Florida Real Estate Blog

Friday Morning, SweetWater Country Club. It is 7:15Am as our competitors meet on the first tee.  A beautiful day is before them. So off we go and CW takes a 2 stroke fall away from the field as all other parties bogie number 1. The second provides us with our first leader, that being Greg (GM) by 1 all of the foursome record 4's on number 3 and then Greg extends his lead to 2 on the 4th. On the 5th he adds to it and it should be noted that he has flirted with Out of bounds on 3 of the first 5 holes. We had a pair of pars on 6th while the best our boys could do on 7 was 6's. 

On to one of our favorite holes the 8th.  Seems that GM has found a way to convince the club to clear all the trees in front of his normal ball flight. Yet the fickle golf gods present him with a swing that produces a more leftish ball flight and he finds new trees to contend with. End result he comes back to field by one.

The 9th is a great par 5 and Greg had a chance to be on the green in regulation. A major feat, but it did not happen and he found himself in the bush on the right side of the green. He selected an unplayable lie and dropped back hit his shot on to the green and walked off with a 7.  He called for a ruling afterwards and we all agreed that would be the way that part of the course would be played in the CW.  To be specific. if the ball in the bush is deemed out of bounds he would have had to take the stroke and take his ball back to the position he hit it from.  So no other competitor will need to do that. They will always have a choice to attempt to hit it or take an unplayable lie.

On to the 10th with Greg leading by 2 over JR.  CW came out of the shoot looking to close the gap and did by 2 with Greg over the next 2 holes but JR was able to tie Greg coming off the 12th only to take the lead by 1 on the 13th and extend it to 3 after the 14th. The Mann was not one to give up and he shaved one off JR on the 15th with a great chip shot from the back of the green. 16th was a cluster with every one (but Lou who had a chance at birdie and recorded a par) scoring above 7.

On to the 17th where JR's lead had now dwindled to 1 stroke and the entire field was pulling for the Mann.  Tee shots well hit by all and close shots where placed by Greg, Chuck and Lou and it looked like we would be heading to 18 tied ad JR had a tricky chip over the bunker in the front of the Green but JR holed his 2nd shot to extend the lead to 3 strokes as they went on to 18.  Tee shots where executed and there where a number of bogeys and no pars so JR secures his 8th win and added another 3 strokes to his tie breaker lead. The first half will be settled when the first of the boys reach 10 wins.  Today it stands at JR 8, GM 5, CW 1,  LB soon to be invited.

News from the ATT - The boys racked up 26 points last Tuesday night jumping from last to 5th great things are on the horizon for our band of golfers.

Real Estate is a very tight geographic.  What happens in St Cloud has no effect on Longwood.  So as professionals we try to stay tight when we are looking at the current trends. You must do this to successfully advise your sellers and buyers on what is a fair price.

So lets look at one zip code in Longwood. That is 32750, currently we have 215 Single Family Homes for sale and over the last 6 months we sold or are under contract 90 homes.  That averages 15 homes a month. Given that activity level it would take 14 month to exhaust our inventory.  This is not a bad market if you look at the entire tri county area they are saying that time frame would be over 24 months. 

So keep the faith we have buyers in your neighborhoods buying homes.  Our job is to keep it priced right, keep it looking good and make it available to those buyers at a time that is good for to them.  Oh yes just in case you where wondering what defines a hot market. That is when the inventory is around 6 months.  Been there did that don't want to go back there again.

It was a wonderful morning on 4/18/08 as our band of boys approached the 1^st tee for their 7:32 Tee Time. They had successfully slipped to last place in the AT&T earlier this week so they all felt the competition would at least be rewarding to one of them. Charlie has moved to the B position in the AT&T. This is a first, and he knew as he stepped on to the Tee box this morning that this was his day and he would double his wins.

The sun was in our eyes but it could not blind us from a few double pars scored on the first. 2^nd was not much better but a leader by 1 was found in JR. All participants bogied #3 and then the diabolic Golf Gods found our Mann, Greg. It was a day that would not be kind to GM for every 5 par would begin with an OB, can you believe that. He was not a happy camper and it will take all 7 days to separate the dissatisfaction he is feeling today.

Our boys began to get their legs under them and started to register some pars. Both CW and JR recorded par on the 5^th and 6^th and Greg and Lou did the same on 7. JR made par on 8 and Greg, Lou and JR pared 9. So off we go to the 10^th JR up by 4.

On the back nine Chuck and Lou cut into JR’s lead on the 10^th and Greg did also on the 11^th. Then we come to the 12^th. The hole where more tournments have been lost than any other hole on the course. Only CW would post a bogie here today and GW would slide another stroke to JR. So we make the turn on the terrible 3 and everyone gathers their breath. This is know as Gregs time. He has had more success than any of us on 13, 14 and 15. If he can work his magic he will catch JR. Game On….

All Drive well. Lou with just 110 to hole but he decides to shank it right by the bathrooms. Chuck and Greg end up short in front of the bunker. JR is on the left with a tough shot up against a tree.

Lou slips one by the rest rooms onto the green while Greg and Chuck chip some great shots onto the green. JR is asking for a ruling as he has fire ants to contend with in his normal stance. GM grants relief and we hear from Lou and CW that they both would have hit a left handed shot rather then ask for a ruling. End results JR & Lou Par. GM & CW bogie. On to 14, the boys butchered it. 15 again was butchered by bunker play or putting, 16^th GM got one back and was looking for a great finish but 17 sunk that ship and we went to 18^th tee box with JR up by 3 over Lou..

Lou was determined to prove his and CW concept of hit the left handed shot would work, and provided all competitors an opportunity to see how a one shot penalty could instead balloon into a 5 shot increase on a hole. Macho is not a good thing in the game of golf.

Match 13, JR by 6. He has 7 wins tie breaker is 5 strokes, Greg has 5 wins and Charlie has 1 win.

Began at 7:20 on Wednesday April 9th 2008. Our band of jolly men still smarting from a thrashing the previous evening at the AT&T and wondering if the game of golf is truly the sport they should follow appeared on the first Tee and attempted to hit driver well..... Need I say more? Off the 1st hole with Charlie up by 1. The second hole should be removed from the CW-cup as it does require you have a game and again high numbers where recorded by all. By the time we get through 3 holes they are still bunched together while Lou Buttice (who may I add is vying for an invite to join the Cup participants in June) is clearly in the cat bird seat by 3. "Note to Lou, this is not the way to assure you will receive the invite in June. On to 4 and it seems the boys are settling down. Not scoring but at least hitting better golf shots. Charlie wins the hole but Greg and JR record 6's and that was with an OB for JR. As always seems to be the case the Golf Gods give and then they take away. Charlie posts a painful 9 on the next hole while JR and Greg record 5's. Par 3 6 and the 7th where split by the boys and then we approach the 8th where JR is still working on a strategy to record bogie on a regular basis. Note to JR, can the long lay-up. He would post a 7 while Charlie and Lou both pared and Greg bogied. Oh this fickle game. 9th was played well by all even Greg who posted a 7 but that was after his 3rd found water front right. It was the right attack angle the rough was just to tuff. That is what I love about Sweetwater. Greg is in the lead by two over Chuck and 4 over JR. Lou on the other hand is out in front with a sold 46 (oh by the way he recorded a 49 last night to take 8 points at the AT&T he was not part of the thrashing I referred to at the beginning. He is playing well; by June we may trade him up to the next level of competition that would be the HOOTERS TOUR.). On to the back nine.

The Driver was not our friend on 10. All contestants found them self in trouble yet all scraped a bogie or double for the hole. Note worthy was Charlie’s 55 foot 55 mile an hour putt that goes down for his bogie. He brings a whole new meaning to Never UP Never In. The 11th is one of life’s minor goals. That would be in those remaining years we may have to bogie this more often the snowman and to at least once Par it. Today Mr. Mann recorded that sought after goal of Bogie. On the 12th Lou and JR recorded par and Greg came back to the field by 2 a limp has been noted in our Leader/Realtor and one has to ask if his wheels may actualy be coming off. 13th drive hit well by all with JR hitting first, places a 150 yard shot within 9 feet of the hole followed by Charlie who places his 20 feet. Game on. Let the record show JR Birdie, Charlie Bogie and Greg Double. Yes that is right Greg has come back 4 shots in two holes. He is still barely walking but literally his wheels have come off. Charlie does catch Greg on the par 5 14th with a great Par. On to Par 3 15th where Charlie is informed he is tied for the lead with 4 to play. Can you say DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS. Yep that was the look from Charlie yet he went out and posted a bogie but Greg was able to right the ship and par the hole for a 1 stroke lead. Charlie looked into the tunnel and thought he could see Greg just in front of him. What he did not know it was not Greg it was a TRAIN.

Ok, I need to stop here for truly Charlie will be reading this and I have just addressed to different thought patterns about the same event, this will cause him to shake his head and ask "where is he going with this". Charlie, I was just referring to standing on a railroad track in a tunnel and you see the light at what you believe is the end of your journey only to find out that it is a train barreling down on you and now you have more trouble than you thought you had. Sorry folks but that had to be done. So do you want to hear about Charlie’s Train wreck on number 16? I think not let history show a 10 was had by the name sake. Greg no longer had to worry about him but JR was now just 3 back with 2 to play. He cut the lead to 2 going to the 18th there he was on the green with put for par where Greg recorded double so a tie was possible but JR did not drain the 20 footer.

Match 12 awarded to Gimpy opps I mean Greg. The standings are JR leading by 6 followed by Greg with 5 and Charlie 1. Let the record also show that Lou played well Tee to Green all day but he had Charlie's fickle putter. Even with that he shot a 94. It will be a very interesting 2nd half to 08.

The boys appeared early in anticipation of the days proceedings. All four combatants had earlier in the week played as a team in the Opening Day of the AT&T and enjoyed one another’s company as they defeated their opponent in that event. Today however they where no longer team mates or chums (if that is the correct spelling in England) they are combatants in the year long chase for the CW Cup.

The contest began at 7:31 at Rolling Hills where ugly was just another name for JR’s Tee box performance. How he escaped with a 7 is beyond even him. Charlie took the early lead with a 5 on the hole. 2^nd provide JR with a par that brought the field together and they would play that way through 4. On 5 Chuck rolled a par put to provide him with a 1 stroke advantage and on they went to 6 where Charlie came back to the field with a snowman while all others recorded bogie. Do you get the feeling that this Blog is all about Chuck. Your right, just be thankful you only have to read it, we and especially Lou had to live it for 4 hours. Number 7 was note worthy in that both Chuck and Lou both pared the hole with great shot making. Again for our want to be Hero (Chuck) blew up on the par 3 8^th with a, yep you guessed it 8. So we draw to the last hole of the front nine with all players close to one another. Mr. Mann has the lead. This is not a good thing in the CW Cup. Ranger Dan stopped by to say hello (never see them on Sweet Water must be a different class of players) and of course you know what happens next Greg nails one out of bounds that was followed by another OB. Not sure what we do to rile the Golf Gods but when we do they react. Needless to say Greg needed all the time we had in the club house getting coffee to get his mind back into the game. The turn was made with JR up by 2 over Lou followed by Chuck who was 4 back and Greg at 6 back.

So here is where our story turns Chuck starts to play and he begins to take back a stroke a hole for the next 3 holes and leaves 13 in front by one. Where is the rain when you need it? Yes I did an editorial fly over of the worst hole the combatants have ever played that being 12. Let the record show that the number 12 will be the worst score ever placed on a card in the CW Cup. So no more shall be recorded for this awful hole.

There we stand on 14^th tee box. Charlie aka CW or Chuck or Cwillie or LITTLE Willie has his opportunity to win his 2^nd contest. Off we go and he plays the hole well but must make a put. Greg on the other hand makes his put for Birdy. So off we go to 15 JR and CW tied with Lou. CW ends up hitting his 3^rd OB and falls from the lead by two. 16 provides for more slippage and we arrive on 18 Tee box Lou and JR tied but JR up on CW and Greg by 4. The 11^th round was eventful in that it was the first time a trailing competitor reduced the winner’s gap. CW pared while JR bogied. JR winner by 3. On to Sweetwater.