January 2026 – Old Memorial was my first course played in 2026 on my way to play 1,000 before hanging them up. OM was part of a great Tampa winter trip – playing three new courses – which gets me to 725 to date. Need to be at 750 by the end of 2026 to hit my projection.
Have been hankering to play OM for a while. Have a buddy that is a seasonal member, but haven’t been able to put it together until now. We played with my TG buddy Charles – who caddied at OM and who’s club has a reciprocal with so it was a a great play with a couple of great guys. It’s widely considered to be THE course (or next to The Concession, THE second course) that is THE must play in the area. I’ll cop out on a side-by-side comparison as both are great tracks you should make the effort to get on and if joining a club The Concession is better for those that are in the Bradenton/Sarasota area and Old Memorial in the Tampa/Clearwater area. The Concession is tougher though Old Memorial is not a push over by any means – 137 slope from the Medalist tees which we played.
I talk about the area throughout the blog so won’t discuss any more here. What’s more, we are in the middle of the ICE bullshit in MN and have a lot of opinions on this but won’t go into here as well. I also came home and am enjoying over a foot+ of snow here in Philly area while writing this so may go back to actively looking at moving (retiring) to the Tampa area but am expecting my first grandchild so probably have to pause for a while. I WILL talk about the following though:
- Best men’s locker rooms
- Follow-up on my pre-season NFL predictions
- The upcoming year of golf for me
- And of course the course
Best Men’s Locker Rooms: Golf Digest just did a ranking of the top 25 men’s locker rooms and OM comes in at #22 and agree it is right there. From that article I agree on the locker rooms ranked though not necessarily in the same order. They rank:
23. Olympia Fields C.C.
22. Old Memorial G.C.
21. Baltusrol G.C.
20. Pine Valley G.C.
16. Garden City G.C.
11. Forest Creek G.C.
9. Sea Island
8. Oakmont C.C.
7. Merion G.C.
6. Winged Foot G.C.
Love all those. I’ll add two other men’s clubs (since every part of the clubhouse is a men’s grill/locker room): Squires (outside Philly) and Butler National. Others: Quail Valley (check out the animal heads), Birmingham Country Club (MI), Atlantic City Country Club, Hollywood Golf Club (they have a separate men’s locker building!), and Llanerch CC (outside Philly). There is certainly a recency bias here as many of the clubs I’ve played years ago might very well rank here, but I forget and these are memorable for one reason or another. I’ll update as I go forward or go back.
Follow-up on my pre-season NFL predictions. Two things here, as I’m writing this, the season is not even over (I’m watching the Broncos vs. Cheatriots as we speak which just ended in a pathetic 10-7 final). However, I missed by a wide margin on any of the final four so can grade myself before the conference championships are even over. In my Lost Rail review I made the following prediction about the 2025 NFL season:
Will the Eagles repeat? Well I do think they lost some depth on both offense and defense and have been lucky with injuries in the past few years. Plus, they once again have a brutal schedule and will have a bullseye on them all season. BUT! They have the most talented team and everyone keeps doubting Hurts so I think he will have a chip on his shoulder and an MVP-like season. They will break the streak of no repeat East winners as I think the Commandos will take a step back (all that age they added is risky for both injury and decline reasons). I also think Jayden will suffer a bit of a sophomore slump, they really won some lucky and close, close games last year so will revert to the mean on that and they also have a tougher schedule this year. I think they will tie the Eagles at 11-6 but the record in like games will favor the Eagles. Cowboys will suck even with a full season of Dak. And how ’bout that Micah trade?!?
They end up behind the Giants who, to my delight, will win just enough games and see just enough in Jaxson Dart that they will talk themselves right out of the equation for a true franchise quarterback in the 2026 draft ensuring years and years more of suck.
Lions are still the class of the North, the Rams avoid injury and win just enough games to take a crap West division and Tampa wins the South. I am officially giving up on the Falcons who constantly burn me. Wildcards will be the Commandos, Vikings and Packers. Saints get the top pick.
Bills once again win a weak East in the AFC. Ravens are stacked in the North. Houston in the South and the Chiefs win the West. Bengals, Jags (where I think Coen will have a huge positive impact on Lawrence) and the Broncos take the final spot. Steelers (with a cooked Rodgers) compete with the Brownies for last and the Jets are as usual God awful.
I think again it will be the Chiefs and Ravens in the AFC Championship and I’m tired of wrongly predicting a KC regression (either during the season or in the playoffs) so will have them back in the Supe. I think the Eagles and Lions make it to the Championship game in Detroit where the Eagles eke out a win and repeat in Santa Clara with their youth just outlasting the Chiefs – this time much closer though.
So it won’t be the Chiefs vs. Eagles. And Jalen did not play like he had a chip on his shoulder and struggled to the point of me wanting Tanner McKee to start a game (he did in the garbage game and sucked) and the OC getting fired (he was). I did hit the Eagles’ record on the nose and them repeating as NFC East champions, the Commandos taking a step back (though they did worse than even I predicted), the Giants doing just good enough to see Dart as the answer at QB (but we’ll see whether he’s the reason the G-Men continue on their suck journey) and the Cowboys sucking and me enjoying the Big D’s D without Micah. Again Ha Ha on that trade.
I was in on the Bears two season’s ago so missed by a year, the NFC South sucks so who cares what turd floated to the top there and the Rams/Seahawks and surprisingly the Niners were all in for the West. In the AFC, the Patsies outperformed my expectations, who cares that the Stillers won the North (they still suck), the Texans and Jags ruled the South as I predicted and while I got the Broncs right, I flip flopped the Chargers and Chiefs. If the Super Bowl is anything like the crap I’m watching now on the AFC Championship game, I will be trying to stay awake and watching from home.
The upcoming golf year: In my Hazeltine review at the end of 2025, I discuss my upcoming golf plans for this year. Not a lot of updates from then except the courses we plan to play in Cabo have been updated – adding Sol Mar and Cabo del Sol to the Diamante courses. For our annual guy’s trip to the Canadian Rockies, we’re booked at Banff and Silvertip and will add Canmore once they open times. Discussed playing a few more great courses and maybe a trip to Nashville and OKC.
Old Memorial: What a great course – though it’s just outside my top 100. We had single bag caddies and they were great. The overall experience is great. Talked about the men’s locker room – great. Conditioning – great. Design – great. Great, great, great, great, great. The course is annually (bi-annually I guess) ranked in the top ten or so courses in Florida by Golf Digest but is not even inside their second 200 national ranking and is only tied for 185th on the Golfweek Modern Golf Courses ranking. So I might put it on my underrated courses ranking for the year, though those in the know, know it’s a great course. Let’s go right into the hole-by-hole then.
The above is courtesy of the Greenside Gallery which you can order here. OM is less than 15 minutes from TPA and while tucked into an old school neighborhood, you’d never know it when on the course. Also, note the sand. There is a ton of sand so bring your sand game. I didn’t play great but didn’t suck and that was mostly because my sand game was okay and I had a great caddy helping me line up my putts. As noted, we played the Medalist tees (6,542 yards/71.2 rating/137 slope). All distances below are measured from there.
Hole 1 (374 yards/par four/#9 handicap): As you see sand is not a subtlety at OM and smacks you in the face from the very first tee box. Chop off as much of the sand as possible on the left and don’t pussy out and leave it too far right or there’s more sand. I was a pussy but did not put it into the sand. Because I’m a pussy, my friend’s call me Whiskers – which is from one of the funniest SNL skits of all time.
Hole 3 (545 yards/par five/#3 handicap): Missed the second (427 yards/par four/#5 handicap). Here’s three. Approach. Sand everywhere. I would hit the dreaded Lucifer on the first three holes at OM: 6-6-6.
Hole 5 (432 yards/par four/#1 handicap): I missed the fourth (185 yards/par three/#13 handicap) and I promise to do better. The 5th is fucking hard and the first five holes are a brutal starter and you will think you’re at The Concession but OM does ease up. Through five, I was already a shitsational 7 over but would do better from six on out.
Hole 6 (343 yards/par four/#11 handicap): Intimidating drive but not a hard golf hole – unless you suck which I do. Another double.
The approach on six and you see the sand that is everywhere.
Hole 7 (134 yards/par three/#17 handicap): Was gonna use this as the feature photo but used six instead. Both give a good feel for what you’ll experience at OM. Would fire off three straight bogeys to close the front nine (at least they weren’t doubles).
Hole 8 (310 yards/par four/#15 handicap): Don’t go left (I didn’t). Short hole and if it wasn’t for a damn three putt, would’ve had my first par.
Hole 9 (514 yards/par five/#7 handicap): Told you the sand was a bitch. This is from my second shot. GIR and three putt.
Hole 10 (404 yards/par four/#12 handicap): Dogleg left. No sand until the approach and then it is like the fucking Sahara – another bogey.
These are two members who were Cantor-Fitzgerald brokers and who died during the 9/11 WTC attacks. Reminder that you need to live life like tomorrow may be your last day and that we should not trust/accept Muslims who refuse to assimilate to our Western values. P.S. – I wonder whether this was a bad copperist or if the one dude had a huge, disproportionately large left hand.
Hole 11 (172 yards/par three/#14 handicap): I hate high-tension wires that bespoil the views for beautiful golf courses, beach scenes, my fucking backyard, et al. Courses, residents, et al should be able to work with the local utility to bury these ugly fuckers.
Hole 12 (568 yards/par five/#4 handicap): Not sure if you can make it out but there is a short cut fairway to the left that we all successfully took. Not sure how I fucked it up after hitting a great drive to there but another double.
Hole 13 (296 yards/par four/#18 handicap): I love a short par four and this is a great design as it is wrought with danger making hazards not distance the challenge. On in two and my first birdie of the season!
Hole 14 (389 yards/par four/#8 handicap): Had a real nice PBFU and a double. Again you see the sand if you fade at all – which I think I did.
Hole 15 (391 yards/par four/#2 handicap): Tough golf hole am not wildly upset with a two putt double that was a net par in our match.
Hole 16 (504 yards/par five/#6 handicap): Clean off the drive from sand but to hit the green you will need to go over two traps fronting the green. A bogey with a two putt.
Hole 17 (159 yards/par three/#16 handicap): Kind of a Redan with a sand moat around it. Par from the sand. And unfortunately I missed the 18th which is a 395-yard par four that I would again double and end up with a 49/46 for a 95 on a tough but not outrageously tough course. I definitely put OM up with the top tier of private clubs and think it should enjoy a little more love from the golf mags. The overall experience is great so I recommend to get on if you can.
Golf Scrapbook 