Thursday, February 6, 2014

Superbowl Tournament...A Repeat

     I have written a lot about golf in the past years.  Many of these gems have been published, but it has been a long time since they have been shared.  Today, I thought I would share one one of my classic articles.  I will be doing this every now and then so sit back and enjoy.
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.
Pre-Tournament Briefing


The First Tee

Such a beautiful Course

The Real Pro

The Three Amigos

What a View From The Eighteenth Hole!

The Leader Board

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