Champ: SHEEBZ
HSI IX
Location: Keystone, CO
Date: July 29 - August 2, 2009
2nd Place: NICK
3rd Place: POWELL
4th Place: JJ
Stats
Score details
HSI VIII was won by Nick so he got the opportunity to plan HSI IX. The last time that Nick had the opportunity to plan HSI, he chose to take us to Winter Park, Colorado, for HSI IV. Nick loves mountain golf, so it was no surprise when he selected Keystone, Colorado, as the destination for HSI IX.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Somehow it worked out this year that we all decided to go out a day earlier than normal. Nick left Maryville on Tuesday morning to drive out to Colorado. Nick, Powell, and Sheebz all got on planes that afternoon/evening to fly to Denver. Our flights arrived around 8 p.m. that evening and Nick picked us up at the airport and then we drove to Downtown Denver and checked into Comfort Inn in Downtown Denver.
After
checking in, we walked down
16th Street Mall in
Denver to find a spot for Champions dinner. We ended up at
Rock Bottom Brewery where we sat down and enjoyed some good food and
plenty of the local brews. Sheebz told stories of the "Big
Computer" at his office and Nick shared a tale about a Native American
that went for a swim. We made a scene in the outdoor patio due to
the laughter. After dinner we went back to the hotel and turned in
for the night.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Since
we all came out a day early, we had an entire day to kill before the
first official HSI IX round would be held. Therefore, we decided
to play a practice round to get acclimated to the altitude. We
returned to a course that we had played back in HSI IV,
Fossil Trace Golf Club.
We thought this would be a good indication of how the rest of the week
would go when we started playing our official HSI IX rounds. We
all shot relatively well, but it was apparent that Nick was going to be
a tough person to beat. Nick led the scoring with an 82 (42 - 40),
followed by Powell at 85 (44 41), JJ with 89 (46 - 43) and Sheebz
at 90 (43 - 47). The weather was absolutely perfect during the
round and we were all hoping that the rain would hold out for our next
three days.
After the round we grabbed a quick lunch and then took the hour long drive to Keystone, CO, where we checked into the condo that Nick had arranged. The condo was incredible. It was a two story house with a master bedroom on the main floor and then two more bedrooms in the basement. The basement had a game room with a combo pool / ping pong table that would get a lot of use over the next four nights. The main floor had an open kitchen, living room, dining room area with an HD Television hanging over the fireplace. There was also a big patio off the back that had great views.
After checking in, we drove into the local town and went to a grocery store and a liquor store. That night, Nick grilled some great burgers and brats for our dinner. Then we spent the next several hours playing ping pong and pool. For the week, Sheebz was UNDEFEATED at ping pong. Hopefully, this would carry over to the golf course.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The first round of HSI IX began at the Keystone Ranch at 8:00 a.m. We were hoping that the rain would hold off during our round, but we didn't get that lucky. On the fourth hole we stopped for about thirty minutes due to concerns over lightning. We got wet most of the round and finished up at around 1 p.m. after a long, wet round. We then proceeded to Keystone River course where we had lunch before teeing off at 2:05 p.m. for our second round. We got rained on the entire front nine, much of this rain coming down very hard. The weather cleared up for the second nine and actually got pretty nice.
That
evening we were tired from a long day of wet golf. We went into
Dillon, CO, and at at Old Chicago where we enjoyed pizza and several
pitchers of beer. It was a great dinner and a great place to go
and chill out after our first day of golf. After dinner we went
back to the condo to prep for day two.
Friday, July 31, 2009
We
got to sleep in this morning because our first round wasn't scheduled
until 10:30 a.m. at The
Raven Golf Club at Three Peaks. As soon as we drove up to the
course, it was apparent that this was going to be a fantastic round of
golf. This was a course that was all inclusive - one price
included the round of golf and all of the food and non alcohol drinks
for the entire day. The views and hole layouts of this course were
incredible. The ninth hole was very memorable - a 500 yard par
four where the tee shot was a drop of at least 100 feet. The
weather was better than day one, but it did rain a little bit.
When the round was over, we decided to take advantage of the free food by going into the cafe and ordering a bunch of food for a late lunch. We ended up hanging out there for a couple of hours enjoying the food and sharing some more pitchers of beer. We then went back to the condo and spent the rest of the night enjoying the pool table and ping pong table.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
This morning was one of the more interesting mornings in the history of HSI. Our first round was scheduled at Keystone River for 7:35 a.m. We arrived at the course around 7 a.m. We were told that our round would be delayed. It wasn't because of rain, but it was because of all the ice on the course. The temperature was a nice 37 degrees. We ended up teeing off around 7:45 a.m. and the first several holes were chilly. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the ground was very wet for the first four holes. By the end of the first nine holes, the weather was turning perfect.
After the round at The River, we drove to The Ranch for lunch and to prepare for our final round of HSI IX. We teed off round five at 1:35 p.m. and experienced an entire round of absolutely perfect weather. This is what we had been hoping for during the entire event. There were no clouds in the sky and the temperature was perfect. When the round was over we went back to the condo and then drove into Keystone and went to dinner at Snake River Saloon in Keystone. This was a nice restaurant and a dingy bar in the same building. Dinner was great and then we hung out in the bar for a few hours before taking a taxi back to the condo.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
We got up this morning and spent some time cleaning up the condo in preparation of our departure. We had the trophy presentation on the back patio of the condo. We then drove to Denver airport and dropped Powell off to catch his flight. Nick, Sheebz, and JJ then went to Denny's for breakfast. After breakfast, Nick dropped JJ and Sheebz at the airport for their flights. Another very successful HSI had come to and end.
HSI X
Current plans are still being discussed for next year. Sheebz will be making the arrangements. Tentative plans are to make a trip in the October, 2010, timeframe.