September 14, 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 12th hole is your final hole as you complete Alpine Lake's version of Amen Corner,” said Greg Long, seven times winner of the low stroke award. “The key here is get the ball in play off the tee and club up at least once with your approach.

This hole is very unique, but the difficulty is not Primrose Road, Alpine Lake, lateral hazard down the left side, tall fescue on the hillside, bunkers, ravine running down the middle of the fairway, or even the deep creek running perpendicular across the fairway. The difficulty is the very unique green, which is slanted front to back.

If the seven different hazards bother you on the tee box, hit a couple of nine irons. Then club up and aim for the 14th green. Never be short because that is county jail.

Remember that triple bogey is average. Bogey is real good. Par feels like a hole-in-one. There should be a truck sitting out on Alpine Lake as the prize for par.

This is your opportunity to slam the door shut on contenders. Mature and patient shotmaking will yield dividends. Everyone is taking a zero here. The tournament leaders need to capitalize and hit their ball over the green. Chip for guaranteed double bogey and hope for bogey. If somehow you par, do what you dreamed of doing when you got your first hole-in-one. I will certainly understand.

Amen Corner is now complete. If you played it correctly, the par for each of the 5 holes were 4, 4, 4, 4, and 5. That is 21 strokes. How did you do? How many points did you score? If you shot less than 23 strokes, you rocketed up the Leaderboard. If you shot 23 or 24 strokes, you moved up the Leaderboard. If you get points for triple bogey and shoot less than 25 strokes, you are in a sports defined 'zone'.

My lasting memory of the 12th is Todd Flanagan setting up to hit his drive 6 years ago during Round 2. He was sober and setup to hit the tee box sign nearly 70 degrees off the center of the fairway (photo shown). Jack, a.k.a. The Hammer!, and I were amazed as he lined up to hit someone playing Hole 17. He swung and hit his ball into Alpine Lake on the fly, which is a mind-boggling 100 degrees off the target line. That kinda shot belongs in a circus with lobster boy.

I told him he needed to line up just left of the 17th green. He looked at me with a smile and said, 'Yeah. I know.' As he walked towards the cart, he turned around and pointed at the tee box sign saying, 'That damn sign is in my way."