Every year seems to whip around quicker and quicker. Some of don't mind that and some of us do. Whether you care about getting older or not, the one thing that can never come quick enough every year is the Lost Balls Invitational!
This past year, moreso than ever, has seen change:
- Ladd became a father.
- Troy had a second, didn't he? (as you'll see below, no one really knows)
- Nasar grew a mustache...no wait, he also became a father
- I moved a thousand miles away
- Lich stayed 3000 away
And that doesn't even get into the barrage of engagements we saw to close out the year and begin 2012:
- Moden
- Saps
- Hollandsworth
- Brett Todd Peter Pod
And then there was this...a hole in one caught on video
I have two burning questions as we approach the two month mark leading into the LBI:
1) Where the hell is the chatter?
2) Has anyone done anything at all to improve their games?
3) I know I said two, but how the hell did we get so old that we have an over 50 non-parent coming this year?
Question #1 I hope will be solved by posting this blog so I'll skip over that. And #3 is just a shot at Buddy Wilbanks who might need the Casey Martin rule and drive around with a special flag on his cart so he can go past the area where they generally allow carts to go.
So, effectively, there's one question to be answered, did anyone do anything to improve their games or are they just hoping for random luck and blackout drunkenness to guide them through LBI 2012. Honestly, that's not a terrible strategy.
Let's start with the crew who rarely to never posts a score to oob:
- Troy: Troy is the most elusive of all the wild animals at LBI. We don't hear from Troy for 11 months of the year. He pokes his head out to verify the cost and date, shows up, parties, loses his phone, has a great time and the disappears for the next 11 months. Along the way, there is ZERO postings from him on OOB.
- Moden: A two-time champion, Moden has struggled since being forced to post scores and to develop an actual handicap. is that said out of jealousy; yes, in large part. However, is it true that Moden has played just a single round since LBI 2011? In addition, not joining facebook is another suspicious activity. At least Lich can claim he's on top secret chupasquatch genetic mutational missions for the US Gov't.
- Ciarlo: are we really supposed to believe that Ciarlo has not played since late August?
- Nasar/Ladd: at least Ladd and Nasar can claim new fatherhood and the limitations that can put on your time to play.
- Jimmy: I don't even know if Jimmy knows how to spell oobgolf. You never see a posting of a score from him. But fresh off of a victory in Florida, he might be able to parlay that into success at LBI. But to me the question is was this an improvement in his game or Saps inability to stay away from the triple/quad combo.
- Lich: he's on the IR for LBI 2012 I've heard. He will take the place of Bos from last year. However, I'm putting him up here since we've seen a disappointing bout of results from Lich in the past few years. Once a force to be reckoned with, even with the completely unorthodox "aim 45 degrees right and hit it straight even though i don't believe any of you when you tell me i'm aimed 45 degrees right" sytle...
None of these can be expected to have improved their games at all since last year. Your best bet with this crew is whether or not they'll accumulate more pars or penalty strokes during the 4 round event.
Then there's the group who posts to OOB but who don't play too much. This is the majority of the group:
- Gabe: Gabe will always be a threat given his potential. However, will the multiple shotguns and jager shots undo him again this year? He doesn't get to play too much given his two children, but on any round, he could post a high 70s or a low 90s. Since LBI 2011 and my time living in Texas I've seen an increased consistency; though I will stop short of saying I've seen a marked improvement. It's raw skill at this point...
- Me: the one thing i have going for me is that I have not posted a round over 89 since August 2010. So my driving and irons have improved quite a bit. My issue at this point is putting inconsistency. My last three rounds, I have the following number of putts: 39, 27, 37. Overall, that means I've improved a little, but basically I've remained flat. I will say, however, as we get closer to predictions time I am feeling nowhere as good about my chances going into LBI 2012 as i was last year.
- Damon: pretty much repeat what I said about Gabe and copy it here. Damon is all raw skill. Never had a lesson; hell, rarely even wears golf shoes. Plays pretty infrequently and could go either way on any day.
- Rufus: Rufus wants to play. Rufus really wants to play. but he just can't seem to get out as much. It could be the kiddo; it could be something else. He's a bit of an enigma. However, he brings one of the best overall attitudes to the game. There's room for improvement in his game; a lot, frankly. And that's one thing that has puzzled me about Rufus. it seems as if he's got the athletic ability/potential, but it never seems to manifest. Which makes me wonder...is it mental?
- Barczhzczczczczhzcadfazcvz!#$: Another guy with plenty of room for improvement. I'm not going to go into anything else with Barz except his mental game. Go to oob and look at his rounds pre and post myrtle. most are in the low 100s. At LBI 2011, teens and 20s.
- Shea: And then there was Shea. How can anyone improve from 2011 LBI Champion status? It is a possibility though. A repeat carries a tall order of goodness to live up to. However, he's been actually working on a few things - so I've been told - and he's got a pretty reasonable mental resolve.
- Stevens: I'm hearing some buzz about Stevens this year. I'm thinking there will be some high predictions for him. It's been said by a couple people he's been seeking and listening to advice on some aspects of his game. Does he have the discipline mentally? Well, he's kept us all in the dark on his vocation for a decade now, so I'm saying yes.
The second to last group is the regular players: Brett, Saps, Mike, Bos, Hurricane, Tim
- Saps, if he can just figure out that golf is not the same as figure skating and not posting the triple, doubles all the time, he'll be in great shape.
- Brett, it's chuck. Always chuck. the question is will he post 4 rounds in a row in the 70s and then see chuck and post 2 in the 90s. I can't say whether his game has improved. i mean, personally, i hold a head to head lead of 9 matches. But overall, it's just a strong game that is tweaked too much.
- Mike: no one has more desire to improve than Mike. And he made major strides getting from about 40 down to 26. since then, however, it's been a struggle. Will he mentally do the things necessary to really improve? That's up to him...but with a wedding coming up, I am going to guess he has other places to spend than on Chuck.
- Bos: The only question I have for Bos is when are you going to get new clubs?
- Bryan/Tim: It's tough to actually improve when you're a 5 and a negative handicap. However, I've heard rumblings from Bryan that he's figured something out. Now my question is did he figure out how to prevent that pre-shot rountine from rivaling Ingwers???
The final group is the newbies. No Information available on this crew. I hear there's a guy named Hand. But that name sounds made up to me! When will this crew get an oob account and post their recent scores? Vegas rules require the oddsmakers to base their predictions on something...Let's get it done.
So, that's it for now. A basic overview that, now that I'm all done, tells me that no one has done much to improve for 2012. Did the time just slip away from us? Did we lose focus on improving in return for just getting out and playing? Did priorities change?
I don't know for sure, but I do know that we're mere weeks away from another LBI...and it can't come quickly enough!
word
Gerg fills the meat pipe.
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