Me approaching 17th hole (par 5) in Cider Cup 2008. Played for Team USA, as you can see 🙂
One of the ”categories” we can choose as a theme to our blog post is Golf Fun. Golf should be FUN, right? Most of time it definitely is FUN! There was very nice 7-page cover story in Finnish Golf Magazine’s the latest edition (5/2012) about Golf GameBook.Founders Mane & Kalle underlined specifically that at the starting point the whole idea based to thick red line: To Make Golf More FUN!
Guys have done pretty good job! I still remember very well GameBook Application’s first launch session in Finland. Guys invited me (I was golf journalist on that time) to play 18 holes in Hirsala Golf and try out the GameBook.
I’m totally honest when I say I got hooked right away. Used GameBook in every round since that.
Mother of the Backyard Tournaments
GameBook Cup is on and like I wrote couple of days ago, it’s really getting excited! What would be better way to warm up for the Ryder Cup? Same Teams and, well, little bit better players, but still 🙂
Finnish hockey coach Juhani “Tami” Tamminen, enthusiastic golfer too, who has world’s shortest and quickest backswing ever, has said that if you prepare yourself with 90 percent efficiency, you are able to perform only 50 percent level of your full potential.
In addition to GameBook Cup I have something on my calendar more that prepares me to the Ryder Cup feeling. It’s my season’s most important golf tournament and only 7 days left to tee off there. I’m not talking about Home Club Championships – I’m talking about Backyard golf and the Cider Cup.
I suck in that by the way and I’m not lying.
That’s what our Backyard Golf Course looks like. You can miss by cents, but cannot miss by meters. In other hand, there’s delicious berries in bushes.
These guys are good vs These guys are nuts
One friend of mine, former colleague from Golf Magazine I used to work organizes every year a whole-day-long tournament on his childhood home’s backyard. Yep, there’s 18 holes, faieways, greens, roughs (from 20 meters to 50 meters) and we play with golf ball size floorball. Only gap or sand wedges are allowed. Amazingly, it’s very close to real golf!
We got alter egos and player names from the top of the golf world. For example my alter ego is borrowed from my childhood idol Corey Pavin. So guys decides my backyard golf name is Ori Pay-Win. Ori is horse in Finnish if that makes more sense 😉 I guess not and cannot be surprised. Inside jokes…
Another example: (from the team against us: continue reading…) The President of our unofficial Backyard Golf Association has an alter ego, Jersper Par de Birdie. Borrowed from Jesper Parnevik with mixing it to our President’s real name.
We got two types of tournament: major and the Ryder Cup. These tournaments take turns every second year and basic idea is the same as in professional golf. Backyard major is 4 round long stroke play without handicaps (winner gets green jacket), Ryder Cup, or actually Cider Cup, how it takes it name in our games, is Team USA against Team Europe. Matchplay format and different game formats. During the day there’s drinks around (Gatorade, Gin and to…no, Isotonic!!) and some BBQ as well as the best atmosphere in the world!
I really have to improve this time. Two years ago I lost all my six matches. Like I said, I suck in backyard golf. And still it’s so much FUN every time! Tournament, we all are waiting for from early spring. Time to practice my game face – that’s the day when I shout “Go USA”. Unfortunately, my American subscribers, in the late September when the real Ryder Cup starts at Medinah Country Club in Illinois, I have to turn my jacket again from red to blue 😉
Finally, I reveal our Cider Cup course’s name to publics: Medical Country Club – tells enough, hahah! 🙂 See you next time! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter & Facebook!
– Olli
@OlliLehtonen in Twitter
