September 13, 2007

ALPINE LAKE, WV — Greg Long, the 8-year member of Golfapalooza, continued to release smidges of his new book, “Memories: How I lived Golfapalooza”, which is due out to book stores in a couple of weeks. Long, a.k.a. Slick, was asked to walk through Chapter 6, which is titled, “The Back Nine” as it provides his insights of how to play the Ron Forse par 72 golf course.

“The 10th hole is your halfway point through Amen Corner,” said Slick of the weird signature hole. “I had my first par in 8 years last September. Including practice rounds, that is 1 in my first 32 attempts. It is easier than my personal statistics show, but if I have learned something over the years... the wind is everything with a very easy putting surface.

Very similar to Billy Hoyle's comment in White Men Can't Jump, 'It's different than your country club crap. When you shoot, you adjust for the wind. Out at the beach, the wind can push the ball two inches.'

This hole seriously has my number. I have tried 4, 5, 6, and 7 iron with the same results. Dosky had more pars last year than I have in 32 attempts. You need to talk to him.

My lasting memory of the 10th hole goes back just 3 years ago. Dieterle was not allowed to return after 5 straight years of winning the 4-man Best Ball competition. Guido was chosen by Gstan to be his replacement.

Guido somehow hit his tee shot on the green. It was a miracle after his front nine contributions. He was putting horribly throughout the front nine, which prompted a comment we needed something closer to ensure par.

Guido took exception to the comment and verbally guaranteed a two-putt. I asked him what he wanted to bet as if we weren't on the same team. He said, 'Whatever you want to bet'. I suggested he would jump into the lake if he 3-putted and without any risk on my part, he quickly agreed.

He blew the first putt way past the hole and never had a chance to par. He recorded our team bogey and took a swim off the 11th tee box."