2016 Gauntlet Recap and Review Thread

This thread will serve as host for all of the recaps and memories from the 2016 Gauntlet THP Event with Callaway Golf.

I wasn't there but this picture is sweet! Love the graphics and what action I was able to catch!!

Great pic and can't wait to read everyone's recap

That is a fantastic picture, and seeing it brought me right back to last weekend. My recap is copied over from the Live Update thread but I've added a bit more to it since I've had more time to process everything that took place over the weekend.

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First, a HUGE shout out to JB, GolferGal and the rest of the THP staff for all they do. JB was running around like a mad man this weekend and did it all with a smile. MikeDean441 hooked up a ridiculous rate at We-Ko-Pa, and the hotel, restaurants and casino were absolutely TOP NOTCH. What the THP team planned for this weekend was truly incredible and I will never forget the experience, the golf and the great people I had the pleasure of teeing it up with here in the desert!

I knew from the minute GregDan and I showed up at Top Golf that this year’s Gauntlet particpants were a good group. We all instantly interacted like we already knew each other, and there were just positive vibes throughout the establishment the entire time we were there. X.man, Rozo22, Pokeslice, Kensisland, BigTex, arwin, Tanker337, JP_CO, Spivey, Awkward Silence, NoLine, Wubears71, Fupresti and other THPers I may have missed, I certainly hope I have the opportunity to enjoy this great game with you all again in the future!

I've got to give a shoutout to Spivey as well for his generosity in inviting us to his club for a pre-event round. Desert Forest was absolutely punishing, but playing there was an experience I will never forget!

As for #TeamRookie, let's just say that we all felt pretty good about our chances. GregDan and I talked about this at length prior to the event and over the weekend. It was extremely gratifying that we were in a position to win at the end of the weekend, and while it was out of our control I’m not complaining with the final outcome . Steven was a GREAT captain who put up with my moments of frustration well, and while it was a team effort, GregDan and Molten were ham and egging it all weekend and played some truly phenomenal golf. Steven and I pulled one out against Ethan and BigTex that was huge though and we were all crazy excited when we won. This was my first THP event and it not only lived up to my expectations, but it exceeded them!

To the #ZooCrew, you guys are freaking awesome. I had a ton of fun picking your brains and just BS'ing about life in general. Oh and Koske's rubber snake game is on point. If you don't believe me, kindly comb through The Gauntlet Live Update thread to see arwin's experience with said rubber snake! Darth Finley, JRod, Ethanator and Velardo - I enjoyed interacting with y'all however brief it may have been. From the minute I was selected for this event, the Twitter and forum interactions have been awesome. And to Steven, the other half of the Mike Tyson/Bruce Lee fusion - you're the man!!!

Both of the We-Ko-Pa courses were amazing, and offered unique challenges aside from the challenge desert golf already presents. They were both in FANTASTIC condition and were a couple of the nicer courses I've played. Desert golf is NO JOKE, and there is a premium on accuracy. I deposited well over 12 golf balls in the desert, so it's safe to say I have some work to do, haha! I look forward to meeting up with some of the AZ crew next spring when I'm on my cross country trek so I can redeem myself!

Finally it was an absolute BLAST meeting everyone and putting faces to names. I seriously have not laughed as hard as I did this weekend in a long time. It was an absolute pleasure hanging out with you all, and I look forward to the time our paths cross again. I’m thankful for the opportunity to enjoy such a great game with others who share my passion, and I cannot put into words how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to participate in #TheGauntlet. This event shows how this game can bring people together. I made friends at the event that I will go out of my way to meet up with in the future, and I certainly look forward to those moments.

Oh and I can’t think of a better way to end this post :wink:

#mrhickstaout #TeamRookieFTW #TheGauntlet

Just an incredible pic of all the guys involved!

Great recap mr.hicksta!

JB said:

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#TeamRookie shocking the world!

Day 1 - Match 1 - Shamble:

I got up early the next day to work out some more kinks in my swing. I knew that my mind was going 1000x the normal speed amping up and I needed to slow down my swing. I never fully got my regular swing back throughout the event, but I made it work.

As the first matches stepped up, everyone from the event gathered on the first tee to watch the groups out. I'm sooooo glad I wasn't the first tee shot because I would've shanked it under the pressure! (Not saying my 1st tee shot was any better though since I duck hooked them into the desert!). Each of the first few groups actually put some good swings on their 1st tee shots and seemed like they had ice running thru their veins. I had been driving the ball well on the driving range but as soon as I stepped up to hit my tee shot, I hooked my ball right into the desert, along with my provisional. lol. Will82 bailed me out by keeping the ball in play and we ended up halving the hole thanks to a pop we got on the hole. I can occasionally give it a nice poke and get huge distances on my ball but I'm not the straightest. Our team strategy was for Will82 to touch some grass and give me the opportunity to let it rip without any fear of consequence. If Will82's ball didn't stay in play, I'd be a lot more conservative and just played to stay in play. That strategy worked out really well for us. Especially coming to the 3rd hole. Wubears absolutely destroyed his tee shot and cut over the left desert and we knew he was going to be really close to the green on this par 4. Will82 stepped up and found the fairway which probably gave us about 150 yards to the hole. I stepped up with no worries and followed up wubears blast with a blast of my own. We both found the fairway and I measured my drive at 321 yards....but wubears was still about 50 yards ahead of mine but greenside! We ended up halving this hole with clutch par putts on both sides. I think from this point on, Will82 and I started gaining confidence. Team JRod had an early lead on us and I think we were down 1 going into #6 where we found the fairway. Will stepped up and hit a nice draw into the green. We knew it was going to be good, but we didn't know how good. I hit my approach on the green about 20 feet from the hole. As we drove up to the green, wubears was going nuts. We weren't sure why but when we looked at the pin, we saw Will's ball within tap in range for the birdie. We took that hole and we never looked back. Our games complemented each other quite well and we ended up closing out the first match on hole #8.

Day 1 - Match 2 - Best Drive/Alternate Shot:

At this point, I was talking to Will and pretty much telling him we can relax because we already had 1 in the bag. I think this really helped us on the 2nd match because we felt a little more free flowing. I stepped up to #10 and almost drove the green with my drive. I asked Will to keep his chip under the hole so I could be aggressive with the putt. He made a great chip shot and put it exactly where I wanted to putt from. We made the putt and took an early 1-Up lead in the 2nd match. We extended our lead on 11 to 2-Up and we began looking too far ahead of ourselves because the next few holes, wubears and BigDG clawed their way right back into the match. They battled hard and I think they made the match A/S around 14 or 15. But they caught a really bad break on #16. BigDG hit a good drive but the wind was blowing hard into our faces, the ball dropped from the sky and we didn't see it land but we knew it had to be in play. The drive for #TeamStripeShow was safely in play. We helped Team JRod look for their ball but it was nowhere to be found until we looked by a fairway bunker which sloped dramatically from left to right. The ball was lying on the edge of the bunker, still on the grass but not in the bunker. Since it was alternate shot, wubears had to hit the next shot but the problem is, wubears is left handed and because of where the ball was positioned, it was almost impossible for wubears to get good contact on it. His stance was in the bunker but the ball was chest high! He'd have to make a baseball swing on to get any sort of contact with it. That was a bad break for Team JRod because it left them with bascially no chance of getting it on the green and the following position after that was basically the same. We caught a huge break on that hole and gave us our momentum back. Using that momentum, we closed out the match on #17 to go 2-0 for the day.

Coming into #TheGauntlet, I was really nervous and would've been happy to go 1-3 for the weekend. Starting off with a 2-0 record for the first day was more than I could've asked for. Turns out our team really needed those 2 points because our other StripeShow team lost their matches in a tough battle against GregDan and Molten. I believe they lost their 2nd match of the day on #18. What a tough loss, but all was good since we were still in the running for day 2 and that's all you need to do. Stay in the race and give yourself a shot on Day 2.

To be continued...

I didn't see this up yesterday. I'll write up something a little longer later but for now just some random thoughts from the weekend.

For those that were in Vegas a few years ago, Channy has a cousin who works at the resort and she still will take all your money.

The Zoo crew are always a blast to hang out with and the smack talk between them is priceless.

Thankfully I didn't have to see Velardo do his "stanky leg" victory dance.

THPers are still the best guys to share a round with on and off the course.

Beware the snakes! Sometimes they just happen to be right next to your cart...

That was awesome to read. Looking forward to the rest.

Just saw this thread and will be putting some thoughts together for it. Love the pic with the graphic!


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Just saw this thread is up. Nice recap arwin! I'll post mine tomorrow with video and pics!

2016 Gauntlet Recap and Review Thread

There is so much I could say about this event and people in it that I know in the attempt to not write War an Peace I will miss something. But here goes.

First and foremost, thanks from the bottom of my heart to THP and Callaway for putting on this event. This was my first THP event, and it was the most fun I have ever had in any type of golf event. So look forward to getting to be in another event in the near future!

The facilities at We Ko Pa were perfect for this type of event. Two very different golf courses presented some unique challenges. And, the resort is one I definitely plan to revisit.

The thing that truly made this event special was the people involved. I made some friends through it that hope to get to tee it up with again and interact with on the forum and in person. The Zoo Crew is the real deal, and some of the most engaging and entertaining group of people I have ever been around. They can play a little golf as well.



Pre Gauntlet Events

Thanks to Spivey and Fupy for setting up the rounds of golf at Talking Stick an Desert Forest and the Top Golf outing. Spivey's home course Desert Forest is absolutely stunning and the sternest test of golf I have had. Despite posting my worst scoring round in a long time, it was a very enjoyable day.

Day 1

Spivey and I drew JRod and JP_CO the first day at Saguaro. Thankfully JRod set the tone from the outset letting us know in no uncertain terms the main thing was we were to have fun! And fun it definitely was! JP has some mad putting skills, and took advantage of every opportunity he had draining long putts to keep us from pushing or winning holes and winning holes for them. They won the front 9 3 and 1.



We managed to win the first hole on the back and never trailed on that side. But, we never could open up a lead either. We went back and forth before being 1 up with one to play. JRod played a beautiful approach shot on the 500 yard par 4 from the desert that lead them to win the hole and a half for that side after I missed at putt from the fringe. What I didnt know until later was just as he was about to get to his ball for that shot he had a close encounter with a rattlesnake! I think I would have conceded at that point! That lost opportunity for the extra half point would come back to haunt us the next day.

Following Ethan and Rozo's dramatic win being 3 down with 4 to play #TeamEthanator lead with 2.5 points.

Day 2

Ethan and I played Steven and Mr Hicksta in a match that ended up being pivotal for both teams. We won the front 9 3 and 2 and with Spivey and Rozo also winning the front 9 of their match #TeamEthanator was in the drivers seat. Alas, Steven and Mr Hicksta dropped us like a bad habit on the back 9 3 and 2 to secure the win for #TeamRookie. We finished with 4.5 to their 5 points overall. Coulda woulda shoulda.



Congrats to #TeamRookie for the win! It was a tremendous pleasure to play with you guys. Also a huge thank you to our Cap'n Ethan. Sorry we couldn't pull out the win, but it was awesome getting to tee it up with you! Hope we can do it again sometime.


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Caught up through the live thread last week, but just want to say THANK YOU to Team Rookie. I wanted each and every one of you to make the Grandaddy. Without you this journey I'm about to take wouldn't be possible, and for that I am grateful.

Day 1 - Dinner & Team Match up Announcement:

For dinner after the round, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. JB and GG setup a nice menu for us to select our meals from & there was a bar setup for everyone to request drinks as needed. Dinner seemed to go by so fast, probably because I was anxious to hear what the pairings would be for day 2. #TeamStripeShow had an impromptu meeting and we discussed whether or not we should change the pairings or keep them the same since Will and I played so well together the first day. In the end, we decided to switch up our pairings. Velardo and I would pair up and Fupresti and Will were going to pair up. As soon as I found out that Velardo and I were going to pair up, I knew which team I wanted to play. Koske was giving crap to Velardo about using Aimpoint the prior evening and as an Aimpoint user myself, I was hoping that Velardo and I was going to be paired against Team Koske. However, we wouldn't be able to choose who we were going to play the next day because it would be all based on luck of the draw. Will and Fupresti had their names called out first and they found out that they would be playing X.Man and stevececil. They would be the first group out on day 2. Velardo and I had to wait a while for our names to be called. While we were waiting, I was telling Velardo that I really hoped we got to play Team Koske cuz it would be really funny if we showed him what Aimpoint is all about! Finally, #TeamStripeShow is called up and we find out that we're playing....KOSKE & Awkward Silence!!! Awesome! This couldn't have turned out any better! Not because I thought we were going to easily take it down, but for the match up with the Callaway guys and to put on an Aimpoint clinic!

What we all realized after the fact that it was basically Team Koske vs #TeamStripeShow in both matches. If either team dominates the other, they are a lock to win the Gauntlet. This couldn't get any better since either team pretty much controls their own destiny.

We followed with more of the same from the previous day with more chatter and beers in the lobby. I was so tired that I ended up heading up to my room pretty early and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Day 2: Match 1: Shamble

I got up pretty early on day 2 and hit the range after breakfast like usual. My game seemed as good as it was going to get for the weekend and I headed over to the first tee with the rest of the group. The first match of the day was Fupresti and Will vs X.Man and stevececil. Most seemed pretty conservative with their tee shots on the opening tee, but the later matches started to get more and more aggressive to the line that was taken towards the hole. The hole was a dog leg left with a forced desert wash carry right infront of you. If you bail out, you can bail out to the right, but it leaves you with a long approach into the green. Most early tee shots were aimed just past the bunker right in front or bailed out to the right to touch some grass. By the time it was time for us (the 5th match) to tee off, the lines that were taken were basically just to the right of the green. Koske stepped up for Team Koske and smashed his drive towards the green on an aggressive line. I ended up taking the same line with my driver. Both were just short of the green and in good shape. We ended up halving the hole and moved on to the 2nd hole.

The Whiff?

On the 2nd hole, par 5. Velardo stepped up the tee box and was getting ready for his tee shot. We were using the same strategy that we used the day before, he'd put it in play and I would just try to crank it. He was talking to me before the round and telling me how is pre-shot practice swings seems pretty aggressive. I told him I've been told the same thing and ppl think sometimes I stand too close to my ball when I'm doing my practice swings. Velardo stepped up the the ball and made a really hard swing over the top of the ball. He stood there and posed for a bit, perhaps still trying to stretch since it was early in the morning, and then went back to waggling the club and then proceeded to put his ball in play. After his ball was in play, I proceeded to stripe my ball down the middle of the fairway.

As his partner, I cannot confirm or deny whether or not his swing was a whiff or a practice swing :laugh:

The match up between Koske and Awkward Silence vs me and Velardo was an intense and back and forth match up. Team Koske won the 2nd hole to go 1-Up. On the third hole par 3, we hit the green and it was time for Aimpoint to shine. We all misjudged the speed on the first putt but Team Koske was in with a bogey. I had about 13 feet for my par to win the hole. I determined the line using Aimpoint and made sure Koske was watching and continued to nail the putt to bring the match A/S. Score 1 for Aimpoint!

This back and forth battle went through the entire match, at the same time, we were getting updates from JB informing us that Fupresti and Will were up in their match.

Every now and then during the match Koske and Awkward Silence would throw in a little bit trash talk. At this point we're on #8 and we're all square. I can't remember exactly where Team Koske put their tee shots were, but I knew Velardo already put his in play. I stepped up to tee box and said something along the lines of "Do you guys want to see a bomb?" then continued to put a hurting on the ball! I just remember the words that Awkward Silence said after I hit the ball "Wow...and he actually did it". LOL. My trash talk game could use some work, but it worked out. I actually ended up running out of fairway but my ball was in decent shape just off in the desert. I played a conservative 80 yard punch out into the fairway and Velardo laid his up nicely. My approach into the green was a 195 yard downhill shot. I hit a solid 5i into the green and thought it was going to be perfect. It rolled out a bit more than I thought and with the contours of the green, the slope took it and went down the hill. At this point, Velardo thought I was already on the green and that his shot was just for an extra attempt at a birdie but he made a nice swing and landed his ball on the front of the green. I ended up making a bad chip on my 4th shot but put myself in tap in range for a bogey after that. Velardo was about 30-40 feet from the hole on his birdie attempt and blew it by about 10 feet. We needed him to make the putt so we could be dormie in the first match. He looked over his putt and made his read, at this point, JB started to give him crap for not putting yet. lol. But it was all worth it because Velardo nailed his 10 footer for par and to win the hole! Score another one for Aimpoint! We actually made a lot of long putts to halve some of the other holes too.

We kept the pedal to the metal on #9 with a solid drive and approach and sealed another point for #TeamStripeShow. At this point, we've already won both matches today and the word that we were getting was the Fupresti and Will were up on their 2nd match. We couldn't have asked for a better start than this!

Day 2 - Match 2 - Best Drive/Alternate Shot:

In the 2nd match, it was more of the same. Team Koske and #TeamStripeShow traded blows practically every hole. We were A/S going into #15.

The Snake:

From the stories and videos that were shown to me previously, I knew Koske had a rubber snake in his bag and I knew he was going to try to prank me with it sometime during the round. I was so focused about the match that I completely forgot that he had it with him. After my tee shot on a par 3, I went to put my clubs back into my bag. I was still focused on the match and all of a sudden I saw this snake ready to attack and I just jumped! After the initial shock, I realized that it was the fake snake that Koske had and I couldn't believe I feel for the prank even though I knew it was coming! I guess I'm glad that I'll be infamous for that? lol

Back to the match:

On #15, Velardo put his tee shot into the desert. I had a driver in my hand but decided to put that away and pulled out my 4w instead. I think that was my downfall right there. I think I should've just used a 5i or hybrid to put the ball in play rather than using my 4w. So I ended up putting my ball into the desert and we ended up losing the hole.

All was not lost because we had pops going into 16 and 17.

After losing my ball on 15, I happened to have a ProV1 in my pocket and teed off with that by accident. I hit a nice 4w to the middle of the fairway about 100 yards out. When Velardo saw that I was using a ProV1, you could see the horror on his face. hahaha. We tried to get a ruling to put a ChromeSoft back in play instead of the ProV1. It might've gotten into Velardo's head because he ended up putting his approach short and we ended up being short sided with the pin placed right at the front of the green. We ended up halving the 16th and moved onto the 17th.

On 17, we had another pop and we were greenside after 3 shots. Team Koske was having a bit of trouble of their own and we just needed to get on the green and 2 putt for bogey to take the hole. I left my chip shot short and we just needed to 2 putt from here. Because the green was sloped our first putt went by the hole by about 9 feet. At this point, we were still had some work to do but we were hitting putts from this distance and further all day. It was an uphill putt so I could be pretty aggressive with it and not worry about outright losing the hole. I found my line and put a nice roll on the ball. As soon as it left the putter face, I thought it was going in. It look good for so long and it even dipped into the hole, but I put a little bit too much pace on it and it horseshoed around and lipped out. I couldn't believe it! We halved the hole and moved on to 18 knowing that we had to win the hole to force a playoff since TeamRookie was in the clubhouse with 5 points and we were sitting at 4.5.

I don't know what Koske and Awkward Silence had to drink between 17 and 18, but man, these guys played the 18th hole to perfection as a team. Awkward Silence found the fairway 250 yards out and then Koske piped his drive 320 yards. Velardo put his ball in play which meant I could try to crank one out there to match Koske. Unfortunately, I tried to hit the ball too hard and ended up putting my ball in the desert.

At this point, we see that the match behind is over and they are coming up to watch our match. It's a pretty frickin' cool feeling to know that you've got the fate of #TheGauntlet in YOUR HANDS! All the people at home following along with the Gauntlet, hitting refresh trying to find out what's happening...And that all the competitors are watching green side. I felt almost as if I was a PGA player with the gallery and the upcoming shot. Since it was an alternate shot format, I needed to take the next shot because we used Velardo's tee shot. I scoped the flag at 210 yards. I planned for my normal draw shot shape and I wanted to start the ball just at the right side of the green towards the bunkers and let the ball come back. I grabbed my hybrid and hit it on the screws. I stood there and posed for a bit because I actually hit the ball so well and it started off exactly in line of where I wanted to. Then, as I posed a bit longer, I realized that I overcooked it a bit and it was headed for the gallery! I yelled out fore and I could see some of the guys trying to scramble. Then, I just heard the gallery reacting..It seemed like an excited mumur to a loud groan. lol. I couldn't see where my ball ended up so I was like wth just happened? At least the gallery knows! Turns out my ball hit one of the carts and the ball ricocheted onto the green and then rolled into the bunker. For all the times where I've said "Man, I would've never lost that ball if I was on tour...", This was one of those instances. The gallery probably saved my ball from going into the desert and ended up in the bunker. :laugh: Velardo hit a great shot out of the bunker to give us at least a chance to make the putt. I'll admit that we took longer than usual to get our line for the last putt, but come on, this was a shot to get us into the playoffs! Unfortunately, I ended up missing the putt, but I had a blast every moment of the event!

I don't think I've ever experienced these types of emotions while playing golf before. I mean I've played some pressure packed rounds when betting with friends and stuff, but the whole experience coming down from #16-#18, knowing that you've got the fate of the Gauntlet in your hands was freaking awesome. Coming down the 18th fairway and seeing the crowd by the green was freaking cool. For me, this is as close to replicating what a PGA tour player sees every week without even being on tour. You guys will never understand how cool that was to me.

I just want to re-iterate my thanks to JB, GG, and the Callaway ZooCrew for hosting such an awesome event! You bet your arse I'm going to try to get into every Callaway event going forward!

To my fellow Gauntlers, should you guys find yourself north of the border and in Edmonton (I doubt, but in case), hit me up and I'd definitely tee it up you guys any day! Believe me, I'll hit you guys up if/when I'm in your neck of the woods!

One last thing - Although I'm glad nobody got hurt from my approach shot, I kinda wish it hit one of you guys in a flabby area so it wouldn't cause any permanent damage and it would've created a smoother roll onto the green and maybe in the hole. HAHAHAHHA #SorryNotSorry!

#TeamStripeShowRocks!

I hope y'all enjoyed reading that write up as much as I had fun typing it!

arwin said:

I hope y'all enjoyed reading that write up as much as I had fun typing it!

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I really enjoyed it. Thanks

2016 Gauntlet Recap and Review Thread

arwin said:

I hope y'all enjoyed reading that write up as much as I had fun typing it!

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I'll quote this one to save screen space . Great write up Arwin, it was a fun read! Thanks for sharing.


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arwin said:

I hope y'all enjoyed reading that write up as much as I had fun typing it!

Click to expand...

Great recap arwin

Love reading recaps like these! The Gauntlet is definitely one event that I've always wanted to play in, I love the format and the make up of the teams and competition! Keep the updates coming guys!

Arwin that was a good read. Thanks!


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2016 Gauntlet Recap and Review Thread

So I'll start by saying a few thank you to Afwcardinal who let me use his travel bag saving me a few bucks! Canes, who helped me prep for the event and what to expect as he's a Gauntlet Alumni. And lastly a huge thanks to Panda and all those who commented on my 30day prep as I put in work leading up to the event. If you missed that thread you can find it here:

X.Man's 30day Prep for the Gauntlet

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...8&share_tid=81468&share_fid=1297&share_type=t

I was extremely thrilled when I got the email/PM saying I got in. This was one of those situations where I didn't tell the wife and was hoping I'd get in to then ask for forgiveness later. She took it better than expected and when I actually got back from the Gauntlet and showed her all the pics she was then asking why I didn't take her! Ha! That worked out well. A huge shout out to JB ,Morgan and the fine folks over at Callaway Golf for continuing to put on the event that is THE GAUNTLET. I know it's nowhere near compared to the granddaddy but I don't know if I'll ever get picked to be part of the granddaddy, maybe I will, maybe I won't but the fact that I was able to experience an event with the zoo crew Callaway golf and the competition is something I'll never forget!!

On to the event...

Shot out to Ken_h who stepped up to pick me up on his way in from Cali and agreed to split a room with me once mpeterson couldn't make it.

Ken picks me up on Thursday at the airport and we head over to the Hotel. Man Arizona, has some pretty neat scenery. Coming from SoFlorida it's nice to see different landscapes and topographical and that was evident the whole ride in to the hotel. Once we check in We kind of relax in the room and wait to head over to Top Golf.



As we pull in to TopGolf the excitement level bumps up on a notch as we get ready to meet the rest of the crew and hang out. Shot out here to Spivey and Fupresti who set up the pre event activities. Once in top golf I'm introducing myself and trying to remember everyone's name or Forum name. It took all 3 hours to actually get everyone's name associated with thier THP forum name. The wonders of a THP event!!! We all got along immediately which is pretty typical of a THP event but more so atvThe Gauntlet because it's almost like a brotherhood. We were all about to go into battle. Many of us took plenty of swings but I think Mr. Hicksta takes the cake as I don't think he stopped upon his arrival. The dude shows up all awoke and just starts crushing ball after ball. Haha.

I took the time to really get to know my teammates here as it was the first time I met them outside of the forum or Social media. Awkward silence and SteveCecil were just 2 real cool dudes and knew we had a good team. By almost 10pm (1am my time) I was beat and we took off and crashed as we GS an early start the next morning.

https://vimeo.com/168783011



I mentioned Spivey before but I'll mention him again, he hooked it up with a round at his private course for all the Guys on Friday morning. What a real treat that was. This course was in immaculate shape. One of the best shape courses I have ever played. Inhadnt seen grass so green in a while. The greens were impeccable and rolling very quick. They said something like 11 on the stimp but I could have called BS as they were very quick. Maybe even faster than that. I was paired up with Arwin, Tanker337 and Molten (dude ends up winning the same Gauntlet). Really fun round on a beautiful course. As its been mentioned I think everyone had a difficult time out there. Don't know how Spivey does it but to take a beating like that all the time is admirable. Lol..

It wasn't until this round that I realized how much farther the ball flies in the desert. Slammed a drive to 346, hit an 8i 176yrds. It was ridiculous and fun at the same time. The round was definitely needed to get the nerves out and get a feel for desert golf as its truly unlike anything I've ever played. I think I shot a 99 on some questionable Math. We all sat down afterwards and enjoyed lunch in the clubhouse and talked about the ass kicking we all received. Molten was my cart partner and an awesome guy and glad I was able to play a round with a good group of guys prior to the Event kicking off.




We all headed after lunch to the PGA SS like a bunch of junkies to goof off. But I was beat. After some tinkering we head back to the hotel and Ken and I shower and PASS out.

Friday welcome dinner. Didn't know what to expect. I meet awkward silence, BigTex and Spivey for a drink before dinner. We then head over and meet up with everyone. The setup was like Knights of the round table almost. We see all the swag on a table next to where we would be eating and this is when everything starts to become "Real" all the guys are there, swag is present, and in walks the ZooCrew.

These guys are just downright awesome. Extremely easy to talk to, big jokester sand just the kind of people you'd WANT to hang out with. And if you DONT want to hang out with them, then I'm not real sure what planet you live on. They all go around the table introducing themselves. And handing out all the swag. Ok this is where my name change happens, Koske catches me off guard and asks me if I'm going to playe defense. Like an idiot I'm thinking, "yeah sure" I'll play whatever as long as we win! He then says " X is over here looking Like a Latin James Harden"! Haha. We all lose it laughing.

Fast forwards to Saturday's post round lunch, when I go up to the bar and ask for John Daly, the Bartender, unsolicited says " Hey man, you look like James Hardnen"

I digress...

Dinner was a buffet of just about anything you wanted. Me and JB went to town on that Lobster. Which by rule of thumb, with no large body of water in or around Arizona, Seafood should be a no-go but those tails were pretty darn good. After dinner the team selections begin...I'll leave this here..

https://youtu.be/2St8cLkFCd8




After dinner some guys try thier hands in the casino, others go back up and the rest of us convene outside the lobby and hangout talking shop, talking Life And talking Lots of sh#% with The ZooCrew. These are The moments that you just don't get back and that are invaluable. An awesome time with good people and libations. This is where I got to see just what all the hype was about at a THP event where the ZooCrew is involved. This is also where I got to find out JRod and I must be distant cousins, I'm sure of it! #DamnPuertoRicans

Saturday's round I was paired with my Captain Chris Koske and the dynamic duo of the gym rats, Mr. Hicksta and the Captain of Team Rookie, Steven. I'll start off by saying we were the last group to tee off so the jitters of going off first really didn't come into play as I slammed one down the heart of the fairway. Leaving is like 75 out. But watching everyone else go off and just hanging out starting the smack talk was epic. It really eased my nerves and got me settled in. The front 9 got off to a quick start and Koske and I jump to a 3 up lead, The Tito's started flowing and they got right back into it. But we hold them out and win the front 9 match. Throughout the entire time we are all talking smack. Koske and Steve are going at it and Mr. Hicksta and I are just laughing are asses off. Aside from all the smack talk, learning about their respective roles in the company, the industry and the current golfing market was, again, one of those invaluable things you just don't get anywhere else. Being paired with Koske, I learned SO MUCH about the putting market and such. He's crazy knowledgable and quite possibly one of the easiest people to talk to. We had similar upbringings and style in music so we meshed really well which would become evident on the back 9 match.

The Back 9 was a slug fest! Back 9 was a perfect showing of "ham & egging" between Koske and I. The Tito's hit Steven and Hicksta real well as they started to string some shots in there to keeps things close. It really came down to final 2 holes. They were up 1 going into 17. We both share good tee shots and as the saying goes, drive for show and putt for dough. Once on the green Koske chips to about 12feet or so. Leaving me a putt for Par to win the hole. It was and uphill put. Koske and I debate the line and we pick a point just to outside left of the hole. My heart was pounding. I drain the putt to go AS heading into 18. Me and Koske are hype. Confidence now is through the roof. We use my tee shot on 18 which was an uphill shot off the tee and then a downhill approach. We debate the 2nd shot and wether or not Koske should pound a 3 wood or hit a 4i. We decide on 4i as a 3wood if struck well would have been to much club. He hits a low dream that land just left of the flag on the front. Of the green but continues to roll out past the flag off the green to left. This leaves me a tricky up hill chip to ember on the green but once on the green it was a slippery downhill to the flag. My next shot would be in front of EVERYONE as they were all waiting for our match as it was the last one. Nervous is an understatement at this point. I opt for the putter and put it to within 12" as I hear the peanut Gilbert yell " Fear the Beard"!! We win the 18th hole and the match to go 2-0 over future Gauntlet Champions, Team Rookie. Hicksta and Steven were just so fun to play with. Playing with my Captain and meeting him on a personal level, you couldn't put a price on that! Saturday's round was by far the most fun I've had playing Golf ever!! The competition mixed with good company was truly special! We meet everyone at the top of the hill and Ethan convenes everyone for shots of 99 bananas. It was awful yet a great celebratory shot of a fantastic Day 1 of The Gauntlet.

https://vimeo.com/168808736



To be continued...

I didnt THP much this weekend so I just saw this. My thoughts will be coming shortly. Great stuff Arwin and X.

I never thought I’d ever wind up in a THP event, much less one of the cornerstone events like The Gauntlet. When I got chosen I was all kinds of messed up, thrilled and excited at being a part of this amazing community and scared to death because I knew my game couldn’t match up in all phases. I can assure you that if you are ever lucky enough to be chosen for a THP event, RUN don’t walk to your nearest computer and tell JB and GG YES! as quickly as you can. You will never meet a bunch of people that are smart, funny and care more about golf than our members.

My Gauntlet experience started a couple of months prior to the event when Mixalot offered to upgrade my ancient hybrid and just happened to be in town. The generosity of a member I had never met blew me away. Unfortunately he was not able to attend, but I consider him just as much a part as anyone who was there. Missed you Mix.

The group met on Thursday night at TopGolf for introductions and a bit of messing around/showing off pounding balls into the night sky. Big thanks to Spivey for setting up the evening’s food and fun.
Friday night things got kicked into high gear with the official meet and greet with the teams and the Zoo Crew. An amazing lobster buffet was set up for us (yeah I know lobster in the desert) with access to the full bar – “Yes, We have beer.” As good as the food was, the company was that much better, getting to meet our Captain, Chris Koske. A late replacement for A.J., he was a more than worthy replacement. Chris’s humor and knowledge of all things putter related made sure that we were going to be treated to an amazing weekend. Then came what many of you like the best – SWAG! Callaway did it again, with hats, t-shirts, balls, gloves & commemorative ball markers. Incredible! After choosing the pairings for the next day, I headed out to help with kid duty at my house. This is a recurring theme for me, but I would say if you have the means, go all in on spending as much time as possible with all the THPer’s and the event sponsors.

Bright and early Saturday morning after hitting balls on a pristine range, our Captain surprised each of us with an amazing putter cover not available in the U.S., Amazing!!!. Knees shaking our group was first off the tee. I was paired with Awkward Silence against KenH and Jason Finley. While we didn’t play great, fighting the wind, we did just enough to keep aggravating Finley. We found ourselves in the desert quite often, but we always had a clear shot to get out. We wound up losing both 9’s to Ken and Finley, but we made it come down to the last hole on the back for the point. I had a blast playing with Michael (Awkward Silence), and would tee it up again anytime.
At dinner on Saturday night it was a great time just to relax and listen to stories from the other guys and just get to know them. After dinner the final pairings were soon to be announced, with Velardo trying to grasp the format and scoring of each nine. (Spoiler alert – it was exactly the same as the first day) Once JRod explained that it was a ½ point for the first 4.5 holes and another ½ point for the next 4.5 holes it was time to move on - who knew that reading of 24 names could take so long? For our final round, I got paired with X-man as my partner against Fupresti and will82.

Sunday morning broke with much less wind and the hope of points on the board. Once again we were first on the tee and after a less that inspired first shot we were off. Let me tell you what a treat it was to be part of that grouping. Will was stuffing shots all day, and Fupresti and X were bombing the ball to places I would need a cart and a guide to get to. We could tell we were in trouble on the front when Fup hit a tee shot on the par three to less than a foot. Needless to say we got waxed. But you know what they say, start over on the back. We got off to a fast start and held on in the alt. shot format to halve the point. I need to publically say the I will cover any and all chiropractic bills for X-man due to his carrying me all day! Well done X!

One of the simple highlights of the event for me was since we were first off, watching everyone finish on 18 and JB telling us what each match would do to the points. Team Rookie took the win and played great both days, but just remember Team Koske sealed the deal with the final 1.5 points taken from Velardo.

As the event was winding down Koske called over our team and presented each of us with a not yet released putter that is a thing of beauty! More to come toward the middle to end of June about this bad boy. Thanks Chris!!!

I can’t thank my Captain Chris Koske, my teammates, Michael and Xavier, JB, GG, all of the guys that attended and the Zoo Crew and Callaway Golf enough for making my first THP event one that I will remember forever!

We Gonna Be Championship!!!