Brennan's Blog - Honda Classic

I apologize to all the loyal readers for not having a caddy blog the first few weeks of the year. Not sure there is a good excuse just that things have been very busy on the road this year.

I think as a Canadian getting to watch the Olympics the past few weeks has made us all very proud. With a few glitches in getting the games started they turned out very well. What a finish last Sunday!!

We all know how important the gold medal is in hockey but what a way to finish the games! Had to be one of the best hockey games I have ever seen. It was great for Canada and great for hockey. I see there were more than 27 million Americans who watched the game which is better than the World Series and the NBA Finals. It was a great showcase for the sport and lets hope that momentum will carry over to the rest of the NHL season.

Speaking of the NHL, today is always a fun day with the NHL trade deadline. I always enjoy TSN full day coverage of the trades!
With so many teams this year with a chance to make the playoffs, I think it will be interesting. It is tough for teams to unload good players when you have an opportunity to make the playoffs. I believe it sends a bad signal to the fans.

Enough of the hockey, back to golf and this week it is the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. PGA National is the host course and is also home to the PGA of America, an organization that I have been a member for the past 12 years. This could be one of the toughest courses that not many people know about. You always hear about people going away on golf vacations to Myrtle Beach, or Ponte Vedra but this place is great. There are several courses on the property and with the way the wind blows down here,  they are very challenging! Like most Florida courses there is very little elevation change on the property. They make courses difficult with placement of ponds and traps.

PGA National has a lot of water and is also quite long, thus a very challenging course when the wind blows. The course is designed with windy conditions in mind so if we get a calm day you will see some very good scores. So far this week the winds have been blowing 40 mph.

The Bear Trap is the Amen Corner of PGA National. It consists of holes 15 through 17. Number 15 is a 175 yard par three that is guarded by water on the front and all around the right side with a long skinny green. The prevailing wind is into your face which makes the hole play quite a bit longer than the yardage! The bailout area is left to avoid the water but there is a large bunker there which grabs most of the balls and then the bunker shot goes towards the water. Like a lot of the shots out here you need to focus on your target and hit a solid shot.

Number 16 is a great par 4, normally just a three wood off the tee as you are looking for a 270 yard shot. Water runs across the fairway that prevents most players from hitting driver. The second shot is a mid iron to a green with a large swale on it. Once again when the wind is whipping, it makes for a very challenging hole. You also have the 17th hole lurking right ahead and that may play on some players minds!

Number 17 is another par 3 around 190 yards that pretty much is an island green. There is water everywhere but long thru the center of the green and that is where a perfectly placed bunker is located. You will see a lot of balls in this trap but it is not a very good spot to be. Once again you are playing back towards the water which makes the shot that much more difficult. When the greens get firm and the pin placement is in the back right position on Sunday, it separates the winners from the normal player. For good reason The Bear Trap is named after Jack Nicklaus who lives down here in West Palm Beach. He will be playing in the pro am with Drew Brees.

Looking forward to a couple of good weeks here in South Florida and hope we can get some warm weather. The entire country has had some crazy weather this year and lets hope the warmth will come back to Florida these next few weeks!

All the Best,
Brennan