Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Farewell to Broadmoore

If you haven't heard, the Murrays are moving. While I will definitely miss the MurrayMint (so named for the color of the kitchen, which was mixed by Travis and April) I am really excited to see the new MurrayMint, located in Edmond, which means it is closer to CDB1! The MurrayMint served as the HQ for all CDB Operations for the entire state of Oklahoma. (Although this is changing, more on that later) The adopted, and some might even say home, of CDB was Broadmoore, which is located a mere 2.1 miles from the MurrayMint. I know that I won't be able to fully describe the greatness of Broadmoore, but I will do my best.

Duffy Martin (I'm sure his friends called him "Duffer") designed the 6,334 yard, par 71 course in 1962. Travis played there alone first, but I remember the first time we both played Broadmoore was sometime in the late winter/early spring of 2009. It immediately reminded me of the course my grandparents lived on when I was growing up which is where I "learned" (ha!) to play golf, so I had some sort of weird memory-like connection immediately. Because Broadmoore was built in '62, it had a SWEET clubhouse and since CDB is such a huge fan of Mid-Century architecture/culture, we were immediately impressed with the facilities, which had changed very little in the last 47 years.

Upon inspection, CDB easily surmised that Broadmoore was the place to play in the '60s; the clubhouse was two storys, included a pro-shop, restaurant, club room, locker rooms, and offices for the "pros." The staff at Broadmoore was a bunch of old guys who looked like they had been there since it opened and just never left. It seemed as if they were originally the club "pros" that gave lessons there. Although it is somewhat difficult to picture anyone taking lessons at Broadmoore today, it was so easy to picture Broadmoore when it opened in 1962; young families enjoying their swanky new clubhouse, learning to play and love golf on the newest course in town. However, by the time CDB arrived, the clubhouse only offered a glimpse of what used to be; One "pro" ansered the phone, took tee time reservations, checked golfers in, sold "experienced" golf balls and a few other items while one or two young girls operated the snack bar (no longer a restaurant) located on the second floor, which had a nice view of the ninth green to the left and the putting green to the right.

I remember the first time we played there, stopping in for a Snickers and some coffee (it was cold) at the turn. While enjoying our refreshments, we observed the group behind us on the ninth green and noticed that one of the guys had an anger problem. CDB doesn't like anger problems. Anyway, while upstairs in the "snack bar" we started looking around and exploring some of the rooms when we came across a life-sized cardboard cut out of Sergio Garcia. Now, if you are reading this, then you probably know our good friend Cody, who happens to look EXACTLY like Sergio. We had a good laugh and took some pictures with "Sergio" before heading back out to finish our round. Unfortunately, this clubhouse burned down in July of 2009. It was the strangest thing, we showed up the morning after and were shocked when we saw the remains of the clubhouse still smoldering. But, in true Broadmoore fashion, the "pros" had set up a couple card tables and were still open, cash only of course.

The actual Broadmoore course is pretty special. Not in the way that some of our other favorite courses are special, but in its very own Broadmoore-ian way. I can honestly say that there is not another course like it in OKC or Tulsa. So much of what sets Broadmoore apart is memories, not that we don't have memories from other courses, but Broadmoore memories somehow seem a little different. I think part of this is because none of our other friends (or people in general) know anything about Broadmoore, which makes it a CDB course more than anywhere else. Travis and I both appreciated Broadmoore exactly for what it was and loved all the imperfections, oddities, and quirks. There are the gas carts; not because they need gas for severe elevation but probably just because that's what they already had, and why change? There are the cart paths that are just asphalt, no concrete, no curbs, just asphalt. There are the old, abandoned bridges with the white railing that are unnecessarily steep which haven't been used in years. But instead of removing them or repairing them, the "pros" simply hung a chain across them, signifying their closure. There are the cardstock-like scorecards that are somehow larger than other courses' scorecards. There is the waste pile (which includes dead trees, brush, telephone poles, remnants of the clubhouse, and only the CDB gods know what else) right off the fairway on number 10. There is the cool, one of a kind, 70s modern house between the seventh green and the eighth teebox. And finally, there was the coolest sign in the parking lot that you passed on your way to the sixth tee; it was at least eight feet long and four feet tall with a picture of a young boy and his father playing golf, with "Broadmoore Golf Course" in a great '60s typeface across the top.

There are, of course, all the on course memories and shots which are too numerous to list here. Although, it is worth mentioning that Travis and I both shot our lowest scores to date, 83 for me and 77 for Trav, at Broadmoore on Schafer's birthday last year. It was also the kind of place where no one said anything the time we took Schafer with us and played an entire round.

Another thing that separates Broadmoore from our other courses is the amount of change we've been able to witness. It's almost like we're part of the club or something like that. We played there when the original clubhouse was still standing, we had a good idea of what the club was like when it opened and appreciated the nostalgia it offered to those willing to look. We saw the clubhouse still smoldering the morning after it burned down. We watched as they built the cheap metal building for the cart barn. We noticed (and were very, very sad) when they tore down the old sign. We saw the mysterious "country club" building before it was torn down, too. And most recently, we've seen the foundation for the new clubhouse. All in all, we've seen a lot of change at Broadmoore and in a way it almost feels like we've been able to take part in the transformation. I know that I'm talking like we'll never be able to play Broadmoore again and I'm sure we will play it again, but it won't be the same. From now on, playing Broadmoore will require planning and a 30 minute drive and come complete with a new clubhouse, which is exactly what Broadmoore is not.

Here are a few stories from our round last weekend at Broadmoore and a few examples of what one can expect when playing Broadmoore:

We had an 8:40am tee time and arrived a few minutes after 8. Once we made it to the putting green, the group (a fivesome no less!) that was scheduled to tee off before us began showing up. A few were on the green with us kind of chit-chatting about nonsense when one the fourth guy of their group showed up. He was such a loudmouth, not only would he not shut up, but he was so loud I'm sure the "pros" in the mobile-mini (aka clubhouse) heard him. When their fifth guy finally showed up, Mr. Loudmouth would not stop berating him. It was so awkward because it was fairly obvious that Mr. 5th Man didn't know Mr. Loudmouth all that well and wasn't quite sure how to react. I remember Mr. Loudmouth giving Mr. Five a hard time about his glasses and I remember thinking that his glasses looked pretty good.

Once we made it to the first tee, another twosome shows up and says that they have an 8:57 tee time but that the "pros" told them to go ahead and tee off. As if that wasn't enough, after we let them go, another twosome jumps ahead of us and tells us that they're going to go ahead and tee off so they can catch the first twosome and play with them. What the hell is going on??

So, once again CDB lets someone else tee off. The next part of this story is so strange. This (especially this) is one of the things that would only ever happen at Broadmoore. Anyway, by now a line is beginning to form on the first tee box. The foursome behind us was waiting to the right and behind the markers, which is where Trav and I were standing, watching the guys in front of us suck it up. Because CDB2 is the more social one, he politely goes over to the group behind us to explain the situation and just be the nice guy that he is. Well, Trav's conversation with them started out innocently and normal enough. But, at some point it took a very awkward turn. I'm not exactly sure how Trav and this other guy on the topic (I wasn't really listening yet) of golf shoes, but Mr. Smoke (he sounded like a robot, most likely due to emphysema) was particularly enamored with CDB2's silver Adidas golf shoes. First asking if they were comfortable (they are), then remarking that they looked very light (right again), and finally telling Trav about his friend in North Carolina who had a pair exactly like them. He went on about the shoes, and in an attempt to explain just how light they really were told Travis that if he were to try and throw one of his shoes, it would only go about a foot. Because it is that light. Ha! Mr. Smoke then began commenting on the materials of the shoes. (To his credit the shoes do look very different than normal golf shoes, mostly because of the different materials.) At this point, Trav and Mr. Smoke were still about 5 feet behind me and I was facing the other way trying not to laugh too much. Now, up until now the conversation had been mostly normal, but when Mr. Smoke asked Trav if he could feel his shoe a line was definitely crossed. Because Trav is such a nice guy (and was undoubtably shocked by the odd request) he said uhh, sure and mumbled something about the two different materials and how ventilated the shoes were. I knew I didn't want to miss this, so I glanced around just in time to Mr. Smoke down on one knee groping Trav's foot. Not just running a finger or two across the top of his foot, but literally squeezing Trav's foot like it was one of those stress balls. I have no idea what was said after this because I'm pretty sure I lost it and had walked away. Like I said, only a Broadmoore is there a chance you'll have your foot felt up.

In addition to this, there were a number of other very strange noises one never expects to hear on a golf course. Including but not limited to: an inordinate amount of barking/yipping dogs, owners yelling at said dogs (Sissy!!...Sissy!!), someone hammering some sheet metal, a helicopter, tornado sirens, a ban saw, and of course Mr. Smoke's robot-voice which surprisingly carried a long way. I'm sure there are more, but this post is out of control!



So there it is, a fairly decent description of all that is Broadmoore. Thinking of experiencing Broadmoore for yourself and taking in all its greatness? Don't bother; you'll be disappointed, underwhelmed, and confused. Confused about how and why Travis and I loved Broadmoore so much. Because, like I said, it's all about the memories. And I'm just glad I've got so many good Broadmoore memories.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Play Vintage!




Here at CDB, we like to have fun in all sorts of different ways. It seems we're always having some competition (CDBbucks), an ongoing inside joke (CDB, for one), and all kinds of different activities or events. Last summer we did the "Pink Shirt" thing (which was really a competition, an inside joke, and an activity combined) and the "Ugliest Golf Shirt" competition. It seems that one of this summer's activity is "Vintage Day." A few weeks ago, Travis had the brilliant idea that we should both buy an older (vintage) set of clubs and play a round or two with them. Of course, there are some people who want every technological advantage available when it comes to golf equipment, but CDB has a great love for the history of golf and an affinity for not only golf equipment throughout history but the culture, etiquette, and fashion. So this idea was something we definitely had to do. We both immediately started looking around for some older irons. Trav naturally lusted after some PING Eye2 irons and the first thing I searched for on eBay was "vintage Titleist irons." (This is not surprising because Trav currently plays some PING S57 irons and I play some Titleist AP1s.) Trav was able to find a good set of Eye2s on Craigslist and even talk the guy down, who had no idea what the clubs were worth. I bid on one of the first sets I saw on eBay, not really knowing what the hell I was bidding on; only that they were an old set of Titleist Tour Model irons. I soon found out that Titleist produced the "Tour Model" irons from 1979-1997, with different models coming out every one or two years. The set I won ($37.50 with shipping) were produced from 1982-1983. It is also important to note that PING introduced the Eye2 irons in 1982.

Because CDB likes to go all out, we'll both probably eventually have vintage everything (well, all that is somewhat practical that is). Additionally, Trav was able to find the PERFECT vintage PING bag and because his putter, Honey, is a PING BeCu Anser 4 he doesn't have to worry about finding a putter! I still haven't decided what vintag putter I would like, but I'm sure I'll find something pretty soon. I created the "Play Vintage!" postcard for a couple reasons; one, I just like creating graphics (especially CDB graphics!) and two, I was hoping to actually "mail" it to a few people. It's probably fairly safe to say that if you're reading this you can expect to receive something of that nature in the mail in the near future from CDB-East.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

CDB Logo

Once Travis and I decided to start this blog, one of the first things I realized was that we needed a logo, team colors, and maybe even a tag line or slogan; even if it was just something that we used on the blog. However, if you know anything about CDB, you know we would never settle for some simple graphics that we created with blogger. Oh no, that simply won't do. So, shortly after creating the blog I started trying to come up with a logo suitable for all that is CDB; you know, one that would make the CDB-Gods proud. So, where to start? First I started with the colors. Trav's favorite color is green and one of mine is orange so those two colors were an easy choice. Additionally, I have a golf shirt that is a dark slate-blue that we both like, which I was able to match. (and there's a funny story with that shirt; Trav was there when I bought it and he was jealous that they didn't have his size, I actually bought the last one. Because of this, we always referred to this shirt as the one-of-a-kind blue golf shirt until we were going to lunch one day and saw someone wearing the same shirt. Naturally it then became the two-of-a-kind shirt. Since then I've seen it about five other times, so it's actually quite common. But still a funny story...or at least a story anyway.) However, since creating the first logo this slate-blue has more or less been dropped. Mainly because four colors seems like one too many and if you read my previous post about TBC, you know that pink is now an official CDB color that we have integrated into our branding scheme. Why pink you ask? Well, not surprisingly there is a story with that too. At some point last spring when Travis and I were discussing golf attire (fashion?) when we both agreed that we would like to have a pink golf shirt. However, we felt that in order to wear a pink golf shirt, one had to have a decent golf game, which at the time we were not even close to having. This of course led to a competition; whoever was the first to break 90 would win the pink shirt of his choice. We were both hoping to break 90 on the mandate last year and we both came SO close with each of us shooting 90 once. The next real opportunity for both of us came in June on the Windmill Course at Indian Springs. I believe that I shot a 41 and Trav shot a 40 on the front nine. At the turn we were both so excited that we were almost assuredly going to break 90 on the same round. I don't think either one of us had shot over 50 on nine holes in a long time. Trav went on to shoot an 85 or something and I ended up with a 92 I think. Horrible. So Trav won the pink shirt and I would have to wait a few weeks until I broke 90 at Broadmoore with an 83 on Schafer's birthday. Which turned out to be a pretty amazing round for both of us because Trav also shot his lowest score to date, 77. Anyway, back to the pink. It was only natural when we found the pink TBC ball that we had to adopt pink as a CDB accent color, thus dropping slate-blue as a color.

So here's a few images showing the evolution of the CDB logo.
The first "finished" logo. A few things to notice here: I incorporated both mine and Trav's ball marks (the way we mark our golf ball). I mark mine with a red (which doesn't look good with our other colors) circle just above and to the left of "Titleist." At the time I made this version, Travis was playing a Callaway ball and colored in the three "As" with green; illustrated here by coloring in the "g" and "o" with green. However, he has since switched to a Titleist which only has the "E" to color in and is not nearly as noticeable. So, he now just marks through Titleist with a green line. Thus rendering this logo obsolete. Also, the slate-blue/gray box along with the green line is meant to resemble a golf flag.


I don't really remember why I decided to try something different or where the idea came from, but the second "generation" of the CDB logo is very different and has many variations. These are not all the variations I have, just a nice sampling.











As of now, the last one is the "official" CDB logo. One interesting thing with this logo is the diamond behind the "db" is one of the diamonds from the TBC logo. You may also notice that the first logo with the diamond actually still has the top of the TBC crown as well as the diamond. At one point during the process, I extended the lines/edge of the diamond to change the color and immediately thought it looked like might look like argyle. Well, CDB loves argyle, so Travis and I agreed to keep the argyle. A few changes later, the CDB logo was done. For now.

You may have noticed that most sports teams have multiple logos. Well, CDB is no different. Plus, I just wanted to keep trying different logos for different uses. In this case, I wanted to create something for the title/header of the blog. You can see the finished product at the top of the page/blog. This logo is similar to the first logo, sans ball marks. It also has the CDB tag line, It's the Good Life, which is taken from the Frank Sinatra song and is just pretty appropriate for CDB. We tried a few different slogans but this was by far the best. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

TBC

Here at CDB we have many inside jokes, CDB-isms, acronyms, and nicknames for a lot of different things (check out the glossary for a few). One of the newest and perhaps the most brilliant and fortuitous inside jokes/acronyms we've had in a long time is TBC. The Birdie Club. How did we come up with this AMAZINGLY perfect acronym for CDB you ask? Well, it was a Fairfaxian Sunday like we hadn't seen in a while AND it was one of two perfect Fall golf experiences we had. It was a drizzly 54 degrees when we teed off on number one at Early Wine North. It was our first time playing the North course and looking down that first, narrow tree-lined fairway we really liked what we saw. Even more so after I watched my first drive carve narrowly along the trees on the right side and draw back into the middle of the fairway. Trav's didn't draw back. But he got things going with a Bad Tiger on his next shot. On the very next hole, a long par 5, CDB2 was on in regulation and made an unbelievable 40+ foot putt for birdie and what was probably the best shot of the day. I don't remember when it happened, but at some point Trav was lucky enough to find a Titleist ProV1x. Not only is that the best ball one can find on a golf course (or buy, for that matter), but this particular ProV1x had a very special marking on its side. A pink crown with "TBC" inside it. Upon our initial inspection, we both agreed that it was probably the most unique ball logo/stamp we'd ever seen and we loved it. Of course, Travis says "I wonder what TBC stands for?" to which I promptly ansered "The Birdie Club." It's no surprise that we both loved this too, maybe Trav more than me only because he was actually IN the club and he found the ball.
Since then, TBC has become almost as ubiquitous in CDB-speak as baffy, mandate, or fairfaxian. Because membership in TBC , which stipulates that one must record at least one birdie (one stroke below par) on any hole, isn't transferable from round to round, one is always trying to gain membership into the very exclusive club.

We liked the TBC idea and logo so much, that we decided to incorporate TBC into CDB-speak and adopt the crown/TBC logo into our own line of CDB logos. It was also at this point we formally began using the color pink in our branding. Previously, pink was an unofficial CDB color but has been a team favorite since our pink-shirt competition. Here is the official CDB/TBC logo. Thanks to April for getting such a great photo of the ball which allowed me to clean up the logo in Gimp. It should be noted that I added CDB to the diamonds on the top of the crown. Also, in Trav's post about his new putter, if you look closely at the last picture you will notice that he's rolling the TBC Ball! Another great shot April!





Wednesday, October 14, 2009

CDB 4ever

(To the AMAZING music of Cowboys 4ever)

The fairway wind touches our skin
Another golfing morning begins
On number one with the rise of the sun
We are golfers having fun
Hang’em high, Pro V1s to the sky
We draw, we fade, and follow the line
It’s in our soul
The feel of the roll
putter, irons, baffy and driver
We are CDB forever
we play today, again tomorrow
The open tee box is our home
All that we know, get the ball in the hole
We are golfers to the bone
Hang’em high, Pro V1s to the sky
We draw, we fade, and follow the line
it’s in our soul
The feel of the roll
putter, irons, baffy and driver
We are CDB forever
Riding a cart across the plains
But we don't mind to walk, in the rain
We try not to get in the sand
But if we do we get back to green land
Hang’em high, Pro V1s to the sky
We draw, we fade, and follow the line
it’s in our soul
The feel of the roll
putter, irons, baffy and driver
We are CDB forever
We are, we are
CDB forever

Saturday, October 10, 2009

CDB2's "new to me" flat stick

For the past few weeks I have noticed that my YES Callie putter has not felt solid. When I tap the head of the putter on the green it's been making a clunky sound that has progressively gotten worse and worse. My putts sound a little off too, and with CBD1 getting better and better I can't afford to lose strokes because of a bum putter (at least that's what I am blaming it on).

I have been look for a few weeks for a PING putter. Everything from the new redwood line to the older anser and zing styles. I haven't really looked at any other brands, mostly because I love the PING history and their reputation for making high quality equipment. Plus, after getting my i10s and my G10 driver, I am staying consistent with my brands (it's like wearing puma socks with Nike shoes....it's just faux pas).

My search for a putter came to end earlier this week when I found a practically mint condition PING anser 4. This putter is not any anser 4. It's a BeCu (Beryllium Copper) putter, that they don't make anymore, and I think they are very cool. I purchased the putter on Ebay from a seller in Phoenix, and it showed up on my doorstep today! This is perfect timing for my round with CDB1 and Nate tomorrow at Lincoln West. I've been putting around all afternoon on my rug in the living room and have loved every minute of it. I had my wife take some pics, enjoy.

This just added (which makes me very happy). While doing some research, I found this:
The overwhelming majority of old, non-stainless steel Ping putters are made of a Manganese Bronze alloy (like battleship propellers). They are not Beryllium Copper. Ping did make a few BeCu and BeNi putters but far fewer than what you see for sale. Don't pay for premium metal that isn't. Unless it says BeCu on it, as the original Ping BeCu putters did, the only way to know for sure is to retumble the head and check the raw metal color. Assume that the putter is not really BeCu.
My putter came with the original grip that stated the head was made from BeCu :).