THE CRASH OF BJG PAN AM FLIGHT 2021

Broken Joe
Apr 1, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Apr 2, 2021

At 7:02 am on Saturday, March 27th, 2021, I texted the BJG group, after I confirmed that I would be attending a funeral. I chose to show my support for my friend and co-work of 21 years and lose out on any potential BJG points. Chris, the Deputy Commissioner was now in charge of the Pan Am: AM, AM, AM, AM.

The first cracks that I noticed were when Rock asked about sticking with “Tee Time” and that he was hearing about some “free lancing”. Dave immediately chimed in “Damn right ripper”, whatever that means. Rock asked me, and I told him that he needed to talk to Chris.

Just to clarify, tee times are already hard to come by, especially since we need five consecutive tee times. The reason that they are all together is so that everyone is playing on a level playing field. Once you lose that, you may as well be playing BJG from 2017.

Next, we see a text from Joe T looking to change his tee time from 11;40 to 10:30 in order to beat the rain.

I did talk with Chris later and he said everyone understood that they could go early if they could find a tee time.

Then I see a text from Rock saying that Team Bryan is teeing off at 8:31. Hell, if I had even dreamed that my group was playing at 8:31, I could have played AND gone to the funeral…

Dan follows Rock’s text by declaring “everyone go early”.

As more texts come through Rock asks about “Closest to the Pin” and the “Longest Drive”. As per my 7:02 am Saturday morning text, I had already made arrangements with EJ to bring the trophy, Closest to the Pin & Longest Drive equipment, and my BJG fees (that were due Sunday morning). Because of the craziness with the tee times, I told EJ not to bring out the equipment, no reason to lose a tape measure.

At 10:27 am on Sunday, we hear from Chris, and he reminds everyone about the “plugged ball” rule. Rock asks what that rule is… I just wished we had a place where you could find that information, maybe on a device that you carry with you 24/7.... Oh wait, I DID (Hint - www.brokenjoegolf.com)

Next, we hear from Matt at 12:39, along with a picture of a couple of hot dogs. He was sounding pretty dry, and from what would transpire later, it seemed to affect some golfers.

We hear from Chris again at 5:12 pm. Chris is praising the “frozen 5 (?) that finished the back nine together. Chris also identifies the fact that all of Team Harry abandoned Adam. This leaves Adam as the only golfer from Team Harry to finish the course.

For the second time in as many weeks, all I can say is WOW.

When I first imagined Broken Joe Golf, I wanted it to be something more than just a weekend league, which is why the core values of BJG are “Commitment, Competition, and Camaraderie”.

Those same values shined through when a group of four wet and cold golfers from different teams banded together, knowing that at the end of the day, they would not see any points. Yet, they were satisfied with the knowledge that they had accomplished what they had set out to do, which was to defeat Mother Nature and finish the round.

For the golfers that quit and abandon their teams, I have some bad news and some good news for you. The bad news is that we will probably continue to have terrible tees times because of our large group, and the weather may be too cold, too wet, too dry, too hot, or too humid for you. The good news is that from now on, you can only hurt yourself by throwing in the towel early.

As for the points:

From what I have heard from Chris, each Team Leader knew that they could go early if they could get a canceled tee time. So, there is no penalty assessed for early play.

UPDATE / CORRECTION: I did not see that Chris had sent TWO Score Cards.... My Bad... But in my defense, I was trying to tying things together in order to write a blog, based on a days' worth of text messages...

Someone suggested that I did not think that the quitters, I mean the DNF golfers ,were not "hardcore". The fact is that FIVE golfers DID finish all 18 holes in the cold pouring rain. Who were these super hero's?

Well, one of those "hardcore" golfers was a 59 year old, fat bald, smoking grandfather. Just let that sinking in for a minute... (I think this picture is a few years old)

Scores & Points

1st Place: Team Cody: 25 Points each, finishing with a score of 68 (Cody, Matt, EJ & Matt T)

2nd Place: Team Bryan: 26.5 Points each (80 divided by 3) , finishing with score of 71 (Bryan, Rock & Jon)

3rd Place: Team Chris / Rey: 30 points each (15 x 2), finishing with a score of 74.

4th Place: Team Jake / Juan: 20 points each (10 x 2), finishing with a score of 76.

5th Place: Team Adam: 20 Points (5 x 4) finishing with a score of 103

Race to Big Y (Dubai) Points:

1st Place: Chris - 30 points

1st Place: Rey - 30 points

3rd Place: Bryan - 26.5 points

3rd Place: Jon - 26.5 points

3rd Place: Rock- 26.5 points

6rd Place: Cody - 25 points

6th Place: EJ - 25 points

6th Place: Matt - 25 points

6th Place: Matt T - 25 points

10th Place: Adam - 20 points

10th Place: Jake - 20 points

10th Place: Juan - 20 points

13th Place: Joe - 0 points (DNP)

13th Place: Dan - 0 points (DNF)

13th Place: Dave - 0 points (DNF)

13th Place: Dustin - 0 points (DNF)

13th Place: Harry - 0 points (DNF)

13th Place: Joe T - 0 points (DNF)

13th Place: Nic - 0 points (DNF)

13th Place: Tim - 0 points (DNF)

Fees:

I have granted an extension on the membership fee payment until April 11th, 2021 BEFORE the first tee time. After that a late penalty will be assessed.