A few notes to cap off the 2013 Goodboys Invitational weekend:

For the first time ever, there was a repeat champion as “2 Times” Proctor and “Possum” Shepter squeaked out a two-stroke win over the team of “Vegas” Clark and “Skipper” Bornemann and the team of “Deuce” Doucette and “Goose” Dwyer. Not only is it good news for the 2014 Goodboys Invitational (since 2 Times and Possum did such a fine job planning this year’s weekend), it’s good for me since I don’t have to relearn for the umpteenth time how to change the .JPG picture on the main page. 🙂

The team of “The Funny Guy” Andrusaitis and “Cubby” Myerow finished a close fourth, me and partner “Killer” Kowalski finished a fairly distant fifth (although I do have to say I did my part, but that’s for another time!), and “Hulkigan” Tripp and “Doggy Duval” McLaughlin finished light years behind everyone to finish dead last.

Best quotes of the weekend:
1. “Who do you think you are, Jerry Lewis?” – Cubby to The Great White Shank when the latter tried to drive a wedge between Cubby and partner TFG by noting he (TGWS) would never abandon allow Cubby and allow him to walk the closing holes at Wentworth By The Sea virtually by himself.
2. “Are you a million years old?” – Cute girl to Deuce after he tried to engage her in conversation at a late-night Portsmouth bar.
3. “Screw Ben Hogan” – Doggy Duval on the tenth tee at The Ledges following a ghastly 59 on the front side that virtually eliminated his team from competition with 2 1/2 rounds still left to play. DD had been inspired by my golf immersion posts and had decided to adopt Ben Hogan’s 5 Lessons and change his swing and ball. What he forgot to do was bang countless numbers of balls at the range every week like I did. With only a couple of range sessions and a round or two of golf to go on, DD found himself in the deep end of the pool, so to speak, and forced to find his old swing under the most adverse of conditions – real time at a Goodboys Invitational weekend.

Restaurant hits and misses: RiRa was a big disappointment. This Irish pub, long a Goodboys favorite, recently changed their menu, leaving very little in the way to interest a hungry Goodboy after a long, sweltering day on the golf course. Used to be great, now we’ll be looking for a 2014 alternative. Surf, however, was fabulous – the seafood very fresh and the environment noisy and festive. I had clams three different ways and it was all good. And the gazpacho at Wentworth By The Sea’s clubhouse grill was to die for. I’d go back there just for the gazpacho, and this weekend I might very well do just that.

Weather report: Friday was pretty close to, if not the, hottest day we’ve ever played golf. The heat index was 105, but I’ve played in 105 weather before and this was a hell of a lot more uncomfortable with the humdity. You simply couldn’t hydrate yourself enough. Saturday we had a large thunderstorm cell pass just to our south – and I mean just to our south. It was a magical experience just taking in the green surroundings and listening to the thunder in the distance grow nearer. My playing partners had to keep telling me to pay attention to my golf, but me and thunderstorms have a long and mystical relationship. We never got any rain, but the storm helped to drop the temps about ten degrees, which, after Friday, was very much appreciated. As was the cloud cover we played under most of the day on Sunday before they departed and left a very hot sun to finish the last several holes under. Once again, the Goodboys lucked out, weather-wise.

The courses: The Ledges once again lived up to its reputation as a Goodboy-eater, with greens that were fast, swaley, and nearly impossible to read. Wentworth By The Sea was an odd layout with very tight par 5s, but the location was great – especially the last four holes where you’re right by the ocean. The whole day was a study in contrasts, with the Goodboys surrounded by lots of people and houses just reeking of wealth, a lot of it old money. A little local knowledge there goes a long way, and the boys are eager to get another crack at it again next year. Black Swan in Georgetown was a good parkland-style course with lots of target golf on the front and pretty wide open on the back. There are better courses around for sure, but you can’t beat the location on a get-away Sunday when you want to avoid all the traffic coming down from Maine.

Non-golf highlight of the weekend: The Funny Guy chatting it up with Julie, one of the bar servers at Black Swan’s clubhouse grille. Turns out Julie used to be a New England Patriots cheerleader several years back and was so taken with TFG’s schtick and all the Goodboys that she autographed a picture of her with the other cheerleaders:

“All my love to the Goodboys XO Cheers, Julie”.

Even after all these years, TFG remains our official liaison to cute chicks no matter where we go, and he never fails to bring home the bacon when it counts.

Golf highlights of the weekend; let it simply be said that The Great White Shank played pretty damned well – not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but better than I ever have at a Goodboys weekend, for sure. But I’ll leave that for another post.

Non-Goodboys highlight of the weekend: hearing that Phil Mickelson won The Open Championship. Couldn’t have happened to a classier guy, especially after that heartbreaking loss at the U.S. Open at Merion. Congratulations to Phil – shooting a 66 on the last day when everyone else is sliding backwards is playing some serious golf, indeed.