Field Notes: NOLA - Walker Simas
Friday Evening: October 13th
Early dinner consisted of the remaining half of a pub sub and fridge clearance. The result? Utter chaos. The final tally: Roasted sweet potato & red onion, banana with honey & nutmeg, nearly an entire container of sautéed spinach (garlic not optional), and the aforementioned cajun chicken sub consumed earlier. Drone batteries, camera, and laptop charging, done. Laundry and packing, done. Lights out.
Saturday Morning: October 14th
4:30 wakeup call to make it out to Bayshore Blvd by 5am. I stumble to turn off my alarms and head straight for the kitchen. Water, salt, down. Water, salt, down. Big blueberry had been patiently waiting in the freezer and it was time for action. Banana, big blue, almond butter, cinnamon, pinch of salt, & h20. Down the hatch. Straight to the stretching station for 10 mins, throw some kettlebell and abs in there, and we’re off for a run. The Tampa bay this time of year is beautiful. Early mornings can be eerie, and this one was. When I make it to my halfway point I take a staircase down to the water’s edge, escape from the street lights, and look towards the mouth of the bay- dark, with a glow of street lights bordering each side.
Off to the airport, now. Sunrise is kicking this am. Blues, oranges, and pinks are constantly moving around as we pull up to TPA. Off to CLT then Crescent City.
Saturday Afternoon: October 14th
Landed in New Orleans. Bags didn’t make it on the 10 minute layover, so looks like I’m walking today with a camera. Henry picks me up in the rental car wearing a white shirt with black stripes and a blue Goodwalk hoodie. I’m also wearing a white shirt with black stripes and a blue Goodwalk hoodie. Headed straight for Bahn Mi Boys, we agree on not walking around as twins all trip. Bahn Mi Boys is connected to a gas station (elite), and outfitted with a dozen+ protein options stuffed inside crusty bread with carrots, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeño, & mayo. Those were gone in about 5 minutes and we’re off to Metairie CC to see some Seth Raynor action.
The course occupied a very unfortunate piece of land- and without knowing its history, I’d say that it had far more to do with what was built around it after the fact. A highway, and surrounding infrastructure on the front nine made you feel like you were going to the bathroom with someone else standing in the stall.
That being said, the golf course was incredible given its constraints. The greens were miraculous and engaging, the conditioning was nearly perfect, the bunkering was fun, and they had moved around some dirt to create texture particularly on the back nine. Some of the templates really showed off and made for some sweet shot options.
Saturday Evening: October 14th
Saba was the dinner spot tonight. Israeli food with wood-fired pita, pimpin’ hummus, carrots, cold roasted eggplant and red pepper lutenitsa, harissa chicken, and louisiana shrimp. To build on top of that, the space has its own identity which is something that’s so hard to nail inside and out.
Sunday Morning: October 15th
Up early for coffee and a sweat. Baggage has arrived and we are on the way to Audobon Golf Course, a public 18 hole park course just south of Tulane Law School, about 10 mins from Domilise’s Po Boy & Bar. This is our second time here together, and we were joined by a couple from Berlin in for a medical conference. We played for lunch and the winner received an offering of a ball marker from the home course of our playing partners. That person was my co-host.
Sunday Afternoon: October 15th
Parkway is an establishment. The Po’ Boys are massive, and between two half-sandwiches, they managed to fit about 90 fried shrimp in there. Jambalaya was a necessary add, and it’s back to base camp to recover before getting ready for the big day. Gooch man and Koepka were “battling” it out on the 54 Tour which kept us busy.
Sunday Evening: October 15th
Two good friends and former high school teammates were in town also for the US 4-Ball Qualifier. It was great to have four Mustangs under one roof. Colombian food, so street corn, arepas, fried red snapper, very nice. Eventually, back to the hotel, hammer some electrolytes and theragun before shut-eye.
Monday Morning: October 16th
8:00 off 1- the first of the day. Wind was howling, shorts and a thin jacket was not enough, but ended up being plenty after a few holes. The South Course at Bayou Oaks was wonderful. Big trees, plenty of room, and conditions were great.
Par on 1, two birdies on 2, HS hit a saucy wedge into 3 (his 3rd in a row) while I made a mess of the hole, and I proceeded to watch him walk in nearly every good look he had on the front nine. The obvious goal of this format is to get as many good looks as possible, but I was lucky not having anywhere near my best stuff to have a partner who needed no help. Especially on the front.
By the time we made the turn we were in good shape. -5 through the toughest conditions of the day with the harder nine complete. With seventy some teams, though, the pedal has to stay down. By 13 we sat at -7 with one more difficult hole before four closers that were good opportunities for us.
Henry torched a 4 iron into a stiff breeze from 223 into 14- a par 3 with water left and bunkers right. Par. Another great look on 15 left on the edge. Par. On 16, a drivable 4, we had 6 feet for birdie. A downhill putt that looked like it would sneak right, with gusts from my back. Misread on the high side, par.
On 17, we had a 12 footer maybe 6 inches out on the right exposed to the wind. A half-roll short. Par. On the 18th tee we both knew it was birdie or die. Two bullets down the center into the wind followed by two more bullets left inside 100 yards to a front bowl pin. I put mine within 10-12 feet, Shimp quite literally flagged it as the ball dropped within a foot for an easy 4. Time to wait. Off to lunch.
Monday Afternoon: October 16th
Cochon Butcher is another favorite lunch spot and we’re here for sandwiches. All of their sandwiches are interpretations of ones we all know well- especially the Cubano (which I happen to be quite familiar with), and the muffuletta. Neither of these are traditional by the book, but they’re plenty to take your mind off a few missed putts for an hour. We spent a good ten minutes trying to guess the ingredients in the pickle brine because we’re total weirdos.
It’s quite hard to refrain from the *refresh, refresh, refresh to see who’s making a charge in the afternoon. For ten groups, the live scoring isn’t showing up. There are some groups hovering around -6 through 9 which makes me nervous, but it’s out of our hands. Off to the gym before heading back to the course for an almost certain playoff at this point.
Monday Evening: October 16th
We sat in the parking lot for a minute checking scores before rolling some putts and getting loose. The playoff happened quickly, and we threw on some shoes and went straight to 1 to join the other two groups for the 3 for 1 shootout before the sunset. The first is a gentle dogleg left with a bunker right and two massive live oaks bordering the left side of the hole.
Both Henry and I were in the fairway some 145 yards in, with one player of each team out of position. With a back pin and water long on a green that was sloped back to front, it was a game of who would cheat one closest to the back portion of the green without going long.
I hit second, landing on the back edge and hopping just over the back. Henry to 20 feet underneath the hole. Andrew Noto to 30 feet underneath the hole. Jeronimo Esteve hit an unbelievable shot from underneath the live oak on the left to 25 feet underneath the hole, and Esteve’s partner Patrick Cristovich matched him with another iron shot to 25 feet.
I nearly made my chip, securing par. You can’t assume that will be enough, and it’s on Henry at this point. Noto’s partner Tyler Ledet had missed the green and hit a nice long pitch with good speed, but it didn’t matter because Noto buried his 30 footer with authority. Esteve’s partner just missed his putt on the high side. Good effort. Esteve buried his with everything on the line. Henry’s putt slid right and it was the end for the Tie Guys. We were carted in with 1st Alternate paperwork.
Off to dinner at Atchafalaya with our good friends. (And it was a wonderful one at that.)
To Conclude: October 17th
Moral of the story? It’s golf. No game is fun (nor is it a game) if you get what you want every time you play. Those who care more, work smarter, and put in more reps put themselves in position- more chances. So the only answer is just keep going. Oh, and we had a lot of fun too.
Cheers,
WS