Depart Grand Rapids
American 3167 to Dallas. Two hours and thirty-nine minutes to get your lying straight.
| Member | Holes won | Points |
|---|---|---|
|
Nothing in the book yet. All four members are tied on zero, and all four are quietly certain they are going to win. | ||
Every man partners with every other man exactly once. Win the hole and you and your partner each bank a point. Halve it and you split. Top of the Rock is only nine holes, so its holes count double and every partnership is worth the same eighteen points. Three rounds, fifty-four points, and one member drives home in silence.
American 3167 to Dallas. Two hours and thirty-nine minutes to get your lying straight.
American 4311. One hour and fifty minutes of layover, which is exactly enough time for somebody to have four beers and swear he is fine.
Grab the car. It is about seventy-five minutes south, most of it dark and full of deer.
Big Cedar Lodge. Check-in opens at four, we will be nowhere near there at four.
Be outside the cottage with your clubs, not still looking for your other shoe.
Eighteen par threes hanging off the side of a bluff. Dave and Shannon against Joe and Kelly. Bring more balls than you think you need, then bring more than that.
Nine par threes, a Nicklaus card, and a sunset over Table Rock Lake that you are all going to take the same bad photo of. Dave and Joe against Kelly and Shannon.
Seventy minutes before the tee time. It is the big one, so nobody gets left behind arguing about coffee.
The main event. Tiger built it, Golf Digest gave it best new public course in America, and it is going to take five hours minimum. Dave and Kelly against Joe and Shannon. Everything is still on the table here.
Par three at the bottom of a limestone canyon with a waterfall behind the green. Closest to the pin, no points, loser buys. An ace reportedly gets you a grand at Bass Pro, which none of you will ever have to worry about.
Cottage vacated. Evidence removed. Somebody's putter stays in the room.
Every partnership worth 18 points. No hiding behind the good player twice.
Bass Pro's owner pointed at a cliff and said put greens on it. Short, stupid, spectacular. The scorecard says par three eighteen times, which is not the same as saying easy.
The only par three course to ever host a PGA Tour sanctioned event. Late tee time, low sun, water everywhere. Nine holes to either save your Sunday or bury it.
Tiger's first public design in America and named best new public course the year it opened. Wide off the tee, brutal around the greens, and then a bonus par three in a canyon just to make sure the day ends with somebody upset.