Don't put away the clubs yet

Some people get sad when September rolls around. They lament the passing of the holiday months and start forecasting how soon the weather will turn cold. I like to take the other perspective. Firstly, summer isn't over until the weather gets really cool. Secondly, just because I return to work full-time doesn't mean the golf season is over. We will get a few more Mens' Nights, maybe three or four if we are lucky, and there is always evening and weekend golf.

Take this weekend for example. Great daytime temperatures and conditions...plus Monday is a holiday.

Even when it gets cooler it's fun because the fairways get harder. Hit a ball up the middle and you'll likely get some of your longest drives of the season.

Twenty-seven golfers played on Wednesday with some new faces among them. None of the newbies had a better evening than Brandin Wilkinson. His great tee shot on #9 gave him closest to the pin, a share of the deuce pot, and the $20 skin with Brad Benton.

Other skins went to Neuf / Denny ($34.50 on #1), Dale Watson / Jason Hunter ($20 on #2), and Sport / Keith Martin ($20 on #3).

The other closest to the hole was Sport on #5. Unfortunately he did not convert the two. Dick Edgeworth ended up splitting the pot with the previously mentioned Mr. Wilkinson. Both got birdies on #9.

Don't forget that we will continue with the early start time this week with a 6:00 pm tee off. If you have no one on the hole in front of you and your group doesn't spend too much time looking for balls, there is always the chance for extra holes after you turn in your cards. This past week my group finished our Mens' Night round, dropped off our cards, played seven more holes, and we were still among the first back in the Club House.

If you need incentive to play, we have two great hole in one pots. One is capped at $1500 and the back-up pot is now at $792.

Well...that's it for now. My brother-in-law will be arriving soon for the weekend....which means lots of golf for the next few days.

That was alot of Jasons

It was like a Friday the 13th marathon. We had five Jason's last night out of the 42 golfers who came to play. Thanks to Gorrell, Hunter, Neufeld, Colon, and Galbraith for making this blog entry possible.

 

The similarities between the movies and our Mens' Night don't end just in the numbers of Jasons. For example, Jason Voorhees first appeared at Camp Crystal Lake. We played last night at Shoal Lake. The film franchise tells the story of a scary loner who chases unsuspecting coeds to claim revenge for a previous wrongdoing. Last night, Neuf won $80 to claim the ringer pot. The movies were bashed by critics but beloved by film goers. Our Mens' Night is often criticized by spouses and significant others yet is cherished by the hard working men of our community who seek only three hours per week of quiet reflection on the golf course while accompanied by their peers. Finally, the body count in the first Friday the 13th film was eleven...the same number of people who scored over 50 last night.

 

The round wasn't scary for everyone with several golfers bringing home cash. Skins went on five holes. Winners included Dave Lysyk / Robin Kimpinski ($21 on #2), Scott Maynes / Dale Butland ($55.50 on #3), Mikey / Hubey ($40 on #6), Charlie McNabb / Brady Waddell ($21 on #7), and Butch / Blake ($81 on #9). 

 

Closest to the pins were Ryan Merasty on #5 and John Derhak on #9. John was the only one of two to convert the birdie and joined three others golfers (Sport, Gorrell, and Blake Hunter) to split the $63 deuce pot.

 

Someone asked last night how many more Mens' Nights we will have this year. The simple answer is that we will keep going as long as weather permits and as long as people keep coming out. It's sort of like Jason Voorhees and the Friday the 13th film franchise itself. Every instalment of the series ends with Jason seemingly being killed yet he is resurrected in the next movie.  And the movie series itself keeps going. Since it started in 1980, there have been twelve movies with the most recent update being released in 2009.

Last year we made it to September 18th. The previous year we got to September 25th. Assuming a similar finish this year, it is fair to say that we should have at least another four Mens' Nights remaining.

Not much to say...so little time...

These are the hardest blog entries to write. I wasn't there on Wednesday plus I have stuff to do this morning. So I have a lack of knowledge about what happened combined with the need to finish up quickly. What's worse is with no general theme I don't real have an appropriate image to use at the top of the blog entry...hence the photo above.

 

On Wednesday, 38 golfers came for Mens' Night and 9 walked away with cash. Skins went on four holes. Winners included Wes Arnfinson / Brent Zenchyshyn ($20 on #1), Keith Martin / Jason Gorrell ($34.50 on #2), Sport / Cody M. ($34.50 on #7), and Milt / Joel Ostash ($125 on #8).

 

Closest to the pins were Scott Maynes on #5 and Brady Waddell on #9. Neither scored a two which allowed Chris Kimpinski to cash in for $57.00 on the deuce pot.

 

Wednesday was the last night for the Ringer Board. Congratulations to Neuf for taking the first flight with a score of -8, followed by Brad at -6 and Jason Hunter at -4 on a count back. The second flight standing required two count backs. Chris Kimpinski, Ron Susinski and Scott Maynes were all at +3 but the count back pushed Chris into the first flight allowing Ron to claim the 2nd flight title, followed by Scott. I will state that results are preliminary at this point given I already made a few changes...based upon the keen eye of avid blog reader Chris K. Please feel free to check out the scores between now and Wednesday to let me know if there are any other changes required. Prizes will be available next week.
 

Thanks to Jason Gorrell and Scott Maynes for taking care of Mens' Night in my absence.

 

Best of luck to Wes and Bob Moffatt who are competing in the Tamarack Golf Tournament over the next week.

Birdies, birdies everywhere

This one has to be a quick one. I have a few things to do before some 10:00 am Sunday morning golf with the boys followed by some late final round viewing of the PGA Championship.

Last Mens' Night was as good a night for scoring as a social evening at a womens' prison. For starters, we had thirty one golfers and the middle score was 42. Robin Kimpinski shot a 32 with a new driver, new putter, and bogey on #8. There were birdies everywhere by multiple golfers.

With so many scoring well, it was not surprising that only two skins were won. Mike Susinski teamed up with Wayne Chegwin for $20 on #1 while Darcy Kowalchuk and Rob Anderson cashed in for $54.50 on #6.

Scott Maynes accomplished the rare double closest to fter hitting it tight on both #5 and #9. Unfortunately for Scott, it took him two putts on each hole to finish. This set the stage for Jason Hunter to roll in for the only deuce of the evening while winning $46.50 for his efforts.

To be fair, not everyone was ripping it up on every hole. There were four people who scored fives in the short par 3 ninth hole. There was also an unfortunate guy who scored 39 during the practice round only to follow it with a 53 during Mens' Night. Out of respect for he and his family, I will only refer to him by the pseudonym Hlake Bunter.

A reminder that this coming Wednesday is the final night to lock in your scores for the ringer board. Right now we have Neuf in the lead at -8. Good luck to everyone in this final shot at ringer board glory. Remember any unfilled scores will be recorded as triple bogeys.

 

51 golfers...and most of them on time!

What a great week for the golf course! The warm, dry conditions have resulted in considerable traffic and lots of usage. The high point was Wednesday and Thursday when we had 55 senior golfers Wednesday afternoon, 51 for Mens’ Night in the evening, and then 68 for the Credit Union tournament on Thursday.

 

Thanks to Jenn and Natasha for their excellent work in the Club House during this busy week. Thanks also to Scott Maynes who came out and drove the beer cart during Thursday’s tournament. Despite my suggestion, he refused to go topless for tips.

 

The 51 for Mens’ Night represents our highest total in a couple of years. It did not look promising around 6:15 pm when the surprise rain storm blew in over the golf course. Fortunately, the nice weather returned quickly and with it, cart after cart of golfers.

 

There were lots of good rounds with 10 golfers posting under 40. Among those low scores were five twos, collected on holes 1, 5, and 9. Congratulations to Ryan Merasty, Neuf, Joel Ostash, Murray Salaway, and Stephen David who got to split the $216 deuce pot.

 

Skins went on four holes. Winners included Charlie McNabb and Stephen David ($25.50 on #1), Sport and Carey Findlay ($72.00 on #2 and $25.50 on #7), and Neuf who paired with the dummy card for $25.50 on #3.

 

I just realized that the sheet for the ringer board is on the bulletin board in storage room at the Club House. I will pick it up later and update by the end of the day. There are only two weeks remaining to post scores (August 6 and 13) so start filling your sheet if you have yet to do so. Remember that any gaps in your card will be filled in with triple bogeys.

 

One final reminder…if you want to golf additional holes please turn in your score card before doing so. This has become an increasing issue this year and really needs to stop. To be fair to the late group this past week, there have been multiple groups and golfers guilty of this in 2014. We appreciate your desire to take advantage of the nice conditions but you need to appreciate that others are waiting for you for sometimes close to an hour. If you feel you are too far from the Club House to drive the score card in then you can call me and tell me the scores hole by hole.

That's it for now. Enjoy the last few days of the long weekend.