Islands In The Stream. That Is What We Are.

As usual weather could be factor this year. If you do not want to be going home with a $119.95 Greywolf logo-ed rain suit, bring proper gear.

Not so usual is that Captain Rog is entering the tournament coming off a stellar 78 at St. Eugene. Rumor has it he backed it up with 3 more rounds in the low 80's. I told Rog not to peak to early but apparently he did not listen.

It seems a few players are arriving with their A-game this year as well. Rando is coming off a 79, John an 82 and Matt a 73. Schindler has been firing some bullets with his machine gun, Jarv is playing a few rounds this week and Captain Buz played solid a few weeks ago in the mountains.

Beeg has informed me for the past three nights, just before drifting off to sleep, he has shot 3 of 4 rounds in the 70's, won the MVP and led us to the team title each time.

The Das Boot test run went better than expected. I think after the trip I will be quitting Work In Sports to do an infomercial on my new found swing aid. I got the idea JB's game was in shape when we took 8 straight tee shots of his during the CHL scramble.

Tibe and Tay have been pretty quiet thus far. I am assuming that Tibe is figuring a way to hide his boom box in his golf bag while Tay has been busy playing 36 a day.

Looking forward to seeing everybody soon!

Bobbo

You want the good news or the bad news?

Well, it has been 13 days since JB wasn't there to catch me and I haven't been healing up as quickly as I had hoped. I bit the bullet and saw an ankle/foot specialist yesterday and got some good news and some bad news.

The bad news is that my foot is actually broken. I fractured the cuboid bone and ripped a few ligaments.

The good news is that the orthopedic surgeon was a golfer and understood what it meant to me to try and play. He asked how much money I had on the line and if I needed to win it to pay the bills. When I clarified the importance of the event was not monetary but supreme bragging rights for a year among friends and family he smiled a wry smile. He said he had something for me that would probably allow me to play, albeit poorly and at my opponents amusement, but not worsen the injury.

Enter Das Boot. No, it is not a German sub. But Das Boot amazingly allows me to use the foot with minimal pain. Imagine a golf shoe on the right foot and a ski boot on the left. Slow to walk, but totally doable. I think.

I am going to play in a scramble tomorrow with John, JB and Rando to make sure I can actually swing and navigate around a golf course. If I can do it, I will schedule a lesson for early next week so I can learn how to hit on a permanent uphill lie. If I can't, I will find a replacement.

Peace

2009 Itinerary, Format, BT Local Rules, Cost, etc

BigTits 09 is quickly approaching. My ankle is healing up and I am confident I will be playing at at least 80%. For those of you that pre-payed your rounds at Greywolf and The Springs, do not forget your vouchers or they may not be honored. Beeg and Rando will be meeting us there and will not be going back to Calgary on Sunday so lunch and BigTits Cup Ceremony will follow the Single Sunday round. Below is a breakdown of most of the details you should need. We will be staying the the Big House, same as last year. Let me know if I missed anything. See you all soon!

Itinerary

Friday, June 12th

8:00a - Meet at Rog and Vic’s house (Calgary Convoy)
8:30a - Convoy out to the mountains
12:00p - Check into the Big House
2:10p - First Round of BigTits 2009 at Greywolf
8:00p - Dinner Provided by Team Rog
8:45p - TeamRog cleans up; TeamBuz sips the Frescaritas Team Rog prepared for them

9:30p - Poker

Saturday, June 13th

7:45a - Drive to The Springs
8:42a - Second Round at The Springs
1:45p - Drive to Copper Point
3:31p - Third Round at Copper Point
9:00p - Pizza
9:45p - Sleep

Sunday, June 14th

8:00a - Eat breakfast prepared by TeamRog
8:45a - Pack and clean up
9:15a - Drive to Eagle Ranch
10:10a - Singles Sunday
3:00p - Lunch and Cup Ceremony
4:00p - Hit the Road
7:30p - Dinner at Rog and Vic's

Format

The format will remain mostly intact. The first three rounds will all be high/low team matches with Singles Sunday match-ups being determined by your total score over the first three rounds.

23 points will clinch a victory. In the unlikely event of a 22 ½ - 22 ½ tie, TeamBuz will retain the title for another year (yes, this is possible). Each team and singles match is worth 3 points (1 front, 1 back and 1 eighteen). Team matches will be conducted in a high/low format.

Points Available Per Round

Round 1 9
Round 2 9
Round 3 9
Round 4 18
Total 45

MVP's - The individual that contributes the most matchplay points to their team will receive the MVP asterisk on the BigTits Cup.


BT Local Rules

I will review the rules before the first round but here is a reminder:

BT Rule 1.0 - We play from the tee box one up from the tips.
BT Rule 2.0 - Everything is putted out. (btw the blog poll ended up 6-5 in favor of putting out even though I don't really care what you guys want)
BT Rule 3.0 - Double par is the max on any hole. If you reach double par you are 'in pocket' unless you holed out on your double par stroke. A holed out double par beats an 'in pocket' every time.
BT Rule 4.0 - Last three-putt in a foursome must wear the skirt until someone else makes a three-putt.
BT Rule 5.0 - All OB and lost balls are treated as a lateral hazard: you take one penalty stroke and drop a ball nearest the last playable margin crossed . If your ball flight did not cross a playable area you must rehit from the original spot. BT Rule 5.0 Clarification: Playable Margin is any area that is mowed regularly by golf course staff. It is possible for a ball to cross multiple playable and unplayable margins during flight and the drop would occur at the last playable margin. If, during such an occasion, the ball flight can not be visually tracked past an unplayable margin and there is a playable margin on the other side, the player and opponent(s) would need to agree that there was a very strong probability that the ball passed over the screened playable margin in order to take advantage of this rule. Any questions? Don't worry I'll go over this before round 1.

Food and Booze

TeamRog is bringing up dinner for Friday, breakfast for Sunday, snacks, water etc. We will order pizza Saturday night. And yes, TeamRog will be cooking and cleaning this year for the first time in BigTits history. Since people have different tastes and consumption habits, booze can be handled on an individual basis.


Estimated Cost

Apparently the golf courses in the Canadian Rockies do not know we are in a recession and have raised their prices.

Accommodation - $75 cash
Round 1 - $119 ($149 if you did not pre-pay)
Round 2 - $105 ($132 if you did not pre-pay)
Round 3 - $125
Singles Sunday - $130
Food/Water/Soda Pop - $30-50
Poker - $20-40
Gas - Take care of this with your driver
Booze - On your own

TOTAL - $600-640 CND (early birders not counting gas or booze)

Where were you JB?

It could of happened to anybody right?

I am at The RKL's (aka Ryan Lichtenfels for those that have had the good fortune of meeting him) bachelor party at a lake in CA over the weekend.

Just 24 hours earlier, I had put to test the new swing plane, irons, wedges and a cut down putter. I shot 72. My shit is dialed. BIGTITS training can resume next week, I gotta go hang with my pal before he takes the 'one vagina for the rest of your life' credo.

Quick road trip to CA on Friday; short boat ride to the bar. Long night of drinking. And one enormously steep and treacherous path in the pitch dark from the dock back up to the cabin.

The next morning they found my left flip flop turned upside down about 4 feet from what is now known as Drunken-Momentum Cliff. It was a lucky find as it had been covered in a small film of dirt that collected on it during the night. It's brown and so is the ground. So it blends.

When I woke up Saturday morning to realize I could not put an ounce of pressure on my left foot I got really sad and little angry. I wasn't going to be able to play in my own damn golf tournament and it was all JB's fault.

See, JB should have come with me for the weekend but he is in a relationship and couldn't get his dick un-taped from between his ass cheeks in time to do the right thing. He did eventually get some balls and show up for Saturday night but the damage had already been done.

JB, I do appreciate the piggybacks to the bar and home Saturday night but you should have been there to catch me when I stumbled the night before. The old JB would have been there. I feel like I don't even know you anymore. And that is a horrible way to take out an opponent.

The picture is Day 4 of the injury. I am hoping to be off crutches by the end of the week. I'll keep all ya'all posted.

Peace.

Individual Round Stats

I found a way to embed the stats spreadsheet into the blog post. Check out the historical individual scoring stats below by scrolling around the table or clicking Full Screen at the top right of the table.

The Skinny for 2009

Here is my annual commentary of each member's game heading into 2009.

Captain Rog - Since shortening your putter to 7 year old girl length didn't solve your yips, I think your only move remaining is to cut it down so far so all that is left is the putter head and the grip. You voted for gimmee's for sure.

JB - Your game looked so good around Christmas! Wrong time to peak pal. No amount of 'at the turn quad rum and cokes and three beers please' will save you this year. Don't worry, you can always blame your unfamiliarity of Canadian grasses when you do your patented chillydip-thin-shank triple axle from 60 yards out. You voted for gimmee's too.

(notice I always start with the easy fodder?)

Johnny - New clubs and a new back should bring a new game to Canada. Unfortunately for you, when you have expectations on your game you tend to derail with supreme gusto. I am glad you were able to retrieve your 4-wood from the front lawn of that dudes house last month. I can't believe you cleared his roof from the tee box.

Rando - I hope Ang doesn't need anything during your round on Sunday. Don't worry, I will keep my cell on in case she can't get through to yours. You are hitting your 60 degree-er pretty sweet though. I wonder if you would score better if your played one-club-Papa-golf? Gimmee's.

Hannes - With no machine gun range sessions heading into 09 I think your struggles may be even bigger than last year. Your "driver-wegde, Oak'" taunt is not nearly so intimidating when the wedge part is to chip out of the trees. At least you own a bar.

Tibe - Dude, it wouldn't even be fair to hack on your here. It's like picking on the ret**ded kid. Make sure you bring your boom box on the course this year. It doesn't bother Rog at all. Gimmee's.


Captain Buz - You are one upstanding guy. Playing with you down here over the winter was a pleasure. I have not seen you hit the ball this good in many years. It is an hono(u)r to be a member of your team.

Beeg - What a dazzling low round of the day 83 you put up to get us started last year. Your MVP performance (with a crushed ankle nonetheless) helped you realize the confidence to match your sweet swing.

Matt - With 'a case of the Horton's' now only a reference to something a Team Rog player can come down with, you are poised for your breakout season in God's Country. Your biggest challenge will be to try and stay focused as no one can match your game.

Jarv - You missed sipping from the cup last year so this one is for you. Your mission has not changed: keep Rando and Tibe trying to match you beer for beer, get me to the course on Saturday morning and provide a few classic one-liners.

Tay - The hand cuffs are off. Swing as hard as you can and hit driver off the hard pan. This year you will pop your Single Sunday cherry. I am praying you get JB again Sunday just to make it sweeter.

Bobbo - New swing. New clubs. 84.0 here I come!

Overall Matchplay Rankings

Here is the historical matchplay performance for everybody since 2005.

	Overall Match Play Record
	Name	Team	Overall	Pct.	Paired	Pct.	Singles	Pct.
1	Hannes	RM	9-4-3	.656	7-3-2	.667	2-1-1	.625
2	Rog	RM	9-5-2	.625	6-4-2	.583	3-1-0	.750
3	John	RM	8-5-3	.594	8-2-2	.750	0-3-1	.125
4	Rando	RM	6-4-2	.583	4-3-2	.556	2-1-0	.667
5	Bobbo	BB	8-6-2	.563	5-5-2	.500	3-1-0	.750
5	Matt	BB	4-3-1	.563	4-2-0	.667	0-1-1	.250
7	Jarv	BB	5-6-1	.458	3-5-1	.389	2-1-0	.667
8	JB	RM	6-8-2	.438	2-8-2	.259	4-0-0	1.000
8	Tibe	RM	3-4-1	.438	2-3-1	.417	1-1-0	.500
10	Beeg	BB	6-10-0	.375	5-7-0	.417	1-3-0	.250
11	Tay	BB	4-9-3	.344	4-5-3	.458	0-4-0	.000
12	Buz	BB	3-9-4	.313	3-6-3	.375	0-3-1	.125

	Paired Matchplay Record
		Team	Overall	Pct.
1	John	RM	8-2-2	.750
2	Hannes	RM	7-3-2	.667
2	Matt	BB	4-2-0	.667
4	Rog	RM	6-4-2	.583
5	Rando	RM	4-3-2	.556
6	Bobbo	BB	5-5-2	.500
7	Tay	BB	4-5-3	.458
8	Beeg	BB	5-7-0	.417
8	Tibe	RM	2-3-1	.417
10	Jarvis	BB	3-5-1	.375
10	Buz	BB	3-6-3	.375
12	JB	RM	2-8-2	.259

	Singles Sunday Record
		Team	Overall	Pct.
1	JB	RM	4-0-0	1.000
2	Bobbo	BB	3-1-0	.750
2	Rog	RM	3-1-0	.750
4	Jarvis	BB	2-1-0	.667
4	Rando	RM	2-1-0	.667
6	Hannes	RM	2-1-1	.625
7	Tibe	RM	1-1-0	.500
8	Beeg	BB	1-3-0	.250
8	Matt	BB	0-1-1	.250
10	Buz	BB	0-3-1	.125
10	John	RM	0-3-1	.125
12	Tay	BB	0-4-0	.000