All About The B-Man

My real name is Chris Beeman and I live in Indian Trail, NC right near The Divide and Charlotte National. I've been playing golf regularly since 1999. My wife made the mistake of giving me a golf bag as a wedding gift and encouraging me to play. She's now pretty much a golf widow.

My Game

I learned to play at a local par 3 course near me (Pebble Creek off US74) and then graduated to full courses. After about a year of playing, I finally broke 90. It took another year to shoot an 81 (up at Crescent Golf Club). I shot that score using 6 clubs -- Adams Tight Lies knockoff woods 5, 7, and 9, a 38* chipper (that I could hit almost 150 yds with a full swing), sand wedge and putter. I had some no-name oversized irons, but wasn't very good with them. So I would just use the woods and the chipper and vary my swing to get different distances. It wasn't very precise, but would generally keep me in play. Occasionally, I was deadly accurate with the chipper inside 125 yds. I shot another 81 a couple years later (2003), but mostly shot scores in the high 80's to mid 90's up til 2005.

I finally decided that I had to become a "real" golfer and got a new set of King Cobra irons that I'm still playing with. I worked on learning how to hit iron shots and be more precise with distances. In the summer of 2005, I shot a couple of 81's and an 82. My handicap got down to 13 or so for the first time. I took 3 1-hour lessons with Scott Fossum from Charlotte Golf Links and he helped me with my grip and full swing. Late in 2007, I broke 80 for the first time with a 79 at Emerald Lake and my handicap hit a career-best 10.9. I had a good summer last year and hit 79 again at a course in NY (Peek'n'Peak Resort in Findley Lake). I also took an 1-day Dave Pelz Short Game clinic. That's helped tremendously with my pitching, chipping and putting. I went out and bought a 60* lob wedge after the clinic and have loved the new dimension it brought to my short game.

I got off to a slow start this year after a long winter break and didn't start playing regularly until April. My game, especially my short game touch, tends to sharpen up the more I play. That's been true this year. I played a ton over the summer, about 25-30 rounds in May, June and July. I bought a new TaylorMade Burner driver in July and then went out and shot a career-best 76 at Edgewater Golf Club in Lancaster, SC. So the handicap is back down to 11. My goal is to get it under 10 and more regularly break 80.

What's in My Bag

• Driver: 2009 TaylorMade Burner, 10.5* Stiff
• Hybrid: 2008 Callaway FT-Hybrid #2, 18* Neutral
• Irons: 2003 King Cobra SSi, 3i-PW
• Wedges: 2003 King Cobra SSi 50* Gap, 55* Sand,
  2007 Cleveland CG11 60* Lob Wedge (low bounce)
• Putter: Knight XR1 XR-Roll ($20 Wal-Mart Nike OZ clone)
• Ball: Mint-condition used Titleist Pro V1's
• Glove: Nike Elite Feel
• Shoes: 2008 Nike Air Max Rejuvenate
• GPS: GolfLogix powered by Garmin

Where to Find Me

• Email: golf@bman.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/charlottegolfer
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/iamthebman
• Web: http://bman.com/