2023 Geibel Classic

A Lesson in Humility, Perhaps…?

The 2023 Geibel Classic was held at what could accurately be known as Bill Geibel’s course, D. F. Buchmiller Park in Lancaster, Pa. This relatively short park course is one of the oldest courses in the area, and it’s par 54 layout provides beginners and intermediate players a place to develop their skills, while giving advanced players the chance to play “birdie-or-die.” So this one-round tournament should be a piece of cake for an MP60 player, right…?

D. F. Buchmiller Park — where it all began for me. I learned the game at this course. I honed my skills at leagues run on this course by the man whose dedication to the sport is being honored by this tournament. I’ve played shots from every part of every fairway.

I may have even hit every tree!

So coming here to play in a one-round, par 54 tournament should be, pun intended, a “walk in the park.”

Right?

Video Clips

There are none… and for that, I am thankful. It’s not that I only want to post videos of myself playing well or looking like I know what I am doing. But some things should never appear where they can be seen by those with a week constitution…

But all is not lost. Here’s a picture of some early spring flowers that made an appearance on the course.

Definitely prettier than my mechanics THAT day!

Scores for the Day

A One-under-par 53 rated at 876, which is, as far as I’m concerned, a very poor showing for me, given all of the advantages that I have on this course. Then again, playing in a division of one does have its perks…

Tournament “Post Mortem”

So here we are. At a tournament that I’ve won before. On a course that was my first “home” course and that I know so well. With brand-spanking-new mechanics that give me added distance with less effort.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

(Of course, there was NO practice time in the past week, and there was a bunch of “off-the-course” issues on my mind, but this as D.F. Buchmiller Park — where I learned the sport and knew the course backwards and forwards — so I wasn’t worried at all.

I started on Hole 6 with a card of 5, Myself, Dave, Cam, Connor, and Thad. The hole is a simple midrange/fairway shot that fades ever-so-slightly left-to-right near the green. So, of course, I throw a forehand fairway (Stag) and short the green by 50 feet! I go up-and-down for par on a hole that I normally birdie — but that’s ok, there’s 17 more holes to play, and I’ve birdied about 14 of them, so I brush off the initial drive and head for hole 7. Since I’m BOB (“back-of-box”) on this hole, I watch everyone else struggle with the low ceiling on hole 7, then proceed to throw a forehand roller to about 30 feet short left on the pin. Feeling my confidence rushing back, I proceed to air-ball the putt over the basket and turn my expected birdie into a par. This foreshadows the next 4 holes in a row, where an unforced error on each hole, be it a errant drive or a poor putt, keeps me scoring pars instead of the expected birdies. By the time we’re on hole 12, I’m starting to get a bit annoyed with myself, as I had MUCH higher expectations for the round. My drive on hole 12 landed within 10 feet of the pin and finally gave me a birdie putt that I couldn’t miss. So after 7 holes, I’m at -1 for the round, with several VERY score-able holes coming up. The uphill fairway on hole 13, with the only mando on the course, came right out and BIT me! A lapse of focus on the drive, and I yanked my drive right, missed the mando, and flew out of bounds. The drop zone was out of my putting range, and my irritation got in my eyes and I missed the easy bogie putt.

I just took a 5 on a hole that I birdie about 50% of the time! Yup, now I’m officially annoyed.

Then I step up to the tee of 14 and PURE the fairway to park the pin. 1 stroke recovered.

Then the card proceeds to get a star frame on hole 15. Another stroke recovered. And the annoyance starts to clear.

Hole 16 always gives me trouble, so I expected to par that hole. Which I did. Hole 17 gives me a little less trouble, but it’s still a bonus birdie for me, and I parred that as well. Hole 18 is one that I’ve birdied maybe twice in my career, and I got the expected par here as well, and we headed to hole 1 for our final 5 holes of the day. I’m still -1 for the round, so if I manage to get birdies on 4 of those 5 holes, I can still have a respectable round. I stroll up to the tee of hole 1 and park the pin.

Sweet!

I stroll up to the tee of hole 2 … and leave the drive woefully short. Up-and-down for par, and we’re still OK.

I stroll up the the tee of hole 3 … and yank the drive into the first available tree on the right. Up-and-down par — and the annoyance begins to build. I throw a good drive on hole 4 to about 25 short and slightly left behind a small tree … and miss the putt short. One hole to go — hole 5.

A quick aside to the narrative here. Hole 5 is a downhill, open fairway with the pin set slightly right of center. This was the hole that I used when I was learning to throw forehand. I probably threw 500 forehands from this tee pad over the years. I know how the wind plays with drives on this fairway. I know exactly what disc I need to throw, and what wrist angle I need, and how much power to use.

So what did I do? I proceed to throw a flat forehand instead of the necessary flex. I proceed to under throw the hole by 70 or 80 feet. and that combination put me under a pine tree with NO way out. (Well, at least I had the disc selection correct.) I try to power a backhand around the nearest branch, but only manage to get the disc about 40 feet and have it roll away from the pin to about 60 feet. I get up and down from there for a bogie, and finish the round with a 1-under-par 53, which rated 876.

Needless to say I did NOT meet my own expectations.

Positives: (These are a bit hard to find.)

My putting wasn’t horrible, and it was above what I averaged last year, but that’s setting the bar pretty low.
My upshot touch was good, and since this is a pillar of my game, I believe that it saved my a couple of strokes at least.
I got to spend a little time with Bill Geibel, who I blame 1000% for getting me hooked on this crazy sport and for showing me how much fun one can have throwing hunks of plastic at trees!

Negatives: (Where do I even start?)

No consistency. Drives were hot-and-cold. Putting was hot-and-cold. Even shot selection, which I normally have down to a science, was all over the map.
I didn’t plan my food intake well. The round was at 1pm, but I got there early and didn’t eat beforehand. Now I’m not saying that I blame my poor play on lack of food, but it was certainly one more annoyance on the big, fat pile of annoyances that I had built up by the end of the round.
In spite of spending time with “Wild Man Geibel” - who showed me that “fun” was rule #1, I let myself get annoyed, and took some of the fun out of the round for both myself AND for my card mates. It’s never good to have a “Sally Sad Sack” on the card, and I feel like that’s who I was for at least part of the round. Sorry, guys.

Next week was supposed to be the Creekside Ice Bowl, but I am taking that Saturday off for some family business — and I haven’t seen a Sunday tournament that I want to make an effort to attend. Perhaps a practice weekend is EXACTLY what I need.

ADDENDUM: (Tuesday) I woke up this morning and felt crappy — and it turned out that I had, somehow, after 2 years of avoiding it, contracted Covid. So the recommended quarantine will keep me away from ANY event, and depending on how I feel, perhaps off of the practice field as well.

ADDENDUM #2: (Friday) I had expected to feel better than I do by now. The fever lasted until this morning, and the throat and chest are absolutely RAW from coughing. There won’t be ANY practicing this weekend. My next tournament will be The Woodchuck at White Clay State Park in Newark, DE on February 18th. Let’s hope that I can get some practice in before then. I need it.

Until then...

See you on the course!!