Rolling the Dice at Brigantine
by Bill Kamenjar
(This is a true story. The names of the players – though not the place – have been changed to protect the guilty)
The perfect golf shot can take many forms. Dropping a wedge from within three feet to save par and a 79 instead of an 80 can be one. Piping a drive off the first tee at your local PGA Tour stop’s pro-am can be another. The perfect shot is every golfer’s dream, but it makes an appearance about as often as a royal flush in poker.
What’s even more rare is delivering a golf shot so pure, perfect, and boasting a combination of exquisite timing and guts on a hole designed specifically to distract you with its diabolical beauty. In this scenario, consider yourself lucky just getting a club on the ball.
One of the many unforgettable holes at Atlantic City’s Links at Brigantine is No. 15, a 175-yard, par 3, requiring a tee shot over water and wetlands to an undulating green and water down the left side. It is one of the more intimidating golf holes you’ll find in the resort’s vicinity … anywhere in fact. Just getting the ball on the dance floor requires precise execution. The green is deep and narrow, but thoroughly protected by water, bunkers and a lateral hazard on every side. A slight miss right is acceptable, but anything more can be downright ruin.
A man I will call Danny Smith is still a successful sports journalist with a big-time U.S. newspaper. His perfect shot was all in the timing – and being clutch.
“My partner and I were teamed up against a then Sports Illustrated Magazine senior writer and his buddy on a golf trip to Atlantic City,” said the wily Virginian. “Ever since I was just a Y chromosome, I’d dreamed of writing for SI. Now here I was, probably as close as I was ever going to get to Sports Illustrated without a subscription.”
Having hacked his way around Brigantine most of the day, Danny was noticeably shaky when he stepped up to the par-3 15th hole with marsh and water spreading out everywhere.
“Five bucks you can’t hit the green,” chided moi, his so-called partner.
“What are you crazy, the green?” answered a re-energized Danny. “Only a nitwit couldn’t hit this green.”
The conversation between the two of us obviously stirred the man from SI who perked up at what couldn’t have been a worse time. In a blur of about two seconds he had dug inside his golf bag and slammed a crumpled five spot on the tee box.
“Another five bucks he can’t do it,” the legendary scribe said looking at me as if Danny didn’t even exist in our foursome.
Unsheathing an iron like a drunken pirate, Danny replied, “I’ll take that action.”
His essence challenged and his honor at stake, Danny – the gamblin’ man – took his position over the ball.
“Utterly unconvinced of my ability to hit this green, I knew airmailing the green into the reeds was a definite possibility, and I would be wearing a dunce cap the rest of the round, not to mention be kissing a job at SI goodbye,” he added.
Two vicious practice swings later, Danny uncorked the shot. The ball sailed high and majestically and not only landed on the green, but it actually grazed the hole and ended up within a foot of the cup beyond it.
“Few things in life are as satisfying as a Cool Hand Luke moment like that,” he reported afterwards. “I was hoping to hear from our pigeon something like, ‘Heck kid, I’ll work with you any day!’ But no such luck. The Sports Illustrated scribe simply turned away and mumbled, ‘That’s the ultimate ‘F-U’ shot.”
Picking up the cold cash off the warm sandy soil with a flick, Danny could finally soak up the true beauty of Brigantine. And yes, he sank the putt. For more information on the challenges of Brigantine, Atlantic City’s true links-land golf course, go to www.brigantinegolf.com.
