carlo's bakery, hoboken

New Mexico Red Chile + Pasta Roni

Club Championship 2010

After the Ike in June, I didn't play for about two weeks. The next time I teed it up at Metropolis, I hit my drive on the 1st hole out of bounds deep to the right which didn't upset me a bit since I had just played three rounds of highly competitive golf at the highest level I've been able to play, four strokes out of a tie for 5th along with some of the most respected golfers in the area. But whatever caused that ball to sail off to the right would show up much more frequently in the latter half of the summer, making golf an even tougher challenge than usual.

So I decided before the tournament to take a lesson from one of the pros at Metropolis, the first lesson I've taken in over 5 years. Keith and I spoke around the chipping green for a solid 90 minutes, while I took a couple swings here and there. We didn't focus for a minute on any mechanics of the swing- grip, posture, alignment...nothing. Instead we focused solely on course management, shot process, and overall outlook. Typically, after this "couch session," I went back to the range and started hitting the ball well again back on the range.

The following day in the quarterfinals, I was matched against the #8 seed who had qualified by a stroke the day before. After winning the first hole, I three putted to tie on 2 and to lose on 5 and 6 before finishing the front nine 1 up. Richard was playing solid steady golf, and with the pressure off temporarily, was executing well as I struggled. Somehow, I found myself down 2 through 13 and the inevitably repetitive thoughts (2 down 5 to go...need to get something going). But then I had to sink a tricky ten footer for bogey to tie 14, tied 15, and ran badly to tie 16. 2 down two to go. Time to win holes.

I won the 17th after a good 3 wood down the middle, a gap wedge to 10 foot on the fringe. Richard missed the fairway and then to the greenside bunker left. One down with one to go. I took out the driver and hit probably the best drive of the summer, sailing high and fading decisively around the dogleg straightening out with the hole. Richard hit a lazy hook down the left which took some bounces towards the treeline, and knocked off a tree trunk right back in the fairway, 70 yards behind me. Pressure on. Richard took out his hybrid and hit a nice looking shot which could have trickled in, but instead rolled along the edge of the bunker and onto the back edge of the green.

I had 132 yards and took out a 9-iron and hit a shot I am very comfortable with: a three-quarter swing producing a low and controlled line drive which takes two bounces, checks, and rolls. I hit the shot crisp, but knowing I needed birdie, my first thought was GO! Then Chester my caddie yelled SIT!!! I knew it would probably be right on target. It settled about 8 feet short right on line. Richard putt from the edge to just over three feet and it was time to make it happen. I rolled the putt true and it fell right in the middle of the hole. Time for a playoff.

I hit a nearly perfect 3 wood right down the middle on the 1st hole. Richard hit a similar tee shot as 18, staying too far to the left. He was unlucky to be directly up against a tree, unable to take a normal stance or swing, but was able to advance the ball 50-80 yards to just over 200 yards in the right semi rough. I was in the middle of the fairway, 248 yards away, with the pin in the front right- facing the shot in the video from a few yards further right:


For no good reason other than the fact that I enjoy trying to hit the hardest shots I am capable of hitting, I took out my driver. Other options, both superior, included 3-wood to just short and left of the green and 5-iron to about 80 yards. Rationalizations aside, it was a poor decision to hit the driver and one of the worst outcomes resulted from the decision. Off of the downhill lie, I hit the shot thin and trailing to the right, and settled in the fairway bunker, 40 yards short of the green. Walking up to the bunker, I saw I was on the upslope, further complicating the shot. I was concerned with hitting the bunker shot thin and hitting the ball 50 yards over the green (very possible in this situation), so instead I chunked the shot, about 10 yards outside of the bunker, leaving me about 30 yards from the hole.

Meanwhile, after my failed driver attempt, Richard decided to lay up from 215 yards, putting himself to about 50 yards in the fairway. His next shot settled on the green about 12 feet away. My chip shot was not an easy one as I needed to hug the front greenside bunker in order to aim at the hole. A miss here and I very likely tie or lose.

This is when the process is key. Stick to your routine. Shot characteristics first. How far? Contour of green? Wind? Where should I land the ball? How far will it roll? Where do I want to play my next shot from? Where can I miss and be ok? in jail? Select the club after visualizing the shot. Enter pre-shot routine placing extraneous thoughts of hunger, a new pain in my left shoulder, the cute girl watching me from behind me and to the left, my family watching, the pros, and assistants relaying what was happening on walkie-talkies back to the proshop and clubhouse...to their upright and locked position in a brain side compartment. If the process is disrupted, must have kill switch to reboot. This process went off smoothly, and I hit the club which went right on the desired line but lower than I expected. Luckily, it landed shorter than I expected, and cozied up to about 6 feet above the hole.

Richard missed and I made, and I had come back to win from dormie on the 17th hole. We shook hands and sighed several breaths of satisfied relief. I won the semifinal match 4&2 against Marc who I defeated last year in a similar situation being down 2 with 3 to play, and the finals 6&5 against Danny, a really nice guy who has improved a half dozen shots in the past year. If he continues to improve at that rate, he'll be a vey tough opponent.

Hampton Softball

The MGA IKE Golf Championship

Last August in the semifinals of the club championship at Metropolis I was down two holes through 15. I had just three putted the easy par 3 to lose the hole and needed to make something happen quick. I somehow found it in me to make eagle on the 16th and go on to win the match on the second playoff hole - making key par putts on 17 and 18 to avoid elimination.

I didn't know it at the time, but going on to win the club championship earned me an exemption to the biggest stroke play amateur tournament in the area, the Ike, played this year at my home course Metropolis CC. The Ike brings together the best amateur golfers from within the Met Golf Association - an association of over 500 clubs in NY NJ and CT with about 130,000 golfers.

Monday I was paired with John Ervasti of Sleepy Hollow, the first group off the 1st tee at 7:30. Ervasti is a highly accomplished golfer who is currently leading the MGA player of the year race, and has played in at least 5 US Amateurs. After parring the first hole and bogeying the relatively easy second, I found myself in trouble off the tee on the 3rd hole. I was able to advance the ball to the fairway bunker leaving me a 40 yard bunker shot. I was able to put the shot to 3 feet and sink the putt.

That bunker shot helped me gain confidence and I started to feel very comfortable. I parred the 4th hole and then settled into a nice rhythm. I birdied the par 4 5th, and got up and down for par on the 6th, 7th, 8th, birdied the 9th, got up and down on the 10th, 11th, and 12th holes before bogeying the 13th and double bogeying the 14th with a three putt. I parred in from there for a 73 (+2) I wound up hitting only 5 greens but had an amazing 25 putts (by far a record for me) and was T-14 after day 1.



Four were tied for the lead at 69 (-2) and all those who shot 76 or better had the privilege of playing 36 on Tuesday. I was paired with Matt Demeo, the reigning LI Amateur champion. I have never seen anyone hit the ball as far as Matt; he was routinely flying his 3-wood past some of my better drives. We matched each other shot for shot in the morning, both shooting 74 and more or less maintaining our position in the field.

The afternoon round we started on 10. I doubled the hole after being greenside in two. I was in deep fluffy rough around the green growing in the opposite direction as my swing. i needed to hit a perfect chip to give myself a chance at par. But given the lie should have just ensured I was able to put the ball on the green and accept a bogey. Instead I chunked the chip and advanced it about 5 feet. Then I switched to the putter and hit a poor putt as the fringe grass was also growing against me and the ball was basically allergic to rolling smoothly on that kind of surface. I two putted for bogey and found myself +4 through 6.

I had yet to hit a good drive on the 16th hole and finally hit a good one in the third round. Playing directly into the wind I was left with 230 yards after a 260 yard drive. I didn't think even my best three wood could reach the green so I went for the driver and connected almost perfectly. Somehow, the ball landed softly and stopped about 20 feet short of the hole. I went up and drilled the putt to improve to +2, and played the final 11 holes in +1 to finish the tournament with 73-74-74 and a tie for 19th place.

Overall, I'm pleased. I no longer consider myself a "tournament tough" golfer, so to hold my own against such a strong field is a good feeling. A little surprising, the 14th hole proved to be my nemesis, failing to make par in any of the three rounds, with one double. The 10th hole also was difficult for me (and the rest of the field) as I averaged bogey over the three rounds. Both the 8th and 12th holes I played in +2. I played the 16th hole at -3, and the 1st, 5th, 6th, and 9th in -1. Over three rounds I missed 3 putts inside of 5 feet, and was unable in several spots to give myself a good chance at making a putt after a greenside chip.

EUR/USD

My Car Reaches 100k miles

Driving yesterday south on the Bruckner towards the Triboro bridge my car passed 100,000 miles.

States my car has been to: (25)

Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio. And to Canada for a few hours.

The car's been through a lot. Hitting a pothole in New Orleans that split the back rim down the entire circumference, Monsoon Monday flooding the right side of the car, very very almost hitting a wolf in the middle of the night on the highway on I-10W in Florida, almost skidding into the woods near Sugarbush in Vermont...shes been loyal.

I sort of feel like the proud parent that just watched his kid shake the principal's hand and collect his diploma. So now I'm going to post some pictures of the car or taken on road trips. Unfortunately a computer that held all kinds of old pictures (including pictures from the legendary NOLA to Boulder, CO road trip) was destroyed in a fire.

Summer 2010 Preview

it's april 6th and 75 degrees outside so naturally my thoughts are gravitating towards strolling up green fairways, striping crosscourt backhands and grilling steaks. i'm really looking forward to this summer...i have all kinds of stuff planned and before i know it, it'll be winter again and time for another 6 months of cod mw2 fueled hibernation.

in other news, scrabble is up for some rule changes soon.

between now and August, the schedule includes: (excuse the poor parallelism)

1) friend's bachelor party in Montreal
2) playing the WSOP in Vegas
3) continuing flying lessons (hopefully my first solo sometime this summer)
4) the Ike (huge local golf tournament I am exempt from qualifying)
5) MCC club championship
6) weekends in Water Mill
7) recording and producing more of the music that moves me

Garage Band