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.
When I last wrote, I was headed up to Firestone Country Club to do some teaching and play in a two-day Pro-Am.
The event ended up being a fundraiser for Akron Children’s Hospital. One of the major sponsors was our good friends at Bridgestone. They had their ball-fitting equipment there, along with the new golf balls and their equipment.
This ball-fitting procedure is something that everyone needs to have done. It takes about 20 minutes, and when you are finished, they will tell you what ball you should be playing.
Obviously, they want you to play a Bridgestone ball, but they test you with the golf ball that you normally play. Then after they get the data, they have you try a Bridgestone model that is right for you and compare the data. The amazing thing is that most people are playing the wrong ball, one which you are giving both distance and spin. Things that are looked at during testing are the club head speed, ball speed and the spin rate. This is tested on your driver and irons.
OK, back to the event. The tournament was played on the South Course, which is where the pro tournament is played. They are in the process right now of adding and reworking some bunkers to make a little more challenging for the tour pros.
The facilities at Firestone are first class. All the pros that came in for this event stayed up in the guest rooms in the men’s locker room, which also houses the 55th hole, better known as the bar. So each night after our dinner, we would all meet at the 55th hole and talk about the latest in golf and, of course, the economy and how it is affecting our courses.
We had pros from Pinehurst, The Homestead, Shadow Creek Las Vegas, Baltrusol CC, Sea Island and many others from some of the most prestigious clubs in the country. The message was all the same: Golf is a tough business right now, and the main thing we have to do is keep providing the best service and make sure that the golf course quality remains excellent.
Back to the tournament. We got to play two days with a different group each day, and each day I got to meet some great people and have fun while teaching them a thing or two about the golf swing. All in all, it was a great time for the three days of being there.
I need to thank my friend Jay Biggs from Firestone for inviting me to such a worthwhile event. My play was OK, seeing how for the tournament the worst score the pro could make was a par!
After the Firestone trip, our Indiana PGA Section had a pro-am out in Las Vegas at the Paiute Golf Resort. There were 55 five-man teams from Indiana that converged on Vegas.
Most arrived a few days in advance and played some golf or hit the tables, a show or just relaxed around the pool. Our group went out Tuesday and played a new Jack Nicklaus course about one hour outside of Vegas called The Chase. This is going to be part of a development called Coyote Springs.
The master plan for Coyote Springs calls for like 18 courses over the next 20 years with housing, condos and basically a town. Another course is being routed as we speak, and it could be something of golf history. The course is being done together by Jack Nicklaus and Pete Dye, who designed Brickyard Crossing.
The Chase golf course is very good. Right now, the only bad thing is that it is in the middle of nowhere and the clubhouse is not built yet. It is worth the drive, though, and staff there is very accommodating and courteous.
The next day, we played one of the best and exclusive courses in Vegas called Cascata. It is in Henderson, which is a little bit of drive, but this place is five-star in my books.
There is a waterfall that runs through the course and then right into the clubhouse. The view is spectacular. The course is always in pristine condition, with the greens’ speed off the charts. The course is expensive to play and is owned by Harrah’s.
Then it was on to the tournament at Paiute golf resort, which happens to have three courses all built by Pete Dye. The courses there are all you want, seeing how they sit out in the open and it is always windy.
The first round for us was on the toughest course there, The Wolf. The winds that day started at about 30 mph and then started gusting up 45 or 50 mph. The temps were warm, which was good, but the wind was just brutal. Our team shot 8-under in the wind, which was good. The format was one net and one gross best ball of the fivesome. My group consisted of Bill McClain, Alan Shaw, Bob Lyon and Larry Sinks.
The next day, we played the Snow Mountain course. There was hardly any wind for the first part of our round, and we ended up shooting 17-under and finishing tied for third overall.
So that was the golf. Now onto the night activities of our group. We ate at all the best restaurants, and we were in bed early. Right.
Sorry – remember: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
Weather. We are back to that theme this past couple of weeks.
Brickyard Crossing has been closed for 3½ of the last 11 days. On every one of these days, Little Eagle Creek overflowed its banks and flooded the adjacent holes.
The first day we were closed was Saturday, May 31 – what a good way to end a month of rain already. All of our bridges were under water and impassable.
Believe it or not, we were open the next day and were able to get carts in the fairways by mid-afternoon. Then Wednesday, June 4, rain hit again. It looked much worse this time.
Finally the rain has stopped here in Indianapolis, for at least a day, and the forecast is a little more promising after this weekend.
Brickyard Crossing will open for play on Tuesday, March 25. We already have a few players signed up.
The course is starting to green up a little after our superintendent, Jeff Stuart, and his crew mowed fairways and greens. Jeff does a great job here at the Brickyard keeping the course in tournament condition for everyday play.
Editor’s Note: Brickyard Crossing PGA Head Professional Jeff Schroeder is blogging from the PGA Winter Championships sponsored by Taylor Made-Adidas in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He is playing in the tournament with friend and former Champions Tour standout Larry Ziegler.
***
The old saying, “You drive for show and putt for dough,” is definitely the adage of the week for us as we finished up the Senior-Junior Championship on Friday, Jan. 25.
After the first two rounds, we needed to make up some ground to have a nice finish for the first tournament of the year for us. We started out the third round tied for 37th and slipped back some after posting a 2-under-par 70 for the third round. We hit the ball so much better than 2-under, so it was really frustrating.
As a team in the third round, we hit 17 greens and only made two birdies. It was like every time the ball looked like it was going in, it stopped just short or broke just out of the hole.
Editor’s Note: Brickyard Crossing PGA Head Professional Jeff Schroeder is blogging from the PGA Winter Championships sponsored by Taylor Made-Adidas in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He is playing in the tournament with friend and former Champions Tour standout Larry Ziegler.
***
The first two rounds of the tournament are done, and we have successfully made the cut. The field started with 144 two-man teams and has been cut to the low 65 teams and ties. Our scores for the two rounds were 68-67, for a 9-under total of 135. The leading team is at 128, which is 16-under par. So we need to do some making up to get in the hunt for the championship.
Our first round on Tuesday, Jan. 22 was somewhat uneventful. We started out with eight straight pars, and then I happened to chip in on our ninth hole for our first birdie.
I have to thank my partner, Larry Ziegler, for the great chipping lesson he gave me before we played. He noticed something as we were warming up for our round, and it has made a huge difference in my short game. He basically got me to stop trying to help the ball up and had me somewhat “pop it” to get the ball to come off the club face faster, but with control.
Editor’s Note: Brickyard Crossing PGA Head Professional Jeff Schroeder is blogging from the PGA Winter Championships sponsored by Taylor Made-Adidas in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He is playing in the tournament with friend and former Champions Tour standout Larry Ziegler.
***
Now that the PGA Merchandise Show is over, one of the nice things that the PGA does is to offer a series of winter tournaments for us to play. They are called the PGA Winter Championships sponsored by Taylor Made-Adidas. The tournaments are held at the PGA Village complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
I am fortunate enough that the Brickyard allows me to stay down and play in one of these events this week. The event I am playing in is the Senior Junior Team Championship. I am playing this year with my good friend Larry Ziegler. Larry is a past Champions Tour member and a huge racing fan. Larry played all the Senior Tour events at Brickyard Crossing and now only plays in a few events during the year.
Editor’s Note: Brickyard Crossing PGA Head Professional Jeff Schroeder attended the 55th PGA Merchandise Show from Jan. 17-19 in Orlando, Fla., a huge gathering of PGA Golf Professionals to preview new merchandise for the upcoming season. This is the final installment of Schroeder’s blogs sharing his impressions of “The Show.”
***
The 2008 Show is in its last day, and, as usual, a lot of the attendees come early and then try and sneak out and play some golf if their schedules allow. Today the aisles are not as crowded, so moving around is a lot easier. I’m going to head down to the new product display area and see what’s new.
The new product section is always kind of fun because you see some good new products, and you also see some products that make you wonder, “What are they thinking?”
In the new product area, you see everything from teaching devices to facial masks for skin care. Some of the more innovative products come from the teaching aid area.
Editor’s Note: Brickyard Crossing PGA Head Professional Jeff Schroeder is attending the 55th PGA Merchandise Show from Jan. 17-19 in Orlando, Fla., a huge gathering of PGA Golf Professionals to preview new merchandise for the upcoming season. Schroeder will share his impressions through this series of blogs.
***
Day 2 (Friday, Jan. 18) here at the show is a little more subdued and quiet, which is normal after the opening day. Today we are going to spend some time just walking around and looking at some different items.
The big buzz in equipment is adjustable shafts. Club manufacturers now make woods so that shafts are interchangeable. It has been approved by the USGA and is conforming to the Rules of Golf. This will allow golfers to have multiple shafts and be able to remove them and put in a different one to fit their game without having to send it away to be reshafted. Most of the major companies offer this, including Callaway, Nike and Taylor Made.
At the show, the busiest place seems to be the Equipment Test Center. This is a 180-foot deep indoor hitting area that allows the show attendees to try the new clubs being offered this year. There are 45 hitting bays, and more than 400,000 golf balls have been hit into the nets.