The First Round of 2018 for the Sunday Golfers
"Of all the hazards, fear is the worst." - Sam Snead
(Played on Sunday, January 21st, 2018)
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| The Sunday Golfers first round of golf of 2018. |
Although snow was still covering the hollowed grounds of Beckett Golf Club 48 hours before we started playing, we were ready to play golf by 8 o'clock in the morning. It was frigid when we teed off, but eventually warmed to a nice 50 degree day.
The third member of the Sunday Golfers, Thomas Pusey, brother to Chris Pusey, finally joined the group for his first blogpost. He's a lefty, and takes extreme pride in hitting every chip fat, even on frozen ground. (lol)
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| Thomas Pusey in the woods on 6. |
Quick reminder to readers that Chris and Thomas' last name is pronounced PEW - ZEE. Yes, it's funny, let's move on.
The Sunday Golfers were also joined by another friend, CJ. Not a member of the Sunday Golfers, but a great friend and clutch putter.
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| Our friend CJ, dressing the part of a casual golfer. |
Although not a usual member of our group, CJ enjoys golf and was willing to take off work to play. No doubt he will join us in the future for another round soon.
Because it had been a while since anybody had even set foot on a golf course for a full round, the foursome was divided into two teams for a best-ball match, the brothers against the non-brothers.
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| Thomas Pusey setting up to hit his approach into a frozen green. |
While the snow was melted, the ground was frozen solid. The greens were impossible to hold no matter where you landed your shot. Between Chris Colman and CJ, they only hit 6 greens in regulation. Whatever group had the best chipping and putting game was destined to win.
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| Chris Colman putting onto the 9th green. |
This blog usually doesn't talk about scores and shots we hit, mostly because it makes for an uninteresting read. However, we are not against writing about a few highlights of this Sunday's round.
On the fourth hole, a short 250 yard par 4, Thomas Pusey hit his approach chip onto the frozen green, which promptly ricocheted directly at the flagstick, and dropped in for an eagle to win the hole and tie the match. His post shot celebration was pure excitement, running around like Larry Mize in the 1987 Masters. Unfortunately, we were too caught up in the moment to get a photo.
Here is a video of what Thomas's chip-in kind of resembled: Larry Mize Chip In
Shout out to Thomas for being the first Sunday Golfer to eagle a hole this year. Hopefully more will come.
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| The 18th green at Beckett Golf Club. |
On the 11th hole, the match was swinging toward Chris/CJ who were up a few holes, Thomas/Chris needed a semi-long birdie putt to fall to start bridging the gap. Thomas absolutely buried the downhill putt, forcing Chris/CJ to make one of their own. CJ, who had been struggling on figuring out the frozen green speeds all day long, smashed his own downhill putt, that swirled around the cup before falling in. The match remained in their favor.
The match ended on the 15th hole, where Chris and CJ pulled ahead 4 with 3 to play. At 25 cents a hole, Chris and CJ didn't even bother to collect, opting to just head to the clubhouse for post round Coca-Cola after putting out on the 19th hole. Camaraderie in this group is like no other.
Here are a few more photos from the first day on the course this year.
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| Chris way left of the fairway on 14. |
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| The brothers strategizing on the 10th hole. |
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| Chris on 14 tee. |
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| Thomas hitting his approach on 16. |
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| Chris and CJ celebrating their win on a broken down tractor off of the 19th fairway. |
Thank you for reading our first blogpost of 2018, and we hoped you enjoyed it. We are planning on continuing to play if the nice New Jersey weather is here to stay. Also, we have been planning a summer road trip this summer down the East Coast, with a big destination in our sights. No spoilers yet, but it will be unforgettable if we can pull it off. For now, we will play as often as we possibly can. More reviews to come!
- The Sunday Golfers
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