Category — Golf

Well on Wednesday there was no way I was going to miss being a Caddie, so I had decided right after Monday’s experience I was going to get to the golf course extra early for the Wednesday Pr0-Am. When I was originally contacted I was told to be at the golf coure by 5:30 a.m., however I set the alarm for 3:45 a.m. and arrived at the course at 4:15 a.m. and even arriving that early I was number 5 on the list of Caddies. The one thing I forgot was my camera; oh well, I was here for the experience.

The Wednesday Pro-Am is not optional for the pro players. If it is requested by the tournament organizers and sponsors they are required to play in order to play on Thursday and Friday which gives them a chance to make the cut for Saturday and Sunday.

At about 6:00 a.m. the Caddiemaster arrived and he started assigning caddies to golfers bags I was in the first group and was assigned to Marc N. who was from Toronto and was the director of sales for Samsung and Bell Canada. After Marc had breakfast we headed over to the driving range. The range balls were lined up in large buckets – ProV1, ProV1x, Srixon, Callaway, Bridgestone, Nike….. all the major name brand golf balls and all of them were brand new. From there we headed to the practise pitching/sand trap green and then over to the practise putting green.

Brenda was watching Global T.V. morning news and she said she saw me in the background. Shortly after 7:00 a.m. we headed to the first tee and to meet the other players, get our Caddie Bibs and meet our Pro player who was Anthony Kim. Fortunately Marc had a camera and gratefully forwarded the attached pictures.

Anthony was very friendly, easy going and it was a lot of fun to be with this foursome. Right at the start he offered to help the amateurs with their golf game, especially with reading the greens and making putts.

Anthony’s caddie was his college roommate Brodie. He asked me where I was from and I said a small town in the interior he had probably never heard of; when I said Kamloops, he said he lived in Kamloops for a couple years. His brother owns a landscaping business in town. Small world isn’t it?

Anthony said that the Shaughnessy course conditions were as tough as anything they had played on this PGA Tour season, even tougher than the British Open. What made Shaughnessy so difficult was the narrow fairways, the course length, the exceptionally deep rough and the very small greens. On one green he putted the ball and it seemed to run across the green forever. I asked him how the greens and the speed compared to The Masters, he kind of chuckled and said Augusta fairways are as fast and as manicured as the Shaughnessy greens and the greens at Augusta are twice as fast.

The round went fairly quickly and our group ended up at -9 under par. After turning in the Caddie Bib to the caddiemaster he asked if I wanted to go out for a second round. I said, why not I am here now and would probably not get this chance again.

In the afternoon round my amateur player was Lindsay H. who is V.P. and C.F.O. for a gold company in Vancouver. He made the round relaxed and enjoyable. Our playing pro was Brian Gay and his caddie was Kip Henley. Brian was friendly and very accommodating to all the fans, however he is very focused when it is time to hit the ball.

Kip was very easy going and readily offered advice to the playing amateurs and to the other caddies. Kip was the winner of Big Break II – Las Vegas; he really made the afternoon round a lot of fun. The team finished at -5 so not quite as good as the morning group.

So, what a day and what an experience and I will do it again when the Canadian Open gets back to the west coast.

Right after Whistler Brenda and I headed to Vancouver for a few days. The main reason for the visit was so that I could Caddie for an amateur player in the Pro-Am events as part of the RBC Canadian Open at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.

Shaughnessy G&C is a private golf club on SW Marine Drive and is definitely an “old time members style” club. It kind of reminded me of something out of the Movie “Caddieshack”. The grounds, the setting and the facilities are amazing and then add all of the organization and glitz associated with a PGA Tour event and it was remarkable to be part of it.
The original time I was given was to show up at was 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning, however I was excited to get there early. So, after parking my car in the designated lot at UBC I hopped on the shuttle bus and got to the entrance around 8:15 a.m. After going through security I arrived at the Caddie sign in area and was number 23 on the list. So, I felt I had a good chance of getting a bag to carry as there were 42 registered amateur players for Mondays Childrens Hospital  Pro-Am. The shotgun start was at 11:30 a.m. and nothing much happened till about 10:30 a.m. and then they started taking Caddies in groups of 5. A lot of amateurs players brought along their friends as Caddies so it looked like it was going to be close to see if I even got a bag to carry. Finally the last person signed in at 11:10 a.m. and they only needed 22 Caddies and I was number 23, so no luck today.
Well, I was “bummed out” and hung around for a bit more to see if anything else came up, but no luck, So, I decided to make the most of it and experience a PGA Tour event and walk around on the grounds, since I had a Caddie Grounds pass. Early on I headed over to the 10th tee box and there was a spot to stand next to a cedar shrub where you were about 10 ft. from where all the Pro’s were hitting their drives. I chatted up the team of volunteer officials there and told them my tale of woe about being number 23 of 22 Caddies and how I had come from Kamloops and didn’t get a bag, etc. etc.
Anyway, after walking a couple fairways I see the John Daly foursome coming up 8, so I watched them for a while and then headed to the 9th fairway to watch the players drives. After that I headed straight for the place I had scoped out on the 10th tee box. A few minutes later John Daly arrived and all of a sudden one of the caddies said to the volunteer official “please contact the Caddiemaster we need another Caddie as one of ours pulled his hamstring”. I immediately raised my hand said I’m number 23 and once I showed my Caddie credential pass I was allowed inside the ropes. I quickly introduced myself and before I knew it we were off down the 10th fairway.
Man………. what an experience! I was caddying for one of the principal owners of Richmond BMW, Infinity and Min-Cooper Auto.
Pete was a great guy and a pretty good golfer, his playing partners were the other dealership owners and they were very friendly and easy to get along with. They had paid $7500 for a threesome with all the monies going to BC Childrens Charity. John Daly was very friendly, easy to talk to and still hits the golf ball a looooonnnnngggg way. His pants are his trade mark and are provided by Loud Mouth Golf and they are colorful. Going down the 15th fairway I asked him if he had brought his guitar along and he said he hadn’t since he only plays Martin Guitars and they’re about $4000 and the airplane travel and humidity changes really messes them up.
The course was playing extremely tough for all the players. Especially the rough, it was 6″ to 7″ deep and you could lose a ball 3 feet off the fairway if it wasn’t for the excellent volunteer spotters. At one point John mentioned that probably 7 to 8 of the Pro’s would drop out after the 1st round just because of the course rough conditions.

The back nine went by extremely quick and it seemed like all of a sudden I was walking up the 18th fairway and the day was over. What a day……… more on the Wednesday Pro-Am in the next post.

Today Brenda and I went golfing at Pineridge Golf Course. We received free 18 hole passes from the good folks at Wine Kitz the last time bottled wine and decided today was a good day to use them.

Our tee time was 10:15 a.m. and our round started out pretty average; Brenda was doing very well for only golfing once or twice per year and I was shooting a couple over par when we got to the 7th hole.

The 7th hole is a short par 3 (85 yds) so I took a Gap Wedge (53 deg) and put a great swing on the club and made great contact; the ball flew almost straight at the pin, it landed short, took one hop then spun slightly sideways and fell in the cup. It was so surreal to see it happen and then we “high fived” – “hooted and hollered” and did our own private celebration. It was great to have Brenda there to see it……….. we never ever imagined that this would happen when we were golfing together.

The pro shop at Pineridge Golf recorded the date, hole, club selection and gave me a nice hat pin that is a “#1”. See picture attached.

Well it’s hard to believe but the golfing season has begun in Kamloops. This is definitely one of the earliest starts that I can remember. My golfing buddy Dave and I went to Sun Rivers on Friday Feb 26/10. We had to walk since no power carts were allowed which makes for quite a hike as the course has some pretty good elevation changes….. at least that’s our excuse for playing in the mid 90’s. The memorable moment was that we were the very first golfers out for the 2010 season. Weather was a little windy but the hiking and work out kept us warm. Today we went to Eagle Point which is our home course for the first round of the season. The weather was perfect for this early and our scores were much improved… we shot in the low 80’s……… but who’s counting it’s just great to be back on the links.

It’s been an up and down season for my golf game this year. I started off the year around a 9 – 10 handicap; clearly I was playing over my head. Then I just could not get off the tee box with my drive and my handicap slowly crept up to a 12 – 13. Nearing mid August I started to put some good games together……. thankfully I can scramble from the worst lies and places you can imagine. Anyway my handicap is now 10 – 11, so not too bad; however I still have that one or two stupid double bogie’s somewhere in the round. Oh Well; the company is great and it beats working!

This past week was my annual golfing adventure; “The Better Husbands Tour”. It’s a long story how the tour got this name, but trust me you really don’t have to be a better husband to get on the tour. But you do have to have a understanding better wife. Anyways, this is the 13th year for the tour and this year there was 30 guys; in the past there has been as many as 48. The tour started last Sunday at Osoyoos Desert Course, Monday we played Inkameep, Tuesday back to Osoyoos Park/Meadows, Wednesday and Thursday at Fairview and we finished Friday at Tobiano. Between golf rounds we drank a few beers, played some poker, sang some guitar songs had a group dinner and then drank a few more beers. My golf game was not at it’s top but i did manage to win a couple bucks. All in all it was a great week.

Well, as you may have read earlier the golf season has officially begun in the Kamloops region. All the courses are open and they are in varying states of readiness depending on elevation, how they wintered and of course general course care and condition. My home course, which is Eagle Point is in very good shape for this early in the year. We are playing regulation rounds and entering our scores and except for the first round of the year we have not had “winter rules”. There is a “lot of rust” on my golf swing and I have shot from a high of 91 into the mid 80’s. However today I got it going pretty well and ended up scoring an even 80; so I was really happy with that score and how I struck the ball except for a couple of drives. My index is 9.1 so my handicap is between a 9 and a 10 depending on the tee box and the course rating. I’ll provide more updates as the season progresses.

Well today was the first day of golf for 2009. I went to Sun Rivers with Dave H. and Bart B., the front nine was open with push carts only. It was fairly windy (as it always is at that course), however the temperature was quite warm and overall it was a great day. Quite a few big horn sheep on the course and in the hills surrounding the course. They have caused a bit of damage to the greens with their sharp hooves, but no too bad. Although we paid for 18 holes we only did 9 hole because when we came around to do the second nine there was a group of 7 lady golfers in front of us and they had just let a foursome go in front of them, so it was going to be a pretty slow round. Anyway, we took a rain check for 9 holes and are headed back tomorrow.

Well today was the final game for 2008 at Eagle Point…….. well for me at least. The course is closing next Monday November 2/08 and we are headed off to Calgary this week, so today was the last round for the year. Now, we may get lucky and get a game or two in at some other courses, but with winter coming that’s about it.

Today we had our usual foursome. From left to right it’s Dave H., myself, Bart B. and Al J. Brian S. joined up with us to make a fivesome, so I got Brian to take a picture on my cellphone. At the end of the day I shot an 82 and my index for the year was an even 9.0…………. which I believe is excellent when you consider where I started this year, which was at a 17.2. Now it’s time to focus on grandkids, curling and other fun activities.

Well it’s getting very close to the end of the golf season and I am trying to squeeze in the last few rounds. This past week we did not golf on Monday, since it was cool and windy. That gave me chance to get the winter tires on our Subaru. On Tuesday Dave H., Bart B. Al J. and I went to Eagle Point and the weather was great, a slight wind but sunny and I shot a smooth 80. On Wednesday the four of us went to Rivershore and the sun was out but the wind was a lot stronger. Rivershore is not my favorite course and I never really play that well there, however on Wednesday I shot an 85 with a triple somewhere in the round, so that wasn’t too bad. Then on Thursday we had a fivesome at Eagle Point and I shot a 78, which could have been a 76 if not for one small pine tree that managed to deflect my ball back into the rough and I ended up taking a double on the 16th hole. I recovered nicely on hole 17 which is the number 1 stroke hole, got my best drive of the season, my approach was just right on the fringe and I 2 putted for an even par, which is really difficult to do on that hole. On Friday just Bart B. and myself went out and I shot an 84 so alright but not great. As it sits now my index is 9.1……. the lowest I have ever golfed. YAHOO!

As far as curling, I am struggling. I guess it’s only my first year and I don’t get a chance to practise, however I am having trouble with my draw weight. On Thursday the ice on the left was faster than the ice on the right and that threw us off for a little while until we got a few rocks down it. Our team has not won a game so far, but we are not expecting too much in our first year. As a team we need to find a time to just go practise throwing rocks, sweeping and getting into a groove. Oh Well, it’s still great to try out a new sport and meet some new folks.