THP Tour Van Event - St. Louis

SKITTLES!!!!!

Just caught up o the thread, 2 great looking courses. By the sounds of it, a good time had by all like usual
 
Man,today was busy at work, and I was exhausted last night. I am home and while mydaughter is working on her homework, I am going to get this post done.

This was my 1[SUP]st[/SUP] THP outing. All I can say is if anyone who hasn’tbeen to a THP outing, big or small, I say make it happen, it’s worth it.

The demo time on the range was a blast; I couldn’t believe all the equipmentthat was there to test. I hit a few drivers and fairway woods. I can say thatthe pre-release clubs will be mine when they are released. I hit a few hybridsas well, but I concentrated on irons. I am wanting to upgrade and afterSaturday, it’s a toss-up between the Cobra AMP Forged, Bridgestone J40 DPC’s,or the Nike VR_S Pro Forged.


I missed the start of the putting contest since Jskittle and I were in the clubhousepaying for our round. We walked out as one of the last few were trying theirluck. I think I left it about 8-10ft short. After the contest was over,Jskittle walked up with his Scotty and drained it.

I had the pleasure to play the round with Jskittle, JB, and JeffReedMO. I washonestly nervous the first few holes and it showed, but soon settled down.Those 3 were great to play with, and when the $$ was on the line, I stepped up.

Jskittle, thanks for offering to carpool, it was a great adventure, Do you haveyour keys?? Lol. It was a great 1[SUP]st[/SUP] THP outing to share with you. Wewill need to tee it up again soon in Indy.


JeffReedMO, I was happy to meet you and share 18 with you. Man, you can hit that Mashie! We’ll have to get together again sometime. And if you have any advice, please share, I need it.


JB, it was great to meet you. Thank you for your advice during our round, and theopportunity to take some money from you. It’s awesome to say I am one of several that had the pleasure to share a fun round of golf with you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to demo some clubs and get together.

GG, it was very nice meeting you. I hope you get to feeling better. Thank you forletting me use a mirror to put my contact back in. Hopefully JB brings you up to Indiana soon and maybe we can all get together for some dinner. You are avery special lady, and thank you for all you do for us on THP.

ddxu, It was a pleasure to meet you and thank you for taking your time in setting up the courses.

Under80, It was good talking to you when We first arrived at the course. I had fun chatting with you on the range and at dinner. We need to hang out again sometime.

Everyoneelse, I had a great weekend and it was because all of us at the event were just having a great time. I hope we can do another MW get-together again soon.
 
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Wow! What an amazing Saturday! Every time I make it to a THP event, I'm blown away at just how cool everyone is. Sorry for the long post, but there's a lot to cover.....

Bogey317 and I arrived at the course around 8AM and I promptly locked my keys in the Jeep by 805. Called locksmith, he arrived in a Prius and unlocked my car with a blood pressure cuff and a coat hanger. Kinda like a tree hugging MacGuyver.....

Met GG and JB and the co-CEO's of THP, Duke and Ellie. Toured the RV (awesome!), Bagged some sweet Lamkin grips and Bstone balls (Thanks Lamkin and Bridgestone) and then headed for Demo Session.

Enjoyed every club I hit and will definitely be making some purchases soon. Almost took ddxu's money on a short game contest with a sweet 58* J40 to about 70 yds, but no luck.

Some random guy (Glen? Gary? Glengary Glenross?) just started grabbing clubs and jumped into the demo session until JB outed him. Best part was he was only hitting clubs out of ddxu's bag and not from the 5 loaded staff bags. Hahaha

Headed out to the putting contest for a sweet Seemore (Thanks Seemore) and ran the putt too far past. I missed theninja's putt but congrats on the win!

Teed off with JB, Bogey317 and JeffReedMO and had an awesome round. Everyone had highs and lows, but we got to play an amazing course with some wicked elevation changes. I really enjoyed playing golf with all 3, even though they took most of my dollar bills....

I concur with JB on the questionable Turkey sammich, but for $3.50, the flavor equaled the price.

We concluded the round with JB going "hands free" after his tee shot and by me trying to do and "extreme" flop shot, which almost stayed in an evergreen tree.

Dinner was an unbelievable experience (what happens at Culpeppers, stays at Culpeppers) and if we all didn't have long drives back, I'm sure we would have closed the place down.

I looked forward to this outing after the date was announced and it completely blew away my expectations. A big thank you to JB and GG (feel better!) for working as hard as they do for this forum. Thanks to JeffReedMO and Bogey317 for a great round of golf, let's tee it up again. DDXU, thanks for a great venue and getting all the details sorted out. Thanks to everyone else who attended (too many names to list) I enjoyed meeting all of you and shared some laughs with some great people. If any of you are near Indy, let's tee it up.

Sorry for the length......

(TWSS)
 
I am finally chilled out enough to write up a full write up of my weekend in St. Louis with THP and it's members.

I showed up to the course shortly after 8 AM. I turned into the lot and saw the bus and instantly lit up with excitement and a little bit of nerves. I felt like I was the new kid on the first day of school. I was walking up to the clubhouse with my bag when Dan (DDXU) popped his head out of the bus to tell me to come in and join them. I walked in and SharkHat was there with Dan, Morgan, Josh and the puppy dogs, watching some Golf Channel. Dude, this bus is pimp! You have to go in there and check it out. As soon as I walked in, I was told to grab some Lamkin grips (which I left for the others down the road, since I already have pretty new ones on my wedges right now), some Bridgestone balls and was offered a Gatorade. I didn't feel like a stranger anymore. I felt right at home.

We went up the clubhouse, grabbed some carts and some range balls and went back to the bus to help load the MASSIVE amount of equipment to the range. 4 Full staff bags, if I remember right. There was clubs, and bags, EVERYWHERE, it seemed. Personally, I am impressed that Josh is able to piece that big golf puzzle back together at the conclusion of each stop.

The range was a blast. I had a rule going in. Unless I am mad at a certain piece of equipment, I don't want to hit a rival. That being said, I spent most of time primarily with the Anser Driver, which I came away pretty impressed with and some wedges. The amount of equipment and new goodies at our fingertips, would blow your mind. I probably pounded 100 balls that morning, going back and forth between equipment I was interested in and equipment that was new to me. SCOR wedges was something I had never experienced before, and the one I was hitting really impressed me. As did the J40 wedge from Bridgestone.

TheNinja put his putt to about four and a half feet to win the SeeMore putting contest. I had the right line, but my speed was way off and I left it short.

Due to GG not feeling tip top, we did some shuffling of the foursomes and I ended up going out first with JB, JSkittle and Bogey317. I was nervous, to say the least. A few holes in, I settled down and realized, being nervous was just silly. These guys were here to have fun and share some laughs, not win a green jacket or a FedEx Cup. I shot a 53, on a tougher than usual course for me, in some gnarly wind. And, the bunkers killed me. Without those bunkers, I was pretty happy. Finally settled in and having a good time, I played a really decent back 9. Shooting a 42. I think just riding and BS'ing with JB settled me down, and the occasional pointer and "nice shot, dude" increased my confidence. Honestly, it was the funnest 18 holes of golf, I have played in a long arse time! The worst part of my round was when JB, Skittle and Bogey decided to start talking about every fantastic meal they have eaten over the last few years and in different towns and cities. I was running on coffee and CLIF Bars, and was like, "DUDES! Y'all are going to have to stop talking about food. I am getting hungry as hell over here". I heard about pizza joints in Indiana, polish food in Cleveland. It didn't stop. I was about to eat my arm off. LOL.

Skittle and Bogey are awesome. Just sheer awesome. Bogey tripped me out with his purple DG Spinners. I thought I was tripping acid, but he proceeded to tell me he won the shafts in a contest and that his daughter picked out the purple shafts for him. LOL. Awesome. I saw Skittle suck a HEX Chrome 20 feet of a green with an 8 iron. And the closest to hole bets were just freaking fun and funny. Bogey, anytime money was on the line, became a ball striking phenom. I was ready to hand over the cash to him every time, because he hit such good looking shots on all the closest to the pin holes. I ended up taking one of the closest to the hole bets, and received my signed dollars, one from Mark Stephenhagen. LOL. I have them sitting on my golf ball shelf right now and have no plans on spending them.

Dinner was a good and I'm sorry we arrived late. Damn directions took us to a road that had been closed down and we had to double back. Kelly and Morgan hit it off and listening to them talk about our kids (the dogs) was a blast. Confirmed. JB/Morgan and Jeff/Kelly love their dogs. A LOT! I do regret missing whatever had all the waitresses worked up before we got there.

Sunday was a great course. Sorry that you weren't feeling well, Shark. Under80 and Weekender were a hoot to play with. They kind of reminded me of an old married couple. LOL. Weekender trying to take a 5, when it was clearly a 6! LMAO! Pevely Farms was a tough, TOUGH track. But man, was it beautiful. I would love to play it again sometime. I think fatigue had started to catch up to both Under80 and I, so we didn't play our best. Those greens were a nightmare. They whopped us pretty good. I knew I was in for a long day, when I nutted my Mashie off the first tee, and planted my PW in the middle of the green for a GIR and a nice birdie putt. WELL, I guess I'll take the rest of the day off, since I blew all my golf ability on the first hole. I probably should have started drinking with Under80 and Weekender at the turn. But it was a blast and they were awesome to play with.

Everyone says THP is different after you attend an outing and meet some people. And now, I have to agree. I felt like I knew all of these guys since I picked the game up and couldn't have felt any more comfortable and at home. I deal with a world that sometimes, you don't know who your friends truly are and who is out to get you. It was nice to hit the reset button this past weekend and make some good friends. People I can call up and play a game of golf with, if I am near them, or they are near me. That's an awesome feeling to have.

I had a tremendous time this weekend, and I thank JB, GG, and all the Albatross Members that helped make all of this possible. As well as the companies that work with THP and it's members to let us try out all that equipment. I wish we could have delivered more attendees for y'all in St. Louis, but I thought the event rocked and it was a nice, close knit group out there. Great job guys and I look forward to seeing you again.

Thanks again!


EDIT - Someone reminded me of JSkittle locking his keys in the car. LOL. Poor dude. Had to call a locksmith before he even set foot on the course. Skittle and Bogey need to work on their communication, pre-rounds. LOL. I felt bad for dude, but it's kind of funny at the same time.
 
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I'll be the first to bring it up; this was the least attended and discussed Tour Van Stop of the year. It would have been easy for Josh & Morgan to cancel it, go through it half assed, or just kinda go through the motions and move on to ATL. Going through the motions is clearly not in their vocabularies. And thats one of the things that makes them great. Knowing (and seeing) they were both under the weather and still gave us a great time, speaks volumes to their character.

It would've also been easy for those that RSVP'd to send me a BS PM and just skip out on us. None of these things happened, and for that, I am VERY grateful and appreciative. I know how busy life gets and weekends are even more of a premium. To have multiple members drive 3+ hours each way for a round or 2 of golf, really says something about what Josh and Morgan have built here.

The day started for me at 2:45A when I woke up after 3 hours of sleep and made the 4 hour trek across Missouri from KC to STL. The drive was easy thanks to good weather and satellite radio. Upon arriving at Missouri Bluffs, the THP Tour Van was parked where everyone could see it and it is still beautiful. Josh, Morgan, and the dogs were there to meet me and we hung out with Shark in the Van as other members strolled in for the day.

After getting things setup at the range, it was like I was in Orlando again for the outing. Too many clubs to hit, too many people excited about improving their game, and JB walking up and down the line fitting people for new gear.

I also got to meet a new buddy Gary who walked into our group and just started pounding balls in the middle of our group. I didn't notice it at first because we had members streaming in and Skittles and Bogey kept checking on the locksmith trying to unlock their car. Gary proceeded to just cherry pick out of my bag. I didn't know to feel proud or mad he was fondling my gear!

I didn't notice it at first because several people were hitting my Anser with the Blur shaft and my SCOR wedges that were different lofts than we had in the THP staff bags. After 5 mins or so JB and I realized no one every heard of him and JB politely informed him it was a private event. He was nice and seemed sorry. Heck, I would've tried my hand at all those clubs too if I walked up on 5 fully loaded staff bags too!

Skittles and I had some gambles on a 70 yard wedge shot. He scared me a few times almost hitting the stick, but we ended up even. He hits some great wedge shots I will tell you that.

Around 10:00 we wound down the demo portion and loaded up the carts with bags. I still cannot believe we fit those beautiful staff bags into the Tour Van like that. I am not very strong, so it took a few of us to get them in there. Man those bags are nice, but man are they big. Good luck to the guys in ATL getting them out!

After our putting contest where I saw first hand we are all very average putters and not very clutch (Ninja won with a putt about 4' away), we sat around while the starter did his best to get us out early. Our putting contest just went too fast.

Rounds during THP events are always fun. This was the same, everyone was a bit uptight for the first few holes, but after a funny comment or 2, things relax. Phil (Cheffor) hits his Nike VRS hybrid more accurately than I hit any club in my bag. Dude was firing darts with that thing and I was jealous. I rode with SharkHat and he was great even though we weren't playing up to our standards. I got myself into some crap on #1 looking for a ball (that was later found right in the fairway) and got some sticky, prickly (science term) things all over clothes. Took me 14 holes to get them off too. We all had our ups and downs, but had fun nonetheless.

Unfortunately, I had to return to KC and work Sat night so I missed the dinner and the Sunday round. I was running on fumes, but the 8 hour drive for the golf was worth it. I loved being able to meet so many new faces and some less active forum members. Like I experienced during my first THP event, I expect some of those in attendance to really make themselves known on the forums very shortly.

Special props goes out to Bridgestone Golf, SeeMore, Lamkin, KBS for hooking up the Tour Van with some swag and some special demo items for us to check out. While I was disappointed the Tour Van hats were gone, its tough to argue with better attendance across all the stops than was originally expected. Thank you to those that made this a memorable event for me, I can't wait to attend more THP events in 2013.

I have some video from #1 tee, that I will post later in the week. There is some editing that needs to be done :angel:
 
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Good stuff DD and YES THERE IS some editing that needs to be done.
 
DDXU you can read and talk about JB&GG and their generosity all day as well as this community. But until you experience it first hand you don't realize how great it is. Well done setting up a great event and great feedback!
 
Nice recaps from the last 2 days, sounds like an amazing time was had in STL!
 
DDXU you can read and talk about JB&GG and their generosity all day as well as this community. But until you experience it first hand you don't realize how great it is. Well done setting up a great event and great feedback!

so true man, nothing like your first THP event.
 
That's hilarious some random comes in and starts hitting clubs.
 
That's hilarious some random comes in and starts hitting clubs.

Yup, ddxu's bag is so fly random people want to hit from it.
 
Really enjoyed the writeup DD, and Tad I agree, I didnt realize just how awesome all of this was until I made it to Des Moines
 
Great write up, Dan.

I really only have one regret from this past weekend, and that's not spending more time being social on the range and traveling up and down the range to fist bump and talk to people. I was just having such a good time beating balls, that I got into a zone and forgot to walk around and be social. I hope I didn't come off as an anti-social arse, I just got a little locked in playing with all the goodies that were there.

This weekend was my two day escape from life. Much needed too, and it delivered. I wish we could have delivered more people for JB and GG, but I do respect and admire them for not pulling the plug on us and delivering one hell of an experience for those of us that showed up. Big tip of the THP hat to them for that.
 
Yeah buddy, just like in Vegas. I was glad to meet you, we need to meet up again and hang out more.
Yeah, going to get a round in for my bday this weekend. I don't think I can make it all the way over to bloomington though, but just like I told Skittles your all welcome if you down for the masters. I had a great weekend wish we could of had more for day two. It was a beautiful course, that kick are Ass.
 
Sunday was a great course. Sorry that you weren't feeling well, Shark. Under80 and Weekender were a hoot to play with. They kind of reminded me of an old married couple. LOL. Weekender trying to take a 5, when it was clearly a 6! LMAO! Pevely Farms was a tough, TOUGH track.

We are an old married couple, He is still learning the game so I have to keep him honest. I had a great time, and this weekend I'll give my rap up been crazy here at school but I well have some free time to recap. Thanks to JB, GG, Seemore, Bridgestone, everyone who attended. Looking forward to the outing in Orlando.
 
Dude had his dirty mitts all over my loved ones :bulgy-eyes:
I had my dirty mitts on them too, and liked every minute. Looking to get some 911 heads for myself.
 
I planned on editing the video of Hole #1 during my trip home from the Ryder Cup today. I read JB's Tour Van Recap thread posts so I hope to get to it tonight.
 
Here is a little video we shot from the #1 tee on Saturday at Missouri Bluffs. One cant watch this 3 minutes and honestly tell me that it doesnt look fun to play with fellow THPers. Thanks again to THP and everyone that joined us in STL for making it a fun weekend.

 
Set to private DD.
 
Thanks for the editing DD. That was so much fun. Can't wait to do it again.
 
Hey, nice edit. It only got me hitting my one off the tee. Lol.

Mulligan!


Gregory Hines. Tapping.
 
I dont think Josh stopped walking to even hit his ball.. It was like walk up swing and continue walking. I saw a lot of that in Des Moines. The dude plays very very fast hehe.

Looks like a fun time and a gorgeous course
 
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