Well that was fun - but he was SPONSORED!

[cfritchie]

This is just a rant...and maybe to get a little laugh...at the expense of someone else of course...

Last week was a bit of a long one..this week I knew would be really busy. I had a funeral Saturday so I knew my only chance for a round of golf was Sunday morning.

My home course had a tournament and I was just a walk-up. When they called my name I was informed we'd be the last group out and I was playing with "one of the pro's"...they kinda made it sound important..

Now...I don't share it really with anyone but I was in the program years ago..like 20? (PGA)...my handicap index is a 1.2 and trending to a .6. I came back last fall from an 8 year layoff. The thing is I'm not at all pretentious about it or arrogant about it...heck I'm 50...I know I can shot 83 as quick as 73.

Well..the group I joined left an open spot with me to ride along with "The Pro." Now having a history in the golf business 20+ years ago I know there are a lot of teaching pro's who well...teach. They love the game and really are not that accomplished as players...I was one of them..I carried about an 8 handicap back then.

This "Pro" was playing with his brother and another walk-up, he was dressed to the 9's. He presented himself as though he was about to tee off on #1 at The Masters... the other player was solid player maybe a 5 or 6. I was secretly really look forward to a good round of golf, I'm pretty competitive and love nothing more then to whip up on someone 20+ years younger..I don't advertise my handicap..I typically just play and let the chips fall where they may. On this day it started with a real nice 3 wood down the left side..solid swing..then a crappy 8 iron and a bogey to start the day... "The Pro" made double with a horrid 9 iron 20 yards short of the green, a pitch 35' short and a nice 3 putt..But hey it's the first hole there is plenty of time to get this going!

I think on the 3rd hole...after 2 doubles in a row "The Pro" let me know how starting out slow was normal for him...he'd done it before when he "played the Adams Tour" a few years back...oh boy...here we go.

Well to make a long story short I finished the day 1 over and "The Pro" well..."I wasn't keeping score today, when asked by the cart girl on 17."

About 2/3rd of the way through the match after "The Pro" had made 3 doubles in his first 4 holes, 6 or 7 bogies and 1 birdie (he was at least 8 over when he made this birdie..his quote after the putt was "now I can get back into the red numbers!...huh?" While standing on 12 tee box the marshall approached us and asked "The Pro" how the round was going said.. "going great, right around par!" Maybe he meant just the current hole since he'd only hit one shot?

The marshal also told us we needed to pick up the pace... "The Pro" was the slowest player I'd ever played with...he spent more time talking and doing who knows what then anyone I've ever scene...I was behind him when the marshall said this..I just pointed at "The Pro" and gave a shrug...the marshal grinned.

Did I mention he was sponsored by "Zero Bounce" wedges...I need to google that..never heard of them. He mentioned this on 13 fairway when he had 85 yds into the green...he hit it 65.

All in all it was a decent round...a bit of a boring 73 as I hit all but 2 fairways and 2 greens but seemed to leave myself a down hill left to right fast putt all day..really didn't make anything.

I love this game...and some of the characters that make it so fun!

[David in FL]

The big mistake you made was not to gush all over him on the first tee box.....

"Wow.....a real pro ?!  Did you play a lot competitively?!  Wow.....what an honor!  I know I'll get killed, but let's throw $20 on the line.  It would mean a lot to me to be able to say that I played a match with a real pro .  I know you're a probably a great player, and I'm 50 and have only recently started playing again, so how many strokes are you gonna give me......?"

[cfritchie]

The big mistake you made was not to gush all over him on the first tee box.....

"Wow.....a real pro?!  Did you play a lot competitively?!  Wow.....what an honor!  I know I'll get killed, but let's throw $20 on the line.  It would mean a lot to me to be able to say that I played a match with a real pro.  I know you're a probably a great player, and I'm 50 and have only recently started playing again, so how many strokes are you gonna give me......?"

Exactly!

It was a beating yet..in some ways a lot of fun..

Until on 15 when I absolutely nutted one on my nemesis hole...hit it about 290..yeah...I got some role. I had wedge into the green. As I'm standing over the ball I hear from behind...."Just keep your head down...stay in the shot!" Really "Pro" you just hit hybrid from 205 and are 15 yards short and left of the green!

[Golfingdad]

This amuses me because the one time I've ever played with a stranger who advertised themselves as a pro, it was a similar situation.  Not a tournament or anything like that, but my friends and I had successfully nabbed a tee time at Torrey Pines South (back when I was a county resident and before they made the renovations for the Open so it was like $60 a person or so) and we got paired up with a nice older gentleman - we were in our late 20's, he was probably early 50's at the time - who said he "used to play on the Hogan Tour."

I played what was, for me, a great round at the time (shot 85) and he was somewhere very close to that.  Knowing what I know now about how good the Web.com guys are, I can't imagine that guy was being truthful.  At the same time, I can't imagine what would possess somebody to lie to random people about something like that, so maybe he just lost his swing.  Who knows.

To top it off, he said something about how he promised his wife back home in Georgia that he'd bring her a branch from a Torrey pine, so coming up the 17th hole, he went over and just snapped one off.