So maybe it was Stevie Williams all along?!?!

[SirSaxa]

Adam Scott wins Bridgestone Invitational with Steve Williams (Tiger's recently fired caddie) on his bag.

Steve and Tiger won 7 of 9 Titles at Bridgestone, now Steve wins #8 with Adam!

scores.espn.go.com/golf/leaderboard

[DanMcQ]

sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/Steve-Williams-is-holding-a-serious-grudge-again?urn=golf-wp4473

[hifigator]

Yeah ... I'm reminded of a friend of mine who stumbled onto the round of his lifetime, after years of trying all of the latest golf aids as well as every practice range drill you can think of. He was all the time a "bogey" golfer. (Of course, he would take 1 mulligan per nine holes and would also mysteriously lose a half-dozen balls along the way. How he still manage bogey gold, I don't know.) But for one afternoon, he was clicking on all cylinders.

He had forgotten to take his clubs for the weekend. You couldn't have told it from Saturday's round. Using rentals from the course, he probably shot about 105 but when the scorecard was added, had finished with a "rather typical" 91. But as we enjoyed a few pitchers that night at the local watering hole, one of our old high school friends told us that because of his honey-do list, he couldn't play on Sunday, but still wanted us to come over afterwards for some steaks. My friend, who is well known in our parts as being rather rough on clubs, somehow talked our friend into loaning him his clubs.

Now, if I hadn't been there, I never would have believed the story. He was pretty much on fire all day. Now he's a big dude, and when he happens to hit the ball straight -- which happens about once every 3 or 4 rounds -- he does hit the ball a long way. But for whatever reason, on that day and with those clubs he was a different person. I think when we tallied the scores he was down for an 80! Now in all honesty, it was probably more like an 82 or 83, with a "gimmie" here or there and a "winter rules" lie imporvement somewhere along the line, but he didn't take a mulligan and he didn't need to invoke his own personal rule of not losing stroke AND distance on a out of bounds/lost ball. (more on that later). No, for one afternoon, he looked like a real hustler on the course, prompting one of his all-time classic lines:

All along, I been trying to fix the indian. I did everything, but nothing worked. Well now we know why! The indian is just fine. All along it was the arrows.

So maybe at The Bridgestone Invitational, it isn't the indians or the arrows that matter most, but rather the quiver.




One question for anyone who will listen: my friend insists that in friendly golf, you shouldn't enforce the stroke AND distance. And even though I know it's just an excuse to cheat and to make your scorecard look more impressive, I have to agree that there is a bit of logic to it. First off, he says that for us weekend golfers, we don't have the hundreds of thousands riding on each shot. Rather, we have close to a hundred golfers on the course who cherish their chance for their weekly round. The last thing they want to do is spend their time watching other people look for a ball or come back to hit from where you are now. Also, in most professional tourneys, there are spotters, so lost balls for the most part are a non-factor. And as far as out of bounds is concerned, he's not going to mess up someone's yard or risk breaking a window, but by the same token, he's unwilling to take an "extra" penalty because his ball is a foot to the right and therfore just past some arbitrary, white stake. "Hell, how do we know that's where the stake is supposed to be ... or whether one is even supposed to be there to start with?" Instead, he will just pull the ball back a foot and then give himself a crappy lie or no shot at the green, and then play it without penalty. Yeah, sure, it's certainly not strict rules of golf, but in the friendly weekend venue, I kind of see his point. The fact that I might have exercised a similar "right" though, doesn't really play into my decision. Yeah, right.

[hoya9797]

Hit a provisional ball any time you think the ball might be OB or lost. You won't slow anyone up and you'll get to play by the rules. Problem solved.

[guru]

Aug 8, 2011 13:32:15 GMT -5 hifigator said:

Yeah ... I'm reminded of a friend of mine who stumbled onto the round of his lifetime, after years of trying all of the latest golf aids as well as every practice range drill you can think of. He was all the time a "bogey" golfer. (Of course, he would take 1 mulligan per nine holes and would also mysteriously lose a half-dozen balls along the way. How he still manage bogey gold, I don't know.) But for one afternoon, he was clicking on all cylinders.

He had forgotten to take his clubs for the weekend. You couldn't have told it from Saturday's round. Using rentals from the course, he probably shot about 105 but when the scorecard was added, had finished with a "rather typical" 91. But as we enjoyed a few pitchers that night at the local watering hole, one of our old high school friends told us that because of his honey-do list, he couldn't play on Sunday, but still wanted us to come over afterwards for some steaks. My friend, who is well known in our parts as being rather rough on clubs, somehow talked our friend into loaning him his clubs.

Now, if I hadn't been there, I never would have believed the story. He was pretty much on fire all day. Now he's a big dude, and when he happens to hit the ball straight -- which happens about once every 3 or 4 rounds -- he does hit the ball a long way. But for whatever reason, on that day and with those clubs he was a different person. I think when we tallied the scores he was down for an 80! Now in all honesty, it was probably more like an 82 or 83, with a "gimmie" here or there and a "winter rules" lie imporvement somewhere along the line, but he didn't take a mulligan and he didn't need to invoke his own personal rule of not losing stroke AND distance on a out of bounds/lost ball. (more on that later). No, for one afternoon, he looked like a real hustler on the course, prompting one of his all-time classic lines:

All along, I been trying to fix the indian. I did everything, but nothing worked. Well now we know why! The indian is just fine. All along it was the arrows.

So maybe at The Bridgestone Invitational, it isn't the indians or the arrows that matter most, but rather the quiver.




One question for anyone who will listen: my friend insists that in friendly golf, you shouldn't enforce the stroke AND distance. And even though I know it's just an excuse to cheat and to make your scorecard look more impressive, I have to agree that there is a bit of logic to it. First off, he says that for us weekend golfers, we don't have the hundreds of thousands riding on each shot. Rather, we have close to a hundred golfers on the course who cherish their chance for their weekly round. The last thing they want to do is spend their time watching other people look for a ball or come back to hit from where you are now. Also, in most professional tourneys, there are spotters, so lost balls for the most part are a non-factor. And as far as out of bounds is concerned, he's not going to mess up someone's yard or risk breaking a window, but by the same token, he's unwilling to take an "extra" penalty because his ball is a foot to the right and therfore just past some arbitrary, white stake. "Hell, how do we know that's where the stake is supposed to be ... or whether one is even supposed to be there to start with?" Instead, he will just pull the ball back a foot and then give himself a crappy lie or no shot at the green, and then play it without penalty. Yeah, sure, it's certainly not strict rules of golf, but in the friendly weekend venue, I kind of see his point. The fact that I might have exercised a similar "right" though, doesn't really play into my decision. Yeah, right.

Worst post ever to appear on the Hoyatalk boards?

Worst post ever to appear on the Hoyatalk boards.

[Boz]

This thread is a perfect example of why this clip will never, EVER get old.....

[PhillyHoya]

Aug 8, 2011 14:43:29 GMT -5 Boz said:

This thread is a perfect example of why this clip will never, EVER get old.....

+Eleventy Billion

[hoyarooter]

Nah, you're wrong, guru. That post doesn't even make the bottom 10. Although maybe I shouldn't say that, since I stopped reading when he finished describing his friend's round.

[hifigator]

Aug 8, 2011 14:16:53 GMT -5 hoya9797 said:

Hit a provisional ball any time you think the ball might be OB or lost. You won't slow anyone up and you'll get to play by the rules. Problem solved.

At the risk of being taken seriously, oh, don't worry ... he takes plenty of provisionals. In fact, another friend of mine once referred to him as "Mr. Provisional." In all seriousness, what he's talking about it, is when you hit a ball fine but you just can't find it, not when you slice one into the woods. The other example is when you hit it well, but it's a dogleg hole or maybe takes a funny bounce and then you get up to your ball and it's sitting on the other side of the white stake. Strict rules, you are to go back to the tee and be hitting 3. But we have generally agreed to move it back into play and hit 3 from there. And of course if no one is looking, I'm sure there are times when that "second" stroke might get forgotten occasionally.