"I DO Not Understand What I Do"

Quoting Paul from Romans chapter 7 as he walked off # 18 at Jackson National last Friday LT mumbled these words: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." LT wasn't talking about sin as Paul was in Romans but about taking Sam* on as a partner. "Why do I keep giving Sam* a chance? From now on my new motto is ; just say no to Sam*. The old rule with this fivesome was if anyone ever eagles a hole that they would be automatic Player Of The Year. My vote is that Karl should be declared the winner right now for his win with Sam* as a partner." Ron and first time guest, Chris, teamed up for an easy win over team LT/S*. It has been reported that Karl could make an appearance at this week's match. Hope to see everyone Friday.

Scores/ Birdies
S*-39/39-78/2
R-45/41-86/0
LT-48/WD/0

"Forty Days"

After being inspired by Jeff's sermon last Sunday, Karl has begun a forty day fast from golf. The current front runner for the 2011 Provisional Mulligan Trophy had his fans baffled by his decision to abstain from golf during the Lent season. "I know that I am jeopardizing my commanding lead for player of the year and that my partner will be lost without me, but it was something that I felt like I needed to do."
Meanwhile, in Karl's absence last Friday, M,S*,R, LT, and Mike's friend Rusty played at Falcon Ridge. It appeared to be all Darby on the front as he was even after 8 holes and if it weren't for his triple on #14 he could have tied Sam* and Mike for medalist honors. Two triple boggies were costly for LT, who otherwise was double boggie free. Sam* was 2 down to Mike after 12 but pars on #13 and 14 squared the match and that's how they finished. TFF urges that all cards as well as any news of interest be turned in ASAP.

Scores/birdies:
S*-39/39-78/0
M-38/40-78/0
R-37!/44-81/1
LT-43/44-87/0

Miracle On Grass

Thirty one years ago this week the US hockey team defeated the Russians in the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid in what became known as The Miracle On Ice. Many argue that it was the greatest upset in sport's history. This past Friday, TFF witnessed perhaps an upset of such historic proportions that it could rival the US hockey team's win. In case you forgot that team K/M was having some internal strife, please refer to the last post. In the absence of LT as K,M, S*, and Ron drove to Falcon Ridge last Friday, Karl negotiated a partnership with Sam* in the backseat of The LTmobile. Karl later stated that it was the first time he had made a move in the backseat of a car in over 38 years. R and M quickly agreed to the guaranteed victory and the match was on. Sam's* history of team play in TFF matches is well documented and costly to any golfer willing to take him on as a partner. However, from the start, team K/S* dominated. After the match, Sam* had this to say: "This was my first time to ever partner with Karl. From my first drive to the final putt, I felt a sense of comfort and peace that I had never experienced on a golf course before. To know that Karl was behind me on every shot is indescribable. My only hope is that Karl will drop Mike and we can become a permanent team. In fact, I'll offer Karl right now to become my PFL(Partner For Life). After playing with Karl I can't understand how he and Mike ever lose." The first player rankings for 2011 came out this week and the obvious leader after captaining Sam* to his first team victory in TFF history was Karl. TFF caught up to the front runner for the 2011 Provisional Mulligan Cup Trophy and Karl had this to say;" I love a challenge and taking Sam* on as a partner looked like an impossible victory. Many experts said it couldn't be done. They also said that the human body could never run a sub 4 minute mile, but on May 6th 1954 Rodger Bannister did it. That's how I want to be remembered, as the Rodger Bannister of golf. In the future someone else may win with Sam* but I'll always be the first. I would like to thank Sam* for giving me this opportunity to make history. Besides, some of the credit should go to Sam, he made some occasional contributions to the team." Karl was perhaps referring to Sam's* 4 birdies and 33 on the front( he went on to shoot a 73 with 5 birdies). In other action, K lost to M and R in individual matches(R parred the difficult #18 to secure the victory by 1). Ron lost to Mike and seemed somewhat confused for most of the day about whether to give Mike putts or not. The latest rumor to be reported to TFF is that K is claiming to have a knee injury but most are speculating that it's a ploy to buy some time to negotiate a partnership with Sam*.

Scores-Birdies
S*-33/40-73-5
M-40/38-78-1
R-43/46-89-0
K-44/47-91-1

2011 Player Rankings
1. K
2. S*
3.R
4.LT
5.M

LT + RD = PFL

TFF Blog has uncovered evidence that Karl recently offered both LT and Ron an undisclosed amount of cash for one of them to leave their team and become his partner. To stop all such breakup rumors, team LT/R has officially announced that they are Partners For Life (PFL). Undefeated this 2011 season, team LT/R has developed a chemistry that has been unobtainable to team K/M. So, why can't team K/M reach the bond that LT/R have? The answer might be found in the March 2011 edition of Golf Magazine. In an article entitled "How To Be The Perfect Partner," the author (Josh Sens) describes what it takes to develop the type of synergy that we see with LT and Ron. You can't read the article without constantly thinking of how R and LT have come together. Paraphrasing (I mean really paraphrasing) the opening remarks we read; "Who says golf is a solitary game? Batman has Robin. The Lone Ranger has Tonto. LT has Ron, a middle aged insurance salesman with the pace of play of a snail on Ambien . But never fear! with LT and Ron combined, they can win any match. Why, because they are perfect partners!" The article talks about such topics as; how to pick the right partner, how to be a master at team strategy, how to cheer on the team when your game goes south, how to give your partner advise(useful), and how to lift a struggling teammate. When Karl was shown the article, his eyes teared up dreaming about what it would be like to have a partner that puts team first." If our team is getting killed but Mike is playing well, you can bet he's happy and singing that *#$% song he sings, but if the team is doing well but Mike isn't, then it's an entirely different story. I can't count the times in a close match that Mike has tried to quit just because he's not playing well. I think that one of the most important tips of team play comes from A.J. Bonar who states 'I don't care if he just duck-hooked it into some one's swimming pool - during a round is not the place for a lesson. It only makes him micromanage his swing, a recipe for disaster.' How many times have I addressed the ball for an important shot only to hear Mike start singing: Swing Slow Sweet....." When Mike was made aware of Karl's complaints, he was shocked; "I've supported Karl 100% throughout our partnership. If you ask the question why would LT and Ron agree to become Partners For Life the answer is simple, if they were to break up, one of them would have to be Karl's teammate and who wouldn't avoid that at all costs! Just read the section on How To Play Good Cop - Bad Cop And Psych Out Your Opponents, LT and Ron have PHDs in the mind game. However, when your partner has the mental game of a cantaloupe, it doesn't take much to shake him up." TFF will be following the next several team matches closely to see if K/M can overcome the internal team dissension and reunite to put up any challenge to the LT/R machine. Well we won't find out this week, as LT has gone south (Fla). The weather finally looks good as the first trip to Falcon Ridge is planned. In the absence of LT, the question is will anyone ignore his history of team play and pick up Sam* for a partner?

First Month Of Play Comes To An End

January play ended this past Friday at Jackson National on a sunny, pleasant day. However, the weather this month has been harsh and has limited TFF to only 2 matches. Ron, who thinks his play in the first match of the year was good enough for Player Of The Year, skipped out on the fivesome to go duck hunting. This left his partner LT in somewhat of a dilemma. Would LT pick up Sam* as a substitute partner? Two time Player Of The Year, Sam*, although a dominate force as an individual player, has the worst record in team match play of all the fivesome. However, LT was confident in not only his play, but in the lack of game of team Karl/Mike and agreed to the match. Sam* proved his worth on the first hole as his birdie gave the team a 2 point lead. Mike answered with a birdie of his on on #2 and squared the match. Karl's par on #3 was good for 2 points and when his 2nd shot on #6 stoped 3 inches from eagle, team K/M went up 7 and cruised on to victory. Karl was zoned in on the pins for most of the day, which explains his 8 one putts. After the match a frustrated LT talked to the press. "I don't understand it! Between Sam* and I we own The Provisional Mulligan Cup, but whenever he plays with me we lose. Next time I consider Sam* as my partner remind me that it would be easier to just tell Karl that I owe him another lunch." TFF wishes Sam* a safe and successful trip to Panama. The forecast doesn't look good for this Friday, but at least the groundhog didn't see his shadow.

Results:
S*-41/39-80-2(birdies)
M-38/44-82-1
K-41/43-84-2
LT-44/48-92-0

Notes of interest:
LT owes K 2 and gets 2
K owes R 1 and gets 1
M owes R ? and R gets ?
Team K/M give 13

Ron (The Comeback Kid)

The first match 0f 2011 was played at Jackson National last Friday. The two stories of the day, were Ron's start and Ron's finish. Ron began the day with a 5 over 9 on the #9 handicap first hole. At this point he was on track to shoot a ninety over par 162. After one hole, Ron was 5 strokes behind Karl, had to play Mike even for the rest of the round, and was 2 down against team K/M. When his par putt rolled in on #18 he secured three victories, beating K by 3, M by 1 and a team victory(team victory actually occurred on hole 16 where Ron parred the tough par 4). Other than Ron's comeback, the day was uneventful as the wind and cold were used as excuses for the fivesomes scores. All five look forward to better playing conditions and looking for other reasons to blame their poor play on.
Scores/Birdies
Sam*-41/40-81/2
Mike-41/44-85/2
Ron-47/42-89
Karl-45/47-92
LT-44/49-93

Notes of interest:
M owes R 2 from today plus ? from last year R only gets 4
K owes R 1 and gets 1
LT and K even and LT gets 1
Team LT/R will get 14

Sam Wylie*

Happy new year!!, and welcome to the 2011 TFF season. Have you made your new year's resolutions? I'm sure it's the same as mine, to take home The Provisional Mulligan Cup! This brings us to the topic of this blog, who won the 2010 award? First, a quick review of the season. Well, all five of the fivesome can best be described by one adjective: unimpressive!! With this in mind, TFF voting committie (Karl) went to this blog spot to review the year and all the reliable statistics that this site is famous for. Unfortunately, he was startled to find that the last post was in August. What happened? TFF investigative force is currently looking into this matter. Early discoveries have been that it appears that Karl sold TFF scorecards on EBay to fund his extravagant Pacific Northwest trip. It appears that these scorecards from September to December are lost forever. As a result TFF voting committee (Karl) has made his decision. The 2010 Provisional Cup Winner is Sam Wylie*!! Congratulations to Sam, but you may have noticed the * behind Wylie. What's the * for? The symbol * is an Asterisk. An asterisk is a typographical symbol whose origin is from the Greek word "asteriskos" which means "little star". The asterisk is used to call out a footnote. In sports, an asterisk is used to indicate that a record is somehow tainted by circumstances, which are putatively explained in a footnote supposedly referenced by the asterisk. This usage arose after the 1961 baseball season in which Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's 34-year-old single season home run record. Because Ruth had amassed 60 home runs in a season with only 154 games, compared to Maris's 61 over 162 games, baseball commissioner Ford Frick announced that Maris' accomplishment would be recorded with an asterisk. The NFL, NBA, and NHL have all had increases in the amount of games they play each season, yet no player in any of these leagues has ever had an asterisk put next to his name for breaking a record of some past great star. Hank Aaron did not have an asterisk put next to his name when he broke Ruth's career home run record despite having some 3000 more at-bats. So, what is the footnote that the * behind Wylie calls out? The footnote read's: "Due to the lack of impressive play by any of The Friday Fivesome in the 2010 season, the trophy will remain with Sam. Thus Sam's record of consecutive awards will remain tainted throughout eternity." Well, there you have it, the answer to what will surly become a frequently asked trivia question, "Name the only two players with asterisks behind their records?" Wylie and Maris. Hopefully for both Sam and Roger, perhaps the steroid era will be loaded with asterisks behind such names as Barry Bonds etc. and Sam's name will be lost in the crowd. Well, there you have it. Good luck to all members of TFF as the 2011 season hopefully begins this Friday.