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

[mshills]

27 minutes ago, touch said:

 

Is dad having a few fingers of whiskey at sunset on a day he played 18?

He sure is!

[touch]

10 minutes ago, mshills said:

He sure is!

 

Right on. 

[touch]

1505. Wasn't 1500 just a thing?

Popular joint. No complaints. 

[touch]

Round #44 of 2025

Crooked Creek 

Senior tees  5820   67.0/113

84* and humid with a 10 mph breeze  

 

 

I had committed to play Wed. afternoon where I work with a couple of caddies. After being rained out after 7 holes on Tues and having a few other recent rounds effected by thunderstorms between 3 and 4 PM I wanted my Wednesday round to have a solid chance that I would be done before storm time so I dropped out of the game at BFCC. Early Wed morning I called Crooked Creek and asked what they had available between 8:30 and 10:30 for a single?  10:20? Yeah I'll take that.

 

Even though the word Muni is not in the name of the course Crooked Creek is considered the Hendersonville Municipal. You can wear jeans. You don't have to tuck your shirt in. The course is filled daily with retired men (some very old and some very slow) and many are just playing 9 holes. There is no effort made to Marshall the pace of play ever. The Creek is the flattest course that I play and it is also the easiest course that I play. Fairways were in healthy condition and the greens were on the slow side and soft due to all the day after day afternoon rain we've had for weeks. CC is all bermuda grass.

 

No warm up. No practice putts. Just a 5 minute stretch session before my round. I drove up to the first tee where 10 or so golfers were lined up. I raised my voice and said, "single here, the shop told me I was to join the Xxxxx twosome." The only woman out of the 10 golfers called out, "that's us."  Hello, nice to meet you I'm Lawrence. The lady had a husband she was playing with and they were from Charleston. They had a gig every July and August running a B & B in Hendersonville. They wintered in central Florida. This retired couple played a crap ton of golf in all three places during the year. We were behind a foursome that had two players that took an average of 7 shots to get to the green. It was painfully slow right out of the gate. I knew there would be no place to go....this was Crooked Creek, the home of old duffers. After only 3 holes I was admiring Mrs. J's swing, excellent putting touch, and overall game. The gal was a talker so she and I had some decent early conversation. She told me she had played since she was 5 and her mother was a serious player for decades and that her entire family played golf. Mrs J also told me she and her husband had worked hard with the goal of retiring early to travel and play a bunch of golf. She said they accomplished what they had sought out to do and were now golfing plenty in the 3 different states they call home every year. The husband was a decent player but the lady of the house was a good bit better. She was also a hoot. I called out early in the round that the foursome in front of us had no business waiting to hit towards the green when they were 180 yards out when half of them couldn't hit it straight 130 yards. Her reply was "well those geezers are following the three blind mice in the group ahead of them so where are we going?" Mrs J complimented me often on my straight fairway finding drives and the one time I said thank you, but they don't go very far, I've been a career short knocker, her comeback was, let me tell you something my mother always used to say, The longest drive matters not if you FuX'th up the second shot.  I howled. 

 

How did I do during my round that took 5 hours under blue skies with passing puffy clouds to play?  

With generous width fairways and soft greens the course was playing kind. 

Two pars on the first two holes. A birdie on the short Par 5 third hole. Pars on 4-8 and then a sloppy muffed chip on 9 caused a bogey. Even on the front. I had a string of pars going on the back until I started getting tired from the slow pace of play and being in the hot sun, I made bogeys on 5 of the last 6 holes. I finished with a 77 and that also was the same score that Mrs J from Charleston shot. 

 

I could play with that lady a bunch. She had a great personality and a great all around game. I said to her after the round. If I may ask Mrs J where did you grow up up north because I know you are not a Carolina girl. The lady had confidence, was really funny, and had balls. I ruled out New England and NY/NJ because she didn't have the vibe needed to be from those places but I knew it was from some semi scrappy area up north. "Lawrence I grew up in a small town between Pittsburgh and Erie. After 40 years there I wanted a change and moved to Charleston and met my husband."  Aww so that's it I said, you're a Pennsylvania girl. 

 

My round at Crooked Creek was special because of the couple that I got randomly paired up with. 

 

My game ball goes to my golf cart. When I walked up to the fleet the cart that was next in line to go out was #18. I bet my cart knew that I would end up playing with a nice couple up from Charleston. 

 

 

The round might have taken 5 hours but I never felt a drop of rain or heard a
rumble of thunder. ⚡

 

 

 

Edited July 20 by touch

[chisag]

25 minutes ago, touch said:

Even though the word Muni is not in the name of the course Crooked Creek is considered the Hendersonville Municipal. You can wear jeans. You don't have to tuck your shirt in.

 

 

... Isn't Crooked Creek the course with over head power lines and you have to re-tee if you hit them? Been there, done that. What a great hook up in Boomer vernacular not younger folk interpretation. 🫣  Sounds like the best way to spend 5 hours. 

[touch]

1 minute ago, chisag said:

 

 

... Isn't Crooked Creek the course with over head power lines and you have to re-tee if you hit them? Been there, done that. What a great hook up in Boomer vernacular not younger folk interpretation. 🫣  Sounds like the best way to spend 5 hours. 

 

No there are no overhead power lines at the Creek Sam. It was an incredible hook up with other boomers who like me have loved the game for many decades. 🙂

Thanks amigo.

[chisag]

9 minutes ago, touch said:

No there are no overhead power lines at the Creek Sam.

 

 

... One of the very muni  type muni's has power lines hanging over the fairway on one hole, but I can't remember which one. To the best of my memory we played Cummings Cove, Etowah Valley, Cleghorn, Cliffs of Glassy, Links of Trion, Apple Valley, Mt Mitchell, Reems Creek, Champion Hills and Kenmure CC. 

[imkirby34]

Our city's muni had a par 3 with power wires overhead where you had to re-tee if you hit one.  I played at least a hundred rounds there and did it twice.  Made a God-awful and rather scary sound when it happened, too.  Alas, that course no longer exists thanks to the 49ers...and a majority of our city's voters.

 

Played down in Gilroy today to celebrate the Bday of one of our "crew".  We had match play with 2 teams of 4.  I was cruising along at +8 thru 16 holes, but had a complete lapse of concentration and finished triple-triple.  I blame it on having already locked down the match 7-and-5.

 

That triple-triple finish didn't even feature any topped shots, 3-jacks, or shots into penalty areas or out of bunkers.  That makes it feel even more embarrassing.  Well, at least I did manage to play the entire round with the same ball, which is a very rare thing for me.

 

This is what we had to celebrate the Bday on the course - a mini cupcake sitting in a pool of Crown Royal Peach.  My quote was, "On the list of dumb things to do, this takes the (cup)cake".  To say it wasn't a good pairing is an understatement.  😂

 

Edited July 20 by imkirby34

[mshills]

9 hours ago, chisag said:

 

 

... One of the very muni  type muni's has power lines hanging over the fairway on one hole, but I can't remember which one. To the best of my memory we played Cummings Cove, Etowah Valley, Cleghorn, Cliffs of Glassy, Links of Trion, Apple Valley, Mt Mitchell, Reems Creek, Champion Hills and Kenmure CC. 

There was a place I used to love playing north of ATL — very thick power lines directly in the line of fire on #3 tee and the craziest local rule I’ve ever seen.
 

OB if your ball hit the wires. Seriously???

 

Lanier Golf Club….it was private for most of its history and had real players who loved to gamble as I’m told. When I stopped 100% work travel in 2000, the members had sold the club and it was in limbo, supposed to be developed for housing but a small group of existing homeowners around the perimeter filed suit and somehow it stayed open as a daily fee for quite a while. What a great layout that was, other than the wires and the 🌰 🥜 local rule. 
 

It has long since closed for good and I’m sure there are 250 starter homes there now. 

[touch]

It's my last shift of the week and I'm happy for that. This afternoon there is a couples only tournament. 

 

 

 

[Triple Lindy]

10 hours ago, chisag said:

the course with over head power lines and you have to re-tee if you hit them? Been there, done that.

 

 

5 hours ago, imkirby34 said:

Our city's muni had a par 3 with power wires overhead where you had to re-tee if you hit one.  I played at least a hundred rounds there and did it twice. 

Interesting to hear of others who have hit a power line with a tee shot. I did it last year and thought it was a complete fluke. Must be more common than I thought. I remember watching my ball flight - nice draw - and all of a sudden it took a right turn. Took me a second to figure out what happened. 

[touch]

I'm extra hungry this morning for some reason. I've already had breakfast and then a donut and now the cook in the men's grill made me a fried chicken breast with sauteed onions on a biscuit. I requested the onions because I've had a hankering for them for a couple of days.

 

 

[Triple Lindy]

12 hours ago, touch said:

"school's out".

Good stuff. As cheesy as it sounds, who didn’t crank that song up on the last day of school each year? I bought the 8-track just for that tune.

[Triple Lindy]

19 hours ago, touch said:

I gotta find that head cover. Or one with the John Daly mixture. My regular playing partner makes up a batch of one or the other for every round we play. Regardless of tee time, it’s a first box tradition - second box if the starter is paying attention.

[touch]

I have played two courses that had power lines cross the fairway just ahead of the tee box. One was in Henderson, Nevada (the southeastern suburb of Vegas) and the other is in Black Mountain, NC. I have hit the power line at both courses and I agree with another post that the sound that's made when a drive hits the line is rather unique. The sound is hard to describe but it sounds like you have hit something pulled taunt and it the sound carries for a few extra moments. We always played that if you hit it you got a free do over tee shot. 

 

 

 

[Double Mocha Man]

2 hours ago, mshills said:

OB if your ball hit the wires. Seriously???

 

That was probably dreamed up by some non-golfing power company employee who thought golfers would intentionally hit the wire. That's almost like intentionally trying to make a hole in one.

[mshills]

7 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

That was probably dreamed up by some non-golfing power company employee who thought golfers would intentionally hit the wire. That's almost like intentionally trying to make a hole in one.

The wires were pretty low and quite close to an elevated tee box, in between the box and the start of the fairway. So it was a pretty bad setup. I reckon the wires were there before the course, and there’s no reason the tee shouldn’t have been lowered or moved at some point. By the time the course opened to the public it was operated on a total shoestring budget so it wasn’t going to happen then. 
 

I never hit them but numerous playing partners did. Loud and pretty alarming sound!

[rsballer10]

9 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

That was probably dreamed up by some non-golfing power company employee who thought golfers would intentionally hit the wire. That's almost like intentionally trying to make a hole in one.

Sounds like a course that has no interest in holding a tournament. From my days as a cart boy many years ago, I can say our county amateur tournament was the most fun week of the year. 

[touch]

@mshills

 

Look Tiger alumnus, a guest just gave me a package of Clemon candy and man they are good. 

 

 

[touch]

@DLeightonReid

 

Were you there? 

That was quite the line up. 

 

 

[Triple Lindy]

6 minutes ago, touch said:

@DLeightonReid

 

Were you there? 

That was quite the line up. 

 

 

Interesting that BTO got the headline billing. I saw BTO in ‘78 and they were the opening act for Judas Priest and Foghat, which headlined the show. Judas Priest was kind of an outlier for that lineup and I wondered how they were billed ahead of BTO.

[aenemated]

22 minutes ago, Triple Lindy said:

Interesting that BTO got the headline billing. I saw BTO in ‘78 and they were the opening act for Judas Priest and Foghat, which headlined the show. Judas Priest was kind of an outlier for that lineup and I wondered how they were billed ahead of BTO.

 

... that's indeed a weird lineup. 

 

I remember having to learn Painkiller for my old metal band back in the day.

 

 

That double kick part wasn't too bad when I was 22. Not sure how well it'd go at damn near 50 haha

[Bob Cat]

19 hours ago, chisag said:

 

 

... You Da Man!!! I interviewed some back in the day that were a little lost in their "stardom" and thought they had perfumed defecation. Some recognized how much they needed radio back then and you could tell they were just kissing our butts. Then there were a few just really genuine people and Alice was one of them. Same with Willy and Chaka Khan. On the other end of the spectrum was Lee Greenwood and Glen Campbell. The one that always stuck with me though was Chris Cross that felt like he was the luckiest guy in the world, living the dream and shocked he was being interviewed. Really nice guy. As you know, there were a few whose names I won't repeat but were so F'ed up they could barely get through the interview. Twice they didn't make it to the control room. 

 

Doc West, Loong time Fort Wayne DJ, once mentioned in an interview who his best and worst in-studio interviews were:

Alice Cooper and the Black Crowes, respectively.

[Bob Cat]

16 hours ago, touch said:

CBS sports broadcaster Chris Schenkel giving live Saturday scoreboard updates from the studio - September 21, 1963.

 

 

GREAT broadcaster with a distinctive voice.  Pride of Bippus, Indiana!

 

[touch]

23 minutes ago, Bob Cat said:

 

GREAT broadcaster with a distinctive voice.  Pride of Bippus, Indiana!

 

 

Yes indeed Bob Cat. I remember back to when I was a kid and Chris was the voice of the Professional Bowlers Tour on ABC. 

[touch]

[Double Mocha Man]

2 minutes ago, touch said:

 

Typo!

[touch]

Can't play Links golf aye?

From +7 on Thursday to -9 at the end of the tournament. 🔥

Props to Bryson. 

 

 

[touch]

31 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

 

Typo!

 

Good eye. They forgot the double t's. 

[Double Mocha Man]

22 minutes ago, touch said:

 

Good eye. They forgot the double t's. 

 

I absolutely never call anyone out on this forum, even myself (except for Ti-Scape because his was unintentionally funny). Typos are a way of life when typing fast.  But the one on that signage was glaring and egregious.  Not sure how old that sign is but someone must have called that out as soon as the sign went up.  Surprised it wasn't fixed.