It was California or bust, and bust describes it best for me.
The trip to the Golden State for the Straight Down Fall Classic tournament started off sort of on the bad side. First, the airlines lost my clubs. We had a direct flight to L.A. but no golf clubs.
We then drove three hours up to San Luis Obispo, and we were scheduled to play a practice round, but that didn’t work out due to no clubs. The airline said the clubs would be in that afternoon, and they would deliver them to our hotel. Wrong. Instead, they put them on a flight, and I had to pick them up at midnight at the local airport. So I tried using some other clubs to get a little practice in, and that was a mistake.
After getting my clubs late Thursday, we teed off at 8 a.m. Friday in the Pro-Am part of the tournament and played with three great guys from a company called Slime. That’s right: Slime. They make the stuff you can put in your tires when they go flat.
We did OK Friday and made some good putts, and felt good about the first round Saturday. A nice addition to the tournament was Fred Couples, who played and brought a sizeable gallery to the tournament for the weekend.
On Saturday, we were paired with Dennis Paulson and Scott Almquist from the San Diego area. Dennis played on the tour for 20 years, and at age 46, he can still play quite well. We got off to a slow start off the No. 10 tee with eight straight pars. Then on No. 18, our ninth hole, I made about a 50-foot bomb for birdie to get us in to the red numbers at minus-1.
We made the turn and found out there was about a 45-minute backup on the No. 1 tee. That little break turned out to be key. When we finally got back to playing, we double-bogeyed the first hole, as yours truly hit it out of bounds and Joe Hillman, my good friend and playing partner, had some putting issues. The greens were perfect and were on the fast side, so you had to be careful not to get it above the hole.
After the double-bogey, Joe came right back with a birdie to get us back to even and then birdied the par-5 fifth hole to get us back to under par. Unfortunately, we bogeyed the sixth hole and parred out to shoot even par for the first round.
We also started on No. 10 the next day, and once again we started off slow: No birdies on the easy par 5’s to get us going.
We were paired Sunday with our good friends from L.A. Country Club, Jim Schaeffer (pro) and Keith Kinsel, who Joe grew up with California. They got off to a really good start by eagling the 10th and birding the 11th and 13th. Anyways, we shot 1-over par and then fell apart on the back nine, ending up shooting 76. They shot 70.
I have played my fair share of bad golf before, but for two days I cannot remember playing that bad. I did learn some things that need to be done by everyone in the offseason: Stay active and do some sort of exercises to maintain your flexibility.
If you start to lose your flexibility, I believe you start to lose your distance. That is what I am seeing in my game as I approach the magic age of 50.
The weather for the tournament was unseasonably warm, with the temperatures in the high 80’s and low 90’s, which is about 20 degrees warmer than the norm. As you may also know, wildfires broke out and destroyed a lot of acreage along with homes. We drove right back into L.A., and it was kind of strange seeing this wall of smoke hanging over the ocean. Some of the players in the tournament lived close to these areas and were evacuated, so they brought their families up to the tournament. Fortunately, everything turned out OK for them, and they had no damage.
As I said before, this tournament is one of the best in the country for pros and amateurs alike, and this year was no exception. The field was strong, and the tournament ended up in a tie between Jason Gore, Kevin Marsh, Tim Fleming and Alan Bratton. They had a playoff but ran out of daylight and called it a tie.
The main thing about this tournament is the friendships you make and the old ones you renew. With that, I want to thank Mike Rowley and all of the Straight Down staff on another successful Fall Classic. If you would like to check out all the scores, go to www.straightdown.com for stories related to the tournament.
By the time this gets posted, I will be on my way to sunny California for the Straight Down Fall Classic golf tournament.
This tournament is held in San Luis Obispo at the San Luis Obispo Country Club. The tournament is a scratch pro-am in which the amateur receives no handicap. My partner is my good friend Joe Hillman, who plays out of Wolf Run and is a very accomplished player. He finished in the top 10 at the State Am this year and has qualified for some USGA national events.
Anyways, this tournament is run just like a PGA Tour event. The tees and greens are roped off, but the gallery can walk right down the fairway with the players. I think this is about my sixth time playing, and each year it just gets better.
I did mention that in the field are touring professionals from all three ranks of the PGA Tour. All in all, there are about 20 or so touring pros who play, and the field this year seems to be really strong. Some of the players entered are Tom Lehman, Jason Gore, Charley Hoffman, Chez Reavie, Ricky Barnes, Dustin Johnson, Matt Hansen, Scott Gutschewski, Roger Tambellini, John Schroeder, Dan Forsman, Scott Simpson, Larry Mize and Jeff Schroeder.
See how I snuck that last name in there after a U.S. Open champion and then a Masters champion?
All kidding aside, this is one of the best and biggest tournaments I play in, and it does get a little nerve-racking on the first tee with a very large gallery watching. Plus they have walking scorers and scoreboards all over the course that let you know how you are doing.
First place in the tournament is worth $25,000 to the professional, and a $10,000 first-place prize is provided to the low PGA Club Professional team.
The tournament is hosted by Straight Down Clothing Company, and Straight Down President Mike Rowley is the host for the weekend. He’s also the defending champion with his playing partner, Roger Tambellini.
The tournament starts with a pro-am on Friday morning, Nov. 14 to thank the members at San Luis Obispo CC (SLO) and the sponsors. The first year they had the pro-am on Friday, Joe Hillman and I teamed up with guys from Straight Down and won the inaugural pro-am. The tournament then starts on Saturday morning and concludes on Sunday.
I am going to take my camera and hopefully get a few pictures of the action. It is really neat to see the community come out and support this tournament. All the proceeds will go to three different charities in San Luis Obispo.
If you want to check out the tournament and what Straight Down is all about, go to their Web site, www.straightdown.com, and see the latest clothing and tournament news.
Wish us luck as we head west to warmer weather and try and bring home some hardware and cash!
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing