| THE DESERT DUEL |
| Palm Desert...the grounds for a long weekend at the TPC and La Quinta courses where the heat was a factor, as well as course designs unlike any Northern California courses regularly played. |
| 5/19/05...On the drive down, Snaggles and Bubba decided to take on Stevinson Ranch, breaking up the drive at the mid-way point. The course turned out to be the most difficult of the trip. Claiming to be a "links-style" course, the course had very hard, very fats greens with no greens offering the ability to bump and run the ball onto the greens. Both Snaggles and Bubba were very disappointed with the course, as it was fairly impossible to stop the ball on the greens (the course was over 7200 yards, and mid irons were necessary to reach most greens). From the shorter tees, perhaps the course would be more manageable, but it was not the case for Snaggles and Bubba. The two items best remembered from the round is Bubba making three saves that were fairly remarkable, putting the ball into gimmee range from three seperate hazards...sand trap, swamp land, and high reeds. Drove Snaggles crazy, but not as much as the mosquitoes, which ate up his legs since he decided to wear shorts that day. At the turn, he changed into pants, but the damage had been done, leaving about 100 welts on his calves that would grow into a horrific sight in the Palm Desert sun. Snaggles came out the winner in the round. Down the entire match, he came through with a 240 yard 3-iron to a par three over water, winning all the greenies, and pulling ahead of the lead and holding this lead through the next two holes. It was a remarkable shot. |
| 5/20/05...Snaggles and Bubba stayed at La Quinta, and were treated far better than deserved. On an unlimited golf package, they had aspirations of playing far more golf than was necessary. The first round was played at the TPC Nicklaus course. The Nicklaus course was probably the hardest of all the courses in Palm Desert, as well as the best design. It was in the best shape as well, and truly was a joy to play. Bubba got the best of Snaggles, with two birdies, and pretty good score that could have been much better had his putting been stronger. With quite a few short putts missed, he just wasn't able to pull out a low score, but it was definitely possible. As for Snaggles, he was not able to hold the swing change he had worked on the last few months and reverted to his old swing. This led to a pattern. On any hole where OB or water was evident along the right side of the hole, the ball was going in the water. Two par threes where water was on the right side resulted in a 10 and a 7. A par five with water on the right ended with a 9. Unfortunately, Snaggles shot a 100 on this round, but he went to the range before the next round to work out his problems. It definitely helped. It should be noted that the temperature was around 105 throughout the day. Bubba had one impressive hole where he put the only ball for the week on a par five in two. It should be noted that he smacked a 3-wood better than he had for the entire trip to accomplish it, and that Snaggles ripped drives to give him ample opportunities to achieve the same, but he was never able to accomplish the same. |
| 5/20/05...The next course was the TPC Stadium course. Everyone talked about the difficulty of the course, but Snaggles and Bubba both agreed that it was no harder that the Nicklaus course. Crowned greens on TPC courses make iron shots difficult for the average player, but if you are a reasonable skilled golfer, it should not pose a problem. Also, ability out of the sand is a necessity. Plenty of sand traps line every course, especially from 50 yards from the green, so if your sand game is poor, a big score looms in your future. Bubba was brilliant out of the sand all week, achieving close to 50% in sand saves during the trip. And he was putting horribly all week, so that may say something. As for Snaggles, he came back strong. His score did not show it, but he ripped quite a few drives over 300 yards (had ample opportunities to put a mid to long iron on the green on par 5s), and played brillantly with his irons when trouble was not on the right hand side of the hole. He shot a 40 on the back nine, that could have been stronger had a few more putts dropped for him, but a par three on the front set him back due to the lake fronting it, thus resulting in an 8. For Bubba, he had two lost balls on par 5s resulting in an 8 and 9 (ohhhh...he loved going back to the tee on those), and shot a 100 that was unnecessary. A low round could have been had. One note...Bubba put a shot onto the final par 3 that could have earned him 4 greenies (carryovers), but he three-putted, and failed miserably. |
| 5/20/05...Bubba and Snaggles decided to play the Norman course as well. Notice the date that started this paragraph? Yes...they played 54 holes the first day. At about this time, it was still about 106 degrees. Snaggles' mosquito bites were growing ripe in the sun, and several individuals looked at Bubba with smiles, showing their approval that I was willing to take a golf trip with this individual who was dying from some horrible skin disease. The Norman course is a true desert course. The only grass you see is fairway and green. No rough, only desert sand. We were told by locals that Norman hated the design after completing it, and shot 86 on his first attempt to play it. Snaggles and Bubba now had their goal in a score to shoot. The fairways ran like concrete, and Bubba had started his trend of hitting the ball like an 80 year old man with his driver. A weak fade, it still would roll 250 yards, but an ugly shot. Snaggles was ripping drives, but if it was not going straight it was going 100 yards left or right. There was no in between. The course doesn't offer many holes to blow-up on, just a lot of holes where a bogey is likely. The greens were fast and heavily sloped, so if you were not on the green in regulation, expect the up and down to be unlikely. Both Bubba and Snaggles viewed this as the easiest course, and the fairways were fairly wide. Perhaps it was the heat, but neither player shot a great score, but neither player shot a horrible score either. Had Bubba had some distance on his drives, the 84 he shot could have been much lower. And he beat Norman. Had Snaggles not quadruple bogeyed the final hole, he could have beat Norman as well, but his attempt to fire at the hole from over 200 yards from a road 80 yards left of the fairway (over trees, no less) made for some great commentary from Bubba as he imitated what Johnny Miller would be yapping about. Bubba and Snaggles considered playing another nine holes for the sheer insanity of it, but on the final hole, they were both exhausted. |
| 5/21/05...Bubba and Snaggles had a great meal at Ruth Chris the night before, and fairly little sleep for two nights straight, but when they hit the range, they both felt confident. The Dunes course of La Quinta isn't a particularly long or difficult course, but there is an abundance of sand and water. They were told that this course would be the easiest so far, but that was not the case. Starting on the first tee, Snaggles lost everything he was doing on the range. With two balls off the tee into the water (and a three putt), he started with an 8, and continued a spiral. Bubba had a strong front nine and had visions of a low score. Snaggles had 14 lost balls on the first ten holes, and got to the point of giving up playing for the rest of the trip. He conceded the tournament at that point to Bubba (lowest total score over rounds on the trip), and preceded to shoot even par over the final 8 holes of the course...easily the hardest 8 holes on the course. His play could be described as nothing short of amazing, and shot after shot was exactly at his target. By parring the final par three, he won all the greenies, and he won money from Bubba at the end despite having shot 100 in total. Holes to note: Snaggles shot an 8 on a par 3 by putting three balls into a lake to the left, and shot a 13 on a short par 4 by putting four straight drives into a lake fronting the tee box. Bubba continued his trend of hitting weak (but straight) drives, never getting himself into trouble, but having to make quite of few up and downs to save his score. |
| 5/21/05...Next was the Mountain course at La Quinta. This is a course that Snaggles and Bubba would both like to play again when they weren't so exhausted. The temperture today broke the record for the area, going to 119, and it was unbearable. The course played along the Mountain range (literally, a mountain would sit on one side of the course for most of the holes, and when you sprayed to that side, it would get eaten). The views were impressive, and we took several pictures, but both players were so tired that the play was half-hearted. Bubba had several blow-up holes, nitting weak drives that wouldn't carry the trouble, or that were off-line, and his score went on to show that. Yet...the course did prove to create the largest score ever seen on a single hole Bubba or Snaggles had ever witnessed. It is worth revisiting. It was short par 5 with a lake on the right with a sand trap along the lake to catch any balls before they got to the lake. Snaggles hit his first drive way right into the middle of the lake. The second drive was slightly better, passing over a portion of the trap before landing in the lake. CONTINUE TO PAGE 2 |