The Triple Upgrade

I never get sick of Vegas. If someone mentions that they want to go, I am usually the first one to speak up and say that I am in. Often, my buddies will throw around the idea of a guys trip. I've been to a couple. I've only ever gone to Vegas once with Lola, and that was for a wedding.

This most recent trip did not go as planned, in that I had visions of a similar trip two years ago when I went to my first WPBT with none other than Dr. Fag. For months he guaranteed me that he was going, and for months I held off booking my trip in anticipation of booking some sort of package deal with him as we did two years ago. Yada yada yada, he bailed. No big deal, seriously. There's always next time, Vegas isn't going anywhere and neither is the WPBT from what I can tell.

So I booked my flight two days before I was to leave. I didn't book a room and was a bit worried about where I would stay. I had a few options and as always people were very generous and supportive. Specifically, Recess stepped up and said I could stay with him on night #1 at the IP. LJ said she would offer her place up for night 2 and 3 but then followed that up with "Lucko said no guys." When I mentioned this to Lola... she agreed. Weird. We laughed, obviously it was out of the question, but it was generous nontheless.

Anyway, the IP is not the best place to stay, but it was right in the action and how could I pass up a free night? Recess said it best "the casino is a dump, but the rooms are perfectly fine."

I tried something new this time. The carry on only strategy. At one point I was going to bring my own clubs to the first annual WPBT Invitational Golf Tournament. I really have a problem with using rental clubs. They usually suck. I think I have rented clubs maybe one other time in my life... in twenty years of golf. Heck, I even brought my own golf clubs on my honeymoon to Hawaii three years ago and I only played one round at Wailea (gold course). So yeah, I am a bit of a club snob... if there is even a chance that I can bring my own clubs, I will.

This time was different. I didn't want to have to check my clubs, wait for them on the other side and consequently cut into my drinking time at the IP hooker bar. Not to mention avoid the chance of them getting damaged or lost or stolen. For the $35 rental fee that CK arranged, it was a no brainer. The only downside was that I was going to be without my driver and putter for the big tournament. I knew that this would cost my team a few shots, and evidentally it did.

The upside was that I could stumble off the plane (yeah I had a few warm up vodkas) and walk directly to the cab line. In the cab and over to the IP in less than 30 minutes from landing?

That's like holing out from the fairway.

Writing this recap three weeks later is starting to get difficult. I know there will be key moments that I will miss, and others that will be left out intentionally. Those times are often the best times. The times where you just had to be there. There is no other way to describe it.

When I woke up Friday morning I was working on three hours sleep. Speaker was texting me to get downstairs as he kindly offered to pick me up. I jumped in the shitty IP shower. This shower was one that was either in desperate need of draino or a complete replacement altogether. Again, how can I complain. RR had already been living there for a week and I wasn't about to be ungrateful guest and bitch about something as lame as a clogged bathtub.

I threw on my shorts and brought my rain pants just in case. A big downside of only bringing a carry on bag is that I had to pack effciently. My rain pants were the perfect solution with the pending weather. Being a Canadian and having golfed in ALL types of weather systems (yes, even snow) I was not worried about the cold weather... but I hate the rain.

Thankfully, the rain held off and I sported the shorts partially for the shock value and partially because I really didn't have any other choice. I didn't bring any other pants that weren't jeans! So I sort of forced my own dress code with that plan and sure enough, the rain pants were pulled out and slapped on after the first hole.

My team was a lot of fun. JoeSpeaker is a real character. We drank and laughed and drank some more. Oh and there was golf shots. There were some beauties. Astin's buddy was also on our team. We were a man short, which really sunk our chances. We were a shot short on every single attempt. I am sure you, the educated reader, can understand how that this would be a disadvantage. Only getting to see two putts instead of three was obviously tougher.

We weren't going to let that get to us though. We were all very competitive and wanted to take this thing down, three man style. We started off well (so we thought) when we continuously made pars on the first 3 holes. With the handicapping system that BamBam put in place I knew we would be in tough. Astin's buddy was a decent player, but he just couldn't find the club face early on. Joe and I held us in there and on the fourth hole we had an eagle putt from just off the green. We two putted and we were finally in the red. Astin and April were railing the putt, but unfortunately all three of us left it a bit short.

All three of us needed some aiming juice but there was still no sign of the cart chick. April said she would have brought us all beers but we forgot to arrange that before we got to the course. Usually I am all over that sort of stuff and have the cooler preloaded and ready to go. I guess the foggyness from night #1 had clouded my focus on the important stuff - more drinking.

So we nursed our caesars/bloody mary's until we finally found the cart girl on the 6th hole. Speaker piped one down the middle and we almost hit the group in front of us who were also stopped for some well deserved beverages. They were leading the tournament. In fact I am pretty sure they lead it wire to wire.

Putting is always the key to winning these types of scramble tournaments. If you can't drain the odd 20-30 footer, you have no chance. If you don't make every single par putt inside 10 feet, you have no chance. Sure there are those rare occurances where you miss one and make a bogey. All four (in our case three) putts somehow doen't find the hole and you take your medicine like men. Still winning it usually involves making up for those types of errors with either a chip in or a tight shot to a tough pin.

We pushed on. Loaded our coolers with beer and continued to laugh and drink. Speaker hit some great drives and somehow both of us hit it into the rough on the long drive hole. Congrats to F-train on taking it down.

Wow, I just realized that I am totally rambling about the golf. I tend to do that. Golf is one of those things that I can recall so easily. It's always been that way for me. Ask me about the best round of my life and I can recall every putt, every shot, every decision. It's just that way.

So if you are still reading up til now, congrats. I won't fault you if you have skimmed most of that golf talk.

At the end of the golf tournament we realized we had finished second and paid up our debts. Believe it or not, this would be my first gambling payout of the entire trip. I didn't make a single bet on night #1. Instead I decided to drink and do a lot of people watching. I caught up with Pauly and met Bammer for the first time along with a handful of others like OhCaptain, Peaker and Lightning36 to name a few. LJ and Recess were just as I remembered them and they continued to take there jabs as they always do.

There were many more familiar faces this time and I didn't feel like I need to introduce myself as often. Which was nice., but not always necessary anyway. Bloggers are so easy to approach, and they will often approach you. Many times followed by a round of drinks.

It felt a bit odd to show up to Vegas solo, but I knew when I arrived I would not be alone.

When I first started to write this little recap I thought I would pound it out in one post... but my writing stamina is one that is pretty pathetic and I've decided to take a break!

Come back soon for part two.

Later.