2013 Annual Buddy Trip

[Fozcycle]

The 5th Annual Pebble Creek Golf Ass'n Buddy Trip is in 2 days!

Getting psyched.....7 rounds in 4 days; 25 players from my Saturday Game at Pebble Creek in Tampa are going .

Destination: Spring Lake Golf Resort in Sebring; only 2 1/2 hours from Tampa and they have 2 courses.

I do the numbers and another guy sets up the games.....the total pot is $3,500.  We play individual points game every morning and team games in the afternoon.  Each game is $20 for 25 players(this year).  I withold $2 per player per game and add it to the Sunday morning Final Round.  So this makes each round worth about $450....I pay 6 places, CTP's & Skins.

We bunk 4 to a condo and mine is usually where the nightly parties are.

I look forward to this every year.

Anybody going on a Buddy trip?

[jetsknicks1]

In my previous job we actually used to do a 3 day outing at Spring Lake and we stayed in the condos as well, it was always a lot of fun. More recently there was a group of us that would hold a yearly golf outing in a different area each year. Those were a blast as well but it got to the point where there were just too many guys all wanting to "help" decide how it should be put together. Way too many chiefs and it just kinda fell apart when one guy lobbied hard to set it up and never actually did anything. Have fun buddy, that's a great area.

[Fozcycle]

This is my 5th time going, but the guy that started it has been going for about 10 years. Granted the courses are not pristine, but the cost is amazingly nominal compared to other Buddy Trips. Accommodations are great and the travel is only 2+ hours from home.

[NotPortlyNJ]

The buddy trip is how I got into golf in the first place.  Been going on one since 2008, and the group of 30 guys has been doing this for 25 years.  It's a scramble format for the tournament, plus an optional additional round prior to it, over 4 days of drinking and camaraderie.

Each year, the organizer decides on the location, accommodations, and other activities (music venues, etc), so there is no issue with everyone trying to "help" with setting it up.  The last thing the organizer does after the tournament is appoint next year's organizer.

[Fozcycle]

7 Rounds later......

I shot pretty consistent.....89, 93, 93, 90....on the Panther course (6500 yds), took 4th place overall on the money list.  My condo (4 per condo) was 1st on the money list.

The weather was 96 - 98 *....very hot!...so hot, my car wouldn't start. I had to get it jumped a couple times.  We had a lenthy delay on Thursday afternoon due to a thunderstorm where a nearby telephone pole was struck and split.  Afterwards the weather calmed down, cooled off and we resumed play.

Courses were in great shape as they have had a lot of rain this year......Only 2 greens out of 36 were damaged.

In the mornings we played our "points" game on the Panther Creek course and adjusted points each day with our "10 Game moving average)....in the afternoons we played the Cougar Trail, 2 man scramble, 3 man scramble & 5 man scramble.  All scramble pairings were points based and the teams were within one or two points of each other and we set pairings so that you played with most of the other players not in your own condo.  This was our effort to allow the players to get to know others better.  For the 5 man team scramble, we drew numbers, then averaged the points.  The best had to get 25 points.......my team only had to get 18 points.  Well, what we looked like on paper was not how we performed.....We birdied the first 6 holes!...and finished at 11 under and +40 points. The second place team was +33, then there was a +29, +28 & +23.

For the evening meals, my condo went in with another who got a little Cuban lady to prepare and freeze three meals for each condo.  that way we did not have to go out after 36 holes.  On the last night, we had a group dinner for our two condos with mojo pork, black beans & yellow rice.  Some of us also brought wine and we had 6 different bottles of red to taste and compare.  Of course the gathering usually lasted past midnight each night with 8 & 9 AM tee times the next morning.

All in, every player won something, with the difference between the top money winner and the second being only $1!  The total payout for the 7 rounds was $3400.

I do believe this was the most fun we have had to date (I've been going for 5 years).

[France46]

Sounds like a lot of fun...nice that you have good options so close to home!

[Clubchucker]

I say kudos to you and the entire crew who could play 36 a day in June, in Florida.  Don't think this Ohio boy could take that.  I've been to the Tampa and Naples area many times in the summer and 18 is all I want...and that's getting out early.  Although I do love those December days down there.

We've been going on a guys trip for probably 20 years, usually in July.  That's enough heat for us.  Sometimes we get lucky with the weather but it's also been smoking hot a few times.  We used to do the same setup you had (7 rounds in 4 days) but we're older now; we cut down a day of the trip a couple of years ago and this year we're cutting it down to 27 per day (no scrambles; always play our own ball).

While we're not as young as we used to be, we still have a blast.

[Fozcycle]

We definitely are not getting younger........Actually, some of us discussed cutting the first day from 36 to 27.  We are getting up at 4 AM to make the 9 AM Tee time, so 36 makes for a very long day.   And it would give us more social time.