Intro to Rob Brauer - Friendly Round

I met a guy named Rob Brauer at the Phoenix City Amateur a couple of weeks ago and we hooked up to play some golf this past weekend. He is pursuing this in nearly the identical way as I am, check out his website when you have a chance - www.robbrauer.com. We played at LoneTree down by my house as he has a tournament coming up there in the next few months and the golf course where he'll be making his professional debut this weekend was booked for a scramble. Good luck Rob!

We start off on 1 with a fairly decent tee shot, and a pretty thin and weak 4 iron short and right of the green. Thinned the pitch a bit to about a foot, ahem, yeah I meant to do that. #2 is playing right at 190 or so, hit a 5 iron that felt like it just mushed off the face but when we arrived at the green I was about 12 feet just below pin high, putt broke more than I could stomach so we left that one even as well. Third hole is a good dogleg left, as I told Rob, you almost can't hit it too far left. We both hit driver well to the center, I tried to get cute with a knockdown 8 instead of a 9 and left it short. Chipped about 6 feet left and failed to make it. Fourth hole is nearly driveable in the right conditions, at 370 yards on the card it doesn't seem that way, but with a little wind you can almost get there. I always hit driver here, as does everyone else, you just can't be in too bad of shape. My first bout with a lack of concentration and I leave the pitch short, dead, 15 feet below the green, I stab it up to about 25 feet and two putt for another bogey.

The fifth is a good par 5, don't remember the yardage, 550+ I do know, the wind has turned a bit and we hit driver pretty good here. Blocked the 3 wood pin high right, hit the chip a bit too far right (I guess to avoid the bunker. On a chip shot. Yes. That just happened). Straight downhill, hit the putt hard and missed and walked away with a disappointing 5. Sixth hole is about 340 yards, bunker about 290 yards out on the right, I always hit driver just short of it, and I did again. 3 inches short of it, in a divot. Now I've got about 50 yards in, 1/3 of the ball down in this divot, I announce that I don't think I can hit it hard enough to get out of the divot and still stop it on the green. I advanced the ball, and this is where it gets touchy, I say 8 feet. Rob swears up and down it was 6 feet (just read his blog, yeah he claims "I'll take 6 feet to my grave"). That dude needs glasses, clearly it was at least 8 feet. I mean come on, 6 feet? What am I a chop? Obviously I can do better than that, puh-leeze. So anyway, I'm 8 FEET CLOSER to the green, in the bunker, hit a shot that just fizzled out about 10 yards short, chip to 3 1/2 feet and make bogey. NOTE - Not a double like Rob claimed. So he can't add, and he says only 6 feet? I call shenanigans on this one.

7 is about 470 yards into the wind, hit a pathetic tee shot, right up the gut. Sill have I believe 200 yards or so in. Hit a cut 3 iron into the bunker and failed to get up and down. 8 is playing 190 yards, into the wind, which is starting to back off a bit. Hit a good 4 iron that landed 1 foot left of the cup and settled 6 feet behind the hole in the fringe, which we canned for a 2. Ninth is a par 5, perfect time to hit a heeled cutter into the left side of the fairway. Ah no matter, I always try for the same shot here anyway, 90 degree dogleg left par 5, I put it 20 yards short and right of the green, up and down for back to back birdies. This game is easy. Hit the tee shot a bit farther right than I wanted to on 10 back into the wind, but pretty damn solid. We get out there to see that I'm 170 yards out. WTF? 255 yards, literally 40+ yards behind Rob who's in the fairway bunker left. Well, at least I'm hitting fairways. Again, I can't line up properly on this hole and in another brush with the concentration vortex I fan 5 iron right of the green. The 40 footer breaks 10 feet left, I played for 6, missed the 6 footer coming back for bogey.

11 has a lake all the way down the right side, hit another heeled cutter into the center of the fairway, 95 yards away. Rob and I both just knocked down this flagstick, me 8 feet right, him 8 feet left. I believe that flag is still shaking it was so scared of how close we hit it. This putt broke a full 12 inches, just more than I dared to play. 12 is sort of an island green, more fringe than that of the 17th at Sawgrass, but 176 yards, more like 17 at PGA West, without the rocks. I hit a held off cut 7 iron about 10 feet left of the hole and left it short, you know, because we lag them from 10 feet. Right? 13 is playing dead downwind, tees are up, hit it great, probably 100 yards farther than the last time I played here (not because I'm huge, because the tees are up 50 yards and the wind is in the opposite direction). Hit GW from 110 yards to I believe the exact center of the green (pin back left), you know, to "protect par" as we were saying, and we did. 14th is an uphill par 3, playing 145 yards, wind howling into us, I get the measurement, settle on 7 iron, ready to pull the trigger, wind dies down. I switch back to 8, get back in, and fan it right of the green. All that waiting to hit that shot? Could I concentrate for more than 30 seconds? Please? Hit the chip like a putt (I only wish that was intentional) to about 3 feet and made it for par.

Blocked the tee shot on 15, another 470 yard par 4, lame duck 4 iron into the bunker and failed to convert that one and made bogey. Hit my 2 iron hybrid Mizuno thing I have off of 16 tee, real poor, yanked it left and picking up my tee in disgust yelled for it to get right. I looked up and I'm in the fairway. Weird bounce to say the least. Put a 6 yard cut on a GW from 110 yards (I'm just commentating here, don't ask me how), left the putt literally hanging on the lip for birdie from about 20 feet. Blocked the tee shot on 17 into the fairway bunker, 160 yards left. I hit a pretty clean 7 iron out of there and as it's in the air, I remember that we're playing into the wind. Seriously? Get your head out of your ass. So we're about 5 yards short, I try everything to make the chip, 6 feet by, miss the putt for par, another bogey. 18 is another 550+ yard par 5, cross wind from right to left. Toe'd my driver dead straight into the heart of the fairway, easily 260 yards of bonecrushing power (yes, that was sarcasm). 3 wood to 110 yards and GW to 30 feet, yep, that's right, 30 feet. Birdie putt broke probably 3 feet more than I could have imagined, but made it for a closing par. 39 - 38, 3 over each way for a 6 over par 77.

So all in all a really fun round, was great meeting Rob. I've been sick and miserable for the last couple of weeks, hopefully not miserable enough to make anyone have a bad time. I look forward to being able to concentrate for a period of time longer than a commercial about enlarged prostates (Note to the Golf Channel, not everybody who watches the Golf Channel is 80 years old and afflicted with every health problem known to man, mix it up a little). I believe Rob shot even par for the day, beating my no-concentrating chop ass by a full 6 shots. Guess who's getting strokes the next time out?