Post by philknj on Jun 10, 2016 15:22:20 GMT
I parked at a nearby shuttered restaurant parking lot (so did some caddies) and arrived at Galloway National GC a little before 8 AM for a satellite pro-am. After reviewing the signs on the carts, the most familiar pros that had not started yet included Leta Lindley, Hannah Jun Medlock, Samantha Richdale, Moira Dunn, Karen Stupples, and Blair O’Neal.
I hung out at the 10th hole for a few tee shots. Using a Taylor-Made Jetspeed driver, Medlock drove it high and straight, but not very far. Her bag includes a UCLA head cover. Dunn, with her shamrock/Irish theme bag, may be the fastest player I have ever seen from when the ball is teed to when the swing starts. Like HJM, her drive was competent, but not long. When Richdale teed off, you could see why she was on the LPGA today and the other two were not. Her bag is a collage of red and white maple leafs and it includes some sort of personal logo. I couldn’t figure it out, but Richdale had the same logo on her cap.
Made a quick tour of the pro shop...looked the same as before, nothing in particular caught my eye.
I then moved to the fairway of the 18th hole, which runs behind the clubhouse. I had never seen this part of the course during my past visits. It’s a spectacular finishing hole, worthy of this course’s reputation...par-4, dog-leg right, and a long waste area on down the right side. The tee shot is downhill and the approach shot is to an elevated green that is blocked off from run-up shots by massive bunkering. I was far away, but it appeared that Emily Gimpel chose some kind of FW and cleared all the trouble with a low laser beam that landed softly on the far left of the green, followed by a right turn towards the flag. The first putt attempt went in for birdie.
While the next group played through #18, I took a walk to the tee area. I think the pro-am tee sign said 428 yards, but there was another tee box further back. I couldn’t find a yardage marker there, but the scorecard on the course’s website indicates a gold tee of 476 yards.
Allison Hanna’s cart was nearby, so I checked her bag. She has T/M R11 forged irons with red/orange hexagon back weights and a T/M SuperFast driver. I guess pro-am pros don’t get any calls from Mr. TaylorMade to upgrade their gear.
I looped around the southern end of the course, then crossed over to the par-5 9th hole where NJ teaching pro Karen Noble hit a high flop shot to within birdie range.
Before leaving (around 10:15 AM?), I stepped into the clubhouse and asked someone for the location of the restroom. He pointed down a hallway with swinging double doors. Oh my gosh, it was the men’s locker room...I’ve been in a couple of nice ones before, but Galloway’s just moved to the top of my list. So luxurious...I wonder if they have lodging accommodations for club members who don’t feel like seeing their families for a few days at a time...you could be very comfortable there.
I took a short drive down Route 9 and pulled into an office complex parking lot. From there, it was maybe a fifteen minute walk to the Seaview Bay course entrance...also picked up a few Pro V1s on the way that had been sliced over the fence, mostly from the 18th tee box, I assume.
I checked out the range first. Mi Hyang Lee was making chips from the rough around a practice green. Her looper Andrew (ex-touring pro in Asia) demonstrated how the club interacted with the rough with one of her irons. On the green, he had a basket in his left hand and with the right he would slide the club under a ball like a spatula, throw it up in the air, then bang it into the basket...he never missed.
Becky Morgan might be the next PXG client. She tried out one of their demo irons and had a long discussion with a PXG rep, who said he would have a bigger collection of adjustable demos at the KPMG next week.
Back to the Bay course...I caught up with Chella Choi’s group, which included four middle-aged Korean gentlemen. Most of them would be running the swag tents on Friday for their various products and services. Their clubs included game-improvement irons from Beres and OnOff, as well as a Honma 717 driver and what appeared to be the XXIO 9 driver. They were all decent or good players...one of them had a Charles Barkley-ish backswing, but his downswing was effective. On almost every hole, they stopped to get pictures taken with Chella.
I followed In Kyung Kim a little bit on the front nine. She has Taylor-Made’s Psi Forged irons, along with a single T-M M2 iron (don’t know the #). I don’t know if this is a recent change, but she has Chad Payne (formerly with Peanut, Mika M., and Jenny Shin) on her bag. Cheeseburger Chad said something that cracked up Inky, which I hope is indicative of her mood these days.
Alison Lee was making the walk to her final hole, the par-5 18th, so I followed along. She belted her drive down the middle...she didn’t look infirm to me in any way. The bigger news was the last am in her group to tee off. Yikes, the ball disappeared in a nanosecond. Before vanishing, it appeared to be on a medium trajectory and on a perfect line with no deviation. I went downrange and his ball was on the first stripe of the spectator crosswalk. After everyone hit their second shots from there, I asked a caddie what yardage they had left. He said 168. The flag was about three yards behind the center of the green. Subtract 165 from 505 and you get 340 yards...yes, I can believe that. The am updated the longest drive contest marker for that hole. Another marker was there for the women ams and it was almost as far...a teen girl hit it early in the AM, but her tee box is 100 yards closer.
I parked myself behind the par-4 8th tee box and saw a familiar face coming off the 7th green, one of Mi Hyang’s ex-loops, Ivan Galdame. I don’t know if he recognized me, since I followed him three times last year. I didn’t say anything in case he had a bad scene with his former employer. Ivan’s current player is Italian rookie Giulia Molinaro. They conversed in Spanish...later, some guy showed up and all three switched over to Italian. At #8, Molinaro said the word “punch” in English and teed her ball low. Maybe the wind switched because Ivan interrupted her, bent down and raised the tee...never saw a caddy do that before. He’s also involved with the amateurs, trying to help them swing better.
I noticed rookie Cyna Rodriguez at the 5th green...not on my pairings sheet, she must have subbed for somebody. Nearby was a trailer for Tito’s Handmade Vodka, serving samples with fruit juice and ice for the ams.
On the way out, I had to check out the crosswalk at #18 to see if anyone had surpassed the two longest drives...no one did. Also, found a couple more errant pellets during my walk up Route 9 to the car.
I hung out at the 10th hole for a few tee shots. Using a Taylor-Made Jetspeed driver, Medlock drove it high and straight, but not very far. Her bag includes a UCLA head cover. Dunn, with her shamrock/Irish theme bag, may be the fastest player I have ever seen from when the ball is teed to when the swing starts. Like HJM, her drive was competent, but not long. When Richdale teed off, you could see why she was on the LPGA today and the other two were not. Her bag is a collage of red and white maple leafs and it includes some sort of personal logo. I couldn’t figure it out, but Richdale had the same logo on her cap.
Made a quick tour of the pro shop...looked the same as before, nothing in particular caught my eye.
I then moved to the fairway of the 18th hole, which runs behind the clubhouse. I had never seen this part of the course during my past visits. It’s a spectacular finishing hole, worthy of this course’s reputation...par-4, dog-leg right, and a long waste area on down the right side. The tee shot is downhill and the approach shot is to an elevated green that is blocked off from run-up shots by massive bunkering. I was far away, but it appeared that Emily Gimpel chose some kind of FW and cleared all the trouble with a low laser beam that landed softly on the far left of the green, followed by a right turn towards the flag. The first putt attempt went in for birdie.
While the next group played through #18, I took a walk to the tee area. I think the pro-am tee sign said 428 yards, but there was another tee box further back. I couldn’t find a yardage marker there, but the scorecard on the course’s website indicates a gold tee of 476 yards.
Allison Hanna’s cart was nearby, so I checked her bag. She has T/M R11 forged irons with red/orange hexagon back weights and a T/M SuperFast driver. I guess pro-am pros don’t get any calls from Mr. TaylorMade to upgrade their gear.
I looped around the southern end of the course, then crossed over to the par-5 9th hole where NJ teaching pro Karen Noble hit a high flop shot to within birdie range.
Before leaving (around 10:15 AM?), I stepped into the clubhouse and asked someone for the location of the restroom. He pointed down a hallway with swinging double doors. Oh my gosh, it was the men’s locker room...I’ve been in a couple of nice ones before, but Galloway’s just moved to the top of my list. So luxurious...I wonder if they have lodging accommodations for club members who don’t feel like seeing their families for a few days at a time...you could be very comfortable there.
I took a short drive down Route 9 and pulled into an office complex parking lot. From there, it was maybe a fifteen minute walk to the Seaview Bay course entrance...also picked up a few Pro V1s on the way that had been sliced over the fence, mostly from the 18th tee box, I assume.
I checked out the range first. Mi Hyang Lee was making chips from the rough around a practice green. Her looper Andrew (ex-touring pro in Asia) demonstrated how the club interacted with the rough with one of her irons. On the green, he had a basket in his left hand and with the right he would slide the club under a ball like a spatula, throw it up in the air, then bang it into the basket...he never missed.
Becky Morgan might be the next PXG client. She tried out one of their demo irons and had a long discussion with a PXG rep, who said he would have a bigger collection of adjustable demos at the KPMG next week.
Back to the Bay course...I caught up with Chella Choi’s group, which included four middle-aged Korean gentlemen. Most of them would be running the swag tents on Friday for their various products and services. Their clubs included game-improvement irons from Beres and OnOff, as well as a Honma 717 driver and what appeared to be the XXIO 9 driver. They were all decent or good players...one of them had a Charles Barkley-ish backswing, but his downswing was effective. On almost every hole, they stopped to get pictures taken with Chella.
I followed In Kyung Kim a little bit on the front nine. She has Taylor-Made’s Psi Forged irons, along with a single T-M M2 iron (don’t know the #). I don’t know if this is a recent change, but she has Chad Payne (formerly with Peanut, Mika M., and Jenny Shin) on her bag. Cheeseburger Chad said something that cracked up Inky, which I hope is indicative of her mood these days.
Alison Lee was making the walk to her final hole, the par-5 18th, so I followed along. She belted her drive down the middle...she didn’t look infirm to me in any way. The bigger news was the last am in her group to tee off. Yikes, the ball disappeared in a nanosecond. Before vanishing, it appeared to be on a medium trajectory and on a perfect line with no deviation. I went downrange and his ball was on the first stripe of the spectator crosswalk. After everyone hit their second shots from there, I asked a caddie what yardage they had left. He said 168. The flag was about three yards behind the center of the green. Subtract 165 from 505 and you get 340 yards...yes, I can believe that. The am updated the longest drive contest marker for that hole. Another marker was there for the women ams and it was almost as far...a teen girl hit it early in the AM, but her tee box is 100 yards closer.
I parked myself behind the par-4 8th tee box and saw a familiar face coming off the 7th green, one of Mi Hyang’s ex-loops, Ivan Galdame. I don’t know if he recognized me, since I followed him three times last year. I didn’t say anything in case he had a bad scene with his former employer. Ivan’s current player is Italian rookie Giulia Molinaro. They conversed in Spanish...later, some guy showed up and all three switched over to Italian. At #8, Molinaro said the word “punch” in English and teed her ball low. Maybe the wind switched because Ivan interrupted her, bent down and raised the tee...never saw a caddy do that before. He’s also involved with the amateurs, trying to help them swing better.
I noticed rookie Cyna Rodriguez at the 5th green...not on my pairings sheet, she must have subbed for somebody. Nearby was a trailer for Tito’s Handmade Vodka, serving samples with fruit juice and ice for the ams.
On the way out, I had to check out the crosswalk at #18 to see if anyone had surpassed the two longest drives...no one did. Also, found a couple more errant pellets during my walk up Route 9 to the car.