Kreyling Korner – 05/18/17

THE LIPSMACKER MATCH OF THE WEEK  

2-0 in week #4 to bring my record back to .500! 3-3 on the season – let’s get to week#5!

A/B Group –   Nick “Potter” Duer vs. Jason “Cupcake” Nill – Yeah Cupcake, I put you in the MOW – deal with it.  Both Duer and Nill are off to hot starts in 2017.  Nick has a perfect 3-0 record; Jason is 2-1.  What I also love about this match, despite these two being regulars in the league for years, a match between them is rare.  They have only played 3 times, with Potter having the upper hand 2-1, and the last time they faced off was in 2013.  This is a tough one to predict.  Jason is usually as cool as the other side of the pillow, except when it comes to the MOW jinx.  As soon as he reads this he will start yelling at me.  Still though, he’s on my team and gets 3 strokes.  GLOSS PREDICTION: Cupcake wins 6.5-3.5.

C/D Group – Oliver “Ollie” Livermore vs. George “Portuguese Warrior” Almeida – Who doesn’t love a match-up of two guys as old as dirt? I mean these two are so old, they knew Burger King when he was a prince.  They are so old they consider an “all-nighter” not getting up to pee.  These two are so old, “getting lucky” means finding their car in the parking lot.  Anyway – they have played 11 times, and Ollie is the overall winner at 6-5.  One thing I’ve never pointed out in this match-up, George is Ollie’s boss.  The first rule of business is to never beat your boss.  GLOSSY PREDICTION: I’m going with a Dropping Deuces sweep in week 5, PW wins 7-3.

THE KREYLING KORNER

Fellow members of the General Cable Corporation Golf League, if you haven’t noticed by now, I generally use Kreyling Korner to talk about happenings in the league. I try to AVOID talking about myself in this space as I take pride on having a pulse on the league and engaging in topics that will reach our eclectic group. This week, however, is going to be about me. If you have a problem with it – then stop reading and figure out another way to waste your time.

George poked the bear in his week #4 post (yeah George, I noticed)! I’m bringing up the topic I’ve been preaching about for years – rolling your golf ball in the rough. For those of you who have been around the league for a while you know this irritates me, and it’s well known that I will probably go off about it at least once a year. I stand by the stance I have taken for years – the scores turned in on a weekly basis are not indicative of how well you played IF you rolled your ball in the rough. Simply stated – if you improved your lie, you gave yourself a greater chance of hitting a better shot.

I heard all kinds of arguments last week trying to justify the “fluff.” Some of my favorites are below, along with my rebuttal.

• Argument: It’s not against the rules. We play preferred lies.

Rebuttal: See the interpretation on preferred lies here: Section 12Z-150 – The “Come on Man…” Rule – Preferred Lies Interpretation. This rule was published before the 2015 season.

• Argument: Why should I penalize myself in the rough if there is a hole/divot?

Rebuttal: How come I see people fluff like crazy on a shot they hit into the rough, but the minute a ball rolls into a bunker everyone is by the book? Even when the bunker HAS NOT BEEN raked! How many times has it rained and the bunkers have been a mess (which makes the bunker shot almost impossible) but NO ONE will ground the club or improve the lie? What’s the difference between hitting in a bunker (an area you are NOT supposed to hit) and the rough (also an area you are NOT supposed to hit)?

• Argument: I hit a good shot but it ended up in the rough, I should be able to give myself a perfect lie.

Rebuttal: If it ended up in the rough, chances are you didn’t hit a good shot. Yes – you might have hit the ball solid, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good shot. Maybe you took too much club? Maybe you curved the ball too much? I get it sometimes, you get unlucky. But that’s golf! My point is this, If you were supposed to hit every shot out of a perfect lie, wouldn’t they cut all the grass to fairway length?

• Argument: Everyone else is doing it.

Rebuttal: This is an argument I cannot refute. Over the years, there have been plenty of people that have been in a match with me and have agreed to play the ball down. However, it has done nothing but hurt our chances of winning low net money because everyone else in the league is giving themselves the advantage of winter rules…in the summer time.

If you are still reading this, most of you are probably thinking – where is he going with this? My point is this – I give up. Beginning week #5 of the 2017 GCCGL season (May 18, 2017 to be exact), I will be rolling my ball to a perfect lie on every shot during league play. No one in the GCCGL will ever again hear me complain about the blatant rules violations occurring on nearly each shot. My stance is well documented through Kreyling’s Korner and will not change. My actions, on the other hand, most definitely will. At the end of the day, I have no idea if this will improve my scores but I’m leaving nothing to chance. As they say in Nascar, if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.

Until next week – fairways and greens my friends.