October 26, 2017

Fairway to Heaven wins EPIC MB 4.0 on 4th Playoff Hole


After a thrilling weekend of competition, it's only fitting that MB 4.0 came down to the last day. Down 6 to 4,  #reVOLT needed to go 4-2 in Sunday Singles to prevent Fairway to Heaven from clinching, and that's exactly what happened. With the score tied up 8-8, we made an impromptu decision to have the captains play a playoff for the title. Jeremy ended up sinking a 25 foot putt on the 4th playoff hole for par and a victory for Fairway to Heaven. Below is a full recap of 4.0:



THURSDAY- Practice rounds. Caledonia & River Oaks Plantation

Dante, Bill and I played Caledonia early on Thursday AM as a treat for being adults and flying instead of driving down. What a gorgeous course it was. We played skins and Dante ended up with half of them, although all of us played well. Here are some pics from the course:






In the afternoon we returned to River Oaks Plantation after a practice round here in 2016 post hurricane. The great company of GolfNow helped us book affordable tee times.


Some people had an actual match to play, others were just out there to get some extra hacks in before the event officially started Friday. Little did we know how much drama the practice round would produce. Headlines from Thursday:

Adam WD's himself after 9 holes due to a staph infection- credit to Adam for surviving the drive down and attempting to play golf. After 9 holes he headed to the hospital and was diagnosed with a staph infection and was given anti bodies. Looking back its a lot easier to joke about now, at the time everyone felt bad for Adam who was miserable. Luckily Adam felt much better after the doctors trip. Looking back it ended up being Adam's only loss on the weekend.

The Blogbrins lose to Dante/James on the 18th hole in a rematch-  The Blogbrins lost to me and Dante 2 & 1 in the 2 man scramble competition @ MB 3.0. They asked for a re-match and the stage was set for Thursday afternoon. Ryan arrived in MB a mere 90 minutes prior to tee time, Jamie had driven all night, and Dante and I had played 36 holes int he previous 24 hours including 18 at Caledonia in the morning. The Blogbrins took an early lead in the match and led most of the holes on the front. I don't believe either team was ever more than 1 up, and we started bringing the heat on the back 9 with both teams birdieing 2 holes on the toughest 3 hole stretch of the course. Jamie was lethal in and on the greens, Ryan and him played very well as team picking each other up when need be. All Square on the 16th tee, the Blogbrins won that hole with a par. With a 1up lead on the 17th tee, both Jamie and Ryan unfortunately drove the ball into the water right and had to take a drop, losing the hole, and going to 18 All Square.  Dante/ Dustin Johnson then took over. After I put out out a "safe" 250 yard drive, Dante blasted a ball 300+ on this long par 5. The Blogbrins again had trouble off the tee, and ended up lying 3 a good 40 yards from the green. Again I took a "safe" 6 iron shot advancing the ball 190 yards which allowed Dante to pull out Hybrib. RIP to this ball  because he and then basically cheated and hit the ball another 240 up the fairway just off the green. Needing just a birdie to win from there, Dante chipped first and decided to go BOSS mode and dropped in the eagle chip for the 1 up win while the poor blogbrins were left standing speechless on the side watching all their hopes and dreams and matching outfits go down the drain for another devastating loss. What would turn out to be somewhat of a theme for Mr. Jamie Bebrin later in the weekend.

Abe vs Jeremy-
With so much shit talking going on prior to the trip, it almost required this matchup to happen on Thursday in case by some chance Jeremy and Abe weren't paired together Sunday. Abe, who switched to playing lefty about 2 months ago, must have forgot to show up to the tee time because after 4 holes Jeremy was 4up. Through the front 9 though, Abe battled back and somehow actually squared the match at the turn. I wasn't in this group so I don't know many details, but I do know at one point Jeremy won a hole with a 9 where Abe took an 11! Gotta love match play. As the match progressed, Jeremy had close out putts on 15, 16 and 17 but missed them all. (Something like that). Heading to 18 All Square, Jeremy and Abe took many hacks to get to the green but once they were there the stage was set for a dramatic finish. With most of the group watching greenside, Abe sunk a 20 foot downhill putt to win the match. Absolutely electric putt from Abe. Luckily for me, our group had basically hit into Jewremy and Abe on 18 and we stood greenside and watched Abe bury that putt and pull off the 1up victory over Jeremy after being down 4 after 4. I dont think anyone heard a peep from Jeremy the rest of the night! Abe partied hard... so hard he was passed out during his player Amari Cooper's 56 point fantasy night. What a day for Abe, another trend that continued throughout the weekend.







Friday Fourball- First Official matches & Go Marty Go tee shot 




The first official event of the weekend. Fourball-a format we've never played- at the polarizing Witch Golf Course. Some people I talk to LOVE the course, others HATE it. Put me in the group of people who loved it. I thought it was awesome. It was hard, actually it looked a lot like a New England type golf course vs your typical Myrtle beach course. Hilly, tree lined woods, big open bodies of water, just a pretty course especially this time of year in the Fall. Haters will say the course was too wet but that's largely because they cant strike a ball properly.

crowd on tee box

prior to the 180 yard bomb

First on the tee was Go Marty Go. The most hyped tee shot in MB history. A tee shirt, and moreso pride was on the line after 7-8 months of going back and forth on the 200 yard drive bet. When we rolled up to the first tee box, it looked like an EASY hole to hit one 200. Wide open. As the person betting against Marty hitting 200+,  I was nervous. With all our group on the tee, Marty stepped up and hit a drive that simply came off the face right, faded, hit the trees and fell around 180. I won the "Go Marty Go" shirt he made and it was an exciting start to the official event.


Hope lean
My new favorite shirt




James/Abe 3&2 over Jamie/Marty
Abe and I owned the front 9, with Jamie and Marty failing to win a hole until #10. On both of the par 5's I wasted a stroke- one on a drop and one on a fat shot from the rough- but managed to make pretty great par saves to win the holes. Those were the back breakers for Jamie and Marty.  Abe did not play his best golf but luckily I had a good enough round to hold off Jamie and Marty through the first 12 holes or so until Abe helped out by hitting a big putt on a Par 3 to protect our 2 hole lead, and eventually we made enough putts to finish off Marty and Jamie on the 16th green with a par.



Jeremy/Dante 4&3 over Bill/Dan
I don't have the best pulse of all the other matchups outside of my own, but playing in front of this group it was apparent Dante (and Jeremy I suppose) were having a great round. Bill and Dan both played under expectations, and lost on the 15th hole from a putt by Jeremy... the only hole on the day his score was used. Dante(and Jeremy I suppose) withstood a small comeback from Dan and Bill on the back 9 but Dante ended that with a chip in on 13 to take back all the momentum.



Adam/Paul 6&5 over #/Mike
#Blownout. This match was never close, with Mike having a tough round with rental clubs and only a few hours of sleep. # got a second glove at the turn and played better, but Paul was solid and Adam was simply too good to be beaten on this day.


Ryan/Beckerman 6&4 over Brain/Joe
Another lopsided match. Brian, whos older, may have not had a full tank of gas after arriving in MB earlier in the morning and working off a couple hours of sleep. Ryan should have, and did, take care of business. I am sure a few holes Beck contributed as well.

After Friday, the score was tied 2-2:




Saturday AM Alternate Shot 

Saturday's course was Man O'War- which looks intimidating from pictures and the scorecard with so much water. For MONTHS we talked about how many balls we would all lose in the water.  However, this was the most playable course we've been to in MB. Wide open, very few trees in the way, this course is a little longer but with soft greens and an open layout, it really was a course that even an unskilled golfer could enjoy.



Abe/Dan 3&2 over Jeremy/Marty
Captains vs Captain in Alt shot. Another matchup that had a lot of hype built up coming in. Abe turned it around from his play on Friday and combined with Dan, was too much for Fairway to Heaven to handle. The match seemed close through the front and onto the back, Abe and Dan with a huge moral victory and momentum for team #reVOLT. They shot an 89 as a team, which is better than they both have ever scored individually. That is called stepping up. Also of note- Abe turned around and used one of his righty clubs on a chip on a hole him and Dan ended up winning. Talk about pouring salt in the other captain's wounds- they incessantly made fun of Abe for switching to lefty.


Yes we really did this 


Dante/Paul 3 &2 over James/Mike
All the momentum our team had from match 1 was immediately squashed after this match. The previous night I was warned that it would be significantly harder with Mike for me to beat Dante/Paul than anyone had originally expected. Paul actually beat Mike on Friday in stroke play. First tee shot- Dante and I stripe drives and Mike, who arrived right at tee time, actually hit our second shot BACKWARDS in the fairway. That was the point in time I said "Oh Shit" and realized my perfect match play record in MB was in jeopardy. Yes, that eary in the round, the second shot of the day, I felt way behind.  Paul played well especially on the Front, with Dante actually struggling a little bit. Still, Mike and I team couldn't score better than double bogey every hole. We were 5 down after 9 so decided to just play hole by hole and get it back to a manageable number. Well, we did just that. Mike was clearly better on the back 9 (if he hit the range pre-round, might have been a different match result) and we got it all the way back to being 3 down with 5 to play. Paul made a clutch shot (chipped it close enough for a gimmie) from off the green on 15, and despite our par on 16 we ended up squaring the hole and losing the match 3 & 2.


Adam/Brian 3&2 over Ryan/#
Brian is again slightly older and does NOT like playing from the tips. Probably until he played with Adam in this match, that is. Again I have little to no idea what really happened in this match but on the outside looking in, just seems like Adam was able to put Brian in better spots than Ryan was for # and it ended up being a somewhat easy victory for team Fairway to Heaven


Bill/Beck 6&4 over Jamie/Joe
Yikes, another blow out. For anyone keeping score at home this would be 3 losses in 3 matches (2 official)  for Jamie Bebrin. Joe is just such a hard guy to play alternate shot with, so it seems as if Jamie had no chance from the get go. Might have been a good match if me and Mike played against Jamie and Joe and Bill/Beck vs Dante/Paul. Anyway, Probably not much to say about this matchup as the #reVOLT team dominated from start to finish.


So after 8 matches the score remained tied, this time at  4-4 heading into Saturday afternoon's  scramble. Again at Man O'War, I knew it would take a solid score to win points since it was an easy course to get aggressive on.



Saturday Afternoon Scramble

Fairway to Heaven
Dante, Jamie, Joe, Brian -7
Adam, Jeremy, Marty, Paul -1
Total -8

The FTH group of Adam/Jet/Marty/Paul went out first and I believe they were -1 early on in the round. I know they birdied the last hole (every group did) so the majority of the round I can assume thee were a couple birdies and a couple bogeys. I imagine they birdied holes that Adam hit bombs on, and parred or bogeys holes that he was wild off the tee and they were forced to take prob a 180 or so drive from Marty, or something.

The other FTH group went off 3rd and was the group in front of me. I knew they had a great chance to put up a low score with their combination of Length + short game skills (Mostly Dante + Jamie). Dante seemed to be doing his stupid birdie dance all day! Early on this group was hot, and apparently missed a handful of makeable putts on the front. It seemed as if everytime my group (playing behind this team) would make a huge putt and let out a loud roar, this fousome responded. My group made a LONG birdie putt on 14 that we knew put us 1 stroke behind this team. On the island par 3 15th hole, we saw this group all off to the far left, it looked like they were off the green. Maybe 2 minutes after our birdie roar, somehow Dante drained a 50+ foot par putt and FTH was flying high. The very next hole apparently Dante, Jamie, and Joe  all couldn't find their drives, so they forced Brian to go back to the tee to hit one. He was playing hurt, and hadn't been hitting drives unless needed. Instead of hitting 3 from about 100 out, Brian hit a nice drive in the fairway and this group somehow managed to go up and down for another birdie! Unreal. This foursome was great all day.

#SKYGUYDAN with the pic at Man O'War


#reVOLT
Bill, Dan, Mike, Abe +1
James, Ryan, Beck, # -5
Total -4

Bill/Dan/Abe/Mike were playing even par golf most of the day and seemed to simply lack the energy to go low. I know they birdied the last hole on a nice putt by Abe, but the big news from this round was the killing of a goose. Mike hit a line drive ball that struck a goose in the neck at high impact. Clearly the goose was fatally injured. JOE, who was in the group behind but had caught up, went over and put the goose out of it's misery. After that happened it seemed to somehow rattle this foursome, as they played over par the rest of the way.



My foursome was a different story- our round was an electric factory. It started with a long birdie putt on hole 3 from #. Next was a long par save putt I made after the other 3 guys missed. Next was a BOMB putt by Beckerman. Later on #9 I hit a 6 iron into the wind from 175 to a foot for a tap in birdie and a bogey free -3 front 9. As I mentioned, we knew we had to keep up with the birdie boys in front of us and I was proud for us pushing so hard. After birdie on 11 and RYAN making HIS loooong birdie putt on 14, we were #jackedup. The group in front had the incredible birdie on 15 after losing all but Brian's drive, and we knew we had to do something. 15th green, about 40 feet away, Beckerman steps up first. Right before he was about to hit- RIGHT before- I stopped him and we adjusted our line. Next thing you know beck's putt falls into the middle of the cup. The next hole Beck striped a 5 wood onto the green and we lipped out there as well. 18 we birdied after a small square off with a squirrel in the fairway, and at least 3 of us actually almost chipped in for Eagle. Electric round from this foursome.


After Saturday and going into singles, the score was Fairway to Heaven 6, #reVOLT 4 with 7 matchups for Sunday.




Sunday Singles

Drama city. What looked like a fairly easy day for Fairway to Heaven, with no less than 2 guaranteed wins, turned into a frenzy at the ihop at Breakfast. Joe texted me that Brian was a Sunday morning injury scratch which shifted all the matchups. You want the definition of triggered? Marty was #triggered when the news broke.  This whole issue- and yes Marty DID accuse me of Tara Lipinsky-ing Brian the night before- created a scenario where Fairway to Heaven needed 2.5 points to clinch, out of the 6 possible points with only one really strongly favored match (Adam vs Dan).

Below are all the matchups in chronological order from when the finished:

Marty 7 &6 over Beckerman
No Bueno. Not a good start for #reVOLT. Even though this match was played in the last foursome, it was over super early. All you really need to know about this match comes from Beckerman himself: "To start the day I made a ridiculously long putt on #1 for a par to go 1up, then a decently long putt on #2 to remain at 1up... then he proceeded to stomp my head in and play really well to tie the record for biggest blowout". Well said. In fact Marty on 8 of the next 10 holes after #2 to close out Beck. A small amount of redemption for Marty who was winless on the weekend up until this match.

Bill 5 &4 over Jamie
I had the pleasure of riding along for this one. This match was in the middle twosome, which Bill and I said was critical that we both won so that the event would at least come down to the last group. Neither of us wanted to be the one to lose the clinching match. Bill played like shit on the first 2 holes, was in pocket on both. After some mental readjusting, though, Bill went on a TEAR. Jamie didn't even play that bad, but Bill was making birdies and pars while Jamie was settling for pars and the occasional bogey. Bill led 2up after 9 and ended up wining a couple holes in the row to end this this early.




# 3 & 2 over Joe/Paul
# came through big time in this match. Joe and Paul both had a chance to win the hole for their team vs just # and at first, it was working. I heard JOE MADE PAR ON HOLE 1 which is borderline unbelievable (the #1 handicap hole par 5 with water) and Paul played well at times but # ended up winning the match because it was fake news that he would be too injured to beat Paul and he proved it on Sunday




James  3&2 over Dante
#Hypedup. How many previews of this match did we see this Summer? 12? I was so excited to play Dante- undefeated on the weekend- on Sunday. I typically play well in matches vs Dante and I knew it would be a challenge given the state of his game. On the first hole Dante gave me an absolute GIFT by hitting too aggressive of a line over the water (aka trying to cheat) and dunking the tee shot in the drink. From there I maintained a 1 hole lead most of the match, although I did relinquish it at least 2 different times. I was never down in this match at all, though. As the round went on, I was hitting some GREAT drives down the middle of the fairway. Dante knew I was driving the ball well which generally means I would be tough to beat, so he was hitting Driver himself all day (instead of his 250 yard 3 iron stinger). Dante found the round a couple too many times. We both could have putt better... it seems as if the couple times I missed a 10 footer Dante ALSO missed it and failed to take advantage. On the 13th ole par 3 on the back I moved to 2up with a LONG birdie putt. The very next hole Dante lose his drive and I managed to squeak by with a bogey and another hole won. Credit to Dante for hitting an absolute bomb being 3down with his back against the wall on 15. He won the hole and took the match to 16, where my 6 foot par putt won the hole and match. Did I think about how the other team picked Dante over me in the draft all day? Yes. Yes I did. Haters fuel me. Don't pick against me. #SupJeremy #SupMarty. I told you bitches I would win my matchup Sunday.



Adam 2up over Dan

The only match to make it to the final hole from the official events of the weekend. Dan was a big underdog going in.... there was a imbalance in talent due to Ryan leaving early. Adam, like Dante, was too aggressive on his opening tee shot and hit it in the water and went down 1. I think Dan actually got his lead to 2up at one point, but eventually Adam came back and took a 2up lead to 17. I believe Dan won the hole and brought it back down to 1down on 18. Adams drive flirted with the water line but stayed in, and was very deep. Dan also hit his nice, but unfortunately proceeded to dunk his approach in the water. He dropped and did it again. and again. Losing the match in any fairway sucks, this was especially shitty because it dormied Fairway to Heaven.


Abe 2&1 over Jeremy
A rematch from Thursday's emotional win for Abe. "This time it counts" signs from the patrons all over the course. Apparently this match was a see saw.... back and forth with NO squared holes until the 8th or so. After that, they halved 4 or 5 in a row. Clearly coming down to the wire in a close match, and knowing that Abe very likely needed to win to keep #reVOLT alive, he played "lights out" according to Jeremy on 15 and 16 and they halved 17 with bogeys and Jeremy was dead. 2nd loss to Abe (lefty) in 3 days.





At this point in time, we knew after Adam won 18 and Abe squared 17 that the overall score was tied 8-8. #reVolt went 4-2 and tied it up. Naturally, we wanted to have a playoff. We radioed back to Abe and Jeremy and told them to start a 1 hole sudden death playoff on the 18th. The 18th hole has 2 forced carries over water and it was windy, so we knew someone would likely win the hole. Abe hit his drive in to the water and had to drop. Jeremy hit one to the middle of the fairway. Abe then tried to "lay up" but he hit it too hard and it went in the drink. There is Abe, dropping 4 and hitting 5. Jeremy is a little further back after a lay up of his own about to hit shot #3. Guess what happens? Of course you already know. We all knew what was going to happen. Splash city. Now Jeremy has to take a drop next to Abe and they are both hitting 5. Abe carries the green long, Jeremy puts a beauty in the middle of the surface. After a chip, missed putt, and tap in, Abe was in for 8. Jeremy needed to 2 putt from about 20 feet for the win of course choked again, for the second time on the hole. Missed I would say what... a 4 foot putt for the win?


This is when we regrouped, and asked if we could go out and have the captains play a fourball sudden death playoff. The staff said yes, enjoy, and so we did just that. With a gallery of 10 people and 4 carts, the 4 captains played the first hole again under immense pressure. Dan was putting the pressure on and Marty was responding on this hole. On the green, Marty ended up with a short 5 footer for par and the win.... and missed it. On to the 3rd playoff hole we went. A par 3. Jeremy was the only one to hit the green but somehow again made bogey ( I think everyone in the group did). Abe's par putt was hit just a sconce too hard and lipped out. On to the 4th playoff hole. With all drives in play, up to the green the gallery went. Abe struggled to get to the green was a non factor on the hole. Marty was greenside in 2. Dan was behind the green. Jeremy was also off. All 3 chips were solid, none were great. Jeremy was first to putt for Fairway to Heaven. Somehow. Someway he MADE the par putt from about 30 feet. It was a very electric moment, even being on the other team. Dan stood over his putt after things calmed down with a chance to square the hole but alas, he lipped out (on the high side, I might add) and it was not meant to be for team #reVOLT.

Playoff Hole #2

Watching from the back of the green

Bill and I helping Dan read a putt in the playoff

Random pic of Joe and I


The final scoreboard:





And now a little history to note so we can track moving forward:

Every official match play in MB history:

1.0- JB/Beck 5&4 over Adam/Paul - scramble
1.0- Ry/Jeremy 7&6 over Abe/Campbell- scramble
2.0- JB/Adam 2&1 over Dante/Bill- scramble
2.0- Bunny/Beckerman over Jeremy/Marty scramble
3.0- Dante/JB 2&1 over Jamie/Ryan scramble
3.0- Jeremy 2up over Bunny heads up
3.0- Dan/# over Marty/Abe scramble
3.0-  Beck/Adam over Bill scramble
4.0- JB/Abe 3&2 over Jamie/Marty - best ball
4.0- Dante/Jeremy 4&3 over Bill/Dan- best ball
4.0- Adam/Paul 6&5 over #/Mike best ball
4.0- Ryan/Beckerman 4&3 over Brian/Joe best ball
4.0- Dante/Paul 3 & 2 over James/Mike Alt shot
4.0- Dan/Abe 3 &2 over Jeremy/Marty alt shot
4.0- Adam/Brian 3&2 over Ryan/# alt shot
4.0- Bill/Beck 6&4 over Jamie/Joe alt shot
4.0- # 3&2over Joe/Paul-  best ball
4.0- Adam 2up over Dan heads up
4.0- Bill 5&4 over Jamie heads up
4.0- JB 3&2 over Dante heads up
4.0-Marty 7&6 over Beck heads up
4.0- Abe 2&1 over Jeremy heads up


All Time MB Champions:
OGMB: James
JBMB: Beck
MB 3.0: Dante
MB 4.0: Fairway to Heaven

Course list:
1.0: Heritage Plantation, Heathland, Moorland, Parkland
2.0: Myrtlewood Pinehills, Myrtlewood Palmetto, Pine Lakes
3.0: River Oaks, True Blue, Heathland, Parkland, Moorland
4.0: Caledonia, River Oaks, The Witch, Man O'War, Wizard