Shadow Ridge Club Championship: You Gotta Read!

this past weekend was the annual club championship at the shadow ridge golf club in hattiesburg. i have recently moved my membership back there from timberton and signed up in time to be a part of this great tournament. it was a two day championship that had 4 flights. my handicap was low enough that it enabled me to be a part of the championship flight. on saturday, i shot a low round of 76 which gave me a two shot lead going into sunday. the second best score was a 78 shot by robert "fluffy" penson. i get up sunday morning feeling nervous as all get out. i go and lead worship for both morning services at PHBC and get to shadow ridge sunday afternoon in time for my 1:02 tee time. it was hard to transition back into that frame of mind, but nonetheless i had to do it. after my long and excruciating round, i felt as though i had not done well enough to win and put my clubs in my vehicle. robert had not finished his round so i stayed at the club house, at the request of the pro, until he completed 18. about 30 minutes later i was told that i was in a sudden-death playoff with fluff. i was cold, clubs were in my truck, and in no shape mentally to do this but it was now or never. i got my clubs out of my truck and went to tee #1 (a par 5). a sudden-death playoff is when competitors go to a particular hole and matchplay until someone wins. it can end on the first hole or several holes later. nevertheless, we drew to see who would tee off first and fluff got the honors. he hits the ball right down the middle. at that point i was scared and i teed off pulling my drive well left so far beyond the hazard on the left that it took 5 minutes for us to find it. after we found it my lie was dreadful. i took out my hybrid and topped it into the hazzard ditch in front of me. this was terrible. fluff proceeded to hit his ball right down the middle up to about the 100 yard marker. i was dropping 3 from the hazard and hitting 4. i took out my hybrid again and hit it short of 100 just behind fluff's ball. i was laying 4 and he was laying 2. in good spirit fluff tells me, "Hit it in the hole." i got my range finder and shot the distance at 106 yards. the golf pro, judd brewer, and troy norton go to the top of the hill to watch where the shots would land. the green was up hill and the pin was tucked back left. in my head i told myself that i needed to get up and down for a bogey in order to have a shot at possibly going on to another hole. however, fluff was in position to birdie and par at worst so my chances were slim to none. so here it goes. i take out my 60 degree wedge and struck it perfectly. it was a blind shot so i couldn't see where it ended up. the pro and troy had the perfect angle and began to shout, "It went in the hole!!!!!". i had holed out for par in the club championship playoff. troy said it hit 5 ft beyond the hole and spun back right into the cup. it was the greatest shot of my life. at that point, fluff had to hit his ball on the green and 2 putt to tie with a par or 1 putt for the birdie and the win. he hit his ball to the front of the green and left himself a hard put up hill and then down. he goes up to the green hits his putt and leaves about a 10 footer to tie. i couldn't bare to watch so i just watched the ground as he putted anticipating that i would hear it go in. there was no sound. he missed it. i was the club champion! greatest golf moment of my life!

Where is Jeff Bower?

does anyone know where jeff bower is? i heard he is still in hattiesburg living at the country club. i definately haven't seen him since his resignation. however, i have heard his name brought up on occasion recently. especially since southern miss football is treading waters it hasn't seen in some time. can you believe that this web site is still up? www.coachbower.com the eagles face the prospect of not going to a bowl game for the first time since i can't remember. with all that being said, our new coach must be feeling some pressure. larry fedora, unproven and inexperienced, came in to replace jeff bower making about double in salary. there have been some catchy sound bytes, talk about change, and publicity out the wazoo! i really believe that most fans were expecting an immediate improvement. after all, the eagles were returning nationally leading running back damion fletcher, shaun nelson and bringing aboard 5 star recruit deandre brown. however, in the mean time i believe that the nasty bunch defense has disappeared. defense at one time was what southern miss was notorious for. it seems in coach fedora's scheme that we just need to out score our opponents. in all seriousness, our defense is very young. however, i believe that in conference USA, our squad has to be more competitive than loosing to marshall and utep. i don't know if i ever remember losing 3 home games in a row much less 2 home conference games. people as of late have wondered about the whereabouts of jeff bower. do think that people are regretting their decision. i must say, you get what you ask for. coach fedora is going to be asking for more time. the million dollar (fedora's salary) question is how much time will they give him?

Travis Cottrell Christmas in Stores NOW!

i had the wonderful opportunity to sing on travis cottrell's new christmas album that is due out in october. we recorded the project at ocean way studios near the campus of belmont university in nashville. brown bannister, who produced the project, is the most known producer in ccm. he has worked with amy grant, steven curtis chapman, third day, and many more. travis recruited several of his friends to be a part of his christmas choir that performed for 5 tracks on the album. we had a great time that weekend. there were a couple of well known personalities in the choir such as denver bierman of denver & the mile high orchestra and angela cruz formerly of the well known legendary group truth. the album is getting some wonderful reviews and CCM magazine even hailed the choir as being "magnificent." check out this link http://www.ccmmagazine.com/reviews/music/11582483/archive2/for more info. and don't forget to pick up your copy today!

Younger Voters Going with Obama

it looks as though most young voters in america are going to side with senator obama. two students from belmont were interviewed this morning on fox and friends and stated, for the most part, that they identify more with obama than mccain. it doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine that in the debate last night, john mccain looked like an old man. just look at the way he walked, the shrugging of his shoulders, his raspy voice, etc. all of these factors will convince younger voters that he is not their representative. is that shallow and naive? absolutely. is it reality? you better believe it. young people today do not look at the issues as much as they look at the presentation. what's on the surface most times takes precedence over what is deep in the well. the republican party has to be wondering how mccain ended up being their representative. it all plays into the fact that nearly every break has gone obama's way. if it were a football game, obama would have recovered every fumble and turned it into points on the board. john mccain - your time is ticking away (not in the sense of age....but it could be) and you are about to lose this election. the question is whether or not young people will truly turn out to vote. what matters is will they vote in states like nevada, florida, michigan, pennsylvania, and other swing states. this is where this election will be won.

I Lost By 1 Stroke!

the final score was Dennis Sennsing 82, 82 = 164, Brad Day 80, 85 = 165. it was a close one. i came in second and i probably deserved it. i didn't play well the last day and it caught up with me. i play a little draw on my drive (most of the time) and the course had 90% dog leg rights (see pic above). though it didn't set up with my game i can't use that as an excuse. in golf you have to be ready mentally from the first shot to the last and that day i didn't do good enough preparing myself. nonetheless, my wife heather still thinks i should go to nationals in hilton head, sc. we will see. on a good note, i finished the season as the overall points leader in my flight and received an awesome trophy (will post pic later). this has been a great accomplishment for me in my first year of competitive golf. i hope this will give me some momentum in local tournaments in the future.

AGI State Finals - Grand Bear Golf Course

this weekend begins the finals for our amateur golf tour that i have been participating in since march. it has been a wonderful experience for me and i have been fortunate enough to remain the leader in the B flight (hcp. 11-14) all season. my lead should secure me to be the points leader by the time the weekend is over, however anything can happen. my real goal is to win the 2 day tournament this weekend at grand bear in order that i might have my way paid to nationals at hilton head, sc. the state finals will be a combined 2 day score total to determine the winner in each flight. i happen to love this golf course and believe that it will have been the nicest we've played all year next to dancing rabbit in choctaw, ms. looking forward to the challenge. the course is not easy and the competition is fierce. sounds like great motivation!