UST 7.0 Carolinas

Nov 8 2012: Meadows of Dan, VA. Highland Course at Primland. 13th Ranked Public Course in US.

Flew in the night before to Greensboro, NC and drove up to them hollars of Virginia. If you squinted hard enough at night you could still see the lights from the distilleries making moonshine in the hills. We embraced our northerness, wore gloves, faced the cold wind and played the whole round by ourselves. Whole course was empty. Grounds crew thought we were crazy. High quality start to the golf itinerary.

Nov 8 2012: Blacksburg, VA. Lane Stadium. Florida State vs. Virginia Tech Hokies. Hokies Lose 28 – 22.

Enter Sandman was cool and it was cold in Blacksburg. Fred S had big money on FSU to win the national championship at the start of the season, so this game was looming large on the UST itinerary. Unfortunately, the got tripped up by NC State and lost by a single point a month earlier, which pretty much buried their National Championship hopes. At the time there was still a glimmer of hope, so the game was a little more important than usual to the resident degenerate gambler. They ended up winning the ACC Championship and the Orange Bowl, so not a bad team to watch…even if they were the visitors.

Nov 9 2012: Pinehurst, NC. Pinehurst No. 2. Top 10 Public Course. US Open Venue.

The transition from the bone chilling cold of Virginia to the calm warmth at Pinehurst washes over us in an awesome wave (credit: Patrick Bateman). What a great course. We somehow ended up with a few boxes worth of free Titleists and somewhat respectable scores as a group. Fred S actually made a respectable run on the back nine with a 43. This doesn’t change the fact that his golf swing is patterned after an unfolding lawn chair and is cringe inducing in its execution. We’ll break it down one day in a special section of this website.

Nov 9 2012: Durham, NC. Cameron Indoor Stadium. Georgia State vs. Duke. Blue Devils Win 74 – 55.

You may hate Duke, but you can’t hate Cameron Indoor Stadium. Old school, small and intimate, lots of passionate students. It was a great atmosphere, even though it was only the first game of the season and it was against Georgia State. One uncomfortable observation is the number of geriatric blue hairs that attend Duke games. It felt like a quarter of the seats were filled with cane wielding octogenarians who have held their season tickets since the dust bowl summer of ’37 when they wore their varsity sweaters to every game.

Nov 10 2012: Columbia, SC. Williams-Brice Stadium. Arkansas vs. South Carolina. Cocks Win 38 – 20.

You know what we wanna see, right?

Whatcha wanna see?

We wanna see that SEC football!

SEC football, again?

Ahhh yeah, again and again.

Just look at the photos and videos at the bottom of this post to see how great it was. SEC Football? Again and again.

Nov 10 2012: Charlotte, NC. Time Warner Cable Arena. Dallas Mavericks vs. Charlotte Bobcats. Bobcats Win 101 – 97.

Filler game!!! Yes!!! Actually, the Bobcats made an entertaining game of it in the end. Took a lead early, fell behind by 15 in the third quarter, then rallied back to tie it, build the drama and won it in overtime. People say that the good people of Charlotte don’t deserve an NBA team, but they’ve never really had anything to cheer for other than a brief spark from Grandmama, Kendall Gill and J.R. Reid.

Nov 11 2012: Charlotte, NC. The Golf Club at Ballantyne. This is the best public golf in Charlotte??

It’s not that the course was bad (it’s actually pretty solid), but in the land of over the top golf, this is the best that Charlotte has to offer? Nice course to sneak in before the NFL heathens bring down the positivity of the trip. Speaking of things that bring down the positivity of UST – at this point it probably makes sense to just stop reporting on the ugly and inevitable decline of Red’s golf skills. He’s done.

Nov 11 2012: Charlotte, NC. Bank of America Stadium. Denver Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers. Panthers Lose 36 – 14.

Peyton Manning was in the house and beat down the home team to send the Panthers to a 2 – 7 record. Maybe it’s just the crap teams that UST has seen for NFL games recently, but with each passing drunkard and degenerate filled NFL game we watch, our preference for the college game grows and grows. There were a couple of quality New Orleans style jazz bands outside the stadium though.

Nov 12 2012: Kiawah Island, SC. Kiawah Island Golf Resort. The Ocean Course. Top 3 Public Course!

This just put the golf over the top. Top three public course and host of the PGA Championship just three months earlier. Of the six rounds of golf played on UST 7.0 we played the 3rd, 7th and 13th ranked public courses in the US, plus two other solid Kiawah Island courses and the best public option in Charlotte. Ocean Course was spectacular, as was the lunch on the patio overlooking the ocean and the 18th green. I believe the kids these days would sign off of this section with the following…..

#blessed

Nov 12 2012: Kiawah Island, SC. Kiawah Island Golf Resort. Osprey Point. 36 Holes of Gators!

A bit of a let down after playing The Ocean Course in the morning, but it’s certainly better than a kick in the seeds. Gators were everywhere. On a side note, how awesome was South Carolina! Just another data point for UST’s ongoing love affair with The South. Charleston is one of the coolest cities we’ve seen.

Nov 13 2012: Kiawah Island, SC. Kiawah Island Golf Resort. Turtle Point. Our 54th Hole at Kiawah in 28 Hours.

Turtle Point is a step back from The Ocean Course, but it’s still pretty decent. Couple of holes right on the ocean and the gators were still out dominating and lounging in the sun. Sixth round of golf in six days. Ends on a high note.

Nov 13 2012: Atlanta, GA. Georgia Dome. Champions Classic. Michigan State vs. Kansas and Duke vs. Kentucky! Michigan State and Duke Win.

UST basically stretches out to a full week! Don’t tell anyone that some members of UST fell asleep watching these games because all energy was gone by the time we took our seats. Great teams, but the Georgia Dome might be a little big for a basketball game. Second time seeing the hated Dukies on this trip. Truba was foaming at the mouth with Coach K hate while quoting Van Smack callers “Duuke is Duuke…they’re on TV more than Leave It to Beaver reruns.”

Other Highlights:

Got the party started right in Greensboro by hitting up Mrs. Winners Chicken & Biscuits straight from the airport, which led to complications and implications in the men’s room about 4 hours later.

Stopped by the front gates of Augusta National, but couldn’t see much more than the street down Magnolia Lane. One day we’ll be in there for The Masters and if we pray to Shiva and Vishnu and receive favour maybe we’ll be able to play a few holes. Shout out to Condoleezza Rice for an invite!

The food was crazy on this trip. Hominy Grill in Charleston has spectacular Shrimp and grits. Red velvet cake. Collards. Sweet potatoes. We just kept ordering dishes. We stopped in at Husk in Charleston after our last round in Kiawah and on our way to Atlanta. A second helping of shrimp and grits and boiled peanuts on the patio. No complaints.

Had some Home Team BBQ in Charleston on the way into town and watched the Sunday Night Football game. To round out the BBQ consumption we also hit Bar-B-Q King in Charlotte for some curbside service of everything from coleslaw, fritters, fries, pulled pork sandwiches, fried chicken…we basically had one of everything on the menu and ate it off the hood of the car on a nice warm night in Charlotte.

The trip got off to a mixed start at the Chicago airport. Thumbs up to the sandwiches we had from Rick Bayless’ Tortas Frontera (an Aziz Ansari favourite!) between flights. Two thumbs down to the fact that he is Skip Bayless’ brother. In fact, that deserves a bakers dozen thumbs down. Pffffttttt!

Don’t think we didn’t go to Waffle House! Of course we did! Never doubt our dedication. Who do you think we are?