Another dull evening of mens' golf

It was extremely quiet at Mens' Night yesterday. Golf was enjoyed with reasonable conditions and absolutely nothing controversial occurred in the club house afterwards. Given how dull an evening it was, I will be forced to just report about the golf. Also, I have been advised to stop mentioning Milt in my posts...so you can expect them to be shorter in future weeks. I was also asked not to mention the three balls that one guy shanked into the trees from the middle of the fairway on #8. So, as I already said...it's going to be just simple golf reporting today.

The story of this other wards slow evening would have to be Scott Maynes' scintillating score of 32. This was the lowest at Mens' Night in almost 10 years, since Jason Warwick's 31. Scott's playing partners reported that he was dropping 20 foot putts at will. That must be cool. I turned a three foot putt on #9 into a five foot putt followed by another two foot putt. Scotty also jumped to second place in the ringer board, vaulted to top spot in the season money list, and broke the record for most chicken wings eaten with 47.

Thirty nine golfers competed for skins with four teams winning holes. The lucky hackers included Phil Ostash and Gary Kurtz ($20 on #1), Sport and Cody Cornwall ($20 on #2), Maynes and Ronnie Susinski ($57.50 on #3), and Brad Benton and Blake Cramer ($77.50 on #8). The closest to the pins were Keith Martin on #5 and the aforementioned Mr. Benton on #9. The deuce pot of $58.50 was split by Mike Pryzner and Maynes.

Speaking of Phil Ostash, is it just me or is he looking good lately...all trim and healthy and stuff. Rumours has it that he owes his success to Body by Vi. On the other end of the spectrum is his good pal Benton, who maintains his physique with Body by Di. The first plan involves exercise and healthy food choices highlighted by some delicious meal replacement shakes. The second plan involves a lot of television watching and mainly liquid food choices highlighted by some early morning shakes and loss of vision.

Thanks to Butch for taking care of my steak...and Mr. Gorrell for hosting the fellowship get-together later in the evening.

One final exciting thing to mention... I have a new driver. There will be a viewing session preceding our next Mens' Night during which you may get your picture taken with it. For an extra $5, I will join you in the picture. But you absolutely cannot hit it. Like Wes and his R11...my wife said that I am not allowed to lend it.

Ringer Board news

Just a reminder that you have three weeks to submit your ringer board scores.  The final night for submission is August 11th.

Did anyone else notice it was windy?

I write this on a relatively cool Thursday morning...in a week in which we had a humidex in the mid 40's, some heavy thunder showers, and lots of heat.  So it was not surpising to have incredibly windy conditions for Mens' Night. How windy was it you ask? Well there were hats flying off heads around the golf course for starters. It was an all around blustery, breezy, blowy, turbulent evening. It was so windy a squirrel that was nesting in Milt's hair jumped off on the fifth hole and landed in Ipswich. It was so windy that it reminded Charlie McNabb and Dave Gill of when they had to walk to school uphill both ways.  Ron Susinki's hair piece blew off on the tee box and it took his group five minutes to find it. It was so windy that people on the corner of Portage and Main were calling to ask for advice. People were hitting driver for their second shot on three and coming up short.  On seven, there were eight and nine iron second shots flying the greens. Jason Gorrell actually had to aim backwards on a couple of holes to work his slice back to the fairway. The lake by number eight claimed more balls than a pool table with a roll to one corner. 

In other Mens' Night news, Neuf had two triples on the seventh hole. He hit three balls into the trees half way up the hole...the first being his tee shot and the next two being the two subsequent attempts to get back into play.  Of course, this all let to his second triple, the requisite Mens' Night triple bogey.  Robin Kimpinski had a round which featured an amazing five birdies but resulted in a score of even par.

There were lots of new guys including visitors from BC and Alberta as well as several members from the local RCMP detachment.  One of those members followed a fine round of golf with a poor game of Texas Hold' Em.  I am assuming he was distracted by the pretty waitress.

My roving field reporter asked me to note the ongoing slow play and intoxication of a certain player, but I refuse to make this blog a place for muck-racking...so that large Icelandic guy shall remain nameless.

Speaking of Icelanders, Wes Arnfinson was closest to the pin for the second week in a row, this time hitting it to twelve feet on nine.  He then three-putted for bogey.  Terry Susinski stuck one tight on #5. Two of the skins were won by John Gill and Wayne Chegwin ($20 on #1) and Bob Gingras and Aaron Short ($20 on #2).  Blake Hunter and Ron Anderson had the big payday of the evening with a skin on #4 that earned them $122.  Blake excitedly spent the next ten minutes telling everyone it was his first skin of the year.  Then when he went to cash his check he noticed that Mr. Anderson had departed.  He was heard uttering a few obscenities as the check was pinned to the bulletin board for next week. The $57 deuce pot was shared by Robin Kimpinski and Brad Swereda. 

Given that I have your attention, I should clarify something that happened at the end of the evening.  When Scott Maynes was leaving I yelled for him not to forget the dress. For the record, the dress in question was one that was being delivered from my wife to Scott's.  I was not referencing Scott's poor hitting or his affinity for wearing women's clothing.  We all know Scott is a masterful ball striker.  Also, how he chooses to dress in the privacy of his own home is his business.

Well, that's it for now.  I am taking a trip to Wasagaming with Blake for a round at Clear Lake.  This is the first time he has golfed there since he was fourteen years old.  I will need to keep reinforcing how slow the greens are as we drive up this morning.

British Open draft results

436    Chris Kimpinski    1st place
397    Milt Ostash          2nd place
370    Brad Swereda
339    Jason Neufeld
332    Sport Geekie
327    Mike Susinski
325    Jason Hunter
316    Robin Kimpinski
313    Stephen David
300    Keith Martin
300    Kevin Bartram
295    Ron Sunsinki
251    Stu Nowasad
230    Luke Funk
217    Wes Arnfinson
193    Scott Maynes
166    Brad Benton

Information regarding the teams and point allocations are found on the British Open link on the left side of the page.

Better Late Than Never

So it is late Saturday evening, and I am just getting around to updating the blog. Sorry about that. I was camping in Virden all week and only came back for Mens' Night. When I returned home today, it was really nice out and I went golfing. Also, I made plans for more golf tomorrow morning, so I need to get this done now. This sounds like one of those lame Facebook status updates, so I will stop before I describe where I was this evening, what I am wearing, and what my likes and dislikes are.

Back to the important business of Mens' Night. This past Wednesday we had 34 golfers. There was a mixture of some good golf, some bad golf, and a little bit of everything in between. For example, Cody Cornwall shot a 39...which was good. Also, all four golfers in one group scored an 8 on hole 4...which was bad. Lyle Wilson drained a 25 footer for birdie on 9 which earned him a $99 deuce pot...which was good. I was one of the previously mentioned golfers who scored an 8 on hole 4...which was bad.

Three skins went on Wednesday with Mikey and Randy Tully earning $20 on #1, Dale Martin and Ron Susinksi getting $20 on #2, and Cubby and Scott Maynes cashing in for $103 on #4. Closest to the pins were Wes on #5 and Sport on #9. Neither were able to convert relatively close putts to earn a share of the deuce pot.

In other news, field reporter Mike Susinski asked that I note two things in the blog. Firstly, he wanted me to mention that Wes Arnfinson played slowly all night and held his group up on a regular basis. This seems unlikely given how quickly Wes plays poker. Mike also related a story regarding Luke Funk. After boming a huge drive on eight, Luke had less success on his approach shot. Mike said that Luke appeared to become upset and threw his club further than his ball traveled.

We also had a British Open draft. Information about this is found on another link on this web page.

The Drive to 50

On Tuesday I suggested that we should aim for 50 golfers for yesterday's Mens' Night. We got fairly close, with 44 guys showing up on a perfect evening for golf.  Neither the relentless black flies nor the thunder in the west could take away from what was an all around enjoyable night. Yes...it was a fun time, in spite of the 24 golfers who refused to turn in their scorecards in a timely fashion...and the two senile elderly gentlemen who forgot to sign up.

Skins went on four holes. Winners included Dick Edgeworth / Darcy Stewart ($22 on #1), Robin Kimpinski / Matt Yanick ($22 on #2), Jason Hunter / Brodie MacEachern ($22 on #3), and Ron Susinski / Les Grills ($22 on #7). Next week there will be four prizes over $100, including skins on #4, 6, and 9. The deuce pot was not won last night, so it will also be sizable given a multiple week carry-over. Closest to the pins were Chris Kimpinski on #5 and Phil Ostash on #9.  Sub 40 rounds were carded by Jason Hunter (38), Brad Benton (38), and Mike Susinski (39).

The greens were fast yesterday, given that Joel cut them short.  Also, he still has not put any water on them. I am thinking he gets a commission on his salary if he saves a certain number of gallons over the summer.  Of course, payback can be a funny thing. A few of Joel's closest pals were quick to share the fact that Mr. Ostash had a four-putt as the result of his own golf course maintenance. Joel, the course is in great shape given the year we have had so far...and you and your crew are very deserving of the credit for this. You just might want to be careful about how you prep the greens and where you place the pins, especially if you are playing later the same day.

Despite cashing in on a regular basis, Clayton Bomak still found time to complain about me mispelling his name in an earlier post.  It's funny...I recall Milt and Neuf both whining about one of my blogs last year.  That resulted in both gentlemen being featured regularly in the weekly posts.  Perhaps Clayton will get similar star treatment in the future.  After threatening me against future typos, Clayton did mention that even though he did not win any skins this week, he did clean up on the snips with his group.  To be fair, Austin Hunter did really well with the same guys a few weeks ago.  It's not like Clayton played in a power-house group with the likes of Ronnie Susinski, Chris Kimpinski, and Milt, as some of us did.

Have a good Thursday...and I will see most of you at the fundraising tournament tomorrow.  I apologize to those of you who are looking for the updated ringer boards, money list, and skins for next week.  They will have to wait until later today.  I am finally on vacation and the sun is shining...so I am heading to the golf course.

One More Sleep!

Usually, I only do one post a week...but I have decided an exception is appropriate given the circumstances.  Due to various other commitments and inclement weather, I have only played one Mens' Night this year.  Tomorrow is my first time playing in over a month.  I am excited.

To give you some perspective, I feel the way Milt does on Christmas Eve.  Like Milt in December, I worry I may not be able to sleep tonight.  I can now understand the way that Dennis felt the day before the golf club auction in April.  That feeling that Neuf gets when a girl talks to him...that is sort of what I am experiencing about Mens' Night tomorrow.

In anticipation for some good weather, I even adapted the sign-up sheet.  Up to this point, it had space for 32 names.  Now it has room for 50.  Last year, we had a three-week run where we were getting 45 golfers for Mens' Night.  It would be cool if we could crack 50 once.  Tell your friends who don't golf much to come out tomorrow.  Invite your neighbour who just moved in next door.  Call some guy from a nearby town and tell him the skins are building up.  Imagine the strories you could tell your grandchildren...about that evening back in 2011 when there were over 50 golfers at Mens' Night in Shoal Lake.  It's not simply about the golf, it is about deciding what kind of legacy you want to leave for your children's children.