Farmers Insurance Pro/Am

Most golf enthusiasts have seen or heard of pro/ams, but are probably clueless to the inner workings of them, and what is involved in these great events. When my good friend, Adam Altis, was invited to play in the 2012 Zurich Pro/Am at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, I was quick to jump on the opportunity to join as his caddy.

As an agency owner for Farmers Insurance in Waukesha, Adam was chosen to play in this event based on his past experience as a club pro at such courses as Castle at the Bay and Bulls Eye Country Club. His wife couldn't make the trip, so he asked me to join him, with all expenses paid.

The experience of a pro/am on the PGA Tour is not just one round of golf with a professional player, but rather a series of events and opportunities that come together to create an experience filled with fun and excitement. Some of the most intriguing aspects of the Zurich Pro/Am for me were the pairings party, the Putting with the Pros contest, and the pro/am.

Everything about this event was world class, and you would expect nothing less from an event that costs $6,500 per player!

The pairings party, for example, was MC'ed by Gary McCord, and featured eight gourmet food stations and at least half a dozen Grey Goose open bars. All players were given yet-to-be-released TaylorMade Rocketballz clubs, and the featured auction item consisted of a golf trip for four to Scotland that sold for $17,000.

The room was arranged with 72 tables: One for each foursome participating in the pro/am round. McCord was barely comprehensible in his ramblings, but was very funny, nonetheless. I half-expected him to break in to a rant of "He's looking at thirty yards of bar and grill, an opening through the French doors, forty yards of patio umbrellas, a hundred yards of water, and a lonely pelican sitting out there in a 15 mile an hour breeze..." There were plenty of TaylorMade clubs lying around that could have made this possible, but there would be no Tin Cup moments of greatness on this night.

As the pairings lottery began, the 72 PGA participants (all in the Tour's top 100 money list) were projected on overhead screens, along with their respective tee times and the course they were assigned to. The first two rounds of the tournament are held on the South and North courses, but the weekend rounds are held only on the South Course, making it the choice option of the two.

As an aside, Phil Mickelson is currently working with Torrey Pines to change that perception, and to bring the North Course up to par with the South.

Each team was given a number from one to 72, and a random lottery was used to determine the selection order. As each team's number was drawn, they were allowed to choose their professional. The first team to select was drawn: Team number seven. Our team was number nine, which made us think being so close was a good omen. Team seven chose Phil Mickelson, who had the earliest tee time on the South Course at 7:45 am.

A quick view of the selection boards showed an absence of last year's champion, Bubba Watson, which piqued my interest. There was, however, a wild card spot at 11:45 am on the North Course.

More picks came off the board: Team 52, 67, 17, 72, 12, two. No nine. Many of the marquis players and South Course tee times were being removed.

With the majority of the party already collecting their new Rocketballz clubs from the fitting room upstairs, there were seven or so groups still left to pick when it dawned on us that we may actually want to be the last team chosen. Someone tried taking the wild card earlier, but they were rebuked and told it would go to the final team in the lottery.

With five players left on the board, teams started getting more free Rocketballz clubs for enduring the wait, and then finally team number nine was drawn. Only the wild card and Blake Adams' early North Course tee time were still available. During the mania, we all forgot that one team did not show up, and therefore forfeited their choice. It then dawned on us: We were the 72nd team to be chosen, and the wild card was ours!

We hung on McCord's every word as he announced the wild card player for this year's event, and were excited to hear that we would be playing at 11:45 the following morning with one of the game's true legends, Ernie Els.

Excited and a little buzzed from the long wait with free Grey Goose cocktails, our group grabbed their complimentary clubs from upstairs. I offered a handful of participants $100 for their clubs, but came away empty. In my excitement I thought people who paid $6,500 for a round of golf probably were not concerned with a free set of clubs, and probably were not in love with the idea of transporting them home. I was wrong.

We got back to our hotel room at the Lodge at Torrey Pines - a five-diamond hotel on the course - to find Ernie Els' player bio and gifts including logo'ed golf shirts, golf balls and snacks. Apparently, the "Big Easy" is a very generous man.

I woke up the following morning and looked over at the other bed, where Adam was saying to me, "You've gotta get up. We need to grab breakfast and hit the range!" I looked at the clock and it was 6:30. There were still five-plus hours until our tee time. I muttered a few incoherent words, then obliged.

The morning was full of things to do and see, and I was grateful we got an early start on it. We grabbed an outstanding free breakfast (salmon, bacon, ham and cheese omelet, for starters) and hit the driving range, which was an absolute zoo. There were five to six players in line at each station, and I performed my first caddy duties of cleaning each groove on Adam's clubs with a tee and water. We hitched a ride to the putting greens, where Adam said I was signed up for the Putting with the Pros contest at 9:00.

We were the only two on the larger of the two greens, and I noticed directly behind me a reporter from San Diego's channel seven news (no, not Ron Burgundy) interviewing local star Billy Hurley III at the edge of the green. I was obviously on the news in some capacity, so I tried to elevate my short game appropriately. The greens on a PGA Tour course are incredibly quick, but I felt good about my short game.

A group congregated on the smaller green, and the Putting with the Pros competition was about to begin. I was paired up with James Driscoll. Adam was also in our group, and the format for the competition was as follows: There were six putting stations, and a putt inside one foot of the hole was worth one point, while a putt holed out was worth two. By combining the amateur's total with the pro's, the highest point total would win.

My goal was obvious: Watch what James did, and try to do exactly that or adjust appropriately. He put five out of six putts within one foot, and I holed out twice and had two others inside the one-point range. Adam did exactly the same, and we finished tied at the top of the leader board. I won some great Adidas sunglasses for the effort, and Adam won a TaylorMade Ghost blade putter. Not bad for a free six-hole event!

Driscoll was a wonderful person to be partnered with, by the way, and is probably my new favorite PGA golfer. A three-time All-American at the University of Virginia, James beat Luke Donald head-to-head and finished second in the 2000 US Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club. He was bested by Jeff Quinney on the 39th hole of the final round, and went on to shoot a 68 at the following year's Masters. His playing partner there, Tom Watson, called it "The best round I've seen here by an amateur."

During the opening round of the Farmers Insurance Open, Driscoll holed out from 28 feet on the par three 11th hole. I turned to his girlfriend and joked that he learned that from me the previous day. She laughed. He obviously was the teacher, though, and provided me with a half hour of advice on my putting stroke and methods to practice my stroke, including using tees to measure and control the take-away and follow-through.

Following the putting contest, Adam and I made our way back to the driving range, where he put solid swings on every ball. A professional caddy actually asked me at one point, "Has this guy ever been on tour? He is crushing the ball!" Things were certainly looking up for team nine.

The tee times were running a half hour behind this morning, giving us the opportunity to watch a number of groups tee off, including Rickie Fowler, Stuart Appleby, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Tringale and others. When it was our turn to take the box at the tenth hole of the North Course, we met up with Ernie and the rest of the team. The team consisted of all Farmers agents, including Adam whose nerves were on edge with the large crowd surrounding the tee area.

Pros teed off from the tips, while amateurs played from the white tees. Each player's handicap was certified ahead of time, which put three of the players on the team at the maximum 17, while Adam played to a nine. Els, of course, played at scratch.

With $60 million in career earnings, Ernie Els is well known to be laidback and cool. He is also a little intimidating. Ernie towered several inches above me, putting him at 6'5" or taller, and is well built with huge forearms. He otherwise looks just like he does on tv, and has the exact demeanor you would expect from a huge South African nicknamed "The Big Easy."

Adam's first drive was monstrous: A slight draw blasted 300 yards to the left side of the fairway. Els would play his approach before him, and he seemed pleased to have a playing partner who could hit so well.

Along the way, Els signed autographs and posed for pictures with everyone who asked. He answered any and all questions candidly, and offered advice on swings and strategy when asked. He shot a five-under, too, which got our team to -8 for the day. The team was nine strokes back from winning the pro/am, but had a fantastic time, nonetheless.

Maybe the most amazing thing about this experience was watching the ball flights of Els and the rest of the pros. Ernie swings the club with tremendous ease, and his ball responds with spectacular flight and action. He plays the fade and draw beautifully, and the grace in his game is evident in the backspin and run he gets around the green, as well as in his putting. If his first putt didn't go in, it was always within a foot or two.

Some of the interesting pieces of information I got from Ernie included:

Ernie's all-time favorite courses are Spyglass and Pebble Beach, both part of the Pebble Beach Pro/Am. He also loves Whistling Straits, and has fond memories of being in contention there at the 2004 PGA Championship.

Ernie is a big-time Cowboys fan, and does not see Tony Romo as their future quarterback. Having met Tony a number of times throughout the years (we are not friends or anything, but I like him a lot), I disagreed and still want to see him succeed in everything he does. Please don't take this away from my Packers fan-dom, of course!

One of the most important things to get right in golfing is your shoes - his are a loafer style, and looked to be around size 15.

Ernie and I agreed the BBQ pulled pork and tri-tips sandwiches from Phil's BBQ on the seventh hole was the best free food station on the course (they were fantastic).

The following day was Thursday, and the first day of the Farmers Insurance Open. The look and feel on the course could not have been more different. No longer were players leaving tees boxes to sign autographs or take pictures, and event officials were everywhere. I took a couple of videos on the first tee, and was nearly thrown out. I learned my lesson quickly.

My strategy for this day was solid: I first followed Driscoll's group from the first to the fourth tee, then wandered for a while with Rickie Fowler before catching up again with Driscoll, JB Holmes and Vaughn Taylor. Ernie was in the group that followed, and Mickelson was a hole behind them. I walked with these three groups for hours, and had a blast. I would have liked to see Phil play a little better, but while spending more time in the sand than David Hasselhoff (I know, an oldy but goody), he was noticeably frustrated and would not go on to make the cut. Driscoll, on the other hand, played fantastic golf and finished the day with one of the South Course's best rounds at -4.

When 2:00 approached, our shuttle to the airport and back to reality in Wisconsin was imminent. I made my way from the outmost reaches of the South Course back to the Lodge, picked up more free food along the way and met up with Adam.

What an experience this was! Everyone I have told about it seems to say the same thing: "Wow, I bet you can't wait to do that again!" It would obviously be amazing, but I have a feeling something like this is truly once-in-a-lifetime. While I probably will not have an extra $6,500 in disposable income in my bank account any time soon, I am happy I was able to take full advantage of such an incredible opportunity to join my friend for this unique experience.

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