Life in the B-Flight 2023

[GregB135]

I promised more about our 2-man event. This is really a commentary on the idea that it's the committee that really makes or breaks a league, and we just had a complete changeover in ours.

The 3 previous EC were all great guys, but they were all very low handicap A flight players, and the primary scheduler was a bit of a course snob. They also didn't like getting any negative feedback from the group. They insisted on never having A and B flight players in the same group at events, claiming it would slow play down (..further - most weeks we can be closer to 5 hours than 4 ((we know and we try)) As a result, we lost a lot of the social aspect of the league, and it sort of turned into two leagues that happened to play at the same time. Like any large group, some cliques emerge, but still, we ought to know just about everybody, there's only 66 players on the roster. The other factor with the previous EC was course snobbery. Though not entirely their fault, price per week went from an average of $60-75 up to $90-110 (thanks Covid), and we weren't necessarily the "Tampa Tour" based on the schedule with lots of 2 plus hour drives to play courses that were good mind you, but it felt more like a bucket list tour for the EC. 

Enter the new EC. Right off the bat they showed they listened to a lot of the feedback to the previous trio, and gave us a schedule that was a little more local and a little more wallet friendly. The few long drives on the scheule were to courses that have become league favorites, so nobody really minded. At this most recent event, there were several groups with a mix of A and B flight players, so I got a chance to play for the first time with someone who's been in the league now for 3 years. And we all had a great time on the golf course. 

Now to the 2-man event. The format we've had for the last few years is Modified Chapman, wherein: both players play a tee ball, each plays the second shot using their partner's tee ball, then after the second shot it is played as scramble through the hole. It's tough to explain but it's fun. Every year there is also a Calcutta auction that pays the owner of the 1st and 2nd place teams. The course for this year is the ChampionsGate International course. It wasn't until all the teams were established, and the Calcutta was complete that the EC revealed all teams were going to play from the blue tees. That meant over 6800 yards with a rating/slope of 74.1/137. Needless to say, they started getting a lot of feedback from the higher handicap teams. There aren't many in the B flight that have the game to cover 6800 yards worth of golf course. And, as it turned out, most of the guys in the league who do have that kind of game... were teammates for the event. After listening to the comments though, and working with a couple of the B-flight guys, the EC decided to adjust and put the teams with a team handicap over 10 on a combo set of tees at 6500 yards. Long enough to be a challenge without being an all day kick in the junk. 

If you play an an organized league elswhere out there, I hope committee is more like our latest group.

[GregB135]

Time for this year's mid-season update. We got through the mid-point of the season so we now have both the total points and top-6 leaderboards active.

Even without a 'wow what a good round' kind of round so far, I've managed to be in 8th place and 7th place respectively. I was very briefly 4/5th, but a poor showing in the 2-man event this past weekend brought me back down a bit.

How have I managed to get there? All I've done is play pretty consistently close to my number, and about 50/50 split on rounds over or under net even par. Let that sink in a moment for the other competitive golfers out there. By keeping my handicap accurate, and fortunately playing with some good consistency, I'm sitting a top-10 position in a league of almost 60 golfers. I had one good round (sub-80 ) along the way that got me a 3rd place weekly finish. Also two or three rounds at net even par that got me a couple more weekly top-5s.

I was really disappointed this past week at the 2-man event. It was unfortunately an "A-Flight's Revenge" kind of week. All the top 5 teams in the event were A/A teams. Not a single one of the A/B or B/B teams managed to break par in the Modified Chapman format. (look it up, it's fun). It may have been a mental block for me. My partner and I were a B/B pairing, and I was the longer/more consistent hitter of the pairing. Knowing we were playing ChampionsGate International; a fairly long, very difficult course; I knew we were a longshot (pun) to finish in the money. Then my partner unintentionally arrived only minutes before our tee time and only got about 3 swings worth of warmup prior to teeing off. Either way, I wound up having a very inconsistent, and ineffective round. My tee game was way off, which cost my partner some second shot opportunites, and either my iron distances or the GPS yardages were off because I was missing a lot of approach shot yardages long. End of the day we wound up 3rd from the bottom. We did have a good time with our playing partners though, and took home a few standings points.

Moving forward. With 5 regular season events to go, I'm in really good shape for meeting my goal of qualifying for both post season events. I missed the mark by one position qualifying for the big money invitational last year. My 7th place in the top-6 standings has me reasonable secure there. I still have a chance to knock out one or two scores with decent finishes in the final events, and it will be tough for those behind me knock me out of the top 20 positions there. As far as the overall standings go, I'm not expecting to miss any events so I'll get points each week. Sitting in a top-10 spot right now means I don't have to press for or worry about having a good round and I feel like I can play a bit more relaxed. As long as I stay steady on and don't have more than one really off week on the way in I'm looking pretty solid for the post season.

Next up on the calendar is Lake Jovita's North course. It's a regular stop for the league, and a course I know pretty well and have played decently on before. A good chance for me to solidify my position. 

Cheers and wish us luck.

[GregB135]

Still waiting for the leaderboards to be updated, but I'm coming off a good result in the latest event.

I started the round REALLY well, going FIR/GIR two-putt par through the first four holes. Then I went on a run of poor/bad tee shots, but got away with only bogeys, but ended the front nine with a par for 40. Then I got to the par 5 10th hole.

Poor tee shot to a 1/2 blocked angle in really fluffy rough. The fluffy rough got me and my hybrid slid mostly under the ball and it only went about 20 yards further up in the rough. Didn't do much better with the third shot, even though I wasn't playing too aggressive, just made another bad swing. That left me with about 160 to the green with still a poor angle between a large oak that sits 100 yards from the green splitting the fairway, and a red lined wetland area right of the fairway. Faded that one into the hazard, but managed to put the provisional/6th shot on the green. Then we got hit with a downpour of rain at the green, so rushed a little bit to three putt for a league-max quad bogey 9. Fortunately, that was my only hole of the day worse than bogey.

The back nine was pretty solid after that, including a better-than-good fairway bunker approach shot and I made four more pars on the way in. The only frustration through the end was missing two short putts for par.  That gave me a 40-44: 84 and a net 71. Good enough for B-flight 2nd place money.

We should see the leaderboards post in the next day or two. I went into this event solidly in the top 10 on both. I expect my Top-6 position to improve some because this round kicks out a 14 point score, and I expect a bump of at least 15 points from there. A second place always helps the overall leaderboard positioning, but this late in the season it will make it difficult to get caught from behind and drop out of the top 20. 

So from here, it looks like I've got a good shot at qualifying for the Invitational Tourney to play for the big prize after the regular season. I should also auto qualify for the team cup that follows, where last year I got included as a captains pick. 

Weather and and being a little under it has kept me from practicing this week. We are also leaving for a week of vacation so I won't get much chance to practice before the next event. Either way, being in such a strong position going into it, I don't have to worry if I post a poor round, and that lets me play a little more relaxed anyway. 

[GregB135]

Standings have been updated, and as I thought, I moved up a few spots in both. With 4 regular season events remaining I'm 7th in the overall standings, and 5th in the Top-6. 

That means it will be really tough for me to get knocked out of the end of season invitational. Also, unless I have four straight outlier bad rounds, I'm looking solid to be a Tampa Cup qualifier. Both goals I set at the beginning of the season.

With a week of vacation with the fam, I won't have any practice more than maybe a range session the day before our next event. It's on the Innisbrook Island course, a relatively tough track. The good news is I'm playing stress free and don't have to sweat it too much if I don't post a good round.

[GregB135]

This just in.. If you go two weeks between opportunities to play a golf shot, don't expect greatness. 

The competition round coming off the family vacation break was... a disaster. I was 10 over par through my first three holes, and I struggled to even pull off shots I routinely play pretty well. It as just one of those rounds. I did rally a bit to have a more average back nine, but there was a triple bogey on the back as well as the three quads (league max) on the front nine that gave me a 56-43: 99 gross. Good enough to tie for DFL for the week. 

The good news, it's only one out of 10 rounds. The one point for the week is going to drop me down the overall leaderboard a bit, but my place in the Top-6 standings is pretty secure.

One other mistake I made. I read the book "UnF$@k Your Golf Swing" while I was on vacation... and then didn't practice (I guess that's two mistakes). The book was interesting, but if you are any better than a beginner as far as your understanding of the swing, it may not be for you.

I tried the drills in the book a few times but when I applied the method on the range warming up, it was awful. It took me most of the round to clear my mind of those thoughts and get back to my more usual swing feel and that's when the scoring came back. Just a word of caution if you see that add in your social media scrolling.

To the practice range we go to get ready for the final three events. 

We've got a week off before one regular event. The event after that will be our final major of the year on Innisbrook's Copperhead Course, home of the Valspar Championship. There is one last regular event after the major that I may or may not play. That one is usually guys on the standings bubble either trying to maintain their place or move into a qualifying spot for the post season. We'll see what happens.

[GregB135]

Getting ready for the final two events of the season and I'm more or less locked in for both post season events. 

This next event is our final major of the season, so it's a 50 point event versus the regular events' 40. Sitting in 7th position in the Top-6 standings makes it virtually certain I've qualified for the post season invitational where the top 20 players contend for the season championship. So goal #1 is essentially guaranteed.

Goal #2 of auto-qualifying for the post season team cup is close enough to call. I'm in 8th position in the full season standings and it would take an awful lot for me to fall out of the top 20 in the next two events. I did need to skip the last event or I'd be in better shape. But barring a "DFL" finish for me in each of the next two and the 12 guys behind me in the standings placing 1-12 both weeks, I'm a solid bet to be a qualifier.

I'm feeling good going into this major though. We are playing at the Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead course. Home to the PGA Tour's Valspar Championship. I've played the course in person several times now both in league play and casual rounds. I also used it as my default practice round course in the Trackman bay at my former coach's golf shop. So I'm familiar with the course and my strategy, and I've got a bit of boosted confidence after a good clinic session and lesson with my current coach. As long as I execute well enough, and stay away from too many wild misses, I feel like I should make a good showing.

The real boost is not feeling like I HAVE TO post a low round, so I won't be stressing over every shot.

 

[GregB135]

ALLLLLL Righty then,

Here's the good news. Regular season is complete. I managed to finish 5/8th in the Top-6 and Overall standings, and auto qualified for both post season events.  That was my goal going into the season and even though I only had one 'really good' round during the year, steady play early in the season let me relax a lot more in the final events and just have fun. (Cue Crash Davis on having fun)

The Invitational tournament was held last weekend at TPC Prestancia in Sarasota FL. A terrific venue for our league championship event. I try to stay away from leaderboard watching during the round, but I looked afterward and when I made the turn at +4 gross, I was in a tie for the overall lead. Two big number holes on the second nine however did me in. With what seemed like only 4 bad shots all day long, they were all on the back nine, and a couple of them back to back meant they were all very costly. So it was 40-48 - 88 for net 75 and a 6th place overall, B-flight 4th just out of the money.

As far as the leaderboard watching goes, we've used the Squabbit app for live scoring during events and it proved to be really good, and it seemed like all the guys liked it. So I recommend it if you're looking for something similar.

Next up is the Tampa Cup team event (tropical weather permitting). We are planned for this upcoming weekend at the Hammock Beach resort. We just have to see what the developing tropical weather in the gulf has to say about that. We have done this event at Hammock Beach before and it's always a good time. I was selected for "Team Europe" again, so...

Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole,... Oleeeey, Oleeeeey