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*****Official HORT Golf General Discussion Thread*****

Quick CSB, Playing in a Charity scramble at Blue Top Thursday, My first time playing Blue Top so looking forward to it. Plus several Hawkeye “ celebrities” are going to be playing, Friend of mine played Blue Top last year and said it’s a very nice course.
Give me a quick DM when you're teeing off on the 16th, 665 yard par 5. I can likely get to the shed refrigerator and be waiting on the green with a cold one before you're ready to putt....

...and don't be ogling my blond, trophy wife as she passes the #5 tee box on her morning walk. She might appreciate a good wolf whistle, however, if you know how... :)
 
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Give me a quick DM when you're teeing off on the 16th, 665 yard par 5. I can likely get to the shed refrigerator and be waiting on the green with a cold one before you're ready to putt....

...and don't be ogling my blond, trophy wife as she passes the #5 tee box on her morning walk. She might appreciate a good wolf whistle, however, if you know how... :)

16 sounds like driver, 3 wood, 3 wood, wedge and hope to hole putt for par for me. 🍺🍺
 
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Quick CSB, Playing in a Charity scramble at Blue Top Thursday, My first time playing Blue Top so looking forward to it. Plus several Hawkeye “ celebrities” are going to be playing, Friend of mine played Blue Top last year and said it’s a very nice course.
That course holds a special place in my heart. My first job out of college was on the crew during construction and grow-in, and I eventually worked up to the assistant superintendent position there.

I love that layout, it’s a great track. If I have one piece of advice, it’s to really pay attention to what level the pin is on; most of the greens there have severe tiers. On many holes it’s better to be just off the green, even in the rough, on the correct level than to be on the green but on the wrong shelf. Especially if Mike has the greens rolling fast. Hopefully someone in the group has played there, because the strategy is different from green to green.
 
That course holds a special place in my heart. My first job out of college was on the crew during construction and grow-in, and I eventually worked up to the assistant superintendent position there.

I love that layout, it’s a great track. If I have one piece of advice, it’s to really pay attention to what level the pin is on; most of the greens there have severe tiers. On many holes it’s better to be just off the green, even in the rough, on the correct level than to be on the green but on the wrong shelf. Especially if Mike has the greens rolling fast. Hopefully someone in the group has played there, because the strategy is different from green to green.

Thank you for the tips, I don’t believe anyone in our group has played the course, Maybe we will get lucky and the “celebrity” we draw will know the course. My golf GPS gives front center back distances so I will definitely pay attention to the advice you gave on pin placements.
 
Thank you for the tips, I don’t believe anyone in our group has played the course, Maybe we will get lucky and the “celebrity” we draw will know the course. My golf GPS gives front center back distances so I will definitely pay attention to the advice you gave on pin placements.
The GPS on the carts there is awesome. Definitely a very useful item!

I’m excited to hear how it goes, good luck!!
 
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I'm ready!

images
 
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Quick CSB, Playing in a Charity scramble at Blue Top Thursday, My first time playing Blue Top so looking forward to it. Plus several Hawkeye “ celebrities” are going to be playing, Friend of mine played Blue Top last year and said it’s a very nice course.
Absolutely pouring down rain here right now. # 16 might play 700 yards tomorrow. Last 250 yards are uphill too. When do you know who your celebrity is? Basketball players are good, wrestlers not so much. I'd take Adam Shada again in a heartbeat...
 
Absolutely pouring down rain here right now. # 16 might play 700 yards tomorrow. Last 250 yards are uphill too. When do you know who your celebrity is? Basketball players are good, wrestlers not so much. I'd take Adam Shada again in a heartbeat...

Won’t know till tomorrow who the celebrity is. Last year got Sean Roberts, In previous years Keith Duncan who can bomb the hell out of the ball and Adam Emmenecker who is also a decent golfer.

Here is the tourney info and who some of the celebs are.

 
Won’t know till tomorrow who the celebrity is. Last year got Sean Roberts, In previous years Keith Duncan who can bomb the hell out of the ball and Adam Emmenecker who is also a decent golfer.

Here is the tourney info and who some of the celebs are.
Cool. We got a quick half inch of rain out of that small blip on the radar. This is #16, 665 yards downhill to the ravine, then back up to the green. I live just over the green a half mile or so. Maybe you'll get Austin Blythe, good golfer and a better guy. Good luck tomorrow...
bluetopridge3_orig.jpg
 
Humboldt Iowa? Hello!

What oisses me off about the USGA/GHIN is how they have decided to remedy these frauds. The punish them by placing the rest of us (who record every round) under a “soft cap” when our scores climb and our hndcps. start to climb at what they decide is an unusual rate. Some of us are getting older, our game loses its former skill level and scores are climbing. Our handicaps are our only defense against getting out ass kicked every tine out…yet the USGA places us in a “soft cap” which limits how much your hdcp. can increase based on the scores you post. Complete bullshit.
The USGA needs to expose these frauds for who and what they are! This ain’t politics….its golf! Do the right damn thing!
 
P
Golfers and golf fans…any interest in a general thread to discuss all things golf? Tournaments, PGA v. LIV, Netflix, equipment, Paige Spiranac’s boobs, Tiger’s tampon escapades, etc. etc.
(@St. Louis Hawk ‘s major threads separate, of course)

Feel like it would be fun to discuss topics that may not each warrant a separate thread.
Please change thread title to “HBOT Golf…”

Thanks
 
Humboldt Iowa? Hello!


Meh, a guy who's a 5 index shooting two under over 27 holes on a pitch & putt course certainly isn't anything shocking. For the last 18 years, I've only played a few rounds a year & I don't play enough to bother keeping a GHIN established, but if i did I'd likely be around a 6...but for the 20+ years before that, I played a lot & my index ranged from below 1 to slightly over 2, depending on how much I was practicing. I still know how to score, and on an easy course I'm certainly capable of shooting under par.
 
What oisses me off about the USGA/GHIN is how they have decided to remedy these frauds. The punish them by placing the rest of us (who record every round) under a “soft cap” when our scores climb and our hndcps. start to climb at what they decide is an unusual rate. Some of us are getting older, our game loses its former skill level and scores are climbing. Our handicaps are our only defense against getting out ass kicked every tine out…yet the USGA places us in a “soft cap” which limits how much your hdcp. can increase based on the scores you post. Complete bullshit.
The USGA needs to expose these frauds for who and what they are! This ain’t politics….its golf! Do the right damn thing!
The biggest issue I have with soft cap and hard cap is that they base it on a calendar year rather than number of rounds. Someone who plays 15 or 20 times a year it makes some sense but I play 5 times that much. Makes it really hard when you get hot for a couple of weeks and your handicap plummets then when you go back to normal the handicap creeps up very slowly.

The other thing I think they should do is give preference to competitive rounds as a measure.
 
Justin Thomas shot 62 today.

This is a plea to my fellow HBOT’ers to tell me to hit myself in the head with a tack hammer if next week I post something stupid about backing Thomas on DK at the Open.

TIA
 
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The biggest issue I have with soft cap and hard cap is that they base it on a calendar year rather than number of rounds. Someone who plays 15 or 20 times a year it makes some sense but I play 5 times that much. Makes it really hard when you get hot for a couple of weeks and your handicap plummets then when you go back to normal the handicap creeps up very slowly.

The other thing I think they should do is give preference to competitive rounds as a measure.
It’s well intended, perhaps but it also paves the road to hell. It doesn’t address the issue it is trying to remedy.
 
It’s well intended, perhaps but it also paves the road to hell. It doesn’t address the issue it is trying to remedy.
It does to a certain extent but it penalizes honest golfers who play a lot. This year they started carding out 9 hole rounds which tries to prevent players from using two sub par 9 hole rounds as a complete roundround. The intention is good I that as well but solves little.

Again, I would like to see an emphasis on competitive rounds.
 
It does to a certain extent but it penalizes honest golfers who play a lot. This year they started carding out 9 hole rounds which tries to prevent players from using two sub par 9 hole rounds as a complete roundround. The intention is good I that as well but solves little.

Again, I would like to see an emphasis on competitive rounds.
I think the individuals ought to dealt with individually…if they wanna cheat, they can play golf with Trump.
 
@Scott559 how was Blue Top yesterday? Who did you get for a celebrity?

Course was excellent, A bit wet in spots, Everyone played from the Black tees so it wasn’t as brutal as it could have been. Rodney Filer was our celebrity and they said he was running late, Unfortunately he never made it so we just played as a regular foursome.

Realistically we didn’t have an “A” player in our group and we shot 5 under so I thought we did OK for our group, We bogeyed 13 which was disappointing. We had a lot of birdie putts but as you noted being on the correct level was important and we ended up above the hole a few times. The par threes were pretty challenging, They tucked the pins in the corners on 3 of them.

All in all a great day, Will definitely come back and play the course again, I must add that when I play some “nicer” courses I like to get a souvenir, Usually a shirt or hat, Blue Top’s pro shop pricing was very fair compared to most, I got a nice Nike shirt with the Blue Top logo on sleeve for $75, TCI for example wants $95-105 for similar shirt.
 
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Course was excellent, A bit wet in spots, Everyone played from the Black tees so it wasn’t as brutal as it could have been. Rodney Filer was our celebrity and they said he was running late, Unfortunately he never made it so we just played as a regular foursome.

Realistically we didn’t have an “A” player in our group and we shot 5 under so I thought we did OK for our group, We bogeyed 13 which was disappointing. We had a lot of birdie putts but as you noted being on the correct level was important and we ended up above the hole a few times. The par threes were pretty challenging, They tucked the pins in the corners on 3 of them.

All in all a great day, Will definitely come back and play the course again, I must add that when I play some “nicer” courses I like to get a souvenir, Usually a shirt or hat, Blue Top’s pro shop pricing was very fair compared to most, I got a nice Nike shirt with the Blue Top logo on sleeve for $75, TCI for example wants $95-105 for similar shirt.
Love this!! I‘ve been wondering how it went, so thanks for posting (and to @jamesvanderwulf for prompting it).

One thing that took a long time for me to embrace was using enlarged poker chips as tee markers. I thought it was corny. But, it grew on me over time because it is pretty unique. Not many courses where “Playing the oranges” is playing from the tips. One major downside is how many of those things would get stolen.

What was your favorite hole?
 
Love this!! I‘ve been wondering how it went, so thanks for posting (and to @jamesvanderwulf for prompting it).

One thing that took a long time for me to embrace was using enlarged poker chips as tee markers. I thought it was corny. But, it grew on me over time because it is pretty unique. Not many courses where “Playing the oranges” is playing from the tips. One major downside is how many of those things would get stolen.

What was your favorite hole?

First off you nailed it in regard to being on the correct level on the greens.🍺🍺 The tee markers are unique but I didn’t find them corny or anything. A lot of the holes have excellent vistas and picking a favorite is difficult but #8 was one I thought was very nice. Would probably have to play a few times to really appreciate the subtleties of the different holes.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how nice and professional the entire staff was from the head pro down to the shuttle drivers, We were treated very well.
 
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