Karl Overcomes Shilohfallsophobia

Being afraid of something that can cause harm is a normal reaction. However, some people show strong persistent and irrational fears of particular objects, activities or situations. When this behavior interferes with normal everyday functioning, the condition is called a phobia. Encountering the phobic stimulus results in intense anxiety, causing increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, shaking and sweating. Although the phobic may acknowledge the anxiety is disproportionate to the threat, this does little to reduce the fear and they are highly motivated to avoid it. Karl suffers from Shilohfallsophobia(fear of golfing at Shiloh Falls).It's been over a year since TFF has traveled to Shiloh Falls, yet each Thursday night Karl is in a state of panic as he anticipates the much dreaded call of where TFF will play on Friday. When Mike made the call this week, he couldn't tell Karl where they were going, but Karl knew and immediately he began to react to his phobia. After a sleepless night, K was picked up by Ron and got in the back seat with LT who was attempting to overcome one of his phobias,Lygophobia (fear of darkness). The four drove to the church to pick up Sam whose primary phobia is cherophobia(fear of being happy) and this explains why he loves to golf. Sam was glad to see that Ron was driving because when Mike drives not only Sam but K, R, and LT all suffer from amaxophobia(fear of riding in a car). Alot of Mike's driving problems come from one of his phobias, erythrophobia(fear of red lights). Ron is perhaps the best of the five at hiding his phobias, but it has long been suspected that he has defecaloesiophobia(fear of painful bowel movements) as well as arachibutyrophobia(fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth). Ron has also shown signs of phronemophobia(fear of thinking). Ron and his longtime partner,LT, both suffer from ecclesiophobia(fear of church)on Wednesday night but Ron has been attempting to overcome this fear as of late. Well, TFF arrived at the course just as the sun was coming up and Mike spotted a couple of other golfers in the parking lot and immediately insisted that everyone hurry up so that we could beat them to the tee box. Without a doubt, Mike's greatest phobia is macrophobia(fear of waiting). It had rained alot over the night which meant golf paths only and LT's phobia of ambulophobia(fear of walking). As Karl teed it up on #1 he attempted to remember what his sports psychologist had told him. It seems that Karl's shilohfallsophobia stems from two other phobias that he possesses, both dendrophobia(fear of trees) and leukophobia(fear of the color white and in Karl's case fear of white stakes). Shiloh Falls has alot of trees, but according to Karl, the white stakes out number the trees 2 to 1. For the past year, Karl has been undergoing hypnotherapy. In this particular treatment for phobias, the patient is deeply relaxed while the therapist talks to the unconscious mind. They are also given relaxation cues to call upon when they next encounter the stimulus. The method has been proven to reduce the level of anxiety experienced within a single session with some patients but took 52 for Karl. So each time LT reminded Karl of the white stakes, his mind was triggered to only see wide fairways and large greens.
Nonetheless, team LT/R was able to jump out to a 2 point lead after 5 holes. The front 9 was highlighted by birdies by M on #4, R on #5, M again on #7, and Sam on #8. K/M took a 5 point lead at the turn. M started the back with a birdie on #10. Clearly, the shot of the day was performed by Ron on #11. His drive was wide left, and he hit his 2nd shot into the green side trap. His third shot was an unbelievable sand shot that died into the hole for a par. Team LT/R closed it to 4 but could not hold onto the momentum and by hole #16, the match was over. LT was able to birdie # 17. In individual matches both K and M defeated R. K was also able to beat LT. In what has become a weekly battle for the yearly head to head winner, M and S tied with both posting a 76. This leaves M with a slim 1 victory lead. Hope that all will be able to play next week as the year is coming to an end quickly. TFF would appreciate your input has to how and when to vote for this year's Provisional Mulligan Cup. Of course for Mike who suffers from cyberphobia(fear of computers), his lovely wife Dianne whose phobia is ranidaphobia(fear of frogs), will have to respond for him.
Scores-birdies
M-38/38-76-3
S-38/38-76-1
K-43/41-84-0
R-42/45-87-1
LT-47/41-88-1

Notes Of Interest
K/M will give 16!
M will give R 9 and owes M 1
R will give K 3 and owes 1
LT and K will play even and LT owes 1

Well, it's been 3 weeks since TFF's last report. M,R,S, and Karl with a K traveled to Decaturville to play The Tennessee River Golf Club and listen to M reminisce the same old childhood stories. If you remember one of the reasons for this blog was that none of us could remember what happened the week before. Neither M or S could remember playing in Decaturville this year. However, M,S, LT, and K played there back in Jan. The trip was highlighted by S knocking the #17 tee marker 18.7 yards and a very generious leaf rule that was given to LT. Since it's been 3 weeks, this TFF reporter can't remember much about the match. S had the only birdie and it didn't occur until #15.
Scores-birdies
M37/44-81-0
S40/42-82-1
K43/43-86-0
R43/44-87-0

Notes of Interest
M broke the tie and leads S by 1 in head to head
R and K are even on lunches and K gets 4
M and R are even and R gets 8
Lt and K are even and K gets 1
Team LT/R get 15

All Square

Last Friday, M,S,K, and a first time guest to TFF, Clark(M's son) went to Jones Creek to experience what Mike had heard were "awesome" greens. However, it was later discovered that M was not wearing his hearing aid when he called to ask about the course. What he heard was "awesome" but what Jeff the club manager really said was "awful". To try to make the match interesting, K agreed to allow Clark to be on his team and S and M got to team up for the first time this year. From the start, it was clear that Clark was out of his league. His drives were typically 60-70 yards from the others and that alone put him at a real disadvantage. While K was often able to use his 5 wood on his approach shot, Clark was forced to use his pitching wedge. Despite K's stellar play, S and M went on to an easy victory and TFF only hopes that Clark will not be too discouraged by his performance. K, tried to take some of the blame for the loss, but it was obvious to all that Clark was unable to handle the pressure of playing with "The Legend".
As the month of September has come to a close, the intensity of playing for the Provisional Mulligan Cup, has increased. One interesting observation, is the head to head match up of S and M. The two have played head to head 19 times this year. Sam got off to an impressive start by winning the first 5 meetings between the two.Mike responded by winning the next 3, but this only motivated Sam to win the next 4 and take a 9-3 advantage. However, in the last 6 matches, Mike has won 5 and tied the other 1. So going into Friday's match, S held onto a very slender lead of 9-8-1(tie). M took an early 3 stroke lead after the first 4 holes and went on to post a 2 stroke lead at the turn. S gained 1 back on #10 and then hit perhaps the putt of the year, a 90 foot 3 inch putt for birdie, that squared the match up. Mike parred the challenging #14 par 3 over the water to go up 1. M and S both stepped it up a notch off the tee on # 18, easily out driving Clark. S, failed to come through on his approach shot and M went on to a 2 stroke victory. So, as we approach the last 3 months of play, Sam and mike are all square.
Scores-birdies
Clark-37/34-71-3
Mike-40/37-77-0
Sam-42/37-79-1
Karl-51/43-94-0