We made it to Volcanos in Hurst, Texas for Power Events’ 2011 Dallas Holiday Classic.

The bar is massive, beer is a flowin’, and tonight should be outstanding. The handicap tournament gets underway at 7:00, and GT will be played late into the evening. The actual Classic gets underway tomorrow at noon and we will be live-blogging qualifying scores and matches after.

For details on how the weekend will shape up, check out the details here.

Stay tuned and be sure to join us for a brew if you’re in the area.

Cheers,

-ak

It was a fantastic Saturday at Teachers yesterday, and now we’re here on Sunday to play out the 2011 Missouri Open.

The cut was LOADED, the looks were easier than expected, and the scoring was sick to say the least.

Here’s how the top qualifiers ended up.

Mark Stenmark -132

Graig Kinzler -130

Jeff Harlow -128

Rodney Roberts -128

Marc Muklewicz -127

Sean Gervais -127

Ryan McCook -126

Jeff Lannen -125

Andy Haas -124

Paul Tayloe -123

A lot going on here and games are coming in. We’ve had a few people finish already, but it’s hard to tell who’s in and who’s out right now.

Setups have been somewhat easy and the scores have been super-low.

Your top qualifiers on each course (minus Grizzly right now)

Laurel Park – Graig Kinzler -27

Alpine Run – Jeff Harlow -29

Timber Bay – Andy Haas -27

Falcon Sands – Graig Kinzler -27

At the Top – Laurel Park

Tight shootin’ and sick scores. This cut is going to be tough…

3: 48 PM - Shelby, aka “Gimmethatbox,” has already purchased more than 300 shots for the bar today. This is clearly going to end well…

3:42 PM – Alpine Glory for Harlow

Golden Tee world champion Jeff Harlow just dropped a -29 on Alpine. Allow me to offer of a collective, “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.”

3:06 PM – Laurel Park Qualifier

Strong scores on a pretty easy setup. There are a handful of players who are in the clubhouse with a -27, but right now IL’s Graig Kinzler leads them all with 55,000 GSPs.

1:24 PM – Your Field is Set (For Reals This Time)

95 total players versus the 90 mentioned earlier. I blame the stragglers…

12: 50 PM – Your Field is Set

Massive turnout at Teachers. 90 total players are signed up and paid making this one of the largest tournaments in recent memory.

12: 27 PM

The calcutta is underway. For those unfamiliar with how the calcutta works, players purchase other players (or themselves) and predict who will win a tournament. With such a giant field, this could take a while…

Stay tuned, qualifier coming up (somewhat) soon.

11:40 AM

Oh, and yes, “Dannyboy” Beall did bring giant cardboard cutouts of five Golden Tee players. One is behind the bar, others are being passed around, and you can imagine some of the other things being done to these. (We will leave it at that)

Awesome…

11:03 AM

Good morning.

After a long/fun/tiring/awesome/oh-man-my-head-hurts Friday night, we are back at Teachers for the tournament on Saturday. The 5-course qualifier will take up most of the day, and we’re expecting anywhere from 60-80 players.

Should be a fun day, and we will post updates here as we get ‘em. Stay tuned.

/orders bloody mary

Friday: 3:45 PM

And we’ve made it to the bar…

This place is jam-packed already, which means this place will be overloaded by this evening. Play with the Pros gets underway shortly and I will do my damnedest to pick up tips before I crash and burn in the qualifier tomorrow.

Good time,

-ak

Friday: 1:03 PM

So… this weather? Well, we made it!

In terms of live events, the 2011 Missouri Open might just be the biggest tourney of the year, and pretty much all of the big guns will be here with their eyes set on an impressive top prize. Not sure that this will help out my chances of qualifying or moving deep into the bracket (if at all), but should be quality entertainment when I get bounced.

We’re in town now after a smooth (ha) morning drive and will be heading to the bar to take in Play with the Pros. Some of the game’s best players will be passing along tips and advice to players that signed up ahead of time. Should be very interesting and maybe we can pick something up just in time.

Cheers.

-ak

What. A. Weekend.

This is not something we normally get to be a part of, so I apologize if my giddiness maneuvers its way into the following blog. I can, however, cross the following off my bucket list.

Play in Murray Bros. Caddyshack Charity Golf Outing: ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED.

The Golden Tee Home Edition was a sponsor for this fantastic event that benefited the Florida School For The Deaf & The Blind, and we contributed a game for the live auction after the golf outing. No doubt a fantastic cause and a fantastic event run by all.

Outside of being a superbly run weekend, Team Golden Tee got the chance to rub elbows with a few celebs including: Bill Murray and his brothers (many of which are well known actors), Chicago Bear greats Jim McMahon and Richard Dent, football legend Sterling Sharpe, country singer/songwriter/GT good buddy, Ira Dean and many others.

We teed it up at The King and Bear, a course named after none other than Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer and had fun, perhaps too much of it, and thankfully got paired with a couple of characters for the actual outing. Although it’s hard to fully paint a picture of the weekend that was, we will certainly try.

And away we go…

Meet Team Golden Tee

First and foremost, the ladies above (more on them in a bit) were not a part of Team Golden Tee. The center figure, however, was and is the main reason why Team GT made a splash when it came to hitting the actual links and not just the trackball.

Many of you likely know a good chunk of this crew, so we’ll keep our intros to a minimum. Making the trek to Jacksonville from IT was marketing members Gary Colabuono,  “Duffer” Dan Schrementi, and me, Adam Kramer, along with sales rep Josh Pick. If I were to sum up our collective golf game, I’d say that we’re certainly capable but also inconsistent (putting things kindly here). That was, however, before we were given the gift of long drives and good golfers.

ENTER: professional long driver Dave Mobley and his radio co-host Mark Geenhalgh. This dynamic duo also host The Golf Mob, a golf radio show that has a much different feel than most of the others you’re used to. (I mean, look at your fabulous host above).

While Mark was certainly a huge addition to this group and overall damn good guy, Dave stole the show on many fronts even when he wasn’t posing for pictures with the attractive greenskeepers.

“So What? So Let’s Dance!”

This was not your typical golf outing.

As we pulled into the elaborate clubhouse in the morning, music was blasting just alongside the 18^th green courtesy of a live DJ that played throughout the entire day. In fact, there were basically no points on the golf course where you couldn’t hear it loud and clear. While we looked for the advertised breakfast that we were all craving, we instead found hotdogs, hamburgers, energy drinks, coffee, vodka and beer. Yes, it was awesome. All of it.

From there, we hit the course and we found more of the items listed above and then some. There was beer pong, there were shot tables, there were beer carts, there was nonsense, and there was a whole lot of fun. Playing golf has never been more enjoyable or distracting, (referencing photo above again), and while fun on the course is one thing, having entertaining people around you is another.

Which brings us back to Dave Mobley…

Playing With a Professional Long Driver

Dave Mobley hits the ball far. Like really #$%^ing far.

Oh, and he also has a sweet arsenal of trick shots as seen by the shot above. For those curious, he hit this particular drive (teed up, literally) up the right side of the fairway more than 300 yards…

On one particular hole, I was lucky enough to hit my drive at or around 300 yards right down the center (I know, I was surprised). While feeling pretty pleased with myself and confident that we would use my drive, I watched as the rest of the group teed it up and my ball was still numero uno with Mr. Mobley last to go.

(Insert sound of cannon shooting cannon ball)

Dave ripped off a drive that we measured at close to 385 yards and did so without a whole lot of extra effort. The ball didn’t just jump off his club, but shot off at incredible speeds and stayed in the air for what seemed like minutes. He also swung from his knees and managed to hit the ball around 315+.

On a separate occasion, Dave used a 3-wood to drive a 305-yard par-4 and did so in incredible fashion. His ball landed and actually spun backwards to within fifteen feet of the hole. ON THE GREEN. WITH A 3-WOOD. NO THIS WASN’T GOLDEN TEE.

The game changed drastically having him on our team, and on the majority of the holes he left the group with some sort of short wedge into the green. When he wasn’t hitting the ball a mile, he was workin’ it. Talking, drinking, hitting drives off his knees, drinking, talking to us about his experiences on the show The Big Break, and a little bit more drinking.

Safe to say we may never meet anyone like him again…

This Wasn’t GT, But it Sure Felt Like It

Most of us will never break par on the real golf course. Hell, most of us we will never see the 70s at all which is what makes Golden Tee fun for many. This golf outing, however, was a much different story. Sure, I’ve shot –12 before in an outing and I imagine that many of you have done well when given a team of good golfers to attack a course. But this wasn’t just a team of four goofs, this was a team of six goofs and two of them were very good at golf. Shady? You betcha.

At the end of the day we finished 18 holes at –19. This –19 included three eagles and two missed putts that should’ve been made. Simply put, this will never happen again (at least to me) nor should a team ever be allowed 6 players ever on a course. It’s only fitting that Team Golden Tee dropped a Golden Tee-esque score, even though we had a fantastic golfer who’s swing could be used in an instructional video and another team member who could probably be classified as a bear.

In the end, we took second place to none other than Bill Murray and beat out the team with Sterling Sharpe. Now, I’m not saying there were shenanigans here but I would LOVE to see their scorecard. Okay, fine, I am claiming shenanigans but it was all for a great cause and a cutout gopher which is now planted firmly on my cube. Plus, there is that whole 6-guys-on-a-team thing.

Special thanks to Ira Dean who basically got us involved and the Murray Bros for a damn good time. We leave you with this – a quick cutup of the weekend that was…

Cheers.

#TeamGoldenTee Scream at the 2:20 mark brought to you by Moondog Inc.

Sunday: 3:31 PM (Server issues, here’s what you missed)

From last update… Kinz/Welter: Both players stuck the green on 18, Kinzler made the putt. Welter’s putt, however, jumped over the cup (downhill rollover). Absolutely brutal break, no question. Kinzler moves on -26 to -25…

Kansas golfer Justin Clark defeats Bob Raffin (Michigan) in the loser’s bracket quarters. Clark vs. Welter and Bernzie vs. Godfrey in the loser’s bracket semis.

Godfrey takes out Bernzie dropping a -25 on Alpine Run.

Welter jumped out to an early lead against Clark and was up 3 after 10 and cruised to victory.

It’s now Eddie and Welter in the loser’s semis and Kinzler and Mouth in the winner’s semis.

Sunday: 2:26 PM – Kinz vs. Welter

A rematch of last year’s Wisconsin Open finals and the match o’ the day up until this point. The two are playing on Falcon Sands. Welter holes out on one to take an early 1-shot lead. Kinz got stroke back later on and the two made the turn all square.

After 15 holes – 21 to 21…

After 17 – 24 to 24…

Sunday: 2:08 PM – Mouth vs. Godfrey

Mouth up one at the turn against Godfrey playing on Falcon. Godfrey gets the stroke back on hole 14 to make it all square. Mouth picks a stroke up on the 16th, sticks the 18th and beats Eddie who needed a hole out for the win. Good match…

Sunday: 1:52 PM – The Final Four

Good matches upcoming in the winner’s bracket semis. Matt Welter and Graig Kinzler are set to go toe-to-toe, while Marc “The Mouth” Muklewicz will take on Ed Godfrey.

Sunday: 1:18 PM

Marc “The Mouth” Muklewicz beats out Brenden Harris on Falcon Sands to move on to the final four (of undefeated)

Sunday: 1:02 PM – Main Bracket Top 8

Still 8 players unbeaten with their sites set on king of the hill. Matt Welter, John Jansa, Brian Bernhardt, Graig Kinzler, Brendan Harris, Ed Godfrey, and Bob Raffin. All playing in matches right now…

Sunday: 12:18 PM – Favorites Playing as Such

Matt Welter, Graig Kinzler, Ed Godfrey and Marc Muklewicz all have wins under their belt and remain unbeaten early on.

Sunday: 11:10 PM

The big day has arrived…

With the qualifier and the first matches in the book, things are expected to really pick up today as match play kicks into full swing. It’s double-elimination meaning one loss won’t send you packing. It will, however, drop you into the loser’s bracket and make things awfully tough.

Matches start in 10 minutes. Stay tuned…

Saturday: 6:12 PM – Your Top Qualifiers

Saturday: 5:23 PM

The qualifier is moving along and course two is in the books. Here are some of the top scores from Timber Bay, which wasn’t the easiest of setups. (Sorry for the quality, blame Droid and the computer I took this off of.)

Top qualifier for our 2nd course was Marc “The Mouth” Muklewicz.

Saturday: 3:11 PM

Laurel Park is in the books and players are now qualifying playing Timber Bay. Your top Laurel Park scores are as follows…

Top score goes to IL’s Dave “Gibby” Gibson who fired an impressive -27.

Saturday: 12:00 PM

Now THAT is a beautiful site.

We’re here at Master Z’s in Waukesha for the 2011 Wisconsin Open. The qualifier, which will be 3 courses, is now just 30 minutes or so away. Forty-four players are signed up, although you never know which hungover player may come crawling in late. Ahhhh, I love me some Golden Tee tournaments.

We’ll have qualifying updates soon. Stay tuned…

Cheese. Beer. Basketball.

It’s Friday night, we just made the hour or so trek north, and still have plenty o’ basketball games to take in. While there is a CTTP tournament tonight (which we will provide results for, of course), this evening is all about playing some games, watching some games and having a good time.

We won’t fire off a disclaimer message on our posts or Tweets quite yet, but there will be suds. Oh, there will be suds. Qualifier gets underway Saturday morning at noon…

Cheers,

-ak

And the following tale is one of those instances.  Enjoy…

Story of the Tune

"It's Golden Tee" by Ira Dean Band is the ass-kickin' new title track for Golden Tee 2010

Some time ago the marketing team got a call from a manager plugged in to the country music biz.  He said, “Hey, have y’all heard the new Montgomery Gentry song, One In Every Crowd?”  Not country fans by nature, none of us had heard the tune yet.  He replied, “Well, the first word is Gawwllden Tee and it’s climbing the charts!”  A quick Google search confirmed his claim and sure enough, Montgomery Gentry is HUGE!  So, what do we do with this?

*Phone rings…*

On the other line spoke a fella that it seems I’ve met a million times before – a friendly, fun, dude-who’s-got-people.  ”Hey, man,” he said.  ”This is Ira Dean and I’ve been waitin’ to talk to y’all…”  Turns out Ira is a singer/songwriter from Nashville who co-wrote the tune for Montgomery Gentry.  He  was also the bassist for the band Trick Pony, where he spent years touring to sold out crowds and stopping at Golden Tee havens in every city along the way.  A country star and longtime Golden Tee fan, Ira explained how he had written this little ditty a while back about the game he loves and how he was hoping the Montgomery Gentry song would finally connect us.

A professional song about Golden Tee?  I just had to hear this…

So when the demo arrived, I blasted it across the marketing department and smiled from ear to ear.  It really was a song about Golden Tee Golf and in the exact words of Ira, “It f***’n rocks, man!”

*Opportunity knocks…*

Hey, I’m paid to promote IT’s games and we just so happen to be working on our Golden Tee 2010 launch.  After working through some of the logistics to bring this song from “Tune to Tee,” a small video team from IT zipped down to Nashville to shoot a music video with Ira Dean Band.  For one day, I felt like I worked for MTV (or CMT in this case) – our video team and I captured Ira and the band in studio, followed by a Golden Tee shoot at Sam’s Sports Bar and Grill in Nashville – an amazing sports bar near Vanderbilt University that proudly boasts 4 new HI-DEF Showpiece Golden Tee machines (if you’re in the area, this is THE place to play).

The video is nuts and is currently in editing for our 2010 preview launch.  And the tune? It’s got it all – including a sick harmonica track and a billy-rock banjo on top of some heavy guitar, bass and drums.  The lyrics are about having a good time, livin’ life and playin’ Tee – something we can all relate too.

The Inside Scoop: GT 2010

I can tell you now, a shortened version of the video will be created for possible inclusion in GT 2010 and the full track will hopefully be featured in the new 2010 HitList.  Additionally, the team and I are working on the Golden Tee 2010 trailer and we’re using It’s Golden Tee by Ira Dean Band as the title track of the video.

We’ll release the video – which includes the 2010 course previews and feature announcements – in late July, so stay tuned to Goldentee.com and the GTB to not miss out.  And I promise you – you’ve never seen a game preview that rocks as hard as this…

Until then, here’s a GTB exclusive photo gallery documenting our adventure in Nashville with Ira Dean Band.  Click on the thumbnails below, then use the navigation to view the slide show.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

Stay tuned to Goldentee.com and the GTB regarding the launch of It’s Golden Tee and our official 2010 preview site!

Good times,

- DD

Okay, everyone made the cut, but still I played a little bit better and learned a lot of things while playing at Eddy’s Sports Pub at the 2009 Indy Open.

And while writing the tournament recap for goldentee.com is always fun, it doesn’t necessarily allow me the freedom to post some of the fun and interesting things I saw this past weekend at the tourney. Talking about how good the waffle fries were at Eddy’s isn’t exactly big news, (although it should be), but those who were there and even those who weren’t can appreciate honesty like this.

If only there was a place where I could post all the cool and goofy things that Golden Tee players might enjoy? Hmmm…. I think I found the perfect spot.

Here are few things from the 2009 Indy Open that you won’t find on Goldentee.com. Enjoy!

*Andy Haas and Steve Sobe started a game on Woodland Farm, Sobe teed off and Andy followed suit. The trackball malfunctioned during Andy’s shot and his drive went about a foot forward. Without a moment of hesitation, Sobe quit out both games and the two started over. What an awesome gesture of sportsmanship by not only a great player but also great person. Sure, we’re a little bias here at IT because we work with him, but Sobe truly is the ultimate Golden Tee ambassador.

*Tough luck for GT pro Chris Litzinger. The man puts up a -28 only to lose to a -29. He then puts up a -27 and loses to a -28. Even though he didn’t win, he sure can play (like you didn’t know that already).

*Billy Mac shoots a personal best -31 in the qualifier on Bonnie Moor! I mean, wow!

*Big props to everyone working at the location, aka Eddy’s Sports Pub. The waitresses and bartendresses couldn’t have been nicer, and the bar even provided a FREE limo service between one and three AM to discourage drunk driving. And yes, we definitely made good use of such an awesome feature.

*Sunnywood 16 is a tough par-3, and throughout the entire weekend I managed to birdie it once. It was amazing to see how the top players approached this hole, and the shots that managed to hit on the green. Learned a lot just by watching, now will see if it helps me any.

*I might be one of the few people to have a double bogey Golden Tee Great Shot.

* You knew this was coming – the food was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I’ve never had jalapeno mozzarella sticks before which were amazing, as was the burger, omelet(s), and delicious waffle fries.

Good times all around!

-AK