Anybody of you golfers see the Match Play tournament over the weekend?
The winner, David Toms, grew up playing at our little golf course. David, his dad, and his grandfather are all members. In fact, David helped redesigned our course a few years ago.
In addition to being a fine golfer, he is a wonderful person as is the entire family.
David now has a home on another course in Shreveport, but he often plays with us when he is in town.
DonM

.... and you get to play with David Toms ?!?!? .... another reason why I hate .... oh, fuggeddabowditt !!! ..
t.
PS After getting another 8 inches of the @#$%^&* white stuff, I won't be playing up here until MAY !!! ...
t.

Got another 6 inches here today. Damned I hate winter!

Gary

I saw it Don and it was awesome. A story...

When I joined your club, I think I was 23, just starting to play golf. David was 10. I watched him grow up. I mean, we played all the time. I played with all the young kids. I've played countless rounds with him.

After he got on tour, one time, we were playing and he gave me a putter... a TPM. I played with it for years. He won the World Junior Championship with that putter, so, it was worth like a million dollars to me.

My golf clubs got stolen from my van at my office on Spring street. Immediately, I thought 'Where is the nearest pawn shop?' I went down North Market to the nearest one. I'm not kidding, I spent 15 minutes in there, pleading my case. Maybe something told me to hang around. I guess I hung around long enough. They kept saying they hadn't seen them. Finally, a guy pokes his head out of the back room and says "Again, what color is the bag." I said blue/gray Ping bag. He held them up, said "Is this them?" Yep. Hallelujah.

Prior to this, I kept telling them, "I MUST find these clubs. The hell with the clubs, I just want the putter! Except that the clubs, I'd paid like $1,500 for them.

You know how much the thief got for those $1,500 clubs? $15. FIFTEEN DOLLARS. I paid the $15 and got my clubs.

One day, David called me (years later) and asked if I still had the putter. I said "Yep, I'm looking at it in my bag in the corner of my office." He said "Oh, well, I was going to ask you if you would want to sell it back. Never mind." I said, heck, take it back, period. He was kind of in a putting slump. he came by and I gave it to him. He gave me some other goodies.

Last weekend, they showed his putter and I said "Hey, THERE'S THE PUTTER!" But it wasn't, it was too new. Very similar, though.

Another story... one time, it was David and I and two others... playing best ball against several other matches at your golf course. We shot 20 under in 18 holes. And this was before he got good, he was still in college.

It's really weird to see a world class tour player win and you used to beat his brains out on the golf course. Well, yeah, he was 12 and I was 25 but still...

Great story Bill. I haven't played with him that much, more with his dad. There is another kid who is now a senior in high school. We have watched him grow up for the past ten years. He has the stuff to be a pro too. He was state amateur champion last year, and Benton won the state title as well. I haven't been able to beat him since he was 14!
He is quite a bit longer than David, just needs some experience. I'm sure he'll get it at the college of his choice.
DonM

Can't even comprehend. IMHO, David is LONG. He's just not long as Mick or Tiger. But heck, he CARRIES the ball 270 yards.

This kid, Brooks Davis, routinely drives both 8 and 9, par 4s. One or the other of them is always against the wind.
He hits medium irons to the par 5s. He is probably 20-25 yards longer than David, and 50 longer than I am.
DonM

That's friggin insane and by golly, unfair. For a high school kid to hit it that far. That's John Daly length. Sheesh.

I haven't played in two years because of rotator cuff surgery but when I quit, you and I would hit the same cuz David is 30 yards longer than me. What I consider "long" is someone who carries the ball 270. That's pro length. And a lot of top amateurs hit it that far. But then there's the rest of the game. What kills me about David is how friggin accurate he is. I mean, on any given day. Radar. Then last week, he amazed even the t.v. announcers. I was feeling sorry for him blowing $350,000 with the double bogey couple of weeks ago. Now, he made $1.3 mil and I saw where the West Coast Swing bonus or something added $200,000. Isn't that something! $1.5 million. That's more than 99% of the planet earns in a lifetime. A beautiful wife, rich forevermore, in the top 10 in the world playing a friggin game. I hate him.