It takes Skills to play Desert Golf!

Yesterday for a brief moment in time I fell deeply in love with a Frenchman that is now more notable known as V-Dubs than Victor. This man crush isn’t anything new for me and it won’t be my last. I’ve been drooling over the skills that the great one Tiger Woods displays on the course for a while now and last year I fell in the Love with the game James Feutz (Current UNLV Golfer) has and I wish one I might have the ability to take on a course the way he does. Then there is of course my buddy Johnny Utah aka Ryan Peterson but I’ll save that man crush for a later day…

Victor Dubuisson yesterday in the WGC Accenture Match Play event showed me some skill sets that you would think as resident of the desert southwest I would be familiar with but never the less as I sat on my couch in utter awe of his amazing unbelievable flat-out remarkable up and downs with the championship on the line I just couldn’t believe how well he pulled off those shots!

Here are two YouTube Videos courtesy of The PGA featuring Mr. Dubussions amazing shots:

My Twitter timeline was a blast to watch as the final holes of the tournament came across my TV and there in my house with nobody watching I started rooting for the Frenchman to win for no other reason than how well he got up and down from pretty much minefield in Iraq.

As a self-proclaimed Desert Golf Expert, make sure you read that correctly because I’m far from an expert at desert golf, I have been in those same situations as V-Dubs. OK, maybe not with the 1.5 million on the line and instant fame across all of Europe, but as far as the attempts to get up and down go I’ve been there a hundred times and that was just last year!

For you non desert dwellers out there let me give you a dose of reality because as the Golf Channel announcers tried vigorously to explain how unreal those two shots he executed were but unless you have been in a similar situation no words, not even mine I’m about to spit out, can begin to explain just how astonishing the results of those two swings were.

10 out of 10 times when faced with a shot like V-Dubs had we desert golfers reach in our bag for the ever so special “rock club”. These perfectly legal exceptions to the 14 clubs rule are made for such situations and have the battle scars to prove it. Typically a left over wedge from an old set you used to tote around or for me a demo club I picked up at a retail store that was closing the “rock club” is pretty much our best friend when we hack around out here. Not having the expense account to shell out $120 after every desert round because my wedge now looks like it was dropped from the back of a truck on the highway, our rock clubs hold a special place in our hearts and our wallets for getting us out of these sticky prickly situations.

Even with these go to clubs in the bag the results never and I mean NEVER end up like Mr. Dubuissons shots. Most times you are either a maximum of 4’ from where you just were in a shittier lie or the ball becomes completely unplayable. More often than not a rock that was nowhere near your ball gets unearthed by your passionate swing and ends up going further than your no longer shinny and new now just a mangled and cut up to shit ProV1. That’s not even the worst part. For your efforts you are rewarded with thorns, cactus, twigs and rocks that miraculously have found their way into your socks or pant legs and absolutely refuse to leave until you fully disrobe and remove each one by hand.

I’ve promoted this video a ton but in lieu of yesterdays masterful play from the rocks and sand of the Arizona desert I think it’s fitting to show it off once again. Here is Desert Golf at its finest!

Desert golf is certainly a fantastic way to enjoy the game and features some unbelievable settings. Just take a look at the Phoenix valley on Google maps or my home town of Henderson. Some truly spectacular golf courses that are more fun to play than you would think.

Just keep in mind though when you find yourself straddling a cactus and snake hole trying to get onto the green to save par the chances of you pulling off what Victor Dubuisson did at the Match Play event is ZERO! But don’t let that stop you from giving it a go because nothing feels better than making a great shot from a terrible lie. I just wish it happened more often!