Where Were You February
1st?
By
David Rallis
Oh wow,
Superbowl Sunday has come and gone! The titanic clash this year
between the Arizona Cardinals of the N.F.C. And the Pittsburgh
Steeleers of the A.F. C. was quite a spectacle of color, pagentry and
athleticism. Most Americans were glued to their T.V.s the better
part of the day for what is called “America's Unofficial Holiday”.
It seems as if all the world stops for Americans and the place to
be is watching the event, pre-game, commercials and finally the game
itself. Does it get any better? Well, yes it does.
I admit
that I will watch the game, but I am not that much into football.
When the 49ers and the Raiders were eliminated (about the third week
of the season this year I think) my football season pretty much
ended. I caught bits and pieces of the playoffs as I was doing other
things (like playing golf). What alternatives are available to
sitting in front of the T.V. for several hours on Super Bowl Sunday?
This year, for me it was golf. Not only that, but it was golf in
beautiful Monterey, Ca. at Bayonet Golf Course, one of the areas
finest courses. I will take that any day as opposed to staring at a
T.V. set all day.
Bayonet is located in the hills above Monterey on what used to be
the U.S. Army's Fort Ord.
There are
two courses here and Bayonet shares the site with it's sister course
Blackhorse. Both are excellent golf courses and have recently
undergone an extensive renovation project. I had played the new
front nine at Bayonet the year before but the back nine project had
not been started, so you played the new front nine and then the old
back nine. When the opportunity came to play the newly reopened
course, with both front and back nines completed I jumped at the
chance. Who cares if it was on Super Bowl Sunday and we had to play
in Bayonet's Super Bowl Sunday Tournament. I was excited, and I
thought the Tournament would be a lot of fun.
There were a few minor details that had to be ironed out.
First, would the whole trip be approved by headquarters (my wife).
This small detail was quickly dispatched (I would play golf and she
would go on a shopping spree at a later date). The tournament was a
four-man event, and I needed to find three other golfers to join me.
This was going to be a tougher task. You can just imagine how hard
it was to tear loose three other guys from their T.V. and onion dip,
and give up their Super Bowl Parties. It was hard, but I did it.
There was Steve, a policeman, who really wasn't into football. Next,
there was Rick who like me, his football season ended early with the
elimination of the 49ers. Rick wound up not going, when his wife
invited relatives to stay for the weekend and he told us he was not
going the day before the tournament. I still needed to find a fourth.
My youngest daughter who lives with us played junior golf and
competed with both her high school and a local junior college.
Bekah is quite the stick and can hit the ball a long way (past her
dad, but that is a different story). At first, she didn't want to
play, but I convinced her to join us. Isn't amazing what can happen
when you tell someone that they will have to start paying rent.
Tournament day and the day of the Super Bowl arrived and all of us
(except for Rick, of course) were thrilled about playing. We checked
in at the clubhouse, payed our entry fee and went to our carts.
Bayonet's
pro, Evan Boone, gathered all the tournament players and went over
the rules. This was a four man better ball cha-cha-cha format, best
of the four balls on the the first hole(cha), best two scores added
together on the next hole (cha-cha), and finally best three ball
scores added together on the third hole (cha-cha-cha) all with full
handicap strokes. This sequence is repeated each three holes until
all 18 are played. We were truly chomping at the bit to get started.
It was a shotgun start, and we were fortunate enough to start on hole
number one.
The view from the clubhouse at Bayonet/Blackhorse is breathtaking.
From there, you can see much of the beautiful courses with their lush
green fairways and rough, Monterey Cyprus trees lining each fairway,
and the beautiful white sand bunkers. The city of Monterey is below
with most of beautiful blue Monterey Bay beyond. Many holes have
this picturesque view as the courses are laid out on the hills
overlooking Monterey. Sometimes you forget that you are playing golf
and just want to admire the view. You haven't even started your
round, and the view is just the beginning.
It was time to play and off to the first tee we went. We never were
able to pick up a fourth, so Evan would provide a fourth score on a
blind draw. Number one is a par 5 and goes down a slight hill and
then up the same hill to a small green. It seems such a benevolent
hole that it sort of lulls you to sleep. I must have been snoring
very loudly, because I took an 8 on the hole. Isn't it funny how
scoring becomes rather difficult when you smother your drive, pull
your second shot into the fairway bunker, leave the ball in the
bunker and then, well I kind of think you get the idea.
One thought kept me going even on my fiasco of a first hole. I must
par or bogie the 18th hole. That hole has been my nemesis
and I have a history with that hole. I usually take double or triple
on that hole. It has ruined many a good round at Bayonet for me, and
if I par or bogie it my day would certainly be considered a success.
This time, the 18th would be brought to its knees. Come on
Dave, this is only the first hole. Luckily, Steve bogied the hole
and we walked away with a net par.
It was a struggle on the front nine, but we played just well enough
to not make fools of ourselves. We hung in there, keeping the net
team score on the front nine between the three of us respectable. All
of us contributed to the team at the necessary times. I must bogie
or par the 18th hole.
On to the back nine. I was very excited about playing it, wanting to
see the changes that were made during the renovation. The old course
was designed by the commandant of the fort at the time, General
Robert McClure. As the story goes, General Mc Clure was a golf
fanatic who played left handed and had a wicked left handed slice
(ball goes to the left). Hole number 10 is a straightaway par 5 of
500 yards, a nice hole which is almost a carbon copy of the first
hole. From here the course got interesting, especially for a right
hander. You enter what is known as “Combat Corner”.
Have you ever played a hole that has a dog-leg left and 90 degrees at
that. How about three of these beauties in five holes (11,12 and
15). And, these holes were not short at say 375 yards, but all three
were over 400 yards. The straight holes were tough as well with an
over 400 yard straight
par 4 and
a 180 yard par three, uphill I might add.
The fun didn't stop there. Number 16 looked like a short par four
on the card of about 320 yards if I recall. Easy hole you would
think, until you saw it. The fairway sloped severely to the left at
what appeared to be a 45 degree angle. Anything hit to the right
would trickle to the left and roll into the trees. If you did happen
to hit the fairway as a righthander, you were faced with a side-hill
uphill shot to a small green. You really want to run up the white
flag of surrender at this point, but you can't because you were still
faced with two more holes.
Sixteen was an elevated par three of about 175 yards. As you
looked at the hole, it seemed that you were faced with a 1000 foot
drop to the green from the tee. Eighteen was the par 5. Actually,
it wasn't a hard hole, but by the time you got to it you were so
drained mentally and physically that it seemed to take forever to get
finish the hole in say 20 strokes. When I would take my eight on
this hole I was glad to put my clubs in my car and quietly leave the
course. (If I par or bogie 18 in this tournament, the day would be a
total success.)
The 18th hole was basically unchanged from when I played
it before. It had been manicured and cleaned up a bit, but it
basically played the same. What was “Combat Corner” going to be
like? What did they do to it, and did it keep it's unique character?
To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised. I wanted to par or
bogie the 18th hole.
The tees on 11 and 12 had been moved over making the dog legs not so
severe. The new alignment of the holes, plus they were both
shortened to a more playable length made the holes more fair to play
for both left hander and right handers. We had played the first
three holes of the back nine and were doing fairly well. What would
the next holes have for us?
On we went to the downhill 13th hole. This hole had
basically stayed the same as far as it being straight, but it was now
contoured which made the hole more pleasing to look at and I thought
more playable. The length stayed about the same. The team took a
net par for the hole if I remember correctly. It was on to the
uphill 14th, a par 3 which remained relatively unchanged
as well except for some trimming of the trees. On to a hole that I
really hated before the renovation, the 15th.
Is this the same 15th that I knew and hated. No, it
wasn't. It was a kinder and gentler 15, shortened and with a new
green. The old green was almost unreadable, as it was built into a
hill. What looked uphill, was actually severely sloped downhill.
The new green was very fair. I took my bogie here after getting on
in two and walked away a very happy man even after three putting.
On to the par four 16th, and the first thing I noticed
was that it was still uphill but the fairway was shaped and still
sloped but it was a gentler more playable slope. This was a great
improvement, both for its playability and the way it set up visually.
I was on in three but missed a short par put for my bogie 5. The
18th hole is near, and I must par or bogie it.
The 17th was still a par three with what seemed to be a
1000 foot drop but the hole had been moved over from tee to green
more to the left. I was worried that this would ruin the character
of the hole but it didn't. It was still a fun hole. This was it
guys. We went on to the par 5, 18th hole which I had to
bogie or par. It was time to show what I had in me!
I pulled my tee shot off to the left into the trees about 220 yards
out but was past the tree line on that side. I had an open shot, and
hit a 3 wood to the middle of the fairway about 160 yards to the
green. The next shot was a fat 4 iron into the wind which came up
about 60 yards of the green but in great shape. My wedge shot flew
straight and true and landed within 4 feet of the hole and I was
lying 4. Would I make par? Would my day be a success? Could I make
my bogie and walk away from the course with my head held high, or
would I three put from 4 feet? You can't handle the suspense, or
should I tell you what happened? Are you ready? OK, enough is
enough I missed the 4 foot par putt but made the 2 footer coming back
for a bogie. I could go home a very happy man! What a golf course!
They truly did a magnificent job in the renovation.
How did we do in the tournament you ask. When we holed out we looked
at the scorecard and thought that we didn't have a snowballs chance
of placing in the tournament. We didn't play that badly but felt
that we didn't play well enough to place. We went on to the
bar-b-que, which was excellent by the way, and waited for the
tournament results as we ate and watched the Superbowl. There was
also a raffle with the course giving some great prizes. Rebekah drew
the winning tickets for the raffle, and we all had a great time.
I would like to thank Even Boone and his staff for showing us some
excellent hospitality. They went out of their way to make sure that
our every need was taken care of. The course itself was the star of
the show. If you are in the Monterey area and have the time to play
golf, play it. The renovation has made this course one of the finest
in the Monterey area, if not in the state of California. Again, a
sincere thanks to all the people that put on the Tournament.
By the way, we came in second.
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| Pre-Tournament Briefing |
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| The First Tee |
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| Such a beautiful Course |
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| The Real Pro |
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| The Three Amigos |
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| What a View From The Eighteenth Hole! |
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| The Leader Board |
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