Top Moments

This countdown will consist of some of the best moments in Danza history. These will range from amazing golf shots to horrific golf shots, to clutch performances, historic sequences, heartbreaking moments, hilarious things that have happened along the way and everything in between. Really, anything that was especially memorable and stood out in the Danza lore. Without further ado, let’s get to the countdown.

15. PJ naming the Danza Cup

This wasn’t so much a moment as it was an idea, but still, it was historic nonetheless, as it gave us the name of the tournament itself. Without PJ’s half-joking suggestion that the Cup should be named the Danza Trophy, I’m not sure what the name would’ve been. I suppose there’s a chance we could’ve gotten here eventually given our long inside joke of all things Tony Danza, but I’m just not sure. It may have been called the Mountaineer Cup or the West Virginia Cup, or who even knows what. But I think we can all agree we landed on the perfect name. While PJ is no longer a member of the Danza Cup, I wanted to give him a shoutout, because he made a lasting legacy. 

14. Blatt winning a hole over Storm with a 10

Number four at Stonewall Resort, par-5. Blatt was teeing off while Johnny was grabbing something out of his golf bag. When Johnny was walking up to the tee box he saw Blatt top his ball roughly five yards, just enough to clear the tee box. Johnny joked, “Tough par from there!” to which Blatt replied, “Oh, what you didn’t see, Johnny, is that was my second shot.” Blatt proceeded to ground one up the fairway before his fourth shot went out-of-bounds. Storm on the other hand had a good tee shot and a fairly nice second shot up the fairway. While Blatt was looking in the woods for his ball, Johnny mentioned to Storm that Blatt should just concede at this point to keep pace of play going. It was at that moment that Storm’s game collapsed into dust. Blatt of course didn’t concede, and he ended up winning the hole with a score of 10 to Storm’s 11. It was all so bad it was glorious.

13. The A/D alt-shot halved birdie hole

Continuing this countdown with Blatt and Storm, the A/D alt-shot is as erratic as it gets. It’s rare you see a birdie at all in this event, much less on the same hole. But in ’21 at Lodestone Golf Course, on one of the par-4’s, Trey and James pounded drives, Storm and Blatt stuck their iron shots, and Trey and James made a ten-foot and five-foot putt, respectively, for birdie. Haven’t seen anything like it in this round before or since.

12. Johnny’s putt from the bunker into the water hazard

This is arguably the single worst golf shot in Danza history. With approximately twenty- to twenty-five yards to the flagstick from the bunker, Johnny, not feeling confident in his sand wedge, decided to hammer a putt and ramp it onto the green. Instead, he hit it so hard it flew over the green and forty-plus yards beyond into a pond. How often does anyone putt from a bunker? How often does anyone hit a putt sixty-plus yards? How often does anyone putt into a water hazard? Almost never, certainly never, and extremely never? How often does anyone do all three at once? So much never it wraps back around into a distorted dimension of reality, bending time and space? Well, Johnny managed to pull all three off in one fell swoop. One of the funniest moments ever.

11. Trey’s triple bogey win in the Inaugural Danza third sudden death playoff

This hole in and of itself was nothing special. In fact, this moment would be much further up the list if the whole thing wasn’t quite so ugly. In the third sudden death playoff of the 2020 Danza, the two A-players squared off against one another. In a makeshift par-3 hole out of the par-4 seventeenth, James would play his worst hole of the day. Trey also didn’t play the hole well, but because James had blown up enough, Trey was able to play it extra cautious to ensure the victory, and he tapped his ball in for a triple bogey to take the first ever Danza. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch, but because this was the Inaugural Danza, history was made with that tap-in putt.

10. Felton dropping and breaking the MVP trophy

After his famous 4-0 performance at the ’21 Danza in Deep Creek, MD, Felton was awarded the MVP. This was the first year we actually had an MVP trophy to give out. A signed golf ball by Tony Danza himself in a glass case. Felton went to pick up the case and in 0.4 seconds of holding it, he dropped it and cracked the glass casing.  An all time funny moment. That MVP trophy has gone through hell.

9. West’s putt to keep the match alive in the 2020 Playoffs

It was the first head-to-head sudden death playoffs we ever had. Hell, it was the first Danza we ever had. Pressure was at an all time high and West needed to make a five-foot putt to halve the hole and keep the Danza alive. With his team watching on anxiously and with nerves of steel, he buried the putt to keep the tournament alive. It proved to be significant, as Red would go on to win the next playoff hole. And while it was Trey who finished the job, this was the more climactic moment given the circumstances. Trey’s win doesn’t happen without this putt.

8. James and Jeremy’s 5 consecutive birdies and 6 total on the front nine of the ’23 scramble

It was the most incredible stretch of golf the Danza has ever seen to date. The back nine didn’t offer anything special, but that’s because it didn’t need to. James and Jeremy’s lead was so large by that point all they had to do was keep it on cruise control. Their game was great from tee to green, but it was their legendary putting performance that created this masterpiece. 

7. Trey’s putt on 18 to seal the ’22 best-ball match

The A/B best-ball match of ’22 in Myrtle was as tight-knit as you can get. A back and forth slugfest from one to eighteen. And just when things looked like Blue was going to win the eighteenth and halve the match, Trey knocked in a ten-foot putt to end the round. It was as clutch a putt as you can ever hope to have.

6. West’s shot on 17 to clinch the ’22 alt-shot

After being 4-Up through thirteen, the Red Team in the B/C alt-shot dropped three consecutive holes to allow their lead to slip to one with two to play. A critical moment fell upon them on the seventeenth hole with their ball lying 150 yards to the flag with a big ole creek in front of the green. After the Blue Team played it safe and laid up shy of the creek, it was Red’s move to go for it or also play it safe and lay up. But the thought of laying up was a mere formality of team discussion, knowing full-well West was always going to attack that flag. And in the biggest moment of the round, West threw a dart to less than ten feet to dash the Blue Team’s hopes of completing the comeback.

5. James’ putt bouncing off the flagstick in the 2020 Playoffs

One more moment about the 2020 playoffs, and this is the probably the most crucial of them all. Due to the covid restrictions at the time of not being allowed to pull the flagstick, the team scramble playoff round had to be played with the stick in. With a chance to win it all, James’ putt came in a little hot before colliding dead center with the flagstick and popped out of the hole. It remains a debate to this day on whether that putt would’ve dropped had the flagstick not been in the cup. Blue Team was inches away from being 4-0 in Danza Cup tournaments. 

4. Felton’s 150-foot putt

The longest putt in Danza history. It was the ninth hole of the World Tour Course in myrtle, a replica of eighteen at St. Andrews. West hit his approach shot to six inches for a tap-in birdie. Felton threw his approach shot on the back, far-right side of the green with the flag being front-left. It was the largest green we’d ever seen. Looking like the Red Team was going to take the hole with birdie and go 2-Up heading into the back nine, Felton miraculously banged in a 150-foot putt for birdie to halve the hole. Unlike anything we’d witnessed before.

3. West and Storm’s missed 1.5-foot putt to lose the match on 18

This is one of the single most significant moments in Danza history and without question the most heart-wrenching. After a deadlocked back and forth match for seventeen holes, it all came down to a couple putts. Blue had a four-footer to Red’s one-and-a-half-footer to halve the hole. Blatt knocked in the putt for Blue, making the halved hole, and ultimately the halved match, all but a guarantee at this point. With a foot-and-a-half left to halve the match and give the Red Team a 2.5-1.5 lead heading into Day Two, both Storm and West lipped out to lose the match. You could hear a pin drop after that. The silence was deafening.

2. Felton’s dominant performance in hurricane level rain

What started as a nice day turned into hurricane-level weather in the ’21 scramble round in Deep Creek, MD. The A/C matchup decided to call it quits and close up shop after nine holes to head home and hop in the hot tub. They’d had enough. The B/D match trudged onward. The wind was whipping, it was torrential downpour, the temperature dropped to what felt like freezing. It became nearly impossible to even hold onto your golf club with each swing. The greens were no longer greens, they were a collection of standing water. It was like putting in a bath tub. And yet, despite all the elements going against them, Felton unleashed the performance of his life on that back nine, playing the best golf he ever played before or since, propelling the Blue Team to victory. It didn’t even make sense. It almost defied the laws of physics.

1. James’ 50-foot putt to end the ’22 Danza

The title speaks for itself. The ’22 Danza stands out as the most epic Danza of them all, and believe me there’s some tough competition for that title, seeing as three of the four have gone to the playoff. But none of the others have quite approached the stratospheric heights of this tournament. This tournament belongs in a category all by itself. From start to finish it was as close as it gets, having so many wild moments along the way. I mean, three of the top four moments on this list came from that Danza. All the twists and turns throughout each round led us to the sudden death playoff. Both teams had extremely long putts in the team scramble round. Red putted out from seventy-feet and settled for a par. The Blue Team had missed their first three putts from fifty feet. It all came down to James, and realistically it was looking like we were heading for the head-to-head playoff, given the length and the break of this putt. With the other seven guys watching on, James buried the fifty-footer for a walk-off victory. No doubt this is the biggest moment in Danza history, and honestly, I don’t know what it would even take to top it.