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Posted 22 April 2009 - 07:14 PM
Unfortunately are also on the two hardest golf courses to get on. I only played each one, once. Once was enough. You have to know some very rich and high up to get in. To get on, is virtually impossible. These were circles I did not run in. But fate put me in a position where I soon would.
The year is 1985.
The hardest short par 3 in the world everyone agrees on. #12 at Augusta National. I had a very old man get me on. He was the former chairman of Georgia Power, and if they screwed with him, he could turn their lights out. He was treated well there. The head of Ga Power, was always a member there.
I was working for a company based in Silicon Valley and they hired me because I knew how to make things happen in Utility companies. They wanted this new thing approved fast. And when I told them 4 years was fast, they could not live with that. They said, how much faster can you do. I said, it’s like Washington DC, if you want some bill passed, you hire a lobbyist, who pushes it, gives important people a reason to get behind it and make it happen, or it just lays around up there and goes nowhere fast. A lot of money has to be put in play. They said, how much, they could deal with it, they said, make it happen.
When the Chairman of the board of Georgia power retired, I hired him, to perform some lobby work, to get some things passed, or speed up and kicked into high gear and through the approval process so I could sell millions of dollars of them. The problem with Utilities is they will study something for years and nobody wants to be first out with anything new.
He said to me, what I can do for you. I said, get me on the course, he said no problem. I said, do it, I’ll cover the expenses. So on the front 9 we played the member tee’s and I did well. Then on the back 9, I talked them into letting me play the pro tee’s you see on Sunday, and they could walk up and hit from the shorter ones. I did not do well back there. I could not hit it close, and the slopes of the greens just ate me up. I was 3 putting all over the place. I was not used to very fast slick greens like this.
I bogeyed 10 and 11, and when we came to #12, the wind was normal, and I took a 7 iron. Most fade into a pin that is usually on the right side as it was that day. I hit a slight hook, wanting to get there and hit it stiff. What a thrill, to bird that hole. It was my only birdie on the back 9. But to nut that one hole, it made my day. When I got up on that green, I could not believe how narrow it was. I paced it off and it was 11 steps deep. The normal green is 30 to 40 steps deep.
That is the problem, there is only one club in there. Bigger greens you can be 7 on the front, and 4 on the back.
Today, most pros hit 7 in, but if the wind picks up only a 6 will do. The big hitters with no wind will hit 8. A few gorillas might do 9, but that club is stupid, Lefty tried it on the final round of 2009 and lost the Masters when he put it in the drink. Tiger hit 8 and on.
I played it, I kicked its dick in the dirt.
VENI VIDI VICI
http://www.augusta.c...rsetour/hole12/
And I made another deal, I said, once I get you these approvals, I expect of course my bonus and stock options, but one more, that is very important to me. I play Pebble Beach and Spyglass hill, no problem, they are open to the public with money, but I have tried and cannot get on Cypress point. All the members are in San Francisco and most are in the financial community and way up there. You need to find one, and have him get me on that course. And they did.
We played there on Tuesday, and when we had our early lunch, there was only one group on the course who was just finishing up. When we teed off, our twosome was the only one playing. I was thinking, if this is not GD drop dead and go to fookin heaven, tell me what is. Most of the members come down to play on the weekend. During the week, the course is empty.
I was only playing the pro back tees and my game at that time was scratch to plus 1. I was hitting it long. Finally we came to the most famous and most beautiful long par 3 in the world, #16. It was never designed to be reached in 1, it was to be a par 4, laying up on the left side and a wedge in. But as the clubs and balls got better, it became a par 3.
When the wind blows, or unless you are a gorilla, most members still layup left. Few can hit that green over that ocean, into that wind that is always there.
When you walk up on that tee what comes to your mind, is Holy Shit. The hair, stands up on your neck and yo pecker gets hard. You are finally there, the fookin hole of holes. Your time is now.
It is the most spectacular golf shot on earth. I pull out a 1 iron, my partner says, you will never get there with that today. I went, its 230, I can carry a 1 iron that far. He said, not into that wind. I said, there is nobody behind us, would you mind if I hit a few balls here just to see what I can do. He said, sure, fire away. I flushed my 1 Iron, and it came up way short and on the rocks. I was shocked, how short. I pulled out my Mizunno 13 degree 3 wood and nutted it which I could carry back then 245-250 in the air. It came up short. I pull out the big dawg, my 7 degree Mizunno, which I could carry 260-270 and I nutted it and it landed in the middle of the green softly like a wedge.
You could pound into that wind coming in from the Ocean and it would be like a wall. Ok, you say it took me 3 to get on and that was not a par. True, but I knew the 1 Iron would not get there, if I pulled my club, I would have gone with the 3 wood. No way would I have believed it would have been the driver at 230. No way.
I hit the green, had my par, and I had the shot memory of my life. I have photos of me making that shot. I hit the green off the tee, end of story.
With nobody in front of us, we were done by 3, and I said, lets run over to spyglass and get in another 18. We did, and it was mostly empty also. Now the wind began to kick up and come in and it drove me nuts. You fly or come up short on a green and you hit into this ice plant crap, it’s like rubber bands, I had no clue how to get out of that shit. The wind, the course, ate my lunch.
When I got on #3, 152yrds the wind was now so strong, I could not get home. I hit 7-5, 3, and finally a 2 got there. I was on the back tees, and I moved up to the sissy tees after that fiasco. When the wind blows there, it can get real nasty. This is one tough ass course.
When I finished, I was talking in unkown tongues and my mind was mush. I was not used to being bashed around like that.
The next day I played Pebble Beach, completing the trio. I just played 3 of the top 10 course in the country, in those 2 days. I love Pebble, played it dozens of times, I love 18. Anyone can get on with 3 or $400. Reserve well in advance. The wind does not affect that course as much as the other two.
http://www.golfspast.../JDCPGCH161799/
http://www.golfplusgifts.com/xcart/Cypress...e-pr-16804.html
http://thecaddyshack.blogspot.com/2006/12/...s-point-16.html
http://www.montereyp...ress+Point+Club
http://www.pebblebeach.com/page.asp?pageNa...f_Spyglass_Main
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