Hey Chus, you'll be happy to know one of buddies in Orlando played a round of golf with Nick Faldo and he said the guy is a pompous ass. He said he also played like shit and put more than a couple shots into the water.

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That's good to know. I was basing my opinion purely on what I see from him on TV.



It has to be frustrating to go from being the best player in the world, to a duffer like the rest of us.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Sir Nick Faldo.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

You are talking about Tiger shooting 44 right?


44-44 is what I shot this morning at Coyote Run. Tied my personal best of 88 on a par 70-72 course I've broken 80 twice at Stony Creek in Oak Lawn, but that has 7 par 3's and only 1 short par 5. And that was with 4 double bogeys in a row on holes 9-12, and I missed about a 3' putt for par. Lots of good golf shots. Driver wasn't great, but didn't get me into too much trouble. irons were pretty solid, chipping was very good, only 3 putted 3 greens. Excellent for me.

Then, went flooded River Oaks in Cal City and played 19 holes, scoring 96. Pretty happy with the overall results and scores from today's rounds

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43-45-88 at Klein Creek today. Feel like I shot better than that. Had 2 triples and 2 doubles. Bought a new 3wood (Calloway Xhot stiff 14.5degree), huge change from my previous 3wood which was a regular shaft. Now instead of going 225 max i was bombing them close to 250! Had a few mishits with it though, getting used to the smaller head.

Had tons of trouble with the greens. They were wet and all beat up so I kept assuming they were slow, but they weren't. Kept rolling it past the hole. Had 5 3putts including 4 of the last 5 holes. Had 5 others that either lipped out or came within an inch of going in.

Overall, didn't catch any breaks today. All bounces were bad. Hit 8/14 fairways.

Really felt like I played well enough to score around 80-82, just had a few bad shots that cost me and some terrible putting.

Weather tomorrow is in the 50s

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Klein Creek is a real bitch. Narrow fairways, and trouble just about everywhere. You can't just hit driver every hole, if you are a big hitter, as I am.

I grew up on the street that runs south from the second green. Back in the 80's, the second green used to be a forest, behind an asphalt company.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

yea I only used the driver 8 times at Klein Creek and I'm not a big hitter. Went with 3 wood on the other 6 holes.


Playing Makray Memorial tomorrow at noon. Got a deal for $75 on golfnow which from what I heard is still too much $$ to pay for that course. But, gotta be up north in the morning and up there pickings are slim. Anyone here ever played it? How is it? It looks like its a pretty tough track.

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Managed to get out yesterday morning. Golf facility is called Brighton Dale Links about 15 minutes
northwest of Kenosha, part of the county course system. Two 18 hole courses and a nine hole course.
They wouldn't take a tee time for one so they told me to just show up early and they would get me out.
Showed up just after 6, the rain up here had stopped about 5 minutes before I arrived and never felt
a drop all day. Anyway they got me out right away at about 6:15 on the White course which plays over
6900 yards from the tips. Only people ahead of me were two singles each with their own carts. I had
my walking cart and stayed within a hole of them all morning. Hit the ball pretty well and scored pretty
good considering i got up and down 5 out of 5 times from next to the green on the front nine alone and
went 7 of 8 for the day. One double on a par 3 ( all 4 par threes were over 200 yds ) and a couple
3 putts on the back otherwise I could have had a really solid round. Finished with a 79 so not bad playing
my own ball for the first time this season. Finished at 8:50 so can't complain about a 2.5 hour round on
a Sunday and still have all day to do other things.

_________________
Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Illinois lost to Alabama in the NCAA golf national championships yesterday. Great run by the Illini.
Don't often see teams from the Big Ten make runs like that in golf.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

They won in football, golf, softball, and gymnastics. Pretty good year.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Played Makray Memorial yesterday. Man is that a tough course. Not sure if I found the course to be challenging yet fun or challenging and unfair. Have to think about it some more. Really thick rough, lightning quick greens, most of which were amongst the smallest I've ever seen. The greens on holes 2,3, and 4 combined were probably the size of one regular green.

Very nice facility though and the course was in nice shape except for a few bare spots on the greens.

Had a really weird round. 41-42-83. Sometimes I'll shoot really well, but score poorly. This was the opposite. My iron play was attrocious, I started developing a hook which is new to me. Also, had trouble with my new 3wood where I was slicing everything including one into OB. But, off the tee I hit 11/14 fairways and around the green I got up and down with my 60 degree 5 times and chipped in with it once so those two factors really saved my round. Had one of those amazing chips you see on tv all weekend where I was a foot off the green, 6 feet from the pin, straight downhill. Carried it out of the thick rough exactly one foot and it rolled right into the cup.

The round cost me $75 on golfnow and I think that was fair considering the area the course is in. If you want a really stiff challenge this is definitely a course you should play.

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The rough at most courses has been long and thick because of all the rain. Been too wet to get out and cut, so the rough is, well very rough.

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The top 10 golfers according to the official world golf rankings:

1 Tiger Woods USA 13.27
2 Rory McIlroy Nir 9.85
3 Adam Scott Aus 7.69
4 Matt Kuchar USA 6.78
5 Justin Rose Eng 6.48
6 Brandt Snedeker USA 6.13
7 Luke Donald Eng 6.03
8 Graeme McDowell Nir 5.74
9 Louis Oosthuizen Zaf 5.47
10 Phil Mickelson USA 5.09

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Those rankings are so screwed up. Here is how I would rank them off the top of my head....


1. Tiger
2. Kuchar
3. Rose
4. Scott
5. Horschel
6. Stricker
7. Bradley
8. Mickelson
9. McDowel
10. Weekly

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I have to argue about your Stricker ranking as much as it pains me to say. I heard him last week talking about how he was supposed to play in Jack's tournament, but when he went to start to get ready for it, he didn't have the desire to practice. He just wanted to stay home with his family. He truly has lost his drive to play and only plays what he has to for his sponsors. It really is a shame because the guy has been awesome over the last few years doing everything but winning a major and a match at last years Ryder Cup.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Kinda like Tiger.

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Wow, no Rory in your top 10? Horschel hasn't done enough yet to warrant top 10, imo.

Here is mine:

1. Tiger
2. Kuchar
3. Scott
4. Rose
5. Snedeker
6. McIlroy
7. McDowell
8. Donald
9. Westwood
10. Schwartzel

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

This has to be a bit, at this point.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Yep, it is just Frank morphing into KS.

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

There is not one thing factually wrong with what I posted there.

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Rory's been terrible this year, but you're right he should be in the top 10. Didn't realize he had 4 top 10's this year, although one of them was in a weak field (Vallero I think).

On the other hand, how is Luke Donald in your top 10? Top 20 yes, but not top 10. Only two top 10 finishes this year and has missed his last two cuts in Europe.

Westwood and Schwartzell are tough to argue with, they are both consistently up there.

As for Snedeker, over the last few months he's been all over the map. 2 missed cuts, 2 top 10s and a finish of 60.

I disagree on Horschel. 5 top 10s this year including 3 in the past 5 events which include a victory and a top 3. He missed the cut at the Players and finished 41 over the weekend so I probably have him too high, but he's definitely top 10 in the world right now imo.

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I love the Strick-meister, but his last few years are not nearly as successful as Tiger's. Since the start of '09 season, Woods has more wins, 13-8, despite missing a lot of time due to the injuries and personal issues. 3 of Stricker's wins were at the John Deere, which is one of the weakest fields on tour.

Here is a look at the scoreboard for the 2011 JD Classic:
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/leaderboard/2011/39

Just taking a quick glance, I see 5 players in the top 50 (Strick, Z Johnson, Duf-Man, Oosty, and Piercy).

The official rankings factor in tournaments from the last 104 weeks. Tiger is #1, far ahead of the field. Stricker is #12. I know that you irrationally dismiss these rankings, but they are a non-biased mathematical system. It isn't like the coaches poll in football or basketball.

Let's look at the Majors since '09:

Tiger has 8 T6 or better in 15 starts, with one missed cut.
Stricker has T6 and T7 in 17 starts, with one missed cut.

World Rankings - Tiger
Wins - Tiger
Performance in Majors - Tiger

That's it, phone call over.

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

"He's been awesome, but hasn't won a major in a few years or a Ryder Cup match in 2012" (not verbatim)

Tiger Woods, no majors since 2008
Not a single point at the 2012 Ryder Cup.

Yep, that fits for Tiger too.

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Who has been better since 2009?

_________________
Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

That was not the statement I was responding to.

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Definitely plan to play it this summer. I did a job near there recently and drove by the course and thought it looked exceptionally nice from the road. I'll give you one to play that I got to try out yesterday....Pine Meadow in Mundelein. It's rated as a top 10 public course in Illinois for good reason. The clubhouse is kinda old and not very impressive (though the Pro shop is well stocked and the brats were outstanding at the turn) but the course is spectacular and truely scenic. Price is about the same I guess, as with tees and a logo ball it came to 82$, but well worth it. We teed off at just after 2:30 and were done by 6:00!!! 3 1/2 hours for 18 holes...I love it! Shot 40-39-79. Couldn't make more than 1 birdie, yet putted well enough to make lots of pars and keep the missed birdies very close. I hope to play as well today (if rain doesn't get in the way) as I am to sub again in Schaumburg at the Schaumburg golf club. 3rd week straight I have been asked to sub.
Think I'll try Macray this weekend if I can fit it in.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Steve, couldn't agree more with you on Pine Meadow. I've played there at least 100 times over the years. My
buddy's dad was superindendent out there for 25 years at least. I was there on Saturday as their practice facility
is the best in the northern burbs hands down. Very generous fairways and very large greens make for a fun
experience if you play the correct tees. I had heard they cut down a lot of trees since I played last which is
disappointing but probably one of my favorite courses of all time. You are right the clubhouse is nothing special
but they make a mean hot dog and brat and the pro shop carries premium merchandise on hand or can order
anything you want.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I played Pine Meadow last year during the Ryder Cup weekend and it was in pretty bad shape. Greens were being punched (would've appreciated some advance knowledge of that and a reduced rate), the fairways were burnt out in spots from the dry summer. And I had a bad experience there. I had a tee time, showed up 45 minutes early to hit the range and after 5 minutes on the range they start calling my name on the loudspeaker to go to the 1st tee. I ignored it for about 15 minutes and kept warming up, but they came out and got me and told me I had to go tee off even though my tee time wasn't for 20 more minutes. As a single they wanted me to get ahead of a 4some so i teed off. Then I get to hole 3 and the ranger comes to me and tells me he wants me to join up with a 2some 2 holes ahead of me so he has me speed play a par 3 through a 4 some that had already teed off and were waiting on the green for me. Yea, I wasn't too happy with Pine Meadow.

As for the practice facilities being the best in the north, I think Deerfield's are nicer. Huge range with grass tees, multiple putting greens. And a chipping/pitching hole surrounded by a large bunker, fairway grass that extends to 60 yards long and probably another 60 yards wide, all to a very nice large elevated green.

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Yeah that doesn't sound like a good experience. My buddy's dad stopped working there in 2011 and I had
heard that the quality in the conditions had dipped some. As for the rangers and all, that is a pretty crappy
thing for them to do. I have noticed their rangers are a bit more proactive than most courses but never
personally had a problem with them. Never been to the Deerfield practice location. Interesting. I am
just biased since I have been going to Pine for 20 years now and like how it is set up. Tons of hitting areas
and yardage options to hit at multiple greens as well as two chipping areas with bunkers.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami