The Links Lounge (*** NO POLITICS/RELIGION/LIV ***)

[NCLancer]

We dropped Ivy off with her family at the neighbor's farm, loaded up the buggy and headed to Lexington, NC at 7:15 to begin our trip with a Monday morning 9:20 tee time at Sapona.  It was our first time playing the course and we could see the improvement work being done.  Many trees had been felled and moved, remaining on the periphery but not in the way of play.  Some equipment tracks still showed but will be fine as the grass grows back.  The layout was nice, the holes had a variety and with some TLC the course would be great to play on the regular for folks nearby.

 

Sapona has an interesting backstory:   

 

Little more than five years ago, Lexington’s Sapona Ridge Country Club was on the verge of extinction. The large clubhouse, 18-hole Ellis Maples/Ed Seay designed golf course, swimming pool and tennis courts were sold to an Uber executive, who planned to convert it into a personal retreat.

It was a crazy, regrettable time for Sapona members, who ended up paying a high price — about $390,000— for not buying the club from NASCAR legend Richard Childress, who rescued Sapona in 2012. When Childress told the members he no longer wanted to subsidize the losses and would sell the club, the members failed to act.

That’s when Uber exec Mark Moore stepped in and bought the 172-acre property for $1.2 million, shut down the club and announced he was converting the 15,000 square foot clubhouse and the surrounding grounds into a vacation home.

Realizing they had lost their club, members burst into action and within a few weeks had persuaded Moore to sell the property to them — for $1.59 million. Members renamed the  property Sapona Golf Swim & Tennis Club. In early 2023, the members brought in management group GreatLife Golf, which eventually bought the club with plans of making improvements.

 

The negatives included the ongoing work, the lack of rakes (most bunkers had 1 or none), and the biggest negative for the first-time player was the lack of signage.  The cart path led us to the next hole but from there we were on our own as the card had no map, the cart had no GPS and the greenside side only had the hole number and the par number. 

 

I played okay but the uncertainty over where I should aim affected me.  I'm not good enough to point and shoot but at least I would like to have a clue what was over the next hill!  The course was not busy so we aware that we weren't going to hit into anyone however blind shots on a new course are never fun.  But as I've heard it's only a blind shot once so if we play there again I'll hopefully play better.

 

Played from 5719 yards on the card but some boxes were moved up and the 9th was turned into a Par 3 so actual yardage was around 5600. 49/50=99, 9-14 fairways, 34 putts, and 3 penalty strokes.  One was on a Par 5 when I hit a solid drive, then what I thought was a nice fading 3W but when we crested the hill no ball could be found.  Such are the mysteries of golf!

   

[DLeightonReid]

Happy Friday, Loungers!  I walked 18 this morning in blustery conditions and immensely enjoyed myself.  The new Ping driver is a keeper.

 

 

 

 

[imkirby34]

Just got the word from my buddy that he canceled tomorrow's tee time.  I left it up to him since I don't mind the rain and it wasn't supposed to very windy, but I understand it.  He's already playing today and it's his b-day weekend, so no reason to muck it up with playing in questionable weather.  I guess that'll allow me to watch that golf thing they got going on in Georgia. 

[aenemated]

NCSU's run made me wanna watch this again ...

 

 

I was over in the crowd with my older brother for that one. Every time I watch, I try to find me ... I know I was somewhere back in the cover photo. 

 

Jimmy V was something special. 

 

[touch]

Nobody selected Tiger. Finished 1 over and is headed to the weekend.

Quite the accomplishment. I didn't see it coming.

 

 

 

[touch]

Houston          Scheffler   Koepka   Xander  JT  Aberg                 alt Rory

Asheville        Scheffler   Spieth    Rory  W. Clark  Joaquin          alt Xander

Vegas               Scheffler   Aberg     Xander   Zalatoris  Sahith      alt Spieth

Phoenix          Scheffler   Rory       Xander   Aberg   Rahm           alt  Hideki

Missouri         Scheffler   Rahm     Hovland  C. Smith  Harman    alt  Spieth

Bay Area         Scheffler   Rory       Xander   Hideki  Hovland       alt Si Woo Kim

Montana         Harman     Bhatia    Finau    Hovland   Rickie         alt  Spieth

Dallas/FW      Scheffler   Rory       Rahn      Koepka  W.Clark       alt  Hideki

Bellingham   Scheffler   Rahm      Xander   Aberg  W. Clark        alt  Hovland

New Jersey  Scheffler   Koepka   Hideki   Joaquin  Aberg          alt Zalatoris

Hickory,NC   Bryson      Koepka   Rahm     Bhatia    Phil              alt  Joaquin

Chapel Hill    Cantlay     Hatton    Hideki    Joaquin Zalatoris      alt  Xander        

_______________________________________________________________________________________

 

Links Lounge Major Standings 

 

145 Pts - DMM

127 Pts - Triple Lindy

110 Pts - Touch

                NJBF

                Chisag

                Aaron

87 Pts - imKirby

65 Pts - aen

59 Pts - DLeighton Reid

              Parker

44 Pts - P3P

14 Pts - NCLancer

 

 

 

 

Contest Points:

50 points if your player is the Champion

40 Points for a 2nd place finish

30 Points for a 3rd place finish

10 Points for a Top 10 finish

5 Points for making the cut

-3 Points for a Missed Cut

[NJBigFish22]

23 minutes ago, touch said:

Nobody selected Tiger. Finished 1 over and is headed to the weekend.

Quite the accomplishment. I didn't see it coming.

 

 

 

I selected him as 1 of 3 I don’t want to win, so it’s looking good for me!😂😂

[aenemated]

23 minutes ago, touch said:

Quite the accomplishment. I didn't see it coming.

 

Aw man, T-Dub made the cut with a literally broken body. 

 

Absolutely not cutting him out to make a move. Dude looks to be moving around well!

 

Hating I didn't stick with my dawg Max. Is this his time? I sure as ish hope so.

[touch]

My workday is over. Time to put my feet up and enjoy the rest of the Masters telecast.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 13 by touch

[NCLancer]

2 hours ago, aenemated said:

 

Aw man, T-Dub made the cut with a literally broken body. 

 

Absolutely not cutting him out to make a move. Dude looks to be moving around well!

 

Hating I didn't stick with my dawg Max. Is this his time? I sure as ish hope so.

Max had a great post-round chat with SVP!  Max actually thinks about his answers and isn't robotic.  He's a beauty.

 

[touch]

At the half way point.

 

Parker      Scheffler T1   Koepka T24   Xander T15    JT MC      Aberg  7

 

 

LP             Scheffler  T1   Lowry T30   Rory T35    W. Clark MC  Joaquin T35 

 

 

Hickory   Bryson T1     Koepka T24   Rahm T44   Bhatia T30   Phil T35

[Petethreeput]

7 hours ago, NCLancer said:

We dropped Ivy off with her family at the neighbor's farm, loaded up the buggy and headed to Lexington, NC at 7:15 to begin our trip with a Monday morning 9:20 tee time at Sapona.  It was our first time playing the course and we could see the improvement work being done.  Many trees had been felled and moved, remaining on the periphery but not in the way of play.  Some equipment tracks still showed but will be fine as the grass grows back.  The layout was nice, the holes had a variety and with some TLC the course would be great to play on the regular for folks nearby.

 

Sapona has an interesting backstory:   

 

Little more than five years ago, Lexington’s Sapona Ridge Country Club was on the verge of extinction. The large clubhouse, 18-hole Ellis Maples/Ed Seay designed golf course, swimming pool and tennis courts were sold to an Uber executive, who planned to convert it into a personal retreat.

It was a crazy, regrettable time for Sapona members, who ended up paying a high price — about $390,000— for not buying the club from NASCAR legend Richard Childress, who rescued Sapona in 2012. When Childress told the members he no longer wanted to subsidize the losses and would sell the club, the members failed to act.

That’s when Uber exec Mark Moore stepped in and bought the 172-acre property for $1.2 million, shut down the club and announced he was converting the 15,000 square foot clubhouse and the surrounding grounds into a vacation home.

Realizing they had lost their club, members burst into action and within a few weeks had persuaded Moore to sell the property to them — for $1.59 million. Members renamed the  property Sapona Golf Swim & Tennis Club. In early 2023, the members brought in management group GreatLife Golf, which eventually bought the club with plans of making improvements.

 

The negatives included the ongoing work, the lack of rakes (most bunkers had 1 or none), and the biggest negative for the first-time player was the lack of signage.  The cart path led us to the next hole but from there we were on our own as the card had no map, the cart had no GPS and the greenside side only had the hole number and the par number. 

 

I played okay but the uncertainty over where I should aim affected me.  I'm not good enough to point and shoot but at least I would like to have a clue what was over the next hill!  The course was not busy so we aware that we weren't going to hit into anyone however blind shots on a new course are never fun.  But as I've heard it's only a blind shot once so if we play there again I'll hopefully play better.

 

Played from 5719 yards on the card but some boxes were moved up and the 9th was turned into a Par 3 so actual yardage was around 5600. 49/50=99, 9-14 fairways, 34 putts, and 3 penalty strokes.  One was on a Par 5 when I hit a solid drive, then what I thought was a nice fading 3W but when we crested the hill no ball could be found.  Such are the mysteries of golf!

 

   

Because deep down I am a butthole, if you won’t pony up when the price is unknown then you don’t “love it”.  If I was the owner I would have taken less money and said “See ya”

 

Now had they presented an offer when it was for sale I would have taken to lower offer bc of the public good.

[NJBigFish22]

So my golf week has concluded and I played Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  I struggled off the tee most of Monday, and after the 7th hole on Tuesday I strictly hit 7W off the tee.  There was some improvement or should I say better consistency.  The last few rounds my iron play has been solid and happy with the results,  I’m still getting used to the new wedges, right now I would rate them 8 out of 10, solely based on they are going a bit longer, so that is something I will work on during my weekend practice session.  On Thursday I was playing well until I got to the 12th hole, had a horrible lie and tried to hit a 9 iron back into the fairway.  I really jammed my wrist and that led to a few holes of struggling.  The last 2 holes I finished strong all things considered.

 

Outside of working on my wedges, I will also be spending a good amount of time working on my tee game.  
 

Ever since I got prescription eye glasses and being cross eyed dominant I have been struggling with my putting, so I have been tinkering with putting left handed.  So far I am reading the greens better, but pace has been off.  Guess another thing to add to the practice list.

[imkirby34]

 

Scheffler T1   

Rory T35  (R2 78 - Ouch)       

Xander T15

Hideki T50 (Doubled 18...whew) 

Hovland MC (R2 81 - OUCH!)

 

Hmmm.  I wonder if I should add more funds to my PP account just in case BD wins.  If he does, I may make a special trip LV to redeem the ticket (no way I'm putting that in the mail), but I'll pay my friend right away.  LOL.

[chisag]

... This is my 2nd public service announcement on the Lounge. I am just blown away by the Qi10. We all have different swings but day-um the Qi10 should be on everyones demo list. Today I had 3 of the longest drives on my home course. That leaves just 2 holes the Qi10 doesn't have my longest drives, and I expect those won't last long. Granted there was a little wind either behind me or quartering but I had 4 drives over 300 yds today (desert roll included). The confidence I have in this driver allows me to swing freely with no guiding. Got a little too cocky on one hole and decided I could drive it close to the green at 366 🤷‍♂️ because it was straight downwind and if I carried it far enough, I would hit a downslope that rockets the ball toward the hole. My body got in front and I pushed it over the trees and into another fairway. I had little idea of direction or distance with a small forest blocking my view and took an educated guess, and hit a pw 10 feet from the hole. To say it was mostly luck is an understatement. Other than the 1st hole when I pulled my opening drive into the 2nd fairway, those were the only 2 fairways I missed all day. 

... After living here for 5 years I saw only my 4th snake. A harmless King Snake meandering across the fairway on #15. I am not sure which one of us were enjoying the sunshine and 91* more. 

[aenemated]

2 hours ago, chisag said:

I am not sure which one of us were enjoying the sunshine and 91* more. 

 

Today was the first day I walked outside and had that heat hit me for the first time in far too long. It was a delightful feel.

 

Meanwhile, didn't take long for Jack to figure it all out ... 

 

 

Those paws, man. He's gonna be a big boy. 

[mshills]

Got this going in the garage yesterday. Next is to remove that POS old heater and have space to hang the cord, etc. Really like the car so far. It suits my use perfectly. Pretty remarkable that Hyundai has built such a car. Couple things I would change and hopefully on the horizon with OTA updates. 

 

Also saw this Brabus yesterday. 😯 Impressive, sure, but waaaaay overdone IMO. Not like I’ll find myself in the market for a rig like this. 💰💰💰💰💰

 

[touch]

Clear skies, quite windy at times, and mild temps today. Full tee sheet. I'll be busy. Just a little snack before lunch. 😃 Instead of maple syrup I went with butter and blueberry preserves. 

I hope a few of you get out and play today before the leaders tee off down in Augusta.

 

 

[sunbeltgolfer]

19 minutes ago, touch said:

Clear skies, quite windy at times, and mild temps today. Full tee sheet. I'll be busy. Just a little snack before lunch. 😃 Instead of maple syrup I went with butter and blueberry preserves. 

I hope a few of you get out and play today before the leaders tee off down in Augusta.

 

 

I'm surprised how quickly your dormant Bermuda greened up. Another couple weeks you should be in near perfect condition. Been so cool up here even the bent grass on the Beech Mountain course is struggling to stay green.

[touch]

46 minutes ago, sunbeltgolfer said:

I'm surprised how quickly your dormant Bermuda greened up. Another couple weeks you should be in near perfect condition. Been so cool up here even the bent grass on the Beech Mountain course is struggling to stay green.

 

 

There is actually no Bermuda on the course SB. The fairways are zoysia, the rough fescue, and the greens bent. The golf course has turned far more green over the last two weeks and the greens have greatly improved since being punched a month ago.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 13 by touch

[sunbeltgolfer]

It was a remarkable recovery from brown to green. The picture looks like Summer condition. The Bermuda up here is very slow to turn green. Maybe the zoysia is more receptive to slightly cooler temperatures. 

[chisag]

3 hours ago, mshills said:

Pretty remarkable that Hyundai has built such a car.

 

 

... All Hyundai all the time. My ex bought a Hyundai Sonata in 2008. Loved it and never had a single issue with it. Gave it to my son for college and I replaced it with a Hyundai Genesis Coupe in 2011. After 13 years she finally traded it for a Hyundai Tucson Hybrid last month. I bought a 2012 Hyundai Genesis sedan in 2012 and gave it to my son in 2018 when I bought a Genesis G80. And now I drive the 2023 Genesis GV60. Not a single issue other than routine maintenance on every one of them. I already have my eye on a G80 EV Sportback when they release one in probably 2 or 3 years. 

Edited April 13 by chisag

[touch]

⭐ How about it fellow old time golfers @chisag @sunbeltgolfer and @Double Mocha Man, look at this mint condition pair of lizard skin FJ Classics from the 80's that a golfer will be styling in this afternoon on the course. I used to rock FJ Classics when I lived and played in the DC area. Did you guys play in Classics? 

 

 

[mshills]

@touch I have one last pair of Classics left, 1998 model, never recrafted, just cared for. Especially now with my injured R foot, there isn’t a better shoe to support that foot. I will gladly trade weight for support and I wish there were other Goodyear welted golf shoes available.

 

Never had the exotics in lizard or gator…regular Classics were already 🤑. Those black lizards are straight up FLY! 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[mshills]

21 hours ago, aenemated said:

 

Aw man, T-Dub made the cut with a literally broken body. 

 

Absolutely not cutting him out to make a move. Dude looks to be moving around well!

 

Hating I didn't stick with my dawg Max. Is this his time? I sure as ish hope so.

Tiger is driving the ball tremendously well and physically he looks 10x better than one year ago. His iron play hasn’t been sharp enough to give legitimate chances at red numbers yet but if that improves today he could pick up a couple shots. Tough conditions for anyone to go deep though, and I don’t see the three at the top of the board really backing up. 

[chisag]

4 minutes ago, touch said:

⭐ How about it fellow old time golfers @chisag @sunbeltgolfer and @Double Mocha Man, look at this mint condition pair of lizard skin FJ Classics from the 80's that a golfer will be styling in this afternoon on the course. I used to rock FJ Classics when I lived and played in the DC area. Did you guys play in Classics? 

 

 

 

 

... Not me my man. I really hate dress shoes*. Since I mostly walk, I can't imagine playing golf in them. Can't remember which brand but had some soft soled Saddle Oxford with lace kilts and metal spikes when I started playing. As soon as I found athletic type golf shoes I started wearing them. I have been playing Ecco Bioms for quite awhile now and have 4 pair in rotation with 3 pair of new in the box reserves because they are the most comfortable golf shoe I have ever worn. 


* When I shoot my infomercials they shoot the intro scene first where you can see my feet and I wear dress shoes. After that I am in gym shoes for the rest of the shoot. 

[aenemated]

50 minutes ago, touch said:

⭐ How about it fellow old time golfers @chisag @sunbeltgolfer and @Double Mocha Man, look at this mint condition pair of lizard skin FJ Classics from the 80's that a golfer will be styling in this afternoon on the course. I used to rock FJ Classics when I lived and played in the DC area. Did you guys play in Classics? 

 

 

 

Look like my Stacys! 

 

 

"Say ae, what's with those?"

 

 

When I moved to Hollywood, I was hell bent on making my life that record. Did a pretty good job of it. 

Edited April 13 by aenemated

[touch]

What the hey??  I spied this bag just now and it has two putters in it. That itself is not super rare, but dude you already have that wonderful Spider (my model putter 🙂) why on earth would you need the Mizuno blade flatstick as well ?   

 

 

[chisag]

... What a conundrum: Rory and the Masters. Playing the par 5's on the back 9, he has not birdied #13 or #15 in all 6 tries this week. With his length you would think he should birdie both every time he plays them and absolute worse case scenario 3 out of 6. One has to think it is in his head not his hands. I would love to see him add the Masters to his Major resume but it doesn't seem like it will ever happen at Augusta. 

[sunbeltgolfer]

3 hours ago, touch said:

⭐ How about it fellow old time golfers @chisag @sunbeltgolfer and @Double Mocha Man, look at this mint condition pair of lizard skin FJ Classics from the 80's that a golfer will be styling in this afternoon on the course. I used to rock FJ Classics when I lived and played in the DC area. Did you guys play in Classics? 

 

 

I did, but it's been so long ago I couldn't tell you what year. I can't remember what I had, or if I had, breakfast