Wow. What an
incredible end to a 2-3 week
building/cleaning/preparation. Yesterday was a massive
success and as I'm about to explain in the highlight
reel, it was the day I realized GolfKon Majors
are going to eventually bigger events than we can
handle without limiting invitations and controlling,
well, almost a membership to the course. Seriously,
over 70 rounds of Golf by 20 different players were
played yesterday. Wow. So, onto the
video...
I remember
thinking on the first major "I'm not even gonna tape
this, what am I gonna make a journey video for
all 4 each year? Those will get boring" And now I'm
imagining camera crews, live announcers, spectators,
etc. This can be really really big. Watching the
scramble to get in during the final hour was just
crazy - and that wasn't even half of the people that
were there...
...though
I should probably get into that. The guy who
walked off during the finals was the brother of my
tenant who had, simply put, had a little too much to
drink. You could tell the putt before the infamous
"tap" that gave him the double-bogey that he was way
off. Had it not been that incident on hole 3,
something else would've blown up before that. And why?
Because the event became a "house party" somewhere
along the line. Not because my tenants invited people,
but because friends of friends of friends invited
people. We probably had over 40 people there and only
20 actually played the course. By the time the Finals
started they were so loud I had to move the table
off the deck to the 4-square court just so we could
film it properly. And one of the drunk girls
said: "Jeez you take your golf
seriously."
Really? The 9-hole
golf course I buiilt in my backyard wasn't the
first clue? It's me moving the table 10 feet over?
(sigh) I fucking hate drunk people with a
passion. Just such a boring thing to be, you know?
Like, go have fun in your 20s and then grow the fuck
up already. It's a boring pastime. Just a boring,
boring pastime. But, most of them were in their 20s,
so, I get it. Have fun. Just realize this was
not a house party and not only have
I never had one of those? I'm not even sure I've
been to one of those. I was too busy producing
shit to even imagine wasting a night doing that.
Again, most were in their 20s so I actually tip
my hat to the fun their having, but a GolfKon Major
doesn't mix with that. Which is why we're making the
events non-alcoholic from this point on. That should
pretty much ERASE that crowd. Can you imagine a
shittier day than NOT drinking and watching mini-golf?
Heh. They can't.
Now, the actual
"tap" at hand that made him boil over, is very
difficult to spot on video. In fact had he asked to
see the video I'd be hard-pressed not to give him a
pass, however the two people that called it as he
tapped it weren't actually players. There wasn't
really a motivation to lie there. And, well, the rules
are pretty specific and no one is above them. You have
to draw a line somewhere and if a tap isn't considered
a stroke, what is? A half-revolution roll? It just
sucks because had he not been drinking he never
would've tapped that. He just misjudged it (like the
putt beforehand which was ridiculously hard) and
probably doesn't even remember tapping it. And then we
come to me kinda losing my shit about it.
(sigh)
What can I say?
I was super-super pissed. I spend how many
weeks building shit, cleaning shit, making all of this
happen and he walks off? You know what I was
really thinking? "Great, I have to put his name
on the plaque I just built."
That suuuuuuucks.
It could've been someone who would've been respectful
enough to play through. You know, like the Matt Rush
guy who shot a fucking 8 over after 8 holes, but stuck
with it and shot 5 under on the next 6. Oh and in case
this is completely confusing to you, all 4 finalist's
names go on the plaque, forever. However now that I've
had a day to think about it - "John Stock -MDF-" just
kind of adds to the legend of GolfKon. "What does MDF
mean?" "Oh, made the cut, didn't finish." "What
happened?" "Dude walked off after 3 holes because he
got called for an extra stroke."
That's kinda pimp
right there. I mean, anyone reading this -
DON'T DO THAT SHIT - but now that it's
done, at least it's a story. It's all about stories in
the end, right?
Of course the
story of the night was JT coming in and owning that
course the first time he ever played it. He got a (-5)
having never once even practiced on that course. I'm
telling you, the course is a hard par. There
are no gimmies. Even Hole 1 is annoying. To do that
and then do it AGAIN in the finals? And seriously, 2
people won't get competing (-6) and (-5) in a round of
the finals for a loooooooong time. That's so unlikely
I can't even express it. And me getting a Pyramid
Eagle?!?!? I've done that once against somebody
else... EVER. One time practicing and again, only once
in competition - and I do it in the finals? How
the what? We were both on fire. Sucks someone had to
lose and, well, part of me wishes it would've been me.
I was serious in that interview that until I'm beaten,
it'll be an illegitimate course. Oh, and the
interview!
I've been on
Kurtis & Jonathan's show "The Worst Show on the
Web" twice talking about FOUR and The Journey. I threw
it past them to broadcast live from the Tournament and
they ate that shit up. ANd seriously, they dressed up
- legitimately fought on the course about shit
and generally had a blast. I'm not even sure how there
can be another GolfKon event without them. Since they
do their show on Mondays maybe they can just do the
Memorial and Labor Day each year? That would be cool.
Definitely Labor Day - it'd be a great way to end the
season as well as celebrate the Anniversary of the
Opening in 2012. Something about being interviewed
after winning a competition that just seems right.
They're also quite funny and play well off each other.
Good stuff.
And the FINAL
piece of good stuff for the day is the guest
I really never thought would come...
Fred is actually a
fellow ex of 2010's Palmolive. Can you believe that?
I friended him around that time and never had the
balls to actually ask him about her. Did we have the
same experiences? I knew they still talked so
I assumed not... well, in fact, we did. And 3
years later I invited him to GolfKon simply
because after being his Facebook friend for 3 years?
He totally seemed like he would dig it. And he did. He
was the only other guy who dressed up and to say the
least, we got along. Mutual insanity in our past
certainly helped, but he's just a nice guy and every
bit the type who adored the idea of a mini-golf course
in your backyard. In fact as a kid he tried to make
one. So, we're kind of instant friends.
What a day. What a
night. What a Major. The turnaround for the
Independence Championship is a little short, so I
don't expect as much of a turn out, but I think
Labor Day is gonna be huge. Hopefully, the 4th of July
will be filled with serious peeps trying to get on
that board. That thing is like 15 square feet. LOL.
