From: Scott Woods
[nittanylion96@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2010 4:16
PM
To: Dan Hoelke; Eric A. Drossner; Paul S. Rovner; Scott
Woods
Subject: MBBC XIV - Trip Report
The 14th annual
installment of the Myrtle Beach Birdie Championship returned to its rightful
place in late May/early June after being pushed into August in 2009 due to Scott
Woods' wedding. Eric Drossner was gunning for his 4th consecutive title
after dominating the field in 2009 with a record-setting 9 birdies. And,
in the end, the 2010 tournament would play-out very similar to the 2008
tournament. Preparations for the 2010 MBBC were few and far between.
Eric Drossner was probably the most prepared as he played several warm-up rounds
in the weeks leading up to the tournament. Paul Rovner also played a
handful of rounds. For the first time in years, Dan Hoelke did not play at
all before the tournament, although he did hit the driving range at lunch the
Friday before the players left for Myrtle. In fact, Hoelke was in Vegas
for 5 days for a business conference, returning just a few days before heading
to Myrtle. Scott Woods had not even taken his clubs out of his travel
bag after the 2009 MBBC, reverting to his old unprepared form. There were
only minor changes to the traditions of the MBBC, that being the decision to
play Barefoot Love and Fazio and Grande Dunes twice each. The players did
agree to go Saturday through Wednesday for the first time in a few years.
Drossner and Rovner booked their flights on U.S. Air direct to Myrtle with a
connection through Charlotte on the flight back. Dan Hoelke booked Myrtle
Beach Direct out of Pittsburgh on the flight down, and flew U.S. Air home
through Charlotte on the flight home. Scott Woods booked his flight out of
D.C. through Atlanta on Delta due to an amazing rate (although flying out of
D.C. is a decision he continues to question). Paul Rovner booked the
rental car through U-Save at a rate of approximately $270.00, although there
would be issues in that regard.
After barely sleeping the night
before, Scott Woods left his home for the D.C. airport at 3:45 a.m. Saturday
morning for his 6:00 a.m. flight. Some traffic issues and poor time
management by Woods left him cutting it close for his flight, but he was able to
make it with little trouble. Hoelke's flight left around 9:00 a.m. and
Drossner and Rovner didn't leave until approximately 9:45 a.m. Woods was
the first to arrive in Myrtle and promptly went to the meeting place at the
Myrtle Beach Airport bar. Hoelke arrived a few minutes later, and the two
had a quick beer while waiting for Drossner and Rovner to arrive. Drossner
and Rovner arrived approximately 30 minutes later, and the players headed
downstairs to collect their bags and the rental car. Because it had been
so long since he had landed, Woods' gold clubs had been taken to the Delta desk,
where he was able to pick them up. The rental car was put in Woods' name,
but the reservation initially could not be found. It was then discovered
that Rovner had mixed up the A.M./P.M. meaning the car was booked for 11:30
p.m. The rental agent informed us that there were no other vehicles
available and that the earliest they would have a car available would be 8:30
p.m. Paul Rovner stepped up and asked to speak with the manager and
amazingly, was able to get upgraded to another mini-van for only an additional
$10.00 making the total rental fee $340.00. With that issue resolved, the
players were able to load the mini-van rather easily and head to lunch at Burger
King. Major news was revealed at lunch as Woods announced that his wife
was expecting their first child, Rovner announced he might be getting "snipped"
and Drossner announced that his wife might be carrying a child for her
sister. The players then headed to the site of the opening round,
Myrtlewood-Palmetto.
Saturday, May 22,
2010
Three-time Defending Champion Eric Drossner had
originally selected the Pine Hills 18 for the site of the opening round, but due
to maintenance and scheduling issues, it was switched to the Palmetto
Course. Very little was known or expected of the Myrtlewood course,
other then a few of the holes can be scene from Route 501. The players
unpacked their bags in the parking lot, and Woods changed into long pants.
Woods also gave the rest of the players surprises, Masters' golf towels from his
trip to the 2009 Masters. Check in at Myrtlewood was a bit of a hassle as
there was a group with two children trying to check in as well. However,
the group was able to get out ahead of them. A single did show up on the
1st tee, but the group allowe dhim to play through. The drives on the
first tee were not particularly impressive as Woods, Rovner, and Drossner all
went left, while Hoelke snapped his to the right, and so the 2010 MBBC was off
to a less than spectacular start. The average first birdie by the foursome
is 8.3 holes, but the oddsmakers had expected an even earlier strike
setting the over/under at 6.5 holes. There were very few opportunities in
the first few holes, and over was the winner. However, things changed
fairly quickly, as defending champion Eric Drossner opened the scoring on the
Par 3 7th hole. With Woods and Hoelke looking for their errant tee shots
off the green, Drossner decided to chip out of turn, and with Woods and
Hoelke looking, Drossner proceeded to chip in for birdie. As was the case
several years prior when Drossner chipped in, his cart partner Paul Rovner, was
the only one to witness this birdie, leaving some to question its
legitimacy. There was little else to report in the way of birdies for the
rest of the round. Woods played surprisingly well recording an 86 to tie
Hoelke. Paul Rovner played his worst round of the week, shooting 103,
while Drossner shot an 89. Storm clouds rolled in just as the foursome was
finishing up, and the scoreboard after the opening round showed Drossner with a
lead of 1-0-0-0. The majority of the foursome was not overly impressed
with the Myrtlewood Course, with only Woods thinking it was actually a decent
course worthy of a return.
The players loaded up the rental car
just as the skies opened up and headed to their Barefoot Villa. They
checked in at the package provider and met the person they'd spoken to on the
phone who was not as unattractive as expected, but still not particularly
attractive. They then headed to Bi-Lo to stock up on the necessities for
the week - donuts, M&M's, chips, water, Gatorade, cereal, and a case of
beer, which, as always, would go unfinished. The players checked in to
their condo, excited to find that each had their own queen size bed. All
players showered and they caught a cab to Barefoot for dinner and drinks.
Dinner was at the Liberty Steakhouse. The players had eaten their once
before and it was thought to be pretty good, but that would prove to be
incorrect. After waiting briefly for their table, the players were
seated. All ordered steaks, which were a little disappointing and left all
wondering why they didn't just go to Outback or the hold location of the opening
night dinner, Texas Roadhouse (altough, I would actually be surprised if this is
as good as we remember it to be.) After dinner, the players headed to
Crocodile Rocks. The cover is now $10.00 (higher then I can ever remember)
and they are now offering table seating for an additional $10.00 per
person. After initially balking at the idea of sitting at a table, the
doorman offered to seat the foursome for only an additional $5 per person.
The foursome agreed and were seated on the floor. Turned out to be a
pretty good decision, as the bar filled up fairly quickly. The players
were introduced to their new favorite Crocodile Rocks waitress, Cassie (sp?), a
cute, peppy girl who couldn't weigh more then 110 pounds. This, of course,
led to a Cassie, Leah, and Shelley debate with the consensus being that Shelley
remains number one with Leah and Cassie fighting it out for second
place. The players showed their loserness by asking Cassie if she
knew Leah or Shelley, and she said she thought she'd heard of them but that they
hadn't worked there for several years. Unfortunately, it appears the
players will never see Shelley or Leah again. The piano show was about the
same as usual, although later, the players realized that the never played the
Pussy Song or Joy to the World. There was, as always, one "star" of the
show, who got to sing a song, and then appeared to be asked to stop submitting
requests. Hoelke appeared to be feeling the effects from his steak, as he
caught a severe case of the hiccups and actually had to cut himself
off. The rest of the players were fairly tame. Amazingly, the
foursome managed to stay past midnight, before catching a cab back
home.
Sunday, May 23,
2010
After a fairly tame night, the players had little
trouble waking up at 6:30 a.m. for the short trip to Barefoot for 2 rounds at
Fazio. The Love course had undergone maintenance a few days prior,
and with Fazio expected to undergo major maintenance in a couple of days, the
players agreed to play twice at Fazio on Sunday and twice at Love a few days
later. Expectations were high going into the double round at Fazio, with
all players expecting a "barrage" of birdies. Specific holes were picked
out as birdie possibilities. There were actually decent birdie
opportunities on the Par 4 first hole, a hole that has yet to be birdied, but no
one was able to convert. The second hole, a long Par 4, also featured a
lengthy birdie putt by Woods, but he was unable to convert a rare birdie attempt
on that difficult hole. However, a major turning point occurred on the Par
3 third hole, when Paul Rovner fired a dart to within 7 feet. Rovner, who
had run his birdie drought back uo more then 100 holes, was able to drain the
putt to join Rovner atop the leader board. The remainder of the round was
relatively disappointing with no significant birdie putts. Eric Drossner
was still impressive, as he rattled of a personal best 10 consecutive birdies in
route to a round of 80.
The players booked their afternoon round on
Fazio for 3:30 and headed to their traditional mid-Barefoot round lunch at
T.G.I.Fridays. Drossner used is final free app. coupon, the players had
lunch, and then headed back to the condo to relax until the afternoon
round. Rovner and Drossner intended to head to the pool, but that plan was
changed when a thunderstorm rolled in. It continued to rain, heavily at
times, as the players waited to head out for the afternoon round. The
players headed back to the course, with it still raining. Skies brightened
slightly when they arrived, and the course indicated that it was still
open. The players paid, and headed out just as the rain stopped. The
course was cart-path only, which made things difficult, but there was no more
rain. Things were relatively quiet until the Par 3 8th hole, a hole
believed to have never been birdied before. Stormins Dan Hoelke commented
to his cart partner before the hole, that because of his troubles off the tee,
this was one of his last opportunities to birdie in the round.
Hoelke proceed to find the range on a fairly lengthy birdie putt to leave only
Woods without a mark. There were no other significant opportunities.
Perhaps the most exciting thing that happened in the afternoon round, was when
on the 17th tee, Drossner realized he had forgotten his driver on another
hole. The group behind us had picked it up a few holes earlier.
Overall scores were less than impressive other than Rovner's 88. And so,
after 3 rounds, the scoreboard was 1-1-1-0.
Night 2 is
traditionally ordering pizza with lights out by 9:30 p.m. Hoelke was
excited to try the new Domino's pizza, which the res tof the players agreed,
bypassing last year's find of I Love New York Pizza. Turns out, Domino's
new recipe is not much better then their old one. The players stayed in
for the evening, although there was a suggestion that they go out for ice
cream. That never happened, and lights were out a little later then usual,
around 11:00 p.m.
Monday, May 24,
2010
The players awoke on Day 3 to dark clouds and
light rain. It had apparently rained heavily during the night, and for the
first time in years, there were legitimate concerns of a complete washout of a
round. Radar indicated pockets of rain up and down the coast with the
threat of rain lingering a ll day. The players were scheduled to return to
a course they had not played in many years, Farmstead. The players made
the 20 minute drive to the North Carolina border, with Woods actually not
remembering where the course was. It was found with little trouble.
The players arrived and learned that their opening tee time had been pushed back
to 8:00 due to the heavy rain. The players sat in the restaurant for
awhile, and watched as another large group gathered. Fearful that they
would be jumped in line, the players pushed to get on the course, and were
finally sent off the first tee just before 8:00 a.m. Amazingly, the rain
stopped just as the foursome teed off, and there actually be no more rain the
rest of the round. Naturally, the course was cartpath only, making for a
fairly lengthy round. The second hole featured one of the strangest
incidents in MBBC history... a crow was sitting in and around one of the carts,
and someone jokingly said, "I hope he doesn't take our scorecard" at which
piint, the crow promptly flew off with the scorecard. He dropped the
scorecard at the top of small pine tree, but the card got stuck in the
tree. The players called the clubhouse and a ranger came a few holes later
with a new card. Scott Woods was finally able to join the birdie party on
the Par 3 3rd hole, when he fired a dart to approximately 2 feet. He was
able to drain his slightly downhill putt to leave all four players with a single
mark. There were a handful of other decent opportunities the rest of the
round, but no one was able to convert. While Paul Rovner was able to par
the Par 6 18th hole, the rest of the efforts on that whole were disappointing,
with Drossner recording a 10. Overall scores were decent with all four
players over 90.
The pro shop at Farmstead was less than helpful in
booking the afternoon round at Grande Dunes for 2:20 p.m. The players went
to the Atlanta Bread Company for a quick lunch, and then headed to Martins to
stock up on balls. They then headed for their afternoon round at the
beloved Grande Dunes. There had been some concerns about maintenance being
done at Grande Dunes with 1/2 of each green being aerated a few days before and
some of the fairways also being aerated. The maintenance would actually
not be an issue for the foursome. The foursome was early for their
afternoon round, but with hopes to catch the Flyers/Canadiens game that evening,
the players pushed the tee time up and were sent off a little ahead of
schedule. They had time to hit the range, with Hoelke hitting
approximately 100 balls in an effort to fix his game. All was relatively
quiet until the Par 5 7th hole, a relatively short Par 5, that is not believed
to have been birdied. Paul Rovner hit 2 excellent shots to leave himself
on the fringe approximately 30 feet from the hole. A difficult up and down
would put him atop the MBBC leaderboard. However, Rovner crushed his lag
putt, leaving himself 15 feet for birdie, which he was unable to convert.
Things remained relatively quiet, although Rovner shot a 40 on the front
9. In addition, Drossner misplaced his second club off the trip,
discovering on the 8th hole tee box, that his wedge was missing. He went
back several holes but was unable to locate it. It would later be found
and returned by one of the rangers. On the Par 5 13th hole, Woods
would announce that he would be a contender for the title. For reasons not
entirely clear (especially after what would happen in the final round), this
hole had always been a nemesis to the group. A fairly easy drive leaves
the players with a difficult but makeable second shot to an uphill green to
reach in two. Traditionally, one or more players chunk into a bed of
waste. All four players crushed their drives leaving them just 200 yards
to the green. Drossner did the traditional chunk, while Rovner and Hoelke
hit wayward second shots. Woods hit a decent second shot, that ended up
approximately 15 yards short of the green. Amazingly, Woods, who
struggled with his chipping the entire trip, was able to chip close for a tap-in
birdie. It was the first birdie for the foursome on a hole other
than a Par 3 and Woods took a 2-1-1-1 lead. Because of his
horrid play, Hoelke had decided to begin drinking, and he roped Woods in as
well. Both finished off 6 or 7 beers with help from the long wait on the
8th hole while Drossner looked for his lost club. Drinking did not
seem to help Hoelke, as he was unable to birdie.
Drossner drove the
foursome back to the condo, where the players continued drinking and then caught
a cab to the Overtime Sports Cafe. They continued drinking and watched the
Flyers earn a trip to the Stanley Cup finals. (As of the writing of this
report, the Flyers are down 2-0 to the Blackhawks in the Finals). The
players returned home around midnight, for an early wake-up call for the fourth
day, at the much anticipated Love Course.
Tuesday, May
25, 2010
Day 4 would feature 2 rounds at the players
favorite course, Barefoot Love, and two shots at the infamous Par 4 4th
hole. Fireworks came fairly quickly in the morning round. Just a
week earlier, the players had discussed how it was amazing that noone had been
able to birdie the opening hole on either Fazio or Love, both of which are
relatively easy holes. Woods fired a wedge to within 4 feet at Love and
appeared ready to take complete control of the tournament. However,
Hoelke, who was continuing to struggle with his game, had other ideas as he
chipped in for birdie from off the green, before Woods even had a chance to
putt. Woods maintained his composure to drain his putt and maintain a 1
birdie lead. The players were somewhat disappointed to see the flag on the
Par 4 4th hole in the back. Woods crushed his drive approximately 10 yards
short of the green, as did Drossner. Rovner put his drive in the valley of
f*ck, and Hoelke was extremely angry to blast his drive into the greenside pot
bunker. All four approach shots were disappointing, with Woods actually
chipping over the green before lipping out his second chip. There were
three pars and a bogey recorded with all four players looking forward to a
second shot that afternoon. The fireworks continued on the Par 5 8th
hole. Eric Drossner striped his drive, but was left with slightly more
than 200 yards to reach a green protected by a waste area in front.
Drossner made the gutsy decision to go for the green despite needing to carry
his ball approximately 195 yards. Drossner struck his second shot decently
but managed to clear the waste area although to the right of the green.
His chip was masterful and he was able to drain his birde-putt to pull within
one of the lead. Of note, this was Drossner's first birdie on the Love
course. Drossner continued to display his mastery of the Love Par 5's on
the Par 5 13th hole. One of the foursome's favorites, Drossner again out
his second shot just off the green. He was able to hit another excellent
chip, and drain the putt, for his second birdie of the day, and take the lead by
virtue of the tiebreaker. There were no other significant birdie
opportunities in the morning, and after a slow start, things had picked up with
a scoreboard of 3-3-2-1, with no one completely out of it.
With
plans to try to make the Pelicans game that evening, the payers opted for an
earlier afternoon tee time, and alos decided to have lunch in the
Clubhouse. This may have been one of the best decisions of the trip, as
the players met Jami, a waitress in the clubhouse, who this writer very much
would like to see naked. The players stayed in the clubhouse a little
longer to watch Jami, before heading off for the afternoon round. Woods
came close to striking again on the 1st hole but was unable to make the
putt. Efforts on the Par 4 4th hole, were less than ideal. Woods
pulled his to the left of the green-side pot bunker leaving an awkward
chip. Drossner went into one of the fairway bunkers. Hoelke and
Rovner again had disappointing drives. No one was able to make birdie, and
the foursome will have to wait another year for shots at their favorite
hole. Woods continued to make a statement on the Par 4 10th hole. He
again put a wedge to within 5 feet to give himself the outright lead. Once
again, someone else had other ideas, as this time, Paul Rovner chipped in for
birdie before Woods had a chance to putt. Woods was able to convert the
putt and take the lead. Birdies were elusive the rest of the day, and the
pennultimate round came to a close with Woods in the lead with 4 birdies,
Drossner one back with 3 and Rovner and Hoelke still in contention with
2.
With no real intention of getting blasted that evening, the
players decided to drive to the Pelicans game. Dark clouds threatened the
game, and, the game was actually delayed for approximately 45 minutes. The
players got 2 for 1 seats behind the plate and played the cup game on Jesus
Sucre night. Eric Drossner was the big winner on the night in a game won
1-0 by the Lynchburg Hillcats, played in a brisk 2hours and 15 minutes.
Dan Hoelke finally got his ice cream at the ballpark. The players headed
home to pack and get ready for an exciting final round back at Grande
Dunes.
Wednesday, May 26,
2010
The players decided to return to their beloved
Grande Dunes for the final round. In fact, it is believed that barring
maintencance issues, Grande Dunes will become the site of the final round for
all future MBBC tournaments. Scott Woods had booked his flight home for
1:50 p.m., so there was some concern about finishing the round quickly.
This was not issue as the players were the first group off the front and
completed the round in less than 4 hours. The players packed that morning
and loaded the car in order to go directly to the airport. There had been
some suggestion that the players would shower in the locker room after the
round, but with temps in the high 70's, no one felt the need to shower after the
round. Strong winds made things interesting throughout the round, and the
players struggled through the first 6 holes. Paul Rovner had a
magnificent chance on the Par 5 7th hole. Clearly angry after his missed
opportunity on the same hole a few days earlier, Rovner fired a beautiful
third shot to within 3 feet. It could only be described as a Rovner-esque
birdie opportunity, as it was no more than 3 feet away, but above the hole,
meaning it was somewhat downhill. Rovner has missed at least 2 similar
putts in his career (1 in 2008 at Tidewater and the other several
years ago at Legends.). Rovner struck his putt through any break and
missed the hole entirely. As usual, Rovner smacked the putt
away before it stopped, leaving many to wonder if he would have even made
what was likely to be an even longer putt coming back up the hill. Rovner
gave himself par. The drama of the MBBC came to a head on the Par 5
13th hole. Once again, all four players hit solid drives to the bottom of
the hill leaving just over 200 yards to the hole. Woods went first and got
a great bounce on his second shot to avoid a bunker and end up on the back of
the green, presenting himself with a great opportunity to win the
title. Dan Hoelke hit a solid second shot to the right of the green
leaving himself with an awkward chip. Paul Rovner also hit a decent shot
short of the green. Eric Drossner hit a spectacular shot to the back of
the green. Hoelke hit his chip close and tapped in for his third
birdie. Woods had a difficult putt fron the fringe. Woods completely
misread the putt and left himself a downhill 10 footer that he would miss.
Drossner hit an excellent putt to within 2 feet, which he converted for his
fourth birdie to take the lead from Woods. There were few birdie
opportunites over the final 5 holes as players were slowly eliminated.
Hoelke had a chance to stave off elimination on the Par 5 17th hole,
but left a 12 footer short. Woods found the fairway on 18 with one
last chance to pull off a miraculous final hole birdie, but his approach found
the water (as did his second attempt), and Eric Drossner won his fourth
consecutive title. It was also the second time that Drossner has come from
behind on the final day to win the title.
After
starting at 7:30 a.m. and were done by 11:30 a.m., leaving time for
lunch in the Grande Dunes clubhouse. They finished lunch and went
through the depressing routine of packing their clubs in their travel
bags. They stopped to get gas and made it back to the airport just after
12:30 p.m. All flights were on time, and everyone made it home without
incident.
A few wrap-up notes:
- I don't
believe there is any dispute that the MBBC should remain in late May
if possible. Despiute some concerns of wind and rain, even
a couple of weeks can make a major difference as temps in Myrtle lately
have been in the 90's.
- Price will always be the deciding factor, but
Saturday to Wednesday seemed to work out well.
- Droz has already announced
River's Edge as the site of the opening round. River's Edge is one of the
more northerly courses, so flying into and out of Wilmington, NC might be a
consideration. I had looked at hit one year, and, in some cases, prices
were lower. I doubt we'll do it, but something to keep an eye on.
Flights out would have to be later because it is a bit of a haul up there.
If we fly out of Myrtle, we know flights home can be as early as 1:50, perhaps
even a little earlier if necessary.
- Everyone seemed to agree that
Fazio and Love should be played twice, preferably with one at each course both
days, but that, as awlays, will be determined by maintenance. I think
everyone also likes Grande Dunes on the last day. We also agreed to put
True Blue and Caledonia back into the rotation this year, which would mean a
schedule like this: Day 1- River's Edge, Day 2 - Barefoot, Day 3 -
Caledonia/True Blue, Day 4 - Barefoot, Day 5 Grande Dunes - home. It means
Grande Dunes would only be played once in alternate years. If anyone is
really against True Blue/Caledonia, because we don't get to play Grande Dunes
twice, you won't really hear a lot of argument from me. I'm good
either way. If we really want to play Grande Dunes twice, the options for
the replay are Tidewater or The Shaft, and I don;t think anybody would be too
disappointed in that. Looks like for the first time in as long as I can
remember (other then the year Dan didn't play) there will be no new
courses.
- Paul, make sure you double check the A.M./P.M. button next
year...
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