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 really liked. 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 in 2008 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 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.
In the summer of 2009, I played a ton, 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. The next summer I finally took the plunge and signed up for a 1 year membership at Emerald Lake. The course is only about 5 minutes from my house, I had gotten to know the head pro and manager pretty well, and it was a great deal ($1995 for everything, including carts). So I played as much as I could in that first month and hit my stride, consistently shooting in the low 80's, including an 82 in my first club championship round.
Early this year, I decided I was due for some new irons and so I upgraded to a set of Cobra S3 Max irons. I also bought the new Tayormade R11 driver in June. I've got a few lesson vouchers to use and so I hope to pick up where I left off last year and get my handicap under 10 for the first time.
What's in My Bag
- Driver: 2011 TaylorMade R11, 9* Regular
- Fairway Metals: 2005 V+ King 3-Wood, 5-Wood
- Irons: 2011 Cobra S3 Max, 4i-GW
- Wedges: 2010 Cleveland CG16 56* Sand Wedge, 60* Lob Wedge
- Putter: Knight XR1 XR-Roll ($20 Wal-Mart Nike OZ clone)
- Ball: Mint-condition used Titleist Pro V1's
- Shoes: 2010 Nike Air Max Rejuvenate
Where to Find Me
- oobgolf: The B-Man
- Email: golf@bman.com
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/charlottegolfer
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/iamthebman
- Web: http://bman.com/