Week 4 League Results

June 4, 2020

Ahh the first week where I was called upon to make a weather prediction… seemed that we would get rain, but when would it start? When would it end? I played it safe and said “umbrellas, bring ’em if you’ve got ’em” …Thankfully the weather held up (for the most part) so that wasn’t much of a factor. So I’m going to say as for now I’m batting 1,000 – 1 for 1.

The roughs were …. rough. I always say that if they’re not they’d call them “easy”. Seems a lot of folks are struggling with finding their ball in the rough between holes 1 and 9; particularly when they are teeing off on #9. I say that if you choose to hit a blind tee shot over the trees and no-mow because you play a left to right fade… well then you’re on your own if you end up losing your ball in the rough. Best bet is to hit a provisional ball so you only have to take a one stroke (stroke and distance) penalty if you fail to locate your ball within the prescribed 3 minutes. Maybe you should be hitting a utility wood, or a 5 or 7 iron off of the tee aiming into the (right to left bending) fairway instead of launching one blind over the no-mow into the hay? Something to think about on the last hole of a close match…

Yup, I was thinking about rough today… why is US Open rough so tough? Because the US Open is traditionally held the week before Father’s Day in early June… Prime Time for cool season grasses found throughout the North… So roughs, particularly at this time of year, will be rough – adapt your game to keep your ball in play… your scorecard might just thank you for it.

The expanded team points aspect of our league setup seems to bring about wider winning margins then in the past – perhaps due to the fact that a bad round loses your team not just the individual head to head match but also adversely affects YOUR TEAM’s competition against the other TEAM. Lose your match badly enough and you will clobber your team’s team points as well…

Check out the volatility of the team standings: First place for weeks 1 thru 3 was the very competitive Mitch and Larry Hull… Despite being within 3 net strokes against their opponents Mike Chairvolotti and Tim Maxim they lost 60-30 and now suddenly finds themselves in fourth place. And who took over the #1 spot? New team Jamie Wilson and red hot Christopher Stevens (who shot a personal best 39 (net 24). Five teams are within 40 points of first place Fourteen teams are within 100 points of the lead… It’s a long season… and it ain’t where you start, it’s where you finish!

Skins / Near Pin had a familiar ring to it… Young Thomas edged out Owen Sanford by 34″ with a 15’0″ strike on #7… good for $36… Skins – Dan O’Neil almost rode his par on #2 to a skin but both teammates Mike Lor and John Mulloy covered Dan’s par with pars of their own. Mike struck again on #5 with a birdie to win the lone skin from among the 18 participants … good for $54 … Next week we’ll be playing to the sixth hole, site of more holes-in-one than any other hole at MGC.

This week’s reports include the League Setup as many of you have asked me how the points are awarded each week. The Pairing Sheet tells you your opponent for next week’s matches. Finally… perhaps if you regularly can’t get here by 4:30PM Wednesday (par) you could comment here or email me… I know that Gary H, e.g. team 8 with Ron K can’t make it here much before 5:15PM… I also know that Tim M on team 4 with Chevy is in a similar situation. Do you like to play earlier? Later? Let the league know with a comment here or email me!