My excitement for being in The Classic City has not waned in the least after being here for a few days.  This town feels like home.  It is really my home-away-from-home.  What should I do for dinner, SpeakEasy, Porter House, NONA, East West, Last Resort (again), DePalma’s, Locos, Ronnie B’s, Mellow Mushroom (which is now located where Compadres used to be), Weaver D’s, Gyro Wrap, or maybe somewhere I’ve never heard of before?  Such a nice problem to have.  Go Dogs!  #athens

It’s too bad Allen’s is not here anymore bc I’d be happy to go there for a couple cheeseburgers, some music and pool, and then mozy on down to Foxz.  Oh well.  Normaltown is not the same.

It has been a great week of catching up with old friends and also meeting some new ones.  Lookin fwd to catchin up with my buddy Tan Eric sometime over the weekend and maybe get into some big ole catfish.

There is a weird festival goin on in downtown Athens today.  Very old school hippie.  Everyone is wearing tie dyed shirts and singing songs about peace and loving each other.  I love Athens.  #hippietown

And check out this place.  Wow.  NONA, the bar formerly known as Harry Bissett’s.  Spent a lot of time in there studying and what-not.  If I had a dollar for every beer I had in this place I’d have….well….I’d have a lot of money.  Honk if you remember Bissett’s!

As far as accommodations go, I continually pinch myself this week as I am amazed at how nice my condo is!  Many many thanks to my new buddies from Covington, Charlie & Steve. We went to dinner together at Big Bread Athens and then drinks at some new bar called Blue Sky.  Charlie is the man.  This place is great!  Mind if I keep a key and move in?????  Check out these views of Sanford Stadium from my back porch.

It was great getting to hang with Roger Tambalini during the first two rounds of the tourney.  He is a great player and an even better dude, real funny, real easy-going kinda guy.  He has two small kids (a son and a daughter ages 5 and 3) just like I do, so we compared stories about how hard it is to be away from them on the road and also how great it is when we get to see our rascals after being on the road.  Roger is playin and putting great this week, thanks a lot to his Nike Method putter, I hope he keeps it up!

Meetin good folks like Roger and Charlie & Steve, the boys from 980 The Ref, and all the UGA staff and volunteers make me realize how lucky I am to be a part of this traveling circus of fools.  #caddylife  #wouldnottradeforanything

We were up and adam early on Fri morning, hittin balls under the lights before the sun came up.

It was a cool and cloudy morning this morning, but the course was in great shape, although as the morning went on, the wind and the rain were really hard to handle.

The walking scorers out here in the minor leagues are really funny.  One of the days the scorer waited until we got to the VERY LAST HOLE to ask me, “Hey Bubba, didn’t your player play golf here at The University?”  Uummmmm……yes, he did.

On Thurs we had a Nationwide walking scorer who was an overweight redneck type of fella.  He was as nice as can be, but he was just a little bit red and he knew very little about the game of golf.  Dusty hit a nice shot on #2 that went slightly over the green and into a sprinkler head.  This is not an uncommon occurrence, and the player always receives free-relief from the sprinkler.  (They get to move the ball without a penalty stroke)  The walking scorers are always equipped with a head set and a radio in case an official is needed during the course of play, the scorer can radio an official.  Well, we needed an official on #2 so we asked the scorer if he would call an official.  Redneck Big Boy said “Sure no problem” and he proceeded to turn around, cusp both hands around his mouth like a bull-horn and yell at the top of his lungs “OFFICIAL!!!!!”  No kidding.  This really happened.  And, in his defense, I guess he did “call” an official…..only on the Nationwide Tour.  #minorleagues  I wonder if a walking scorer for Tiger Woods ever did that?

I ran into these two hot blondes on the course on Fri.

Who is this person and what happened to his beard?????????????

There is another golf tourney this weekend:  The 64^th Annual Peach Blossom Invitational hosted by my home course, Idle Hour Club in Macon, GA.  Dusty and I played in it one year, Second Flight Champs, by the way Bubba can play.  Good luck to all my buddies who are playin.  I predict it comes down to 3 teams:  Victor Andress & Rob Parel (the well known playboy and philanthropist), Johnny Walker IV (J4) & Steveo Welsh, and Matthews (Thews) Barnett & Ben Judd.   I’m predicting that J4 and Welsh birdie #18 to win by one.  You heard it here first.  Stay tuned…………have fun out there boys!!!  #idlehourbirdies

It has been great to be in Athens and I’m really lookin to havin a nice fun weekend with a lot of friends, but I am also glad that we have an off-week next week.  I’m really lookin fwd to spending a lot of time with my boys this week.  Check out my little Pete Sampras.

#weekendinathens

#theclassiccity

#cominhomesoon

Hasta La Vista de La Ciudad de Classico!

This post is being written from Jittery Joe’s in Athens Five Points on Thurs morning.  I am surrounded by hippies who are studying for finals which are this week at UGA.  Thank God I do not have to take finals!  Been there, done that, now I have a real job.  Wait a minute…..I don’t really have a real job….anyways, I am sippin on a latte and eatin a cream cheese bagel an thinkin about how much I love Athens.

It has been a great week so far, but now I am real excited about gettin the tourney started at 12:25 today.  Lookin fwd to playin with my buddy Rog Tam, and lookin fwd to getting to know Tuesera.  I prefer the late/early wave, so we’ll see if we can take it deep.

Special thanks to Kirby Moore for letting a couple caddies crash for a couple days, but we have since moved.  We are now staying at the nicest place I have stayed all year.  A two bedroom HUGE condo on Baxter called The Overlook.  From our balcony on the 5th floor we have a perfect view into Sanford Stadium, and this place is as nice as a Four Seasons.  It is owned by a couple of guys who played with us in Wed’s Pro Am, thanks so much Charlie and Steve for letting us crash your condo!  It is their “Game Day” condo, so no one is there this week.  We got the place all to ourselves.  How did I luck into this???  Thanks again fellas!

The Pro Am was so much fun.  It was great to meet Ryan from Denver (AKA “DawgCrap” on DawgVent) and all of the 980 Sports Talk guys we played with were such a trip.  Charlie, Dave, Rats, and Chris, that was a fun round of golf!

It is always nostalgic for me to come back to my old stompin ground.  I am reminded of old roommates, old girlfriends, bars and restaurants that no longer exist, and parking decks that appeared out of nowhere.  Great to be in The Classic City!

When I was in college here I worked at the UGA Golf Course cutting the greens.  Here is a pic of my old cart barn and some of the same mowers I used to use.  (this would have been about 1997 or so)

Had a great dinner at TransMet a couple of nights ago with players, caddies, and girlfriends.  It was a great group and the Terripan and the pizza were put away nicely.  Then we hit a new bar called Volsted.  Volsted is the name of the dude who passed prohibition back in the day, so naming a bar after him is kind of a “screw you” move.  Only in Athens.  I like it.

I got to spend a little time with my buddies Chris Haack and Jim Douglas, better known as Hacker and Dug.  Check out that bright yellow Nike Dri-Fit shirt.  I only wear that thing during practice rounds b/c I don’t want to disturb any pros during the tourney!  (photo credit, DawgCrap)

It has also been great to hang out with Jason Payne this week.  He heads up the UGA Tee Off Club and I’m sure you can imagine this is a crazy week for him.  He’s doing a great job, and he’s a great dude.  Haven’t seen Matre yet.  Somebody put out an APB!  WHERE ARE YOU MATRE??????????

They have changed the green on 11 this week, other than that the course is the same as last year.  Long, hard, fast, and in perfect shape. Nice to be home!

See that last pic?  That is the pond on 16, the downhill par 3.  Notice the SeaDo in the water?  If you make a hole in one on that hole you win the SeaDo.  But what I want to know is this:  what do you win if you hit your ball off the SeaDo, up on the green, and in the hole?  Do you win the company?  If so, and if I won, do you think BubbaDo has a nice ring to it?  I’m gonna do a little more research on that and report back….

I was very lucky bc between Valdosta and Athens I was able to spend a day with my little homeboys.  Took them to the Macon Fair and they rode rides all afternoon.  I love these little troublemakers!

Still tryin to introduce my boy Steveo (from Cali) to some GA culture.  We’ve eaten at Mayflower for breakfast, Last Resort for dinner, beers at East/West and Flanagans, and I think tonight we are gonna hit DePalmas.  I sure am glad I scored a free place to stay this week bc my bar and restaurant tab is gonna be thru the roof!  If you are close to Athens, or even if you’re not, some on out and see us.  This is going to be a really fun week.

Let’s play some golf.

#homecourse

#classiccitybirdies

#iloveathens

Hasta La Vista de la Jittery Joe’s!

My ex-brother-in-law turned me on to a cool buncha musicians from Colorado called “Yonder Mountain String Band.”  They sing a song called “If there’s still ramblin’ in The Rambler, let him go.”  If you like bluegrass or rock you should YouTube or iTunes this song and give it a listen.  It’s been in my head all day as I continue to ramble all around the country/world.

As cold as it was in Northern California, it was hot as Hates in Valdosta.  Today reminded me of South Georgia…..oh wait, it was South Georgia.  Anyways, it was hot and there were tons of gnats and no-see-ums buzzin out faces all day.  It’s so nice to be home!!!!!!

I was lucky to catch this beautiful sunrise at Kinderlou.

I was also very lucky to have this alarm clock at Riverland.

Saturday we played with Paul Stankowski and his bro/caddy Tom.  Really nice dudes from SoCal.  Paul has won twice on the Big Tour and has played in three Masters.  You can probably guess what we asked him about….

We have been spending a lot of time here recently.

Bro’s game is good and I’m real proud of the way he’s been grinding.  He is real close to putting together four great rounds.  It is so fun to have the best seat in the house for this show!

Our hosts at Riverland (who wish to remain anonymous) provided us with some unbelievable hospitality, great meals, good friendships, and a lot of fun times.  I look fwd to my next trip to Riverland, and I hope it’s soon.  Thanks so much to our great new friends from Valdosta.  Go Dogs!

We will be in Macon for a day, then off to The Classic City.  I’ve got a little work to do and then I’m gonna hang out with these big construction workers.  They are gonna spend the day with me and spend the night at my house and we are gonna do anything they want to do.  Can’t wait!

I have decided to make a change to my wardrobe that I am somewhat sad about.  I always wear visors.  Always.  Don’t like hats, just visors.  It is sort of my signature look to be sporting a visor and shades.  That is what I always wear.  Well……with my short new do I have gotten waxed by the sun on my head too many times this week, so I am switchin it up.  I am gonna go with a hat this week to protect my head.  I’m gonna switch it up and we’ll see how it goes.  I am lucky that Nike makes a FlexFit trucker hat that is really light and cool, I expect some nice hot weather in Clarke County!

Glad to see some of my good buddies have a good week in Valdosta.  Hud and BJ both finished T-18 thanks to their caddies Ryan and Braden.  Goldberg and Oppenheim both finished top 20 thanks to their caddies Ralph and Emmett.  Also a good tourney for UGA boy PC and my buddy A-Rod, a former winner of The Big Break (nice loopin Chris).

Really lookin fwd to seeing some of my buddies in Athens.  Real glad to be crashing on Kirby Moore’s couch.  He is a senior in school there so he should be able to tell me all the cool spots to hang.  I imagine there are a few changes since I graduated in 1999…..I also hope to hang with the UGA golf staff, Hacker, Dug, and Payne, and Coos, can’t wait to see you guys, and also some of the kneds, TJ, Carter, Keith, as well as some new faces.

Speakin of Athens, here are a couple of pics that are about a year old.

Get ready Athens.  I’m comin, and I’m bringin the noise with me.

#godogs

#ugabirdies

#comininhot

Hasta La Vista de Macon!

I am so excited to be playin the weekend in Valdosta!  Dusty is hitting it great and our goal is to have as much fun as possible this weekend!  #birdietime

We played with a great group of guys in Wed’s Pro Am.  One of the dudes is a local banker who helped a lot with some local course knowledge and he also helped get a ticket and parking pass for Dusty’s GF.  Thanks Taylor!  You da man.  The other guys in the group were real cool too.  It was nice to play with some folks who talk like we do.  As much as it’s fun to travel the world and meet new folks, it’s always nice to be in The South!

The course is playing real fair.  I have heard a lot of the players complain about the length, and it is pretty long, but I have found that pro golfers will complain about anything.  This course is fine.  In fact, it is in superb condition, plush everywhere, the greens are true, and there are some great, challenging holes on this tract.  It is good.

The first two days we played with Alex Aragon.  He is #4 on the Nationwide money list and he won the last tourney.  He’s a real cool cat from Cali and he freggin’ drops BOMBS.  He laced one on a par 5 on Fri that I paced off……357.  No kidding.  Joker bombed it 357.  Remember that name.  I doubt he’ll be on this Tour much longer.

It is really great to have some folks from home show up at the course:  Shockley, Greene-Machine, RickHead Lindsay, Lenny Bevill, Rob Parel (the famous playboy and philanthropist), Lally and Chap, Molly, and Lindy are all here this weekend, and I’ve heard that more Macon folks are on the way.  Should be a great weekend, and thanks for pullin for us!

I think we are havin a big cookout at our host’s home on Sat night, and hopefully we’ll be sleepin in on Sun so we can get up in time to play in that last group!

I haven’t had a chance to take many pics on the course, but here’s what we’ve been doing when we are off the course:

I love my Nike golf gear so much….I’m ready for Nike to start makin fishin stuff!  As a closing thought….The Classic City is callin my name!!!!  Athens here we come!!!  Be there next week!!!

#nicetobehome

#weekendbirdies

#kinderlou

#comininhot

Hasta La Vista De Lowndes Co!

Had a great Sunday with some friends and my kiddos in Macon.  We went to a friend’s farm and fished, rode horses, and shot skeet.  My buddy Steveo shot his first skeet.  They don’t have much gun-shootin’ in Tahoe….

Also my little guy Dave caught another nice fish.  There is no way to describe how proud I am of my boys for catching some fish.  They aren’t nearly as excited about it as I am!

We rode to Valdosta on Mon morning and played in the Monday Pro-Am.  We had a great time on the course.  I have been on this course a few times and it is in perfect condition.  The fairways are plush, the greens are true (although a bit grainy), and this baby is LONG.  They can tip it out at 7,800 although it probably won’t be that long during the tourney.

We got to play with UGA President Michael Adams in the Mon Pro-AM.  I was in school in Athens and I remember that everyone was upset when he took office b/c the first thing he did was switch us from Quarters to Semesters.  (Quarters are much better…..they are shorter and you only take 3 classes at a time)  Anyways, he told me he was not responsible for that…..he told me that was going to happen whether or not he came to UGA.  So that made me like him a little more.  Seriously though, he is a big-time guy in the State of Georgia, and he was as nice and down to earth as anyone we’ve played with this year.  A really nice guy.  And a pretty good player to boot!

Notice that 3/4 length Nike windbreaker I’m wearing.  That was perfect for a day like Mon when it’s nice and sunny but also quite windy.  It was so windy yesterday that we hit driver / 3-wood into a par 4!  This tract is long.  The wind is not supposed to blow this weekend, it’s actually supposed to be real nice, so keep your fingers crossed for good weather and good golf!

If you are close to South Georgia you should come out to this tourney.  The course is beautiful and they are expecting good crowds.  There are more bleachers set up than any tourney we’ve been to this year.  Can’t wait to get it on!

There is a lot of wildlife on the course.  We saw a black fox squirrel on #9 on Mon.  I hear these guys are territorial and aggressive.  However, after getting up close and personal with a Caimen in Panama, I’m not scared of these big squirrels.  In fact, they remind me of one of my favorite places in the world, Cuscowilla at Lake Oconee.

This week we are staying on a 200 acre farm that is about 10 min from the golf course.  The farm is so beautiful and our hosts made a killer meal last night of grilled BBQ chicken, baked beans, slaw salad, garlic bread, and homemade brownies.  It was a perfect meal after making a long loop at Kinderlou.

We are staying on a cabin on the farm.  It is right on a huge lake that I’m looking fwd to fishin this week.  Hud caught a 4 pounder outta there a copuple of days ago.  I can’t wait to try to hook a bigt one.  I slept well on my cot in the bedroom with a couple other caddies and players.  #caddylife

This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever stayed and the Southern Hospitality that our folks showed was next to none.  Check out the cabin and the view from the cabin.  We are very lucky to be staying at such a nice place with such cool folks!

Clint, one of my good caddy buddies, ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co last week and picked me up a hat.  Nice that he thought of this Bubba!  The hat is appropriate and I’ve been sporting it all day.   Also here’s a view from our cabin as the sun was coming up this morning.

Lookin fwd to teein it up on Thurs!  Ready to get it on!

#southgeorgia

#kinderloubirdies

#comininhot

Hasta Luego de Riverland!