Originally Posted By DVC_dad You ass! To say I am jealous is a gross understatement! JK Have fun, enjoy it, you deserve it! I'd like a mini trip report if you please when you get back. Please share what you saw, what you heard, the feeling of the crowd, the mood of the caddies and players, anything that happened that the press may not give us...anything! Wow you are going to have a blast! AND...please fill us in on how Medinah is.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 the no camera, no autograph rule starting tomorrow will make me buy some memories...but that's OK-- I have never been inside the clubhouse so that will be very cool...... also it's wild- I was on the web site to get the parking info and there was no mention of no cell phones - butit is printed boldly across the top of the back side of the tickets - no cell phones allowed on the course - on or off makes no difference. We're gonna see Tiger go off then see if we can't get a grandstand seat at 18 -- if not we will go to 17... will do some star watching also -- as I expect a lot of Chicago celebrities to be there.... also remember when I mentioned $85,000 as a member fee --- well I may have not hadthe right figures -- Michael Jordan was just on and he said it cost him $300,000 to join -- he is a member at Medinah.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad <<<Michael Jordan was just on and he said it cost him $300,000 to join -- he is a member at Medinah.>>> I am reading a book about Caddies. It is written by a sports writer for ESPN who deicded to try and caddie for as many pros and celebs as he could in a effort to gain material to write this book. Its actually a hilarious book. Anyway the guy was talking about Trump International Golf Club in Florida. He played a round of 18 with Trump, because Trump wouldn't let him actually caddie for him. Nonetheless he discussed the FLorida Club that Trump owns. Trump bosted that it costs $350K to join and $9K per year dues. When asked why $300K Trump said, "Because everything I build is the biggest and the best and other clubs like in Chicago, New York, Eastern Seaboard, and West Coast top out around $300. I had to go higher than those. I assumed that the Chicago reference was either Medinah or one of the hand full of other extremely exclusive privates there.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Again, I hope you get yourself a good seat. I would like to see those pros drive a long par 5 myself. Oh yeah, speaking of which, I LOST my swing today. I practiced about an hour and a half. I was hitting everything super FAT. I couldn't FIX it. I tried everything. I tore the driving grass up pretty badly before it was over, but I never could get it right. Dazed and confused I opted to practice my driver, and my 3 wood about 40 minutes and then over to the putting greens for 20 mins. I am in a slump and I can't seem to get out. The balls I didn't hit super fat, I picked clean and bladed and whatnot. The drives and 3 woods were spot on as usual, but I left the practice range confused and frustrated.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad In fact, when I got back to the clubhouse I asked the outdoor staffer (he is the kid that jumps on the back of the cart when you pass on your way to the parking lot, removes your clubs from the cart and cleans all the heads off, and sees that you don't forget anything on your cart, then sees you off) anyway...I asked the young man if he had a good wedge. He said yes but that his was several years old and that he wants a new one really badly. I said here, take this one because I can't hit it for S@!#*. I handed him a brand new Slazenger 52 degree wedge that I had gotten off ebay brand new but fairly cheap. It really is a very beautiful club but... I tried it, hit maybe 20 balls with it and hated it tremendously. He was in heaven, looked like he had won the lottery. I was laughing inside as I was just glad I didn't have to tip him. I was flat broke cash-wise that afternoon. LOL!!! I do nutty stuff to those guys all the time. One day last week I was leaving the practice range after a really GREAT day. I had some Nike MOJO balls in my bag. I HATE those balls but hey, I bought two dozen brand new off ebay to "try." I hated them too. The ourside staff guys don't know that. They all play on Monday, (if we don't have any special events scheduled) the day our club is closed to members. So I asked him if he plays the course on Monday's and he says "heck yeah! 36!" So I hand the guy 3 sleeves of MOJO's and tell him to "hit 'em good next Monday." He was very thankful, told me "X-outs get so old." LOL I so remember those days. Next week I am going to give away my r5 driver because my wife just bought me the new r7 for our anniversary, and so far I love it dearly. Honestly I can't tell any difference from the r5. That one will go with the understanding that I reserve the right to take it back in exchange for replacing it with the NEW one in case my drives go south with the new one. I don't do it to gain praise or anything like that. Afterall it's not a huge thing monetarily. But when I was younger, I used to play public courses, we couldn't afford nice Golf and Country Clubs. I always told myself, (as I would stand outside of a honeysuckle covered fence looking in, on 15 at a private club somewhat near my house) that if I ever found myself on the inside of a place like that, I would be benevolnet to the guys working hard for little, because they have such a love for the game. Why act out like that? Afterall it goes against the Club Code doesn't it? I guess it's my way to being a non-conformist. People are just people I believe. And afterall, I am not trying to really give those guys something spectacular, I am just out of make em go home feeling like they had a good day.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad <<<out of make em go home feeling like >>> ...out TO make em go home feeling like they had a good day.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 well - beautiful day at Medinah today ( took my 2 girls with me ) - and with the forecast for rain the next 2 days, glad I went today. Got there at 8:00 AM for the 8:30 tee off of Phil / Tiger and Ogilvy.... we watched that ( with 75% of the other people there) then after watching Tiger bogey his first hole ( #10 )- and he was miffed - we decided to go watch some others where the crowds were less which we did. My oldest likes David Duval and his uber hip sunglasses -- So we decided we would mosey around -- we visited the clubhouse and had breakfast there - ( love that clubhouse pass)- and all I can say is the pictures of that clubhouse which was built in the 1920's for almost a $1M then, don't do it justice. The naturally lit dome is like being in a cathedral in Europe - just amazing. Plenty of security on patrol also to make sure us not $300K members didn't screw with the place - LOL ! Then on to the practice tee for bit -- thenback to 1 to sit in the grandstand to wait for the ultra grouping to come there. It was easy to tell as CBS camera crews showed up about 2 foursomes ahead of them. But we had staked out 1st row in the grandstands right next to the tee area. ( too bad no cameras, nor camera's on cell phones as no cell phones were allowed in the grounds.)- Tiger was looking miffed andhe was 2 under on the front...but he hit a drive on #1 that after watching pros hit for hours, still looked like something from someone who is out of this world. A laser beam, but put it in the left rough- about 300 out - and this was a 3 wood guys. In fact in all 6 holes we followed Tiger ( we followed him on 1 thru 5 ) - he never used a driver..and good thing too as he hit few fairways. Very long, but few fairways hit. And with this being the longest course on the PGA tour - that is important. They had a day to shoot some scores today as there was no wind to bring those 150 ft + Oak Trees that line both sides of these fairways into play as often. With stormy weather approaching the next 2 days - we'll see. Best interaction of the day - we were walking across oneof the bridges that crosses a substantial body of water they shoot over on #2...and 80% of the bridge is jammed with people all trying to cross while following this threesome..and 20% is blocked off for the golfers to walk across-- well noticing this I had my daughters line up against the rail as we crossed ( every so slowly with the herd )- and as Tiger went by they wished him well and he actually smiled at my 12 year old..( and he didn't smile much today...so her day was made.....and she is now a Tiger fan.... Lots of interesting fan interaction as I noticed how many people that like Tiger don;t like Phil and vice versa..very interesting. Also followed Luke Donald ( fellow Northwestern Alum) for a few holes on his way to 4 under -- and since I had my NU hat on...he acknowledged with a nod and a point....good guy. Other highlights for my kids were just the first class accomodations there- from the unbelievable clubhouse to free parking off site with shuttles being Mercedes buses..with PGA videos playing on the individual TV screens... and since no cell phones allowed - Sprint had phone banks set up everywhere with free local and long distance calling ! I was also impressed with the merchandise, as the video on the bus advertised 100,000 items for sale in the main sales tent-- there had tobe more than that..it was amazing. And the prices were very reasonable - which surprised me as when I went to Augusta about 5 years ago for the Masters ( as a guest of my best friend who is a CFO for a majorfirm )- hats were like $50 and I bought a sweater vest - yellow with just the map/flag/pin logo for Augusta and it was like $145. They had to have over 100 styles / colors of hats here and many visors and avg price was like $26. Each of my kids got a shirt and hat, I got a bag tag/ towel/ golfshirt ( Nike) -hat / visor ( for a friend) - and assorted this and that's-- and they had free checking of you r merchandise so you didn't have to carry it around.. overall a great experience...and i have a chance to go back Saturday-- it will depend on the weather - also a nice hand for Billy Mayfair when he teed off with for his trials of recent weeks -- which I thought was nice..
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <People are just people I believe. And afterall, I am not trying to really give those guys something spectacular, I am just out of make em go home feeling like they had a good day.< something I agree with totally
Originally Posted By DVC_dad AWESOME AWESOME vbdad!!! Thanks for the recap, I feel as if I had been lucky enough to be one of the fortunate to have been there!!!
Originally Posted By DVC_dad Tiger, at his press conference, was asked something like this, "...since you and Michale Jordan are such good friends, and being that Michael is a member here are you considering applying to Medinah?" TIGER: *BIG SMILE* pause.... "Well acutally I was just given an honorary membership here and I never have to pay dues either.......pause......*starts to say something else....*smiles* Silence in the room. He also stated that his new goal is to win more majors than Nicklaus did. Also, I was taken with how humble and honest, and genuine Tiger was during his interview. The guy is a real class act.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <He also stated that his new goal is to win more majors than Nicklaus did. < vbdad standing on the chair clapping and cheering...I will imbibe in more than a few Guinesss Stouts the day he passes that blowhard. <Also, I was taken with how humble and honest, and genuine Tiger was during his interview. The guy is a real class act.< Tiger also stumping real hard to make sure more majors come thru Chicago - he likes it here..also leading charge to try and reverse the fact that the Western will only be here every otheryear. He went out of his way to no tbash Medinah as some did as ( inlcuding some real ignorant comments by a few of the commentators who probably could break 120 there ) - the pros had pefect weather here - no wind and a little rain to soften the greens. You saw the scores today with a 5 -10 mph wind. A typical day in Chicago in summer gets you 15 - 25 mph wind -- which if it was the case onl Tiger would have been under par.... He is a class act...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 And DVCdad - don;t hate me-- but all those 'luuuuukee' calls I am sure you heard on TV -- well one of them was me-- a tall guy (6'3"+) in a Northwestern Football 2005 Sun Bowl hat -- gray hair sticking out from underneath -- as I attended today as a guest of an exec from McD's -- yep, I was there at 18 with a zillion others...
Originally Posted By DVC_dad ^ ^ ^ ROFL !!!!!!!!!!! Oh well unfortunately I think I missed you, however, I probably heard you. LOL I think that Tiger had the best, no the ultimate answer to the Medinah question. He said that he always plays well in that part of the country. He loves it there. He was very clear on that. Also, he said that the thing he loves MOST about Medinah is that it's a classic, straight forward golf course. Unlike a lot of the modern courses that try to trick you up. I thought that this was not only very diplomatic, but HONEST...I mean I think the guy was being totally honest. And like you said, they were all lucky with the wind. I must admit, Medinah is one of THE ABSOLUTE most beautiful clubs I have ever seen and I am quite convinced that even HD Plasma tv probably doesn't come close to doing it justice!!! Hooray for "Mickie D's" eh? Nice!
Originally Posted By DVC_dad And as for Golf in Chicago area, it was said more than ONCE how many elite golf clubs and courses there are in the area...even the Muni's are exceptional I heard.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 The quality of golf courses here is nothing short of excellent. ( Remember the course the Western Open is played on is public )- the seasons stinks big time..but it is the price of living here. My suburb has 2 excellent municipal golf courses, one traditional and one links style, one public and 2 more private courses --and my guess is that there are 50 courses within 20 - 25 miles. the other thing is I find the greens here to be among the truest anywhere-- look at the number of good rolls all golfers had at Medinah...
Originally Posted By vbdad55 The issue is now I want to play Medinah, and I haven't figured out a way to get myself in that position yet. back to Chicago -- here is a tracker of 190 courses one can play -- this will open to WEST which is where I live - you can see the amount of courses -- then SOUTHWEST is next closest -- somy guess of 50 being relatively close is about right. <a href="http://chicagogolfguide.com/" target="_blank">http://chicagogolfguide.com/</a>
Originally Posted By DVC_dad <<<one traditional and one links style>>> Can you explain to me the difference between these two styles of course please? I know all about true links, as in the area between the sea and the farmlands over at the R&A ... but what does it mean in Chicago? How do I know if my club is a links style or traditional?
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <Links style courses here have uneven fairways, thick rough ( usually with a lot of very tall fescue ( sp?) grass you cannot hit out of, and small deep bunkers. Usually because of their lack of trees wind wrecks havoc. This will m ake you alter your game to try and play low accurate shots. as opposed to a course the style of Medinah
Originally Posted By DVC_dad I think ours (while CERTAINLY NOT anywhere near the league as Medinah and is only 2 yaers old at that) is a traditional course. One thing I really like about our course is it makes you think. There are a couple holes where you can "go for it" to cut the dog-leg, giving yourself a possible birdie and maybe just maybe even an Eagle try on the green, BUT if you go for it and miss, you get punished big. You are better off to play to the corners and forget the short cutting...but then few can resist the temptation. Another thing I like is the fact that there is no single hole on the entire course where you play parallel to another fairway. That is to say, you cannot slice the ball into the fairway of a different hole...a pet peave of mine at my favorite Muni course down the road. Last but not least, the final two holes of the course 17 and 18 play straight toward the club house. If standing in the pro shop you can look through a pair of binoculars sitting on a tripod at the window, and watch people play the final two holes on their way in. I know that sounds silly, but it's fun. For example: ME: Hey Frank, how did you do on 17 and 18? Frank: Well I bogeyed 17, but I got a birdie on 18. ME: Oh really? I thought I saw you play three balls on 18 and why were you wondering around in the woods on 17 for 10 minutes? Frank: Well.... And ofcourse we have quite a few painfully good looking wives that play... jk At any rate, I do like what we have here, but in the coming years it is really going to be something special. I'm certainly not naive enough to think it will ever be a Medinah or Muirfield, but hey it'll be one of the best around this side of Atlanta soon enough. By the way, I feel so strongly about it, I have to say one more time...Medinah looks magnificient! I don't recall grass THAT green and beautiful. It almost looked like the entore course was fairways and greens.
