The Week of Milt

What a week for the young man from 4th Avenue. After a Cinderella-like run to the finals of the championship flight of the Horse Race, he won an almost $100 skin on Mens' Night.

There were 27 golfers on Wednesday, including the previously mentioned Mr. Ostash. Skins went on four holes. Winners included Neuf / Sport ($20 on #1), Stephen David / Sheldon Bone ($20 on #3), Dan Stokes / Charlie McNabb($20 on #7), and Milt / Jason Gorrell ($94.50).

Closest to the pins were Ron Anderson on #9 and Brad Benton or Brad Swereda on #5. I probably should starting writing full names on my recording sheet on Wednesdays. No one claimed the $139.00 deuce pot which will continue to grow next week.

Speaking of accumulating pots, we have our first hole-in-one pot capped at $1500 and the back-up pot is already at $603.00.

Back to the Horse Race, it was a great event with 55 golfers spending the day at the course. We ended up with four flights which was awesome. The Calcutta was a huge success bringing in close to $3000. In fact, while the winners of each flight made $210, the winners of each Calcutta Flight won $356.

Congratulations to Scott Maynes for being the only player who could outlast Milt, thereby becoming the overall Horse Race champion. Thanks also to Scott as well for the incredible job that he did organizing the event.

Since I am a bit off topic already, I should mention the campground development. We now have the roads taking shape and quite a few lots cleared. If you get a chance, it is really worth the short walk in to check things out.

Well, that's it for this week.  I have stuff to do and my wife knows I have to do it.

The Plagues of Mens' Night

I need to reread the Book of Exodus. I think Mens’ Night is in the midst of those plagues that the Bible references.

A few weeks ago we had that intense storm that brought us darkness. We haven’t had water turn to blood yet…but routinely the men on Wednesday have their blood get very watery. I have also seen frogs around the pond on #7 and I am pretty sure Neuf has a boil on his neck. Earlier in the week I saw Dan Stokes scratch his head a lot while putting in Shilo. This could easily be the beginning of the plague of lice.

Last night we had what seemed to be a plague of insects. It would be no exaggeration to state that the bugs were as bad as we have ever seen them. There were the regular mosquitos combined with swarms of repellant resistant gnats or black flies. I saw people mishit shots because of the onslaught of insects. You could not putt without have bugs fill your ears and nose or bounce between your eyes and glasses. You know the bugs are bad when there are three discussion groups on the main page of eBrandon dedicated to them.

Given their steadfast resilience, the Mens’ Night participants soldiered on and completed their rounds before hurrying back to the Club House. It was interesting to listen to the conversations and hear many more references to bugs than to golf shots.

Thirty two golfers battled the elements with skins going on five holes. Winners included Ron Susinski / Jamie McCutchin ($20 on #1), Neuf / Jason Hunter ($20 on #3), Rob Anderson / Stephen David ($33 on #4), Ken Ostash / Robin Kimpinski ($33 on #6), and Joel Ostash / Luke Funk ($51.50 on #7). With a couple of first time winners we now have 37 golfers who have taken home cash this year.

Closest to the pins were Cubby on #5 and Ryan Merasty on #9. Neither they nor anyone else scored a two. As a consequence, we will likely see a deuce pot next week of around $150.

A reminder that the Ringer Board runs until August 20^th so you have five more nights to lock in your scores.

That’s it for this week. Hopefully we will see most of you at the Horse Race on Saturday.

Practice is overrated

I played with Neuf and Newf on Wednesday. Neuf of course is our own Jason Neufeld, while Newf is my friend Jamie Park from Newfoundland who was in for a visit.

Jamie had a pretty good round. He shot a 40, won a couple of skins, and probably should have been lower given that he had five birdie putts. More impressive was the fact that he played in sneakers, with his brother's clubs, and it was his third round of the year.

This is why I think practice is slightly overrated. Don't get me wrong. The more you play the better you should play. Certainly, your feel for chipping and putting improves the more rounds you get under your belt. But sometimes the best days ball striking are your first rounds of the year when you are not weighed down by poor habits and bad swing thoughts.

Speaking of first rounds, congratulations to Zach Bartram who joined us for his first Mens' Night ever. Mens' Night is one of the classic rites of passage for males in Shoal Lake, right up there with getting your license, working at Central S, graduating from high school, getting married, and buying your first combine.

Zach joined 33 others golfers on a night where only two people scored under 40. Three skins went. The previously mentioned Jamie Park teamed with Ken Ostash for $20 on both #1 and #3. Bird and Keith Martin won the other skin by going low on #5.

Closest to the holes were Brad Benton on #5 and Scott Maynes on #9. Neither they nor anyone else made a deuce.

Don't forget that the horse race is this coming Saturday, July 19th. This is a great tournament and it is filling up quickly. You might want to check the list on the top left of the page to see if your name is there. If not, text Stephen at 847-0161 to let him know that you are interested.

It's not quite 8:00 am but it looks like it will be a great weekend for golf. Hopefully we will see many of you out there over the next few days. When travelling the course you might catch a glimpse of the initial stages of development of our future campground adjacent to hole #4, 5, and 6. The picture below shows one of the two future campground roads which were cut out the last two days.

I'm So Excited

This will be my quickest turn around on the blog post this year. Usually I don’t complete my weekly entry until Saturday or Sunday morning. But I am up early. It is the day of the fundraiser tournament. I am excited. I already cleaned my golf cart and I have a few hours before I need to go to the course to help with the final set-up.

I think I have some form of medical condition related to golf excitability. I didn’t go to bed until 1:30 am last night…most likely because of the tournament today.  It is fair to say I get a bit wound up every Wednesday morning because Mens’ Night is later the same day.

I know that this past Wednesday excited me because we had a season high of 37 golfers. I also was very happy that we got to play given the wet conditions and the fact that the course had been closed two days previously. I have to be careful not to slip back into a discussion about the weather. Let me simply say that there was a lot of water on the course and water in places where we have not seen water in the past.

Despite the general sogginess it appeared to be a really good evening of golf. There were some low scores and good play by many people, particularly a few visitors who were making their first appearances of the year.

Six first timers left with cash in their pocket. On his first night, Phil Ostash won $84 on his own for a skin on #6 because he was paired with the dummy card. Derek Ketcheson’s first visit saw him split a skin on #1 for $31.50 with Carey Findlay and then win the deuce pot of $137. Derek’s two was noteworthy in that it occurred on the par 4 first hole. Finally, on his first trip to Mens’ Night for the season, Jason Wowryk carded a solid 37. I actually had the please of playing with Mr. Wowryk about 12 years ago when he scorched the course for a 31 and did not win a single skin.

Skins were dropping all over the place with six holes paying. In addition to the two mentioned above, four more holes were won. Brad Swereda and Joel Ostash won $31.50 on #2, Wes and Gorrell got $73.00 on #3, Neuf and Luke paired for $20 on #4, and Jaime McCutchin and Darcy Kowalchuk got $20 for #9.

Closest to the pins were Dan Stokes on #5 and Brad Swereda on #9.

Well….that’s it for this week. If I don’t see you at the course today, have a good day and enjoy the weekend.