When Beanie asked me to blog for his site I thought sure, what the hell else do I have to keep me occupied, especially at this time of year? The WSOP is over, as are basketball and hockey, and football is more than a month away. What’s a gambler to do? While some seek out more poker tournaments or cash games, my solution is much more fun. Golf trips!
I just got back from Cape Cod, where my friend Kenny’s family owns two golf courses. One’s a just completed Reese Jones-designed gem called The Golf Club of Cape Cod. Across the street is Ballymead, a beautiful, mature layout. The Golf Club is so hard that Kenny bet me I couldn’t shoot 87 from the back tees. I’m a pretty good player, but I hadn’t played a full round in almost a month due to the heat wave in Vegas and the WSOP. However, I thought 87 would be easy. I was wrong, as I shot 90 and never even lost a ball! The next day I took the same bet, lost a shitload of balls and missed again.
That night we went to a Red Sox game. I hadn’t been to Fenway since I was about eight, when my Dad took me to see them play the Yankees in a double-header. The place is so tiny compared to modern parks. I remember Mickey Mantle pulling one into the left field stands, sending everyone ducking for cover. I still hear the sound of that ball whizzing over my head. Boston is a really cool city and the scene at Red Sox games is something special. We bet KC and over, both of which came in, so it made it even better.
The next day a friend of Kenny’s had arranged a golf day at a place called Carnagie Abbey, a real old-money club near Newport, RI. We were to go there on his boat. Two of our guys, Greg Mascio and Jeff Freedman, don’t like boats, but they were assured that no one gets sick on this boat. I was expecting a serious yacht when we got there the next morning, but instead we boarded a super-serious racing boat. How long could it take to get there in that thing? It ended up taking over two hours because it was foggy on the ocean and our host forgot to cover his GPS system, couldn’t read it and get lost for a spell. Greg hung in there, but turned a little white after bouncing around on the ocean for a while. Jeff stood up the whole time and seemed to be fine, until we found the harbor. All of a sudden he was on the floor, which was too bad because he missed the best part—we were going over 95 MPH on really smooth water. Great ride!
Carnagie Abbey was a real treat, except they have a dumb policy of making anybody under 60 walk! If I had as much money as these people I wouldn’t walk to the bathroom!
The next day we were back at Kenny’s course. It was supposed to be really windy, so Kenny bet that Richard Dunberg and I couldn’t shoot 179 combined. I had to take that bet. I also index bet him on shooting 89,88,87, and 86. On the first hole, a par 4, I took an 8 and Richard a 6. However, we played better from then on and made it easily. I shot 87 and won a couple more individual bets. That night we caught another Red Sox game, spent a great night in Boston and came home the next day.
Next on the menu is the Mexico swing. We start out at Baja Mar, which is kind of like the Mexican Pebble Beach, then it’s on to Tijuana for the night and the Tijuana Country Club, a great course designed in the ‘20s by Alister McKenzie of Augusta fame, the next day. Also on the schedule are a trip to Myrtle Beach at the end of September, and possibly a quickie to Lake Tahoe to play a few great courses, including one of my all-times favorites, Coyote Moon.
I’m looking forward to blogging here. I was considering writing a book about all the things I’ve learned about the gambling business over the past 25 years, with lots of stories thrown in, but I really don’t want to do the work it takes to write another book, so I’ll do it here piecemeal. Next up, my take on the World Series of Poker.