Fuzzy putting out on 11 where he won his Masters in sudden death. That's me and Crenshaw looking on. 

Third shot on 13. I thinned it over and made bogey.  

My tee shot on 12. Knocked it to 10 feet just on the fringe. Made par. 

My tee shot at hole #8. I ended up just short of the trap. 

Phil Alicea hits tee shot on #12 

Playing Augusta National Again

For those of you who have been diligent about visiting my blog to view new entries, I apologize. Thus far, this is been a POOR excuse for a DAILY blog.

Having said that, it should be known that we have been putting in countless hours on an Internet project that we are late launching. The site is www.GreatShot.com. You may want to check it out.

Let’s see, where do I begin?

We’ll start here. A few weeks ago, I had written up an article about my priceless gift to once again play Augusta National the Sunday prior to the The Masters. I played with Fuzzy, Ben Crenshaw and Scott Sayers (Ben’s agent.)

I was able to have my childhood friend named Phil Alicea walk all eighteen holes with us. Quite a treat for him, also. In fact, his local newspaper did an entire story on it. He even had a chance to hit a tee shot at the most famous par-3 hole in the world of golf, #12.

He cleared Ray’s Creek.

How did I play? Let’s say Billy Casper clipped me by one. I also had a chance to hole a putt and shoot the elusive 59. The problem was that I had that putt on the 9th hole.

I missed it.

I played the back nine much better, and posted 107. Believe it or not, my ball striking wasn’t bad. I am guessing I averaged 2.5 to 3 putts per hole, and my chipping was horrendous. Fuzzy was adamant that I putt everything out. Come to find out he had “over – under” bets with friends all over the country as to what I would shoot.

He won every bet.

But, I did par #12, and I did have Ben tell me I hit one of the best shots he has ever seen at Augusta National. I did this on hole #3 when I punched my second shot under some trees approximately 130 yards, glancing the mounds on the right, resulting in a shot that rolled like a putt to within seven feet. (I missed the putt.)

I also almost holed it from the fairway on #17 for eagle, coming to rest within 5 feet of the pin. Yep, you guessed it. I missed it. You have no idea how tough and demanding the short game is at this place.

On Tuesday evening, I traditionally drop Fuzzy off at The Champions Dinner, and then head to T-Bonz for a steak. I then pick him up after the Champions Dinner. As I am sitting in front of the clubhouse, there is a knock on my window. It’s dark, and I have no idea who it is.

It’s Fred Couples.

“Lobeck, you are an eight handicap, right?”

“Hi Freddie. Nice to see you. Yes, that is correct.”

“Can you explain to me how an 8 handicap shoots 107”?

“You hit the ball 107 times, Freddie.”

“But, Fuzzy tells me you feel you hit some quality shots.”

“I did, Fred.”

“Dave, how do you do that and shoot 107?”

“Freddie, I think you have the wrong courtesy car.”

The window glides back to its closed position as I hear the cackling of Freddie as he walks away.

Do these guys not have more to talk about than the score of a “chop” amateur?

Anyway, we came home Wednesday. Going into the event, I thought Fuzzy had a great chance to make the cut. He shot even par or one under when we played on Sunday. He was hitting the ball a long way, having just put into play Srixon’s newest ball, the “Z-UR.”

But then it rained, and then we had the 4-shot penalty that Fuzzy called on himself on the 4th tee. He had put a new set of irons into play after giving his set to a kid on the 18th hole on Sunday of The Toshiba Classic. Unfortunately, there was a Hybrid 3-iron and a normal 3 iron. Fifteen clubs, end of story.

Anyway, that’s a brief update. I will do my best to write daily. More comments from readers would definitely make this more interesting. I know there are a lot of readers because I see the traffic.

I’ll put a link on here when I get the pictures form this year’s round of golf at Augusta National.

All the best!