Apex 6 iron. Yes, that number is correct. Proud of how me and Jman worked together and even though we lost a tie breaker, we represented ourselves well out there.
Dinner Saturday night was a blast. Food was delicious. CJ had his picture up on the wall for some reason...There was a shark lady on the wall who was just creeping me out. Had some laughs...and then some more laughs..and then headed to Dave and Busters. First off, the stupid putting game that is trying to be Golden Tee can kiss my a$$. Pete (O'Carroll) absolutely mauled me. The rest of the night was spent going back and fort between the 4-way air hockey table and the basketball game. My knuckles still hurt. In a 2 minute span, I got hit in the knuckle twice and smashed my head on the metal bar of the stupid game but it was worth it. O'Carroll had us spend 5 minutes trying to get the game to work. It's weird that his HOTEL KEY wouldnt get the game to turn on. Haha Just had a blast hanging with so many THPers just cutting loose and having a blast. Really cant described in words how much fun EVERYONE had at D&B. And then we saw the dude wearing a head to toe bandana with marijuana socks. That was icing on the cake. Haha
Sunday at Prairie View I was paired with Vman, Robman7, and David Windchell. Apparently David doesnt like me so he asked to be put in a different group and we got saddled with that loser Tpluff. Oh look at me, I started my round with 3 straight birdies. Haha I didnt expect much good golf from me but I played my best round of the weekend. The course was beautiful but the company was better. I shared a cart with Rob *Rammer Jammer* Dean and we basically just laughed for 18 holes. I have been wanting to play a round of golf with Vman since I met him in Atlanta last year so I was very happy to have that come together. I won 2 of the par 3's so got myself some signed dollars from these guys too. We all struggled at points but we all laughed and had a good time so that more than makes up for it.
From the course, we loaded O'Carroll's Xterra and headed to the airport with Jman and Kang. We were all exhausted but it was so worth it. We had dinner at the airport together and made sure Pete got his egg burger and shared some more laughs and then went our separate ways. I said to them I felt like it was one of the last episodes of the Real World, where we all just sat there and one by one had to leave. I didnt want the weekend to end. Kang and I were in similar gates so we got to spend some extra time together chatting about golf and family and life and I really enjoyed it. I heard alot about Kris Kangle and it is all true. He is a genuinely nice guy and someone I am proud to call a friend. Boarded my plane back to NJ and here I sit just thinking about what an amazing weekend it was.
I will be back later with some shoutouts and some other stuff but to the 38 guys that were there this weekend, thank you. Thank you for letting your guard down and just letting loose and having a good time. Congrats to Mike Dean and Derek on the win. Well deserved fellas. It's amazing what can happen when 2 people put their mind to something and follow their dream. Thank you Josh and Morgan. Thank you Mike Dean for coordinating everything. Thank you Bridgestone for sponsoring the event and being a major proponent of THP since I have been a member.
Things started out for me on Thursday night when I flew into Dayton Ohio to meet Canadan and Jman. I have been wanting to go out to Ohio (I know I know) for a while and play Dan's home course and to meet his wife and dog. For those of you that do not know, me and Dan have been friends for close to 10 years. Started out on a hockey forum a long time ago and have just been friends ever since. This was also the first time I have met my buddy Jman who I talk to daily so that was a big deal for me as well. We went from the airport and ate Italian Chipotle (Piada). I was skeptical at first but it was actually pretty good. We had some laughs and the headed to Casa de Canadan where I got to meet Dan's lovely wife Laura and his awesome dog Zeke who I have been looking forward to meeting for as long as I have known Dan.
Friday we headed to Dan's home course The Oasis and met up with Andy (Amart). I jokingly have been calling Andy Canadan Jr but I think they might actually be related. They almost look alike, wear similar clothes the same way, both dont tie their shoes, and are members are the same course.... Andy is a great dude and I am glad to now call him a friend. Thank you for chauffeuring us around to Indy and all over Indy. The Oasis...you dirty dirty mofo. Haha That is one of the hardest courses I have ever played. I truly dont know for the life of me how Dan can be a scratch-ish golfer and play that course regularly. The last 3 holes are just awful (in a good way). Just brutally brutally hard so naturally James had been struggling a bit leading up to them and he decides to turn it on and play those 3 holes in 1 over. Got to meet CanaDad also which was pretty cool.
We then loaded up and heading straight to Cheeseburger in Paradise. Meeting some awesome new people and seeing some old friends is always my favorite part of THP events. I put faces with names and did alot of hugging and hand shaking. One of my biggest regrets from the last 2 events was that I didnt meet and talk to everyone so I really tried to go out of my way to make sure that didnt happen. I sat at dinner with PhillyV and his stupid Manziel shirt. David Windchell who apparently doesnt like me and backed out of our pairing Sunday, JB, Jman, and Gregdan. Alot of laughs were had. Apparently the waitress knew GregDan.....#GregDanLoveChild After dinner alot of us just hung around chatting and then we headed off to the hotel out of shear exhaustion.
Saturday morning we woke up and headed to The Fort. When they say The Fort, they mean it. Apparently its an active military installation so on the range we heard a whole lot of yelling and drills being done which was kind of neat. Got to meet some more people Saturday who couldnt make it Friday night. Seeing 40 THPers on a range is always a sight to behold. What's not fun is trying to find your bag in a sea of golf bags. There were maybe a few....hundred Bertha's in attendance which was cool to see also. We all headed to the tee box to see if PhillyManziel would indeed duff his tee shot but he delivered in a big way. My group consisted of me, my PATNA Jman, Canadan and Adam Hartzell. I had an absolute blast with these guys. I had the worst allergy attack of my life due to that godforsaken cottonwood. It was a nightmare for me but I grinded my way through. Just want this in writing, Canadan hit a 240 yard Apex 6 iron. Yes, that number is correct. Proud of how me and Jman worked together and even though we lost a tie breaker, we represented ourselves well out there.
Dinner Saturday night was a blast. Food was delicious. CJ had his picture up on the wall for some reason...There was a shark lady on the wall who was just creeping me out. Had some laughs...and then some more laughs..and then headed to Dave and Busters. First off, the stupid putting game that is trying to be Golden Tee can kiss my a$$. Pete (O'Carroll) absolutely mauled me. The rest of the night was spent going back and fort between the 4-way air hockey table and the basketball game. My knuckles still hurt. In a 2 minute span, I got hit in the knuckle twice and smashed my head on the metal bar of the stupid game but it was worth it. O'Carroll had us spend 5 minutes trying to get the game to work. It's weird that his HOTEL KEY wouldnt get the game to turn on. Haha Just had a blast hanging with so many THPers just cutting loose and having a blast. Really cant described in words how much fun EVERYONE had at D&B. And then we saw the dude wearing a head to toe bandana with marijuana socks. That was icing on the cake. Haha
Sunday at Prairie View I was paired with Vman, Robman7, and David Windchell. Apparently David doesnt like me so he asked to be put in a different group and we got saddled with that loser Tpluff. Oh look at me, I started my round with 3 straight birdies. Haha I didnt expect much good golf from me but I played my best round of the weekend. The course was beautiful but the company was better. I shared a cart with Rob *Rammer Jammer* Dean and we basically just laughed for 18 holes. I have been wanting to play a round of golf with Vman since I met him in Atlanta last year so I was very happy to have that come together. I won 2 of the par 3's so got myself some signed dollars from these guys too. We all struggled at points but we all laughed and had a good time so that more than makes up for it.
From the course, we loaded O'Carroll's Xterra and headed to the airport with Jman and Kang. We were all exhausted but it was so worth it. We had dinner at the airport together and made sure Pete got his egg burger and shared some more laughs and then went our separate ways. I said to them I felt like it was one of the last episodes of the Real World, where we all just sat there and one by one had to leave. I didnt want the weekend to end. Kang and I were in similar gates so we got to spend some extra time together chatting about golf and family and life and I really enjoyed it. I heard alot about Kris Kangle and it is all true. He is a genuinely nice guy and someone I am proud to call a friend. Boarded my plane back to NJ and here I sit just thinking about what an amazing weekend it was.
I will be back later with some shoutouts and some other stuff but to the 38 guys that were there this weekend, thank you. Thank you for letting your guard down and just letting loose and having a good time. Congrats to Mike Dean and Derek on the win. Well deserved fellas. It's amazing what can happen when 2 people put their mind to something and follow their dream. Thank you Josh and Morgan. Thank you Mike Dean for coordinating everything. Thank you Bridgestone for sponsoring the event and being a major proponent of THP since I have been a member.
rbarthle17
One-length advocate
Hold up, something's different here.
Is that... the glow of a THP CHAMPION I see??!!
Is that... the glow of a THP CHAMPION I see??!!
AMart
#TheGrindIsReal
Well this may get long winded...but you are just going to have to deal with it..haha
Things started out for me on Thursday night when I flew into Dayton Ohio to meet Canadan and Jman. I have been wanting to go out to Ohio (I know I know) for a while and play Dan's home course and to meet his wife and dog. For those of you that do not know, me and Dan have been friends for close to 10 years. Started out on a hockey forum a long time ago and have just been friends ever since. This was also the first time I have met my buddy Jman who I talk to daily so that was a big deal for me as well. We went from the airport and ate Italian Chipotle (Piada). I was skeptical at first but it was actually pretty good. We had some laughs and the headed to Casa de Canadan where I got to meet Dan's lovely wife Laura and his awesome dog Zeke who I have been looking forward to meeting for as long as I have known Dan.
Friday we headed to Dan's home course The Oasis and met up with Andy (Amart). I jokingly have been calling Andy Canadan Jr but I think they might actually be related. They almost look alike, wear similar clothes the same way, both dont tie their shoes, and are members are the same course.... Andy is a great dude and I am glad to now call him a friend. Thank you for chauffeuring us around to Indy and all over Indy. The Oasis...you dirty dirty mofo. Haha That is one of the hardest courses I have ever played. I truly dont know for the life of me how Dan can be a scratch-ish golfer and play that course regularly. The last 3 holes are just awful (in a good way). Just brutally brutally hard so naturally James had been struggling a bit leading up to them and he decides to turn it on and play those 3 holes in 1 over. Got to meet CanaDad also which was pretty cool.
We then loaded up and heading straight to Cheeseburger in Paradise. Meeting some awesome new people and seeing some old friends is always my favorite part of THP events. I put faces with names and did alot of hugging and hand shaking. One of my biggest regrets from the last 2 events was that I didnt meet and talk to everyone so I really tried to go out of my way to make sure that didnt happen. I sat at dinner with PhillyV and his stupid Manziel shirt. David Windchell who apparently doesnt like me and backed out of our pairing Sunday, JB, Jman, and Gregdan. Alot of laughs were had. Apparently the waitress knew GregDan.....#GregDanLoveChild After dinner alot of us just hung around chatting and then we headed off to the hotel out of shear exhaustion.
Saturday morning we woke up and headed to The Fort. When they say The Fort, they mean it. Apparently its an active military installation so on the range we heard a whole lot of yelling and drills being done which was kind of neat. Got to meet some more people Saturday who couldnt make it Friday night. Seeing 40 THPers on a range is always a sight to behold. What's not fun is trying to find your bag in a sea of golf bags. There were maybe a few....hundred Bertha's in attendance which was cool to see also. We all headed to the tee box to see if PhillyManziel would indeed duff his tee shot but he delivered in a big way. My group consisted of me, my PATNA Jman, Canadan and Adam Hartzell. I had an absolute blast with these guys. I had the worst allergy attack of my life due to that godforsaken cottonwood. It was a nightmare for me but I grinded my way through. Just want this in writing, Canadan hit a 240 yard Apex 6 iron. Yes, that number is correct. Proud of how me and Jman worked together and even though we lost a tie breaker, we represented ourselves well out there.
Dinner Saturday night was a blast. Food was delicious. CJ had his picture up on the wall for some reason...There was a shark lady on the wall who was just creeping me out. Had some laughs...and then some more laughs..and then headed to Dave and Busters. First off, the stupid putting game that is trying to be Golden Tee can kiss my a$$. Pete (O'Carroll) absolutely mauled me. The rest of the night was spent going back and fort between the 4-way air hockey table and the basketball game. My knuckles still hurt. In a 2 minute span, I got hit in the knuckle twice and smashed my head on the metal bar of the stupid game but it was worth it. O'Carroll had us spend 5 minutes trying to get the game to work. It's weird that his HOTEL KEY wouldnt get the game to turn on. Haha Just had a blast hanging with so many THPers just cutting loose and having a blast. Really cant described in words how much fun EVERYONE had at D&B. And then we saw the dude wearing a head to toe bandana with marijuana socks. That was icing on the cake. Haha
Sunday at Prairie View I was paired with Vman, Robman7, and David Windchell. Apparently David doesnt like me so he asked to be put in a different group and we got saddled with that loser Tpluff. Oh look at me, I started my round with 3 straight birdies. Haha I didnt expect much good golf from me but I played my best round of the weekend. The course was beautiful but the company was better. I shared a cart with Rob *Rammer Jammer* Dean and we basically just laughed for 18 holes. I have been wanting to play a round of golf with Vman since I met him in Atlanta last year so I was very happy to have that come together. I won 2 of the par 3's so got myself some signed dollars from these guys too. We all struggled at points but we all laughed and had a good time so that more than makes up for it.
From the course, we loaded O'Carroll's Xterra and headed to the airport with Jman and Kang. We were all exhausted but it was so worth it. We had dinner at the airport together and made sure Pete got his egg burger and shared some more laughs and then went our separate ways. I said to them I felt like it was one of the last episodes of the Real World, where we all just sat there and one by one had to leave. I didnt want the weekend to end. Kang and I were in similar gates so we got to spend some extra time together chatting about golf and family and life and I really enjoyed it. I heard alot about Kris Kangle and it is all true. He is a genuinely nice guy and someone I am proud to call a friend. Boarded my plane back to NJ and here I sit just thinking about what an amazing weekend it was.
I will be back later with some shoutouts and some other stuff but to the 38 guys that were there this weekend, thank you. Thank you for letting your guard down and just letting loose and having a good time. Congrats to Mike Dean and Derek on the win. Well deserved fellas. It's amazing what can happen when 2 people put their mind to something and follow their dream. Thank you Josh and Morgan. Thank you Mike Dean for coordinating everything. Thank you Bridgestone for sponsoring the event and being a major proponent of THP since I have been a member.
Kris KANGle - that's awesome!
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Couple more things to add.
1. WhiteCastle at midnight is an awful idea no matter how many times Winchell says it's not.
2. If you are in fear of missing a tee time, CJ will be more than willing to give you a wake up call.
3. Mike played so solid Saturday on one good knee. Call him RG441
4. Every time I play with Bullfrog I leave the round pondering a SeeMore
5. Angry Orchard may not be a "man's" drink, but if you have enough of them, it does the job
6. I'll never be able to eat cheesecake without thinking about Coers
7. Kang tried to hit me with his 280 yard 3 wood. That's my story and I'm stickin to it
In today's world, it's hard to meet genuinely good people. And this weekend, I met a ton of them. Golf is a huge part of my life. Not the biggest part, but right behind my wife, kids and rest of my family. It's something I love to do. And my golf life will forever be changed because of this weekend. So in a way, THP @ Indy changed my life in so many ways and I couldn't be happier about it. I WILL be in another event. And when I do, I'm not teeing off first!
1. WhiteCastle at midnight is an awful idea no matter how many times Winchell says it's not.
2. If you are in fear of missing a tee time, CJ will be more than willing to give you a wake up call.
3. Mike played so solid Saturday on one good knee. Call him RG441
4. Every time I play with Bullfrog I leave the round pondering a SeeMore
5. Angry Orchard may not be a "man's" drink, but if you have enough of them, it does the job
6. I'll never be able to eat cheesecake without thinking about Coers
7. Kang tried to hit me with his 280 yard 3 wood. That's my story and I'm stickin to it
In today's world, it's hard to meet genuinely good people. And this weekend, I met a ton of them. Golf is a huge part of my life. Not the biggest part, but right behind my wife, kids and rest of my family. It's something I love to do. And my golf life will forever be changed because of this weekend. So in a way, THP @ Indy changed my life in so many ways and I couldn't be happier about it. I WILL be in another event. And when I do, I'm not teeing off first!
mikedean441
6X HOF
lol at RG441, stupid thing still hurts
Every time you Tebowed to read a putt, my knee hurt. It looked to painful
coers
@andrewcoers
- Joined
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When ever next time I eat a whole cheesecake I will always remember that magic moment of you feeding me cheesecake with those tongs. It was great to meet you man. Phill?????
rbarthle17
One-length advocate
The Champions glow is infectious, it seems.
- Joined
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Like many others heading to their first official THP event, I had pretty high expectations due to the previous event reviews that I read in the past, and below is my first of many(hopefully) future event reviews...
First off, I could not sleep but probably a few minutes on Thursday night because I knew that Michigan Slice party bus would be at my place bright and early on Friday morning. The day officially started when Michigan Slice and Adam pulled up to my door and CJ proceeded to say with a straight face "all that luggage isn't going to fit in the van, Eric!", I then being the nice and considerate guy that I am said "okay, what all should I not bring?"....as I only had my sticks, a small suitcase, and a blow up mattress in a box. CJ then busted out in laughter and said that he was only kidding! Hahaha, Wait until I play a joke on you, CJ...it's coming in the near future!
As per the rounds of golf go, Purgatory on Friday kicked my butt as I shot a horrendous 44/40 for an 84 (which I, and many other, lost SO MANY balls that looked to have run through the fairway and into the second cut on many of the holes).
So Saturday came and The Fort was upon us and I know I did a pretty good job of hiding it but I was nervous beyond belief standing on the first tee box(thankfully I was near the end of the pack and not too many people were left to watch me tee off). I would like to take just a moment of everyone's time and to give a huge shout-out to Alek, or CaptainCaution, as this dude has game. I may have hit a handful of good drives off the tee, but this guy carried me on his back for nearly the whole round. He is straight off the tee, has precision accuracy with his long irons and all the way to his wedges, and he can put lights out! All I can say is that I would gladly be your partner again....if you would even want me!
Thanks for the GoPro shot, JB!
Now fast forwarding just a bit over dinner (Buca Di Beppo was awesome, they even made me a separate dish due to my gluten-allergy), but the best part of the night came at Dave and Busters!!! I'm sure many of you followed along in the forums, but you had to truly be there to have witnessed the amount of fun we were having!
As much as I would like to describe what happened next, I don't think it's a good idea because we probably should have gotten kicked out of the hotel. Let me just say it involved LightningBolt, a putter and a ball, and I'd say a 100 yards of hotel hallway(my best guess...I wanted to shoot the distance with my rangefinder but I didn't have it on me in the hotel room LOL). Okay, you can probably guess what happened next but I wont go there.
So yesterday was our last day (sad), but I had the opportunity to play with GregDan, Amart, and Rbarthle17, and jeez louise these guys can play. GregDan definitely tore up the back side with his (-1) 35, he even had it together on the front side, but unfortunately had some back kicks here and there. Rbartthele17 is a short game magician as he got up and down from all over the place, and if I recall correctly, Andy hit nearly almost every fairway with a few exceptions here and there. Unfortunately, not too much can or should be said about my game as I hit just about every fairway bunker...followed with a chunk out of each one. Oh, and I couldn't get a single putt (par in this case) to drop. Just awful on my part.
Hopefully I have earned the hashtag of #InternetGolfer or #OutingApproved with my not so stellar play over the weekend! It's all good though as my main priority was to have fun this week and I definitely exceeded this thanks to all the golf and laughter that was had over the past three days.
Up next for me is Ocean City in just a few short weeks. Hopefully by then my game will be found, a new putter will be gamed, and less luggage will be packed!
Until then, play hard!
(Sorry for the misspellings, gotta run to a boring meeting!)
First off, I could not sleep but probably a few minutes on Thursday night because I knew that Michigan Slice party bus would be at my place bright and early on Friday morning. The day officially started when Michigan Slice and Adam pulled up to my door and CJ proceeded to say with a straight face "all that luggage isn't going to fit in the van, Eric!", I then being the nice and considerate guy that I am said "okay, what all should I not bring?"....as I only had my sticks, a small suitcase, and a blow up mattress in a box. CJ then busted out in laughter and said that he was only kidding! Hahaha, Wait until I play a joke on you, CJ...it's coming in the near future!
As per the rounds of golf go, Purgatory on Friday kicked my butt as I shot a horrendous 44/40 for an 84 (which I, and many other, lost SO MANY balls that looked to have run through the fairway and into the second cut on many of the holes).
So Saturday came and The Fort was upon us and I know I did a pretty good job of hiding it but I was nervous beyond belief standing on the first tee box(thankfully I was near the end of the pack and not too many people were left to watch me tee off). I would like to take just a moment of everyone's time and to give a huge shout-out to Alek, or CaptainCaution, as this dude has game. I may have hit a handful of good drives off the tee, but this guy carried me on his back for nearly the whole round. He is straight off the tee, has precision accuracy with his long irons and all the way to his wedges, and he can put lights out! All I can say is that I would gladly be your partner again....if you would even want me!
Thanks for the GoPro shot, JB!
Now fast forwarding just a bit over dinner (Buca Di Beppo was awesome, they even made me a separate dish due to my gluten-allergy), but the best part of the night came at Dave and Busters!!! I'm sure many of you followed along in the forums, but you had to truly be there to have witnessed the amount of fun we were having!
As much as I would like to describe what happened next, I don't think it's a good idea because we probably should have gotten kicked out of the hotel. Let me just say it involved LightningBolt, a putter and a ball, and I'd say a 100 yards of hotel hallway(my best guess...I wanted to shoot the distance with my rangefinder but I didn't have it on me in the hotel room LOL). Okay, you can probably guess what happened next but I wont go there.
So yesterday was our last day (sad), but I had the opportunity to play with GregDan, Amart, and Rbarthle17, and jeez louise these guys can play. GregDan definitely tore up the back side with his (-1) 35, he even had it together on the front side, but unfortunately had some back kicks here and there. Rbartthele17 is a short game magician as he got up and down from all over the place, and if I recall correctly, Andy hit nearly almost every fairway with a few exceptions here and there. Unfortunately, not too much can or should be said about my game as I hit just about every fairway bunker...followed with a chunk out of each one. Oh, and I couldn't get a single putt (par in this case) to drop. Just awful on my part.
Hopefully I have earned the hashtag of #InternetGolfer or #OutingApproved with my not so stellar play over the weekend! It's all good though as my main priority was to have fun this week and I definitely exceeded this thanks to all the golf and laughter that was had over the past three days.
Up next for me is Ocean City in just a few short weeks. Hopefully by then my game will be found, a new putter will be gamed, and less luggage will be packed!
Until then, play hard!
(Sorry for the misspellings, gotta run to a boring meeting!)
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Here's another random photo I took on my way out of the hotel, I wonder who broke the elevator at the Hilton!!!
