Holy crap, I'm gonna play golf with Graeme McDowell!

[golf2much420]

Great recap david im excited to hear more and im sure that was a day you will remember forever opening up with a bogey on first hole is pretty legit and from the scores it looked like u were the one to give graeme a little competition

[Foursum Golf]

You made it onto Srixon's Facebook page

[rkim291968]

I always liked G.  After reading David's report, I will be rooting for him on every tournament.

Great report, David.   I am very envious of what you went through and need to figure out how many rounds I have to book through GNow.com.

[David in FL]

http://golivegolf.com/bills-corner-golfing-with-graeme/

Not as detailed or interesting as your post, David, but there are some other pictures up. You seem to be in most of them.

Few questions:

1) What kind of ball flight does G-Mac have? Does he hit high or low, and does he play more of a fade or draw?

2) He give you any good tips?

Congrats, and glad the experience seemed to live up to, if not exceed, your expectations.

Sorry I didn't get to add any more today.....trying to catch up after taking Wed off!

I'll follow up tomorrow and talk a little about his game, and what he helped......well, tried to help me with.

BTW.....I know I'm a bit of a GolfNow hack, but I came home Wed night and there was an envelope from them in the mail for me.  4 tickets to the Father/Son tournament this week.  I can't go, but gave 'em to two of my golf buddies to take their kids.  They still aren't happy that I got to play with Graeme and they didn't though!

[Phil McGleno]

DId you get a chance to tell him about this site? :-)[quote name="David in FL" url="/t/71403/holy-crap-im-gonna-play-golf-with-graeme-mcdowell/270#post_929689"] BTW.....I know I'm a bit of a GolfNow hack, but I came home Wed night and there was an envelope from them in the mail for me.  4 tickets to the Father/Son tournament this week.  I can't go, but gave 'em to two of my golf buddies to take their kids.  They still aren't happy that I got to play with Graeme and they didn't though! [/quote]

[Golfingdad]

The other thing I'm curious about is how a pro plays a casual round.  We see them grind over shot after shot, looking at putts from 12 angles, etc, during tournaments on TV, but I presume they don't play like that all of the time.  Or do they?

[bplewis24]

The other thing I'm curious about is how a pro plays a casual round.  We see them grind over shot after shot, looking at putts from 12 angles, etc, during tournaments on TV, but I presume they don't play like that all of the time.  Or do they?

On that note, I'm sure your head will be spinning the majority of the time and the whole thing will be over before you know it, but it would be somewhat interesting to know how fast or slow a tour pro plays in a casual round.

I second GD's question.  Or does that mean I firsted it?  Either way, inquiring minds...

[Ernest Jones]

I second GD's question.  Or does that mean I firsted it?  Either way, inquiring minds...

So the real question is did G-mac lay down a 63 beat down without even trying?

[Hammer 4]

So the real question is did G-mac lay down a 63 beat down without even trying?

Because he could....

[0ldblu3]

Because he could....

The course isn't set up for tournament conditions, so that could give him a couple of strokes a round. You said that he hit all 18 greens...did he miss any fairways?

[Dave2512]

I suspect distance was a big factor, he played up.

[BuckeyeNut]

Wow...I really enjoyed reading this thread....

David...thanks for sharing!  Very nice....

[smellysell]

Sounds like an amazing day, thanks for sharing.

[Crim]

Fantastic stuff! Can't wait for the next update.

[David in FL]

Alright, sorry for the delay, my daughter's birthday was this past weekend and I was tied up.  I'll see if I can't fill in some of the fun stuff now......

Graeme was a lot of fun to play with.  He helped read putts and offered some swing help/advice along the way, but not in any kind of condescending manner.  The other two guys were a little rough, especially the 18 hcp who shot a 105......at least by his own count. For the first few holes, Graeme spent some time giving him swing pointers.  But eventually, he just couldn't stand it any more.   I tend to play a draw with my irons from a pretty closed stance that drives my buddies nuts.  As I'm standing on the par-3 7th tee box, he says, and I quote, "Alright, what the F**K are you doing?!  Where the Hell are you aiming?!".   The two other guys thought that was funnier 'n hell and almost wet themselves laughing.  Graeme opened me up a bit and I promptly jacked my nice little normal 165 yd 6-iron over the green and down into pine straw and shrubs.  Double bogey.    He said not to worry about the hole, but to keep working on the alignment and more open stance and I'd continue to gain some distance because of a better turn through the ball, rather than fighting across my body.  Ordinarily I'd have tucked that away for some time on the range, rather than work out something new on the course, but hell, it was Graeme McDowell, what could I say?  Throughout the rest of the round I struggled a bit with pulls and blocks, including one block that I put OB on my approach to 10.  Still, I know he's right........but I've gotta think that he cost me 4 or 5 strokes that day, but in the grand scheme of things, I couldn't care less.

I'm not really a gear guy, so I didn't look too hard at his bag.  I think it was a mix of Cleveland and Srixon with what looked like an Odyssey putter.  Srixon ball, always number "00".....he said the only place he doesn't like 00 is on the roulette wheel!

He hits a high draw with just about everything.  I don't remember seeing him hit a cut all day.  And let me tell you, every shot looked EXACTLY the same.   Uphill/downhill lies, ball above/below his feet, it just didn't matter.  At one point he was explaining the shot he was about to hit.  A 3-wood off of a pretty good downhill lie.  He's talking to us about his setup, keeping his weight forward and his shoulders level with the slope and executes the shot as he's talking about it. Another par-5 hit in two from about 265 out.  As I said earlier, he hit every single green.  He was on 3 of the par-5's in 2, and about 15 feet short of the 4th.  As he hit the approach on the one he missed (3-wood from about 260) he said, "I missed that shot" right as he hit it.  Said he heeled it, but I sure couldn't see any difference......he just came up 5 yards short of the green, but right in front.  He hit every fairway except for the 2 short par-4's that he tried to drive the green and ended up around the green, but past the fairway, so I'll give him those two too.  He's not terribly long by tour (or even internet forum ) standards.  Most drives were in the 280ish range and he was hitting said that his stock 7-iron is 170, but I watched him hit 2 6-irons on par-3's playing a little less than 180.  He said that he liked to control his distance by gripping down and keeping his swing the same.  But......when he wanted to hit it further, it was effortless.  Twice, on par-5's he said that he was going to "hit it hard" off the tee.  When most of us really try to go after one, you can tell.... we come out of our shoes, or screw ourselves into the ground.  I couldn't see any difference in his swing, but the drive went a good 30-40 yards further......exact same ball flight.

On 14 we were just shooting the breeze, so I asked him how his new restaurant, Nona Blue, was doing.  He said they were busy and were confident that it would be successful.  Then he said that he had planned on taking us into the clubhouse for a couple of drinks after the round, but wondered if we'd rather go to the restaurant with him.  Needless to say, we said yes.  So after we finished, we piled into our cars and drove over there.  We got there and Graeme pulled out his cell phone and called his wife, Kristin, and asked her to come on down.  She did, and we all sat and had a few drinks and shared a couple of appetizers.

After an hour or so, Graeme asked us if we'd like to join the two of them for dinner, but at that point it was getting a little late and we really figured we didn't need to over stay our welcome, so we politely declined.  I'm not sure Graeme was terribly disappointed.....

Overall, a day for the ages.  It's gonna be a tough one to top, that's for sure!

[k-troop]

David that's a helluva day, and certainly one golf experience you will never, ever forget.  I'm super jealous...but happy for you.  BTW there's no way I would've turned down that dinner offer--you're a better man than most of us, I presume.

[boogielicious]

Thanks again @David in FL .  Of course the picture above will start a flurry of "wearing hats indoors" comments!

[David in FL]

Thanks again @David in FL.  Of course the picture above will start a flurry of "wearing hats indoors" comments!

True, but it is a Nona Blue hat......I would've liked one of those!