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 18th 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.
