THW Golf Headlines

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Your Weekend Headlines Are Delivered

by MacTHW

Sunshine, rain, sleet or snow…the weekend headlines get delivered—eventually.

Here’s a quick rundown of the games played last weekend.

Friday night was the binkdog, enderdog and MacTHW show. Six games played.

First up, Celtic Manor, where enderdog’s 75 eeks out a two stroke victory, but falls two strokes shy of capturing a Course Pro status. Better luck next time!

Next up, Augusta National (Friday pins, since it’s Friday). MacTHW wins the round and makes a run at Course Pro but only manages to tie the previous record of 72. Better luck next time!

Moving on to The Els Club, where enderdog not only wins the round but also manages to set a new course record of 70. MacTHW takes a ride in the caboose. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Choo Choo, next stop is Bethpage Black. MacTHW scores a one stroke victory over nemesis enderdog, but falls two strokes shy of beating the course record 71 held by…enderdog. A win is a win, though!

MacTHW offers the challengers a chance at Course Pro at TPC Scottsdale. enderdog starts out strong but fizzles on the back nine. MacTHW wins with a 68, setting a new course record in the process. Course record successfully defended!

Buzzsaws running on empty, binkdog issues a final challenge at Banff Springs. The scores are tight but enderdog comes out on top with a two stroke victory, scoring an overall low record tying 63, capturing yet another Course Pro status.

Saturday night was the Ash, binkdog and MacTHW show.

MacTHW issues a rematch at The Els Club. MacTHW wins the round with a 73 but fails to retake the course record set by enderdog on Friday night. You win this time, enderdog!

Liberty National is next on the playlist. Again, MacTHW wins the round with a 73, tying the course record but not beating it. Grrrrr, enderdog!

Now playing…Whistling Straits. binkdog puts another tick in the “W” column with his course low score of 75, snatching a Course Pro status away from enderdog in the process. Congrats, bink!

Last round of the weekend is convened at East Lake, where binkdog’s four stroke victory gets him yet another tick in the “W” column.

Great games this weekend. FORE!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The Most Uncelebrated Eagle in THW Golf History

by MacTHW

Team play makes a return to THW Golf as Team Awesome squares off against the newly minted Team binkerton. Meanwhile, the individual quests for Course Pro statuses continue. These are your headlines for Friday night.

To warm up for the evening, our quartet of golfers head to The Greenbrier for a preview of the upcoming THW Greenbrier Classic. binkdog is the defending champion of the Greenbrier Classic and looks to put the rookie in his place. enderdog, on the other hand, looks to show he is the alpha of the dog pack. Also in the mix is MacTHW, who manages to go toe-to-toe with the elder dog, with both holding steady at 36 at the turn and leading enderdog by one and AshTHW by eleven. AshTHW steps up his game along the back nine but is unable to close the gap created along the front. Enderdog also makes up for lost ground and fires off an Eagle on the 17th, poising him for victory. An unfortunate bogey on the 18th quickly dashes his hopes and enderdog is forced to settle for a tie with MacTHW, as both golfers sign for a 70 on their scorecard at the end of the round.

And now for the main event. Our golfers decide to bring back the fun known as team play, a feature that the geniuses at EA deemed us unworthy of this year. Despite the idiocy at EA, team play shall continue here at THW Golf without resorting to inserting the TW11 disc.

Dipping our toes in the water, this is how we are going to do it.
Team games are going to be two games in one. There will be a team effort, plus an individual effort at the same time since the game will not terminate until each team has played 18 holes. Each game will consist of players from opposing teams. One person from each game will be responsible for keeping track of which team is UP or DOWN. We found it best that the current score is announced as the hole starts. If one team finishes a hole before the other team, it is advised that the faster team take as long as possible to tee off on the next hole in order to let the other team catch up, keeping both games on the same hole. At the end of the round, both the team score and individual scores will be captured.

To put the rules to the test, our golfers head to Banff Springs and tee off for the very first team game of the TW12 season! AshTHW comes alive during team play and contributes to two very competitive team games.

Team binkerton (binkdog and enderdog) takes the lead over Team Awesome (MacTHW and AshTHW) on the 1st with birdie. Team Awesome fires back and goes AS on the 5th and 1UP on the 6th. Team binkerton quickly regroups and wins the next two holes taking them to 1UP. It’s a stalemate until the 12th, when Team binkerton goes on a four birdie streak, overwhelming Team Awesome 4UP and scoring the first team win of the season.

In individual scoring for this round, enderdog and MacTHW hit the turn at 33. Along the back, enderdog scores birdies while MacTHW loses focus and starts to bogey. After the dust settles, enderdog scores a decisive, six stroke victory and sets a new THW Golf season low round score and course low score of 63.

MacTHW, exercising his rematch rights, immediately calls for a team rematch at Banff Springs.

This time, Team binkerton is not so quick to strike. Team Awesome goes 1UP on the 2nd and doesn’t yield the lead until the 7th, where Team binkerton finally overtakes the THWs and goes 1UP themselves. It is short-lived as Team Awesome quickly brings the game back to All Square. Things stay in Team Awesome’s favor until the 16th, where some valuable lessons are learned, such as the importance of a person from each game keeping team score (as double-check for scoring) and announcing the current team score at the start of the round. On the 16th, Team Awesome goes 1UP thanks to a birdie by AshTHW but MacTHW mistakenly believes they have gone 2UP (thanks to a nefarious sand-bagging trick orchestrated by binkdog of Team binkerton). Since 2UP would have effectively ended team play, MacTHW thinks Team Awesome has won the team game, talks smack and concentrates on winning the individual portion. Meanwhile, Team binkerton wins the 17th hole, bringing them back to All Square. Then on the 18th, binkdog scores what is perhaps the most uncelebrated Eagle ever, which, in reality, is the team winning score, taking Team binkerton to 1UP and their second team victory of the evening. Not realizing what happened, MacTHW ignores the Eagle as he focuses on taking back the Overall and Course low scores at Banff. Unfortunately, he misses a birdie on the 17th and the eagle on the 18th, leaving him with a 63 at the end of the round—having to share the Overall and Course lows with the enderdog. This, coupled with the victory-turned-loss, cause a bitter and disgruntled MacTHW to storm off the field.

Join us next week for more THW Golf!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

2011 THW Players Championship Headlines

by MacTHW

Someone call the police. Course Pro records are being stolen. binkdog looks to rid himself of a goose-egg and looky here, we have a visitor for the IWGC, Joe Cool. These are your headlines for the THW Players Championship and more.

enderdog, once again demonstrating that practice pays off, looks to take an early lead as he dusts the competition in round one. Having a 34 at the turn, he doesn’t look back and makes tracks to the clubhouse with 68 on the scorecard. After round one, enderdog has a 5 stroke lead.

enderdog’s luck appears to be running out during two, as he racks up a bogey, two doubles and a triple on the just the front nine alone. binkdog and MacTHW look to take advantage of enderdog’s misfortune but fail to capitalize as enderdog proceeds to make up for lost ground on the back nine. Both binkdog and MacTHW tie after 18, each with a 72 on their scorecards, eeking out a paltry one stroke victory over the enderdog.

Round three brings some on-again, off-again rain into the picture, which appears to benefit binkdog the most. Those soggy greens must take that extra oomph out of binkdog’s putts, as most of them seem to drop in the cup rather than passing them by. binkdog leads at the turn and manages to hang on through 18, scoring his first victory of the season. Could this be the start of a Cinderella story? Spoiler alert: No.

MacTHW realizes he needs to step up his game for the fourth round and fires off a resounding 32 on the front nine, gaining on and surpassing enderdog in the standings at the turn. enderdog charges up the leaderboard on the back nine like a racehorse, taking advantage of a sudden rainstorm that leaves MacTHW playing in the puddles, erasing his gains with three consecutive bogeys starting the 11th. Although MacTHW finishes with a 68 on his card, enderdog’s 72 looks like it is enough for a tourney win.

In addition to the four THW Golfers who took part in the THW Players Championship, we also had Joe Cool from the IWGC stop by to vie for a championship shirt. binkdog plays the first two rounds with Joe, who easily dispatches binkdog with a 73 for the first round and a 75 for the second round. MacTHW takes over for rounds three and four, as Joe shoots a 70 for round three and a 75 for round four.

After 72 dry, damp and/or completely soaked holes at TPC Sawgrass, here are the final standings for the THW Players Championship.

1. enderdog 286 -2
2. MacTHW 288 Par
3. IWGCJoeCool 293 +5
4. binkdog 305 +17
5. AshTHW 410 +122

In other news…

After rounds one and two Friday evening, binkdog, MacTHW and enderdog tee’d up at Whistling Straits to stake a claim on the last unclaimed Course Pro status. enderdog edges out MacTHW by one stroke and claims Course Pro status with a 78.

Next, enderdog sets his sights on MacTHW’s East Lake GC, stealing his Course Pro status with a dominating 70. binkdog finds his way to the strangely empty and un-guarded caboose with a 92.

binkdog tells enderdog to tee it up at Banff Springs. MacTHW sits this one out. enderdog bests binkdog by six strokes, stealing MacTHW’s Course Pro status with his record setting 68, a record that would only stand for 24 hours.

On Saturday, MacTHW demands a chance to get his status back at Banff Springs. The 21 mile an hour winds present a challenge, but MacTHW and enderdog appear to be up for it, as they both finish with a new course record of 65. The two nemesi now share the Course Pro status at Banff.

And lastly, the trio of binkdog, enderdog and MacTHW head to Wolf Creek to see if they could beat the course record 91. MacTHW appeared to be up to the challenge as he steals enderdog’s course record with his own 73.

Great weekend everyone and thanks for playing. Had a great time. MacTHW will be taking next Saturday evening off, so if anyone wants a beatdown be sure to meet him on the ninth green at 9PM on Friday.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

THW Players Championship 2011

Golfers,

You are hereby cordially invited to play four rounds of tournament golf for the Team Housewares Players Championship May 13-14th at TPC Sawgrass.

Come join in the action as MacTHW pursues his 5th tournament win, enderdog seeks to keep his hot streak alive, binkdog looks to snap that losing streak of his and AshTHW attempts to escape the confines of the caboose.

See everyone on the 17th!

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Shootout at the Harbour Shirt Presentation

by MacTHW

Today, enderdog was presented with his official Shootout at the Harbour Championship Shirt

MacTHW delivering the goods

Congratulations on a tournament well-played

an exuberant enderdog graciously accepts his prize