About Me

I learned this great game from my grandpa Dave Thimmes (aka Grandpa Lego- as they always had Lego's to play with at their house). Grandpa Lego introduce me and my brother Dave at Lancaster Country Club- Lancaster, Ohio- a classic Donald Ross design in the Appalachian foothills of southeast Ohio. I was born in 1977 which currently makes 32 years and I am now married with an 18 month old son (Teddy) and another boy (Sammy) due in September. The reason I write this is 1) I don't get much time to golf anymore and 2) I hope to blog about introducing my boys to golf here before too long.

I currently play to a 10-handicap. Prior to Teddy I was as low as a 7 which is what I played to in high school. On that note, I played high school golf at Granville on Granville Golf Club- another hilly Donald Ross design.

I've always loved golf but only recently discovered this world of attempting to play the Golf Digest Top 100 list- public and private. I read A Golfer's Dream by Larry Berle and felt a little inspired. By no means do I think I have the networking prowess that Larry does so I'm setting the Top 100 Public courses as my goal and we'll see if that expands. I currently have Scioto, Arcadia Bluffs, Kiawah- Ocean, The Golf Club and Muirfield Village completed. More to come....

Scioto Country Club

I had the great fortune, thanks to my inlaws, to play Scioto Country Club. It was May 18th, 2006. I have the date memorized as it was an outing organized to host my groomsmen and best man the day before my wedding.

The day could not have been more perfect. There was not a cloud in the sky and it was sunny, 72, and no humidity. Unbeknownst to my wife, I think I may have enjoyed it more than my actual wedding!

Due to the fact my father-in-law isn't a golfer (unbelievable right?), we were hosted Bryan Frye and his father, Mister Frye (sorry). In the two foursomes were Mike Rovins (Rovi), Rob Irwin (Bobbo), Scott Miller (Millhouse), Jay Musser (Muss6k)and my brother and perennial best man Dave Irwin (divers). Side note: I don't call any friends by their given name- all have nicknames. We were fortunate to have two great forecaddies for the day- one college student and one law student at Ohio State. Everything about the course is perfect. Perfect clubhouse, perfect range, perfect stag bar, perfect putting green next to the first tee with a large flagpole overlooking the entire course.

I tend to be a visual person and I can still remember just about every hole on this course even though that was the first and continues to be the only time I've played it. The first hole is a beautiful opening tee shot right behind the beautiful clubhouse. It's a slight left dogleg heading south from the clubhouse. The second hole drives over a creek with an uphill approach to the green. I said I remember every hole but there a few hazy ones here. Start back in with the arguably signature hole in the 8th. There is a creek that cuts across the fairway from right to left and empties into a mid-sized lake with a canal (almost an english style burn) that loops the green. This creates an almost island fairway right in front of the green that leaves room for a layup for those smart enough to not go for the green. The front nine finishes out with a nice uphill par 3 guarded on all sides by four white sand bunkers.

On the back nine, fast-forward to holes 11, 12 and 13 that border Lane Avenue separated by an Arlington wall. Twelve is a rolling par 5 that is one of the only holes the public is able to see from the road. The threat of pushing your drives on 12 and 13 into an oncoming windshield is always in the back of your mind. The fourteenth is a long par 3 coming south again along Riverside Dr. Hole 17 is another par three over the same creek as #8 where the creek is expanded to a small pool. The finishing hole is a long par five coming straight into the clubhouse.



At the end of the day, I was very pleased to finish with an 84 and the low-round of the my groomsmen and if I remember correctly tying Bryan.