Myrtle Bitches and Turkish Airlines Open

Turkish Airlines this week and the quarter finals of the 2018 Slinger Swing!
The thread this week is about Championship Golf – Slinger Golf!!
Myrtle Bitches rule!!!

Deb

This was my 3rd Slinger gathering, and I have to say it did not disappoint. Myrtle Beach was the designation of choice this go round. Said to be the golfing Mecca of the east coast. It boasts 80+ courses within an easy drive. Chevy, once again , did all the coordinating. We settled on renting a 3 bedroom condo for the accommodations. It was a great choice.

MX and I made the drive down on Tuesday, and that was pretty uneventful. Found the check in building, the location Myrtlewood Villas and Condominiums. We were the first ones to check in. Keys in hand, we headed off to find our building. The place is huge! We found it, Only to find the keys didn’t work. So back to the office we went. In the parking lot was Chevy and Met! We got the keys redone, hugs all around, and back to the condo we went. Only one more Slinger needed to complete the group.

EMC is en route, somewhere….now, Chevy had heard from him and found out that EMS,s phone was on life support, having forgotten his charging cord. Last word was that he should be there around 11pm. So in the meantime we began the festivities. Adult beverages were available, and everyone was in a great mood. Eventually we headed out to eat and catch up on our lives. Back to the condo to wait on EMC. Eventually, he called, he was at the compound at a security guard shack. I went to fetch him, and was anxious to hear all about his adventure. We got him back to the condo, and checked his phone, down to1% charge! I am the queen of chargers, and got him fixed up. Now I have to say, I did not have any preconceived ideas about EMC, but he is one of the best guys I have ever met. Lots of laughs, then talk of golf for the next day. Bed time and everyone crashed.

Wednesday we are scheduled to play the course located in the complex, Myrtlewood. Now, much was made of the impending hurricane, Michael. The weather was overcast, with rain showers in the area. Most of the worst weather was to our west. Met had played there the day before, so she called and got us out earlier than originally planned. Now there is a side story here. Apparently, the Sunday before the gathering, EMC’s cat had bit his hand. The wound was small, but the hand was red and swollen. I mean bad. The decision was made to get his butt to the ER after the round. So we played, nice course. Wide fairways, in pretty good shape. We got rained on a bit, but they were just passing showers. We finished up, and headed to the clubhouse for some lunch. Met went to the range, and Chevy took Mikey to the ER. Once again, a phone problem. Mikey had left his phone behind. So Chevy left Mikey at the ER with his phone so he could call after he was done. The four of us had time to kill so we headed out for another 9 on the other course located there. Darn convenient, I must say. By the time we finished, EMC was all done too. Antibiotics prescribed and he is told not to play golf. He couldn’t hold a club anyway. We checked the meds label closely, didn’t say no alcohol, so beer in (other) hand we settled in for a good evening.

Thursday we are scheduled to play Willbrook Plantation, located on Pawleys Island. And bonus! Radar is in town! Another Slinger to join in. Met, MX, and I headed to the course and Chevy collected Radar. The hurricane had passed by to our west overnight, and had left the course wet enough to make it cart path only. Bugger! It was pretty windy, but not too bad and the forecast improving. No, we could not play as a fivesome. The starter suggested we go off the back, so we headed over that way. EMC was Met’s caddie for the day, and Radar and Chevy filled out that group. MX and I followed. After a few holes the marshal showed up and said we could join up. Yippee! ‘‘This was the prettiest course of all we played. The site is an old plantation, and heavily treed with live oaks covered with Spanish moss. Plenty of water in play as well. A few golf balls met their watery end…. By the time we finished, the winds had died, sun was out, and it was a beautiful evening. We headed back, to get cleaned up and regroup for dinner. We hooked up with Radar and his other half, Mary, at a terrific restaurant. Best meal, by far. We were a rather boisterous group, and pretty much closed the joint down. Byes to Radar and Mary, as they were headed north in the am.

Friday we are to play the most pricey of the courses on the list: Myrtle Beach National Kings North. Holy moly, we get there and it’s like a riot. Must have had 20 cart people and hundreds of players wandering around. Now, there are 3 courses there, and since Arnold Palmer is the designer, it is a most popular place to play. Weather is gorgeous. We finally make it out, no fivesome allowed. But not to worry, play is so slow we met up on just about every tee box anyway. Took us 5 hours to finish and I think we were just bushed. Nice course, though I don’t think it was worth the $ they were charging. But at least I can say I played it.

Next up Burning Ridge. We had an early tee time, so the sun was low and dew on the ground. That first tee shot was right into the sun, and hard to follow. But another perfect weather day. Met, Chevy and EMC kept their band together and MX and I canoodled together again. Another pretty course. Certainly worth playing again. EMC was heading home that evening so we hung out at the condo and chatted about the great time we all had. EMC’s had was almost normal and I played mom and nagged him to take his meds. Met moved in to the condo, and EMC was on his way. You were missed, my friend.

Last day, and we arranged an early tee time at Man O’War. Beautiful day, once again. Lots of water at this place. But a really nice course. Now, the most memorable thing about this round was that Chevy and MX played like their pants were on fire. Holy cow! Now that’s golfing your ball. Ended up with Chevy carding a 77 and MX 79. Happy boys there. Hugs all around, as Chevy, MX , an I are heading home. Met wants to play a round at another course, so we plan to have lunch with her, but they have a spot for her right away. Hugs again. And a sad farewell. Off we went, another outing in the books.

Looking forward to the next already. If you can make it to one of these, you won’t regret it. Big thanks to Chevy for doing all the work. You are the best. To Met, so wonderful to see you again. Thank you for making that arduous trip to hang out with us. To Mikey, love you man. You are truly a gem of a guy. I hope we get to play together again. I know I have left lots out, but I’’m tired of writing.

Slingers Rock!

MX

The Myrtle Beach Bums or life with Mike, Mikey and Michael

Like everyone else we were sure the weather was going to screw us for at least a couple of days and perhaps impact the entire trip.  Just a few weeks after Florence here comes Michael, right at the wrong time.  I packed my book and my workout clothes in case of no golf, figuring if we lost only one day to the storm we would be lucky.

Packed up we drove down on Tuesday and some trial and error found the condo.  In the process of checking in we found Chevy and Met and as this is the third go around for the four of us there were hugs and manly handshakes.  Move in, unpack and off to dinner where Chevy apprised us of the travails of Mikey.  Apparently he had cleverly arranged his itinerary to include an ALL DAY layover in Ft Lauderdale and neglected to pack a charger for his phone and was just about out of juice.  Back at the condo (very nice BTW, well done Chevy) we spent the evening talking about things we couldn’t control, the weather and just when Mikey would, if ever, wander in from the dark.  Well sure enough, with 1% power left on his phone Mikey contacted us to say he had been captured by a security guard at the complex so out I go to scoop him up and thus our core group was together.  Thus over beer and wine we talked about Michael, looked at various weather apps, choosing to believe the one that showed the least impact on our golf plans.  It was about this time that Mikey held up his hand and asked “how does this look?”  His cat had bit him and we all agreed “Dude, your hand is infected”  So a trip was planned for the emergency room, after golf of course cause . . . you have to have priorities.

The first of attempt to manage the weather we moved Wednesday’s tee time to the morning and played Myrtlewood, the course associated with our condo.  As it turns out, despite the approaching hurricane this would be the worst weather day of the trip.  We played 18 as a fivesome dodging off and on again rain.  Nice course, a good start and we got to trot out the rain gear.  The rain pretty much moved out, so Chevy took Mikey to see the doc and Deb, Met and I played another nine.  That night Mikey came back with some heavy duty drugs and orders from the Doc for no golf for at least a day.  Chevy had prepared and brought dinner and would cook us breakfast the next day, he’ll make someone a fine wife some day.

Next course was Willbrook Plantation and a rendezvous with Radar.  Mikey was reduced to chauffeuring Met which she clearly greatly appreciated (GET IN THE GOD DAMN CART!).  This was the day we all thought we’d lose due to Michael but as bad as many suffered we got fortunate and it mostly missed us.  We had to deal with 30 mph winds but we were dry.  We started off in two groups but the Marshal came up to Deb and me and told us we could join up and play as a fivesome on the second hole once we were out of sight of the Pro.  This was by far the  most beautiful course we would play.  Radar started off red hot and a great time was had by all.  And in keeping with Slinger tradition I came to a par 3 on the back nine and took extra club trying to keep it down out of the wind and promptly shanked it dead right in to the bushes.  Oh well, that was a double bogey but I did find my ball.  That night we met up with Radar and his bride for some great seafood and even better company.  We had a good time and were the last to leave the restaurant . . . we tipped well.

Next day the weather was perfect and we played an Arnold Palmer design, King’s North.  Mikey was back playing having self-diagnosed himself as much improved (not to worry, Deb and Met monitored his condition and nagged him to take his medication)  The most expensive course we would play and while very nice it wasn’t worth the steep green fee.  This complex of three courses and they run it like an assembly line.  Not allowed to play as a fivesome, Deb and I played behind the three amigos.  A really SLOW round so we got to visit on every tee box.  Pretty wide open I played well (for me) and eventually we linked up and played the last few holes as a group.  We played the 18th hole, which has 40 bunkers, as we lost daylight.   Another day in the books

Another great weather day on Saturday and we played Burning Ridge.  By far the coolest logo of any course we played.  This was a morning tee time because we had to get Mikey to the airport so he could fly all night to get home.  He is a great guy and good company but he will never be in charge of arranging travel, he sucks at it.  Met played the front nine with Deb and me and the back nine with Chevy and Mikey.   After the round we got pizza (a lot of pizza as it turns out, their definition of personal pan pizza would feed the 5th Mongolian Horde).  We charged up Mikey’s phone so he would at least start off with a chance getting home before it went dead.  First time meeting Mikey and like all Slingers, he is loud, funny and contributes more than his share to the conversation.

Last day and we had an early tee time to play Man O War, not long but a course reputed to have a lot of water in play (out comes the economy balls).  Wrangling my bag I managed to knock it over and it landed on the putter.  As I am picking it up I adjust my putter cover and my putter head comes out in pieces (just bought it this year, newest club in my bag).  So I would be a putter slut, borrowing everyone else’s on every green.  It was boys versus girls and Chevy and I rode together while Deb rode with Met.  A nice course with a lot of water, I got to watch Chevy play the front nine as well as I ever seen anyone play and have the best round by any Slinger of the week.  It wasn’t until 13 where I managed to win the hole.  I had some pretty sloppy iron play on the first nine but tightened it up on the back and came to 18, a par 5, needing birdy to break 80.  Best drive of the day and on the fringe of the green in two I manage the birdy for a 79, considering I was used three different putters it was an accomplishment.   However Chevy shot a sparkling 77 and got the golf clap of the week.

Despite the dire predictions the weather was fine and the mosquitoes were never a problem (the only to get bit was Deb and that on the day of 30 mph winds, that was one hungry mosquito).   The food was good, the beer was cold, the company the best and the golf was . . . you know – golf.  As you meet and get to know Slingers it gives the Treehouse much more meaning.  We all have things going on in our lives but whenever the next outing occurs, Deb and I will be there, looking to meet more of the crazies that I argue with every week online.

Slingers Rock!

Radar

I only joined the slingers for golf on Thursday as this short trip to the Carolinas was a multi purpose one.
Flew on a red eye from LA to Charlotte via Nashville. The drive Wednesday to MB wasn’t much fun. 5 miles into the trip there is no more freeways or Starbucks and it rained heavily pretty much the entire time. These Sutterners are still a rebellious bunch. What we call Carl’s Jr./green burrito they call Hardee’s/ red burrito!!
Once we made it to MB we met up with long time friends that were vacationing on their condo there, they live in Virginia. Known them for almost 30 yrs, our kids grew up together in Canada and later AZ. As a matter of fact they were the proxy Godparents at my son’s baptism.
On Thursday it was golf time. When I woke up Tropical storm Michael had come barreling down South Carolina but quite a ways West of us so it really stayed dry most of the day and the winds were strong but other than ripping branches of trees not much damage near us.
Tee time at the Willbrook Plantation was at 1 and Chevy picked me up at my hotel. Course is about 40 min South of MB but Chevy does it in 28 min with his Camaro. According to the logo ball this plantation was established in 1798. Not sure how old the course is but the are big oaks everywhere. So much so that the beautiful houses all around this estate aren’t much of a distraction.
There were no new faces for me, I have played many times with the coyote in Phoenix and I met Chevy, MX and Deb in Pinehurst 4 years ago. And this is the third time meeting Metro. I also participated in the very first slinger outing in AZ many moons ago.

I got to play with Chevy’s spare set because true to form the coyote got into pussy trouble yet again. Couldnt play because his cat had bit him and he ended up in the ER. Good sport that he is he did come along for the right and caddied for metro.
The beautiful course was in very nice shape but branches and leaves everywhere because of the storm. No biggie because the rain and mosquitoes were a no show. Now I know what Bermuda is like. Basically if you miss a fairway your fecked, ball disappears in green fluff. Quite a bit of water and traps but fairways pretty wide. Only lost 2 balls. ( on the same #%~<#% hole )
Most of us played from the gold , I think that was 6300 yards. MX played from the whites as he can hit it almost as far as Bubba. He says a good one goes 240 yards but they looked more like 260-270 to me. However I could be wrong , recently I thought 6 1/4 inch was 8 inches !!! ( talking about a bluegill I caught at the lake )
After the greetings and hugs we made it to the first tee and Chevy, Met and me went first but from the 2nd tee Deb and MX were allowed to join us so we played 17 holes as a 5 some which was great
I even stunned myself by parring the first 3 holes. I vividly remember the last time I did that which was……….eh………..NEVER. Of course reality had to set in at some point so after a Bogey on 4 I had a triple on 5 and a big fat 10 on 6 including my only ball in a sand trap all day, buried in the lip as if I was Rory fecken mcIlroy !!! Ugly ugly ugly. Ended up with 50 on the front nine , Chevy and Met at 42. Mr and Mrs MX not sure. The good news was that even with my 10 I didn’t break a club, didn’t throw a club or even swore like a sailor. I’m wondering if I’m finally growing up ????
Back nine the wind died down and even the sun showed its face occasionally. I managed another 2 pars and ended up with a 99, mission accomplished!! I believe Deb had a 95 and all others in the 80 ‘s.
The fun part for me is that when I play with better players that I know I always get some good tips. Metro fixed my grandma putting grip and long time ago and the golden tip this time came from Chevy. After skunking a 3 wood he told me to stop pulverizing my grip and loosen it up. Tried it on the next shot and hit it sweet and 5 or 6 more times after that. That 3 wood should have really made a disappearing act like Deb’s 7 iron !!!
Of course it was all about the camaraderie and talking smack. Really a pity that not more slingers made it out , you really don’t know what you’re missing.
Mary picked a nice restaurant for dinner , the snails were scrumptious and the scallops divine. Metro toasted Chevy for all his work organizing and we had a serious discussion for 2 minutes about the treehouse where sometimes we seem to forget that we should all be friends brought together by our love for this cruel game.
I had to say goodbye to a bunch of wonderful people that I’m proud of to call my friends.
The last part of our trip brought us to mary’s cousin in mount airy N.C. her and her husband run a B&B. The claim to fame of mount Airy is that Andy Griffith was born here and that it was the inspiration for the fictional Mayberry from the iconic TV show. JR was born on the exact same day as me but struggling with his health to a point where they decided to sell the B&B , can’t do it anymore. He has leukemia and his chemo pills have started to affect his joints and although we didn’t notice it apparently he has episodes where he loses the plot , some type of dementia. Always been an avid golfer and fulfilled his life long dream of playing the old course at st Andrews earlier this year.
So when we said our goodbye we’re not sure if we will see him again. We certainly hope so. But a thought crept in my mind , life is really like golf…….a fickle bitch.
And that’s why we shouldn’t take the friendships in the treehouse for granted.

EMC

I had just finished work on Monday, Oct 8, and was sitting at my favorite bar with suitcase packed, and in a kinda sweet-sour mood.

I wanted to go. Had looked forward to the trip. As I sat there the flight with 2 connections was beating me over the head.  At my age and with the zero leg room, I wasn’t looking forward to the upcoming crap doing a redeye (flight departed at 12:50a).  I kept thinking about golf and hopefully playing decent golf. Not embarrassing golf. It had been months since Radar and I had played. A friend took me to Sky Harbor Airport at 10p.

My flights ended up being crap. However, with a suspect left hand and high expectations I arrived at MB. YES !!! Got to the Myrtlewood condos, made a new best friend in Lieutenant Olson at the guard shack, and then Sir Michael McDowell and Lady Deb brought me to the promised land.    Friends and beer…good people on the condo deck.
And I had my own room, unexpected ?  Thanks Cal. 

That Weds night was refreshing. Away from the grind in Phoenix, and the menial part time job that helps me get by. I felt like a new man.  Lee Carrington, my lady pro hero(ine), Mike and Deb McDowell, and Bruno Nanni allowed me to be myself.  Which generally includes non-stop chatter.    When I’m happy and comfortable, I talk. It’s in my DNA. Can’t help it.

Golf on Wednesday was a very rare ‘working’ combination of tar and water.  The tar was my left hand which was badly swollen, and the water was a very nice set of sticks given to me by Bruno, to use for this trip.  I can’t thank you enough Bruno for your help and for your constant laid back ‘taking care of me’ ! You are a very good man.  No – I didn’t fall in love with you !

I guess because I didn’t try to kill the ball and I did my best to play sensibly, Wednesday’s round was easily my best of the trip. Mostly good stuff, even dropped a handful of putts. Bruno beat me by one. Then Bruno took me to Grand Strand ER where the doctor pronounced me alive and good to go ! Only after giving me antibiotics and my promise NOT to play golf on Thursday. Diagnosis was, ‘cat scratch fever’. He smiled when he said it.

I played Friday and Saturday. Poorly. Frankly, I was completely depressed at the end of Friday’s round. Hand was much better but, I shot 24 strokes worse than Wednesday?  Oh well ?     Wednesday’s are now my favorite day.

And Bruno, Mike and Deb and Lee Carrington never said anything nasty about my play. OK – Bruno did ! But then, he’s a dickhead from Michigan !!
I don’t want to get sloppy here but, I will. Bruno is a very good man. Mike and Deb are gold. They treated me like a King. Deb was always looking out for my best interests. And they both play very good golf

Lee Carrington is my secret love. Never have done anything (much), and never will; however, Lee is the most accommodating ‘player’ I’ve ever been around.  And I’ve caddied for many lady players who weren’t near the woman Lee is!

I hope to be alive and well the next Slinger outing.

EMC (eatmecoyote)

Metro

Finally… I’m here.
34 hours door to door and it’s midnight in MB. Unpack and crash. Predictably, I’m awake at sparrow fart, but no worries because I have an early tee time at Myrtlewood. The condo is right on the golf course, so I decided to walk over to the clubhouse. Problem – where the hell is the clubhouse?
Fortunately, the Course Super was out chatting to one of the groundsmen and he felt sorry enough for me to give me a lift. Just as well too as it is a big property!

18 holes later and it’s just gone lunchtime. Time for another 18 before the gang get here. I played with two delightful sets of people both times and in between rounds had a putting comp with the bag boys. The staff at Myrtle from the Super to the Bag  Boys, Marshals and Head Pro were so great! Nothing was too much trouble and all with the biggest smiles possible.

Then it was time to finally catch up with my Slinger mates! So good to see you again guys and gal. It took a while for EMC to find us, but eventually he did and it was game on!

Wednesday was Myrtlewoods Palmetto course… which I had played the day before. Nice course and in very good shape. Deb, MX and I went out for another 9 in the afternoon while Chevy took EMC to the vet. The vet wanted to put him down because he thought he might have rabies. Chevy assured the vet that EMC always acted weird and that it was nothing new. The frothing at the mouth was a minor concern, but soon went away with the ingestion of antibiotics washed down with a carefully administered beer… or 3.
The good news is that the cat is doing fine.

Thursday, we moved the tee time at Willbrook Plantation to later because of Hurricane Michael looming from the south. Fortunately, it went a little west of it’s projected path and pretty much missed us. The wind was pretty interesting early on, but all in all – we got lucky and very
A very nice course with lots of interest although still a little wet after the last hurricane.
Radar joined us for the day and it was great to catch up with him! He parred the first 3 holes and had us wondering who this bloke was. Fortunately, the other Radar showed up soon after and it was back to situation normal. Just kidding Radar, you played good golf – especially those first three!
Our own Hurricane Michael was feeling much more betterer, but wasn’t allowed to play – so he filled in as my caddy. It was a very fun day filled with lots of expletives mainly involving a caddy who wasn’t keeping up nor shutting up.
Then it was off to dinner with Radar and Mary. Lovely dinner at a place I can’t remember the name of. Terrific to see you again folks!

Friday and Saturday, we played MB National and Burning Ridge.
Saturday after golf saw EMC going home in the early evening. For all the fun these things are – the down side are the good buys. It was so good to see you again Mikey. I hope we can do it again soon.
Sunday it was the turn of MX, Deb and Chevy to leave straight after the golf at Man Of War.
What I said above about the good buys applied again. Serious bugger!!

Bottom line of the week was that we played great courses, stayed in lovely accommodation, got to catch up with wonderful friends and it was all brought together by Chevy.
Thank you Sir for a fantastic week and everything you did to make it all come together.

Chevy

It was time for another slinger thing in my mind. Finally a few folks agreed and I was nominated to put it together. Kinda made sense since the location was in my back yard, or close to it at least. I was looking forward to meeting Cal and EMC for the first time. We have shared so much banter over the years, it was time to actually meet in person and have some fun.

So I began doing my homework, found great accommodations at ridiculously cheap prices. Where can you stay for a week for less that $200.00 US? Myrtlewood condos!!! That’s where! They were very nice even though the twin beds left a bit to be desired and the sliding shower and closet doors were off the runners so they weren’t so great. But other than that, excellent accommodations, right on the course and the sun set right outside our balcony of our 2nd floor condo.

Met had her own place for the week because she didn’t trust the likes of me or EMC being in the same room with her while she snored, I mean slept. So accommodations were set, now I had to find a few courses to play that would offer some challenges, yet be scenic, fun, and nearby. Only had about 101 to choose from. That made it easy? HA! I did stress a little over which ones to pick. But after calling to make the tee times I asked the guy on the phone about my choices. So the Founders club on Pawley’s Island was out and Willlbrook Plantation was in. Tee times made, condo reserved, ready to go.

The weather forecast was shaky at best. We knew the courses might be a bit soggy after Florence, but now Michael was coming, and could ruin the whole thing. Fortunately it barely brought any rain, and only wind on Thursday. We didn’t miss a day of golf. I have to be honest, I prayed that God would blow the storm away from us and He did. God is great! After the first two days, you couldn’t ask for more perfect golf weather. Thanks Jesus for the awesome weather.

Funny thing, you’d think the most expensive courses would have been way nicer than the cheaper ones. This was not the case. MBN Kings north, was very cool and interesting but I think we should have gotten a discount since they verticut the greens recently which made putting interesting to say the least. The 6th hole was pretty cool though. (See pic of overhead.) All but the last hole were interesting and challenging holes. I just thought the 200 bunkers down the left side of the hole to be a bit much. The plantation course at Myrtlewood was nice, probably in the best shape of them all, at least the greens were. But it lacked personality. It was just another course that meandered it way through a housing project. Willbrook Plantation was a great course and we had to play it in 35 MPH winds which added to the challenge of this beautiful rustic course with it’s live oaks and twisting turning fairways. Burning Ridge was our cheapest course but what a beauty she was. Tight old course with a lot of variation into smallish greens. What a nice place. Man O War on Sunday was another great old course. Had my best round there in years, shooting 35 on the front and 42 on the back. (I blame the back on the considerably slower greens that led to my only 3 putts of the day, all 3 of

them.)

But most importantly it was great seeing Met and the McDowells again, and meeting my long lost brother EMC. He can’t see shit and you have to repeat everything to him over and over but he’s a great guy. I consider all four of these folks to be my friends. It’s too bad that we all don’t live much closer to each other. We shared many laughs, drinks, food, and fun on and off the golf course. But I couldn’t get anyone to go to the Wax Museum or Ripley’s believe it or not, or even go-cart racing!

Thanks to Met for making the long trek once again, and to Mikey for making this even more special. Glad his hand healed up real well. Time to get rid of that cat though.

Picks format is as usual.
Pick 4 plus an alt.
Swap alt after day 1 for 1 shot. After day 2 for 5 shots.
Top 3 scores count.
When you look at the table, you will see the seedings and shots given or taken.
The top seed, once he or she has made their picks – stays as is.
The bottom seed however has the chance to change their picks right up to first tee time.
Given that – all top seeds MUST have their picks in 24 hours before first tee time Thursday China Time. That would be Tuesday pm US EST Time.
In the event of a tie, then the result will be determined by the lowest score from the first pick on.

[table “451” not found /]

[table “452” not found /]

                                                             SLINGERS ROCK!!!!!