With 31 total points, team Bomb Squad put an exclamation
point on the final chapter of this epic 3-year battle with Vibes that ends at
1-1-1 overall. The Bomb Squad started hot on Friday and Saturday, winning the first 2 sessions with ease. Vibes came back a bit in the scramble round, but Sunday was
an absolute bloodbath at Caledonia. Vibes won just 6 out of the 20 matches on
this incredible golf course. Previously,
at MBX (Pine Needles), Vibes won Sunday 14-8. This year-MB12 (Caledonia)- Bomb
Squad returned the favor and won 14-6. Poetic.
1. Johhny Kotkowski. Bomb Squad captain Johnny K. Did he go 4-0-0? No. Johnny and Abe lost the Captains match on Friday (despite Johnny playing well). But on Saturday in Alt Shot he won 2UP with Alec, and then self-birdied Hole #1 vs the titanic duo of Jared/Cbell on the way to a wire to wire victory in the afternoon. On Sunday, Johnny/Cbell had the only match that made it to the 18th hole, where Johnny threw a dart to 5 feet and made a birdie on 18 for the 1UP win, team win, & 3-1-0 record.
2. Bill Poch. 4-0-0. Friday’s victory with Jeremy vs Coates/Beck seemed inevitable and proved to be the case. Oga and Bill slayed in alt shot, and the scramble victory must have been extra sweet- Campbell and Jared were college roommates but Bill and Campbell were best friends in high school so this one was special, I’m sure. It was also just Bill’s second scramble win in 6 attempts. The MB vet was in the lead-off match on Sunday for the Bomb Squad and delivered a gritty win vs Cam Cox. Bill’s performance this weekend is the definition of leading by example
3. Peter. The other 4-0-0 guy on Bomb Squad. Friday’s match with Jimmy vs Bahr/Cox was an epic one, these guys didn’t know exactly what the stroke situation was but played it out and won 2&1 in a tight match at Heritage Club. An alt shot match with his boy Trevor on Saturday AM + another close 2&1 victory vs some of Vibes top players on Saturday PM brought him to 3-0… and Sunday got his revenge in Singles vs Nick, who he lost to last year. The Sasquatch slayed, again.
4. Jeremy. (3-1-0) Wow, what a weekend for Jeremy. A win on Friday with Bill brings Jeremy’s bestball record to a sparkling 7-1-0. He lost the alt shot match with Ryan, but bounced back in the afternoon with a 1UP win on 18 with his boy Ed. On Sunday Jeremy went NUCLEAR in his match vs Dennis. The 8am text “I’m getting 2 strokes from Dennis? LOL” was just the start of a historic day, Jeremy found a way to win the first 10 holes in a row and impossibly closed his match 10&8. Just wow.
5. Craig went undefeated! 3-0-1 this year for Mutz, who took care of business on the course AND in the parking lot. After a tie Friday (Craig’s now 3-1-1 in bestball), him & Danny Richards trounced their opponents 7&6 in alt shot. Craig then won 2&1 Saturday afternoon with Peter and again won 2&1 on Sunday vs Honeywell. A lot of points were won by Craig.
6. Jimmy H- I think it’s clear the Bomb Squad sorely missed Jimmy at MB11 and he came back this year with vengeance. Won on Friday, won again with ABE in Alt Shot on Saturday AM, and played like a hero in the scramble but had a partner who chose to show up to the match with too little too late (me). Sunday he- literally- rode around Caledonia like a boss in a marquee matchup, beating Jared 4&3 with no strokes. I’ll never not wear a brown belt again because of this guy.
7. Ed- Back to back 3-1-0 years for Ed, who holds a winning record in every format but bestball. He lost on Friday again this year, but had two 1UP wins on Saturday, including an electric comeback in the morning on the back 9. All with the “yips” which forced him to hit greenside pitches with his club head flipped upside down. Yes, you read the right. It was outrageous, and effective. On Sunday Ed downed Steve to move to 4-1-1 in the format, handing Steve his first loss in singles.
8. Danny Richards. 3-1-0 on the weekend. The only blemish here was a scramble loss on Saturday, but this quiet killer took down Coates on Sunday and is on a 7-1-1 run in his last 9 matches and no one knows about it because he’s too humble. Stand up king.
9. Jim Duce. Anyone remember when he went winless as captain a MB11? Yea, me neither. Duce went 3-1-0 again (back to back years) meaning he’s now won 6 of his last 8 matches & officially on a heater. With a win again in Alt shot he is now 6-2 in the format. He also earned his first singles win this year, against Fliesser, who had previously never lost on Sunday.
10. Alec Abrahmson (3-1-0)- Unreal performance for Alec this year. He won on Friday, with a rookie playing his first match in MB. Rumor has it Alec made 14 birdies in a row! Wow! The only damper this year was a pounding in scramble (lost 7&6 with Adam).
11. Dan Cosgrove, 4-0-0. What a weekend for Dan. After 3 convincing wins he delivered again on Sunday in what was a much-anticipated singles matchup with Adam, a 4&3 victor for the Vibes co-captain. None of Dan’s opponents made it past the 16th green this weekend and the win in Friday’s Captains match was nice for Dan considering it was only his 2nd win in the format overall (now 2-5-1)
12. Ken Nee. 3-1-0 Ken also had a hell of a weekend. I don’t believe he was trailing in any match all weekend until Sunday, when he ran into a buzz saw (Daddy Dante) and took his first singles loss in MB history. I reject the idea behind Ken and Dan setting themselves up for personal success but team failure. That simply cannot be true! Stop saying that! This was also the first team loss Ken has had in MB, ending an amazing run that lasted… 5 full years. Ken remains undefeated in bestball: he is 4-0-2 in the format.
13. Kurt- (3-1-0) The group’s golden retriever was a bright spot for the team, earning 3 points and losing just one match 2&1 (Alt Shot). Some people are saying he faked a soft tissue injury before the tourney so as to allow his opponents to think they had a chance- but alas- he (thankfully) was good to go all weekend and cruised. Stayed undefeated on Fridays, now 4-0-1. Kurt capped off the weekend with a “bomb” joke at the airport next to the security line- classic!
14. Crooky’s solid weekend (3-1-0) started with a nice 1UP win on Friday. It was a challenge for him to play with Paul in alt shot- understandably- which was his only blemish on the weekend. Coates/Crooky won in the scramble round pushing Crooky’s record in the format to 4-1-0. He also got a win at Caledonia by downing Evan 2&1 on Sunday. It certainly isn’t his fault the team lost.
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15. DANNY HERNON THE ROOKIE (2-1-1)- First rookie on the trip since MBX. What’d he do?… just a win in his inaugural match (with Alec). Yawn. Lost in alt shot but scratched out half a point in the afternoon scramble round (although, they were 1UP on the tee). He capped off a killer debut with a Singles win on Sunday vs Justin Coz and locked up an annual invitation back to MB. Off the course he delivered in spades, too. GREAT add to the trip.
16. Oga (2-1-1)- Oga had a close loss on Friday, but bounced back with a blowout win Saturday AM with Bill Poch in Alt shot…. He remains undefeated in alt shot, now sporting a 4-0-1 record. On the other side of the coin, he’s never won a scramble match and had a 1UP lead on 18 this year but lost the hole and tied the match to move to 0-2-2 on Saturday afternoons. A big singles win on Sunday vs Marty and a cigar on the deck at Caledonia after a team win looked like it was peak enjoyment for our guy Oga.
17. Dante (2-2-0)- Both of Dante’s losses came down to the 18th hole on Saturday, so it wasn’t the best day for Bomb Squad’s leader. That being said, he had GREAT wins on Friday (bestball with James vs Jared/Nick) and Sunday- slitting Ken’s throat- handing him his first singles loss via a +1 round that included walking in the winning putt on the 17th green. Aura.
18. Dan Bahr (2-2-0)- Dan lost a close matchup on Friday, and didn’t help himself with MINIMAL sleep that night. Properly got pounded in the morning round. However, he was great in the scramble, especially late in the round when it mattered the most. He then took me (James) to the cleaners on Sunday. The box score says 3&2 but he went 3Up through 3 right away and really never looked back. Bahr is now 3-0-0 on Sundays... no other veteran can claim that anymore (Ken, Fliesser, Steve, Bahr all entered Sunday undefeated in singles but only Bahr emerged unscathed)
19. James (2-2-0) Another Friday win moves the bestball record to 6-1-1 including 2 vs Jared, who is a professional golfer. Jared said before the round I could hit from the whites to make sure I had minimal forced carries, but I politely declined and beat his head in from the blues. NBD. A birdie from me on 18 on Friday sealed the win for James/Dante over Jared/Nick. For the third year in a row, Ed/James played alt shot…a very mid front 9 made it an interesting match, and winning on the 18th hole was almost a gift but it was just the 2nd lifetime alt shot win for me so I will take it. I was terrible in scramble and left the better James hanging (Jimmy H)… and as previously mentioned I put up much of a fight on Sunday until it was way too late.
20. Evan (2-2-0)- A GREAT win on Friday with Adam was the start Evan needed and he followed it up with a convincing win in Alt shot. But then Evan faded in the last 2 matches and is now 0-3-1 on Sundays
21. Cam Cox (2-2)- This ranking is may be too low… The Friday bestball loss was a very close one (2&1) and he did the unthinkable on Saturday by handing Dante two losses in the same day! That’s a Grint badge if I’ve ever seen one. A subpar round on Sunday capped off Cox’s weekend on a down note, but he remains undefeated in scramble (now 3-0-0).
22. Marty (2-2-0) – A nice 2&1 Friday win for Marty (with Fliesser) vs Ed/Oga was a good start to the weekend. I was there for the alt shot round- Marty played very solid- but probably shouldn’t have shanked an important third shot on 18 while the match was tied. He made up for it in the afternoon by crushing with Justin Coz… but then lost for just the 3rd time in 8 years in Singles against Oga, whom he had just beaten in bestball 2 days prior.
23. Fliesser (2-2-0)- Started hot with another bestball win, now 4-1-0 on Fridays. He also won his first scramble match (now 1-3-0) Saturday afternoon with Justin Hill… but then turned around lost his undefeated Sunday record (Now 3-1-1) with a loss to Jim Duce, who had previously never won a singles match.
24. Coates (2-2-0)- Winning both rounds on Saturday is always fun, and Coates was able to make it happen this year. He definitely had a hope smile on the back 9 Friday vs Bill/Jeremy but that was washed away by the 17th hole and he is now 1-5-2 lifetime in bestball. A bad round on Sunday was never going to be enough to take down Danny “Its sauce not gravy” Richards, leaving Coates with a mid -record on the losing squad.
2Justin Hill (2-2-0)- Same story here… Hill won both Saturday matches (fun), which included his first scramble victory. Sunday’s loss to Alec will sting but the story here is Hill and Friday and Dennis and always losing but stubbornly continuing to play together, especially at Heritage where they already got pumped in bestball. Hill is now 0-5-1, at the very bottom of the barrel with his boy Dennis on Fridays.
26. Sean Coz (1-2-1)- Sean earned 0 points last year, so the
half point he secured on Friday in bestball was already an improvement. He ate
2 Ls on Saturday which wasn’t great, but took care of business on Sunday vs
Paul. Was it a cupcake matchup? Sure, yes. But he won convincingly, 7&5. Over
the last 2 years, though, Sean is only 1-6-1 so he will look to keep going in
the right direction next year.
27. Adam (1-3-0) Admittedly, I penciled in a loss for Adam/Evan on Friday but was proved wrong. What a win for the dogg team, winning 2UP at Heritage club. Adam and Dante (both previously 5-2-0 in the format) couldn’t get on the same page in alt shot, and Alec and Adam got murdered in the afternoon round. In fact they lost so bad to Marty and Justin, that Adam just straight up fell asleep on the course. The most disappointing loss for Adam was certainly to Dan Coz on Sunday. Unfortunately, Adam may be hearing about that one for a while.
28. Justin Coz (1-2-1)- Justin was winless in bestball but got his first half point in the format this year with Campbell. Another loss in Alt Shot brings his record in both formats to 0-3-1, so, will look to start off better next year. I really thought he would lose in the scramble but alas, him and Marty cleaned Adam/Alec’s clocks so 1.5 points from the teams “worst” golfer at this point in the competition was great. Predictably, Justin lost on Sunday and remains winless in the format, now 0-3-0.
29. Abe (1-3-0)- Everyone is allowed to have an off year, especially when they are still a captain of the winning team. Abe only captured 1 win this year- alt shot with Jimmy H- which means it’s his worst year ever. The most surprising loss of the weekend was with Dante (Cabot Champs) in scramble, which brings his record there to just 1-5-0.
30. Beck (1-2-1). Where was #FreshBeck? Beck started the weekend off with 2 losses but got better as the weekend went on, which is usually not the case. He choked at the end of his Alt shot match, capped off a bad back 9 by losing the drive in the water on 18 taking a 9 on the hole to lose 1 Down. But it must feel good to get a singles win vs Trevor on Sunday and a tie in the scramble round preserves Beck’s undefeated record in the format, now 5-0-2.
31. Trevor (1-3-0)- Trevor goes 1-3-0 for the second consecutive year, and finishes his bomb squad career with a disappointing 3-8-1 record. He ended a losing streak with his Alt Shot win with Peter (his first Alt shot win), but quickly got back in the loss column later in the day, and remain winless in singles (Now 0-3) after losing to Beck on Sunday.
32. Ryan Bebrin (0-4-0)- Woof. Ry. Come on! Ryan just cannot get this damn monkey off his back. For sure would have been last on this list if the Bomb Squad lost… Ryan has now lost a ridiculous 10 MATCHES IN A ROW. No wins or ties. Still has never won on Sunday (0-6-1). More Ryan loss details can be found below
33. Paul Taylor (1-3-0)- Paul’s sole win came on the back of his captain, Dan Cosgrove, in the scramble. He lost a closer match on Friday with Bill Nichols (They’ve won together in the past) – this was only Paul’s 2nd loss in 8 years of bestball. But the kid got blown away in alt shot (6&5) & Singles (7&5) and moves to 1-11-2 lifetime in those two formats combined. He may be 0-7 on Sundays, but he remains undefeated off the course. Some people are saying if he wasn’t such a crummy human he would find more success down in MB. Time will tell.
34. Nick Y (1-3-0)- Rough weekend for Nick. I don’t know if playing with your golf instructor in a match is a good thing or not, but Nick lost with Jared (a pro golfer) on Friday on Hole 18, I was there, it simply was not his best round of golf. The highlight of the weekend for Nick was easily his one win- a big one- vs the Cabot Champs scramble on 18. Nick’s record in that format Is now up to 4-1-0. Losing to Peter in Singles after winning last year hurts.
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35. Bill Nichols (1-3-0)- It may not be fair
to rank Bill this low because he was battling a cold all weekend, but I’m doing
it anyway because I’m a bad person and I don’t like what he did to my friend on
Sunday. His singles win vs Ryan was necessary to avoid being at the bottom of
this list and was a nice way for Bill to end the trip. Him and Paul could not
remake their magic from years past in bestball, and Nichols/Bahr got smoked in alt
shot in 1 of 2 Saturday losses for Nichols this year. He also now owns a putrid
0-5-0 record in alt shot.
36. Campbell (0-3-1) The former Vibes captain got his only half point on Friday. It sounds like he played solid in alt shot but not well enough to pick up his partner Nick. Losing a big match on Saturday afternoon- in what was a Vibes dominated session- and then losing on 18 on Sunday 1down capped a weekend to forget (on the golf course) for the beloved Cbell.
37. Honeywell (0-4-0)- Honeywell is such a good dad, he
decided to bring home 1 loss for each of his 4 kids this weekend. Still a
beauty, though. No other notes.
38. Jared (0-4-0) Listen, it’s a net world we all live in. Jared
is constantly giving up strokes, trying to carry partners in Alt shot, etc etc…
but you simply cannot lose wire to wire with your boy Cbell in the Scramble
match and def can’t lose 4&3 on Sunday giving up 0 strokes. Someone else
told me Jared is now 0-2 on Fridays vs James in bestball but that simply cannot
be true, not for a pro. I’ll have to double check that one guys.
39. Steve (0-3-1). What a fall from grace! Just like the drink
in Craig hand, Steve got slapped around this weekend. All three of the L’s were
close, though- ending on 17 or 18. The one positive moment for Steve this year
came in the scramble round- they squared the match on 18 by winning the hole. At least Steve is NOT slow and def does NOT
have a pace of play problem. Just ignore the fact that his group’s been warned
by the starter every round and has finished 45+ min after the group
ahead of him multiple times: Midpines bestball at Pine Needles, Heathland Singles @MB11,
Founders Club Scramble @Founders Club) … Not a slow player though.
40. Dennis- 0 points this weekend (0-4-0). The worst
possible loss (10&8) to JEREMY on Sunday. Was also dealt a loss on Friday by
the rookie. Dennis is now 0-6-1 in the bestball. His alt shot loss Saturday AM
with Jared (a pro golfer) means Dennis has 1 single win in Bestball & Alt
Shot combined over the last SEVEN YEARS. Do we have to bring back the “Dennis
is In” joke? Cuz I don’t know if he actually is in for MB13 or if he is just
rotting on the side of the road somewhere after this crazy beatdown.
Some random stats and facts:
- All 20 members of Vibes at MB12 were also present at MB11
and MBX. A full team of 3 years players
-9 of the 10 bestball matches at MB12 went to the 17th
or 18th hole. The only match that did not was the captains match
(Vibes won 4&3)
-Only one single match on Sunday at Caledonia made it to 18-
Johnny's 1up win over Cbell
-Surprisingly, there were no ties at Caledonia on Sunday
-This is the first year Abe skipped playing at night after midnight. Sad.
-We were missing a few of the normal guys who all had an important wedding in Boston this weekend. Sad. Jimmy Waitz, Dylan Burns, Marc DeSantis, Cole Caron, Alex Weibs, and Dotts.
-The state of Connecticut is probably disgusted. CT Residents Ryan, Cox, Dennis, Beck, Hill, Fliesser went 7-16-1 this weekend. None of them finished better than 2-2-0.
-Lodging: The units were great... clean, large, nice and updated. That being said... everyone was so spread apart it was not the same vibe as other trips, especially at Legends. The check in/out process was a nightmare... having to drive 15 min away, only 1 physical key per room, bad directions, etc etc. The 3 courses we played were all less than 5 min drives from the condos, about as good as it gets if you must drive to the golf course.
-Courses: Amazing courses this year. Heritage Club remains special, maybe the group's favorite track over the years. Founders Club on Saturday was perfect... Admittedly I was nervous before the trip that the course may have let some people down but it exceeded my personal expectations and was a great venue for the Saturday team sessions. Caledonia on Sunday was special... an elite track by any standard.
-Weather: Unreal. Was perfect everyday. Never saw a single drop of rain, barely had any cloud cover, but it wasn't too hot and even the mornings weren't too cold like we've had in the past sometimes. Especially considering the prior weekend a huge storm rolled through and would have cancelled all the golf rounds
-Travel: It should be noted that Adam is the only person who drove both ways this year. I drove down with him but flew back, so Adam made the trek home alone, driving from 530am to 9pm. It must also be noted that Jeremy and Fliesser got completely screwed by plane issues and missing connections... they arrived at the airport on Sunday around 430pm and ended up haing to stay the night, get up early for a flight that didn't happen, and finally took off Monday afternoon. Woof.
3 year Aggregate Results by Session:
Bomb Squad won 7.5 to 3.5 @ MBX
Vibes won 7 to 4 @ MB11
Bomb Squad won 6.5 to 3.5 @MB12
Bestball Total: Bomb Squad 17.5 and Vibes 14
Bomb Squad won 7 to 4 @MBX
The session was Tied 5.5-5.5 @MB11
Bomb Squad won 7 to 3 @MB12
Alt Shot Total: Bomb Squad 19.5 and Vibes 12.5
Vibes won 6 to 5 @ MBX
Bomb Squad won 6.5 to 4.5 @MB11
Vibes won 6.5 to 3.5 @MB12
Scramble Total: Vibes 17 to Bomb Squad 15
MBX- Vibes won 14 to 8 @ MBX
The session was tied 11-11 at MB11
Bomb Squad won 14-6 @MB12
Singles Total: Bomb Squad 33 to Vibes 31
Total aggregate score for the 3 years, all sessions:
Bomb Squad 67.5 to Vibes 60.5
Ryan Bebrin, an OGMB player, is on a10 match loss streak (still active). I had to look it up, here she is:
1- 1- MBX Scramble loss (7&6) with Bill Poch vs Bahr/Cox at Southern Pines
2- MBX Singles loss (4&3) to Dan
Bahr at Pine Needles
3- MB11 Bestball loss (3&2)
with Dante to Paul/Nichols at Moorland (Captains Match)
4- MB11 Alt Shot loss (1 Down) with
Jamie Bebrin vs Dan Coz/Weibs at Heathland
5- MB11 Scramble loss (2 Down)
with Craig vs Cox/Justin Coz at Parkland
6- MB11 Singles loss to Cam Cox (3&1)
Heathland
7- MB12 Bestball loss (1 Down)
with Trevor to Kurt/Crooky at Heritage Club
8- MB12 Alt Shot loss (4&2)
with Jeremy to Dan Coz/Kurt at Founders Club
9- MB12 Scramble loss (5&4)
with Sean Coz vs Dan Coz/Paul at Founders club
10- MB12 Singles loss (3&2) to Bill Nichols 3&2 at Caledonia
Wins vs Ryan over this stretch. You should all be ashamed, Ryan is a nice guy!
3: Dan Coz & Cam Cox
2: Kurt, Paul, Bahr, & Nichols
1: Justin Coz, Crooky, & Weibs
Ryan has never won on
Sunday. 0-6-1 in Singles matches:
MB12- Loss to Nichols 3&2 at Caledonia
MB11- Loss to Cox 3&1 at Heathland
MBX- Loss to Bahr 4&3 at Pine Needles
MBIX- Loss to Dante 8&7 at Parkland
MB8- Loss to Oga 5&4 at Parkland
MB007- Tied Jamie Bebrin at Moorland
MBV- Loss to Adam 4&3 at Moorland
What's next????
We will be returning to Legends with one twist: FRIDAY of next year we will make the trek to Oyster Bay just over the border in NC. I will set up a group shuttle so anyone who wants to take it and not worry about the 45 min drive. The 3 courses on property of Legends will be used for the last 3 rounds. The only time we played Oyster Bay in the past was on Friday at MBV.
Team wise, we are closing the book on Vibes/Bomb Squad. It was an incredibly close and competitive 3 years, thank you to ALL the captains from the last 3 years, especially those who drafted the teams back in the Spring of 2023. Honestly just a perfect job overall by Duce, Adam, Ken(twice), Campbell, Paul, Nichols, Johnny, Abe, Dante, Ryan, and Dan Cosgrove.
Maybe we will draft the new teams, maybe we won't. There's a chance we do a 3 team pre-set roster format if we have exactly 48 people.... but I cannot make any decisions about this until the Spring when we get past the baby window and have full 100% commitments from all players. I know for sure it will be a 2 or 3 team format again.
*As per usual, I will be asking for a deposit to hold your spot. It is refundable/rolloverable to the next year, but, I do need a decent amount of $ up front to actually book the trip and lock in dates and courses. Honestly, I know 95% of you are already 100% in so please, send $ on the earlier side if possible. It's very helpful. You could even send it right now....
And now, a photo dump (PS- If you are reading this and have pics you'd like to add, send them my way and I will add them... I need to add a bunch more I just wanted to publish this shit first)
