Over the weekend, Evan and I played 72 holes in 3 days in Atlantic City. The courses were Harbor Pines, Twisted Dunes, Seaview – Pines Course, and McCullough’s. Greens fees were around $100 and the courses were tended to better than the Montco/Bucks/Camden public courses save a few. There is also more variety to the holes. We played with a few different people and I’ll give a thoughts on my experience.

Let’s Play Some Golf

Gourlay – He made the hour drive to give us a 3some on a Thursday afternoon. I invited him as a BCC on the formal invite after Sam told me he was back to being a golfer and he declined the invite so this was a surprise pairing. He shows up on time ready to go which is a plus. Gourlay uses a baseball grip which creates a slicing shot that is way more consistent than I’d think but he gives up a bit of distance. An overlap grip may be helpful to his game. He also putts well distance wise and he doesn’t read any putt that I can tell. The clubs he’s using are probably hand me downs from his grandpa so I also think that would benefit his game. Technical data aside, he’s a fun guy to golf with because he doesn’t play slow, his humor is vulgar which I find great so I have someone I can make offhanded jokes around without them getting offended. He also ordered a hot chocolate and Jack which is up my alley. When I got an 11 on a hole, he made me feel better by getting a 12! I enjoy his golfing company and Gourlay is on my list of people to ask to play a round (if no one else can play). Who won this race?

Mike and Joe – We played with 2 white guys who were 50 and 52 and they had a beer on the first tee. This is normally a sign that they are away for the afternoon and they want the round to be 10 hours long. Joe played a slice and made average contact. Mike was a lefty who played a nice draw but wasn’t making solid contact. He also putted like me missing every 6 footer. They weren’t slow, but I also didn’t give a shit because we were waiting anyway. The only odd comment I can make is that Mike kept telling Evan how good his shots were even when they were landing in trees. To be overly optimistic can be a little annoying even though he did it in good intention. I think he had a crush on Evan.

Billy and Frank – Our final round we played with 2 guys who showed up to the box at 12:19 for a 12:20 tee time. This was our 4th round and I was already 2 Jai Lai’s deep after staying out to 2am the night before so I wasn’t exactly in primo condition for these two. They were Philly guys and I imagine in or through rehab. The younger guy had a good swing where he was tucking his chin under his shoulder which was creating a nice swing path for a smaller guy. It was Frank’s 3rd time playing and after roping a drive down the middle, the rest was downhill. On hole 14 Evan and I made par’s, and Frank also made a par…after hitting 3 tee shots. He started leaving balls on the holes after he finished and wasn’t course ready or should have been picking up. I’d imagine Billy would say he’s a 12 handicap but more likely a 20. Without alcohol/drugs, you can dedicate yourself to this game and I imagine this is what these guys are doing. Perhaps I’m wrong in case they read this. This was McCullough’s.

Evan – We play a lot of golf together so I’ve seen Evan’s game for a decade now. He’s undoubtedly improving and truly enjoys the game. He plays quick, has fun on the course, and likes gambling so we share that. He’s not worried about greens fees or distance so it’s great that we can play so many different courses over the rest of our lives. My main critique is being too hard on himself for bad shots. He thinks he’s should hit shots like 3 handicap when he’s a 23. This can compound holes negatively and add a few more blow up holes that could be double saves. A lesson would also help him get over a hump because a weakness is his approach game and it lies in the contact the club is making with the swing path as it’s a touch out of whack. All in all though, we have fun together and we’ll play many more rounds in the future.

Yours Truly – I shot 92, 86, 89, and 90 over the 3 days. We played from the whites and these weren’t cakewalk courses. The first round I carded an 11 and parred 6 of the last 7 holes in tough, cold, windy, conditions. The 86 could have gotten 3 strokes lower by putting better. I started the 89 birdie, birdie and started losing the swing towards the end. The last day I was playing fine but was drunk. I’m driving the ball as well as I have in my entire life. My biggest errors were approach shots with a sand wedge that I was blading from fairway lies. My putting stinks and I’m not talking 6 footers. I’ll miss 2 and 3 footers (i miss 6’s too). It’s the main category keeping me away from a single digit handicapper. I still enjoy the game, but in order to play in the 70’s, I need to putt better and knock those approach shots in a bit tighter.