Perhaps, just like the weather, we're all warming up to the new golf season... the course is ALMOST back in a condition that I can find aesthetically acceptable and hopefully you all can find as eminently playable. Most all of the credit for this goes to our hardworking crew sitting on the Dixie Chopper for hours on end cutting 50" wide swaths from the fairways and tees; or on our Toro 223D plowing roughs 72" at a time. The calendar and weather also play a huge role. Every year our native cool season turf is at peak health right about now so I know better than to take credit. Our June rain is also on par but we've recently distributed our hoses and reprogrammed our irrigation clock in anticipation of the hot weather to come. I'm restocking our fungicide cabinet and will do my best to anticipate and reply to the signs of turf stress sure to come in an effort to meet and hopefully exceed your expectations.
Are you playing in Saturday, June 27th scramble and bbq buffet? There's a $10 per player discount for early signees - 4 player teams, 18 holes, full menu buffet on the turn and at the conclusion ... Also playing "Spaceballs" at sundown - bring a blanket or beach chair.
League standings continue to be a volatile mix - Andrew North / Dale Kowatch find themselves at the top of the heap for the moment; they've slowly and steadily climbed from 6th to 1st over the course of the season... Mitch / Larry Hull loom close behind as does most of the rest of the field... I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out over the second half of the season when we start the next round of head to head matches...
Skins/Near pin participation is down to less than half of the field... I think we should consider altering skins from gross (no handicap) to net (with handicap) This way if you are being given a stroke on a hole you bogie becomes a net par, your par becomes a net birdie ... what do you think about this? I think it will make skins more competitive and give everyone a better chance to win a skin... This week's (gross) skins winners were Liam Miller, who, on his birthday, birdied the statistically toughest hole #1, and Mitch Hull, who parred the toughest par 3 hole #3... Mitch Van Keuren nailed his tee shot on #2 to 4' 6" to grab the near pin and week 5 carryover. Next week near pin will be on Kenny J's favorite hole #3
Happy Birthday, Liam! Hope it's just the first day of your best year ever! Liam was the only player to break net par (37 net 28) and now puts him into the "A" spot on the now Liam/Gary team though Gary managed a fine net 30 and would have matched Liam but for a double bogie 6 on the 9th hole.
Next week completes the first lap (round robin) of the season. The first place showdown features Andrew / Dale vs Liam / Gary . Here's to more good summer weather ahead.
