The Happy Golfer

There are three things that matter in golf...where you play, how you play, and who you play with...and the first two don't matter.

This quote is from the latest issue of Golf Digest which focuses on happiness. The basic premise of most of the stories and articles is that happy people enjoy golf more than unhappy people. That isn't necessarily an earth-shattering revelation, but it is still worthy of some reflection.

Many people who golf focus on imperfections. Bad lies, bad swings, bad shots, and bad scores fill their brains. Even when they golf relatively well they lament the one bad hole. Last night for example, I heard someone ask another how he played. "Terrible" was the response. You can imagine my surprise when I saw that person's card and noted that he had a 40 on the evening.

There are others that simply enjoy the chance to get out and golf and enjoy the outdoors. I heard one of these happier people describe their round as "lots of fun" last night. When asked how they played they said "really good". Imagine my surprise when I saw that person was just under 50.

The point of the opening quote is that golf should be more than just one's score relative to par. While we reward scoring in our mens' night format, the emphasis of the evening for most people is getting together with some friends and enjoying an evening chasing golf balls around the course. While I enjoy playing and would never turn down a skin, I am happiest when there are lots of guys out playing and having a good time.

I am happy to say that we had 42 golfers last night including a few new faces. I would bet that Mike Susinksi and Jamie McCutchin were happy when they hit it closest to the pins on #5 and 9 respectively. Mikey was likely doubly happy when he scored a two on the same hole and ended up splitting the $63 deuce pot with Brad Benton,

Brad seemed happy a little earlier when he cashed in for a $90 on #5 with Stephen David (that's me). Scott Maynes and Luke Funk appeared to smile when they won $56 on #4. Hubey was definitely elated when he won a $21 skin with Robin Kimpinski on #8. Derek Ostash was still okay when he won the $21 for hole 7 even after learning that his partner (Ervin W.) departed before signing the cheque.

I know that there are at least 40 people excited about the horse race on Saturday. We actually have 48 people signed up...so I am assuming 8 will be unhappy with the weather, the format, the food. their play, or some other aspect of the day. I hope they at least have the good fortune to have one or two happy people in their group.

In closing, I invite you to think about the recently painted deck at the Club House. Were you among the happy majority who was glad that the old, worn surface was refinished and who was grateful for the volunteers that did the work? Or, were you among the unhappy minority who didn't like the colour and complained to a friend about how the natural wood finish should have been maintained? I bet if you are in the first group you are generally a happy person. If you are in the second group, the converse is likely true.

See you Saturday!

Four Deuces!

Remember a week ago or so when it was almost like a mini drought around here? It hadn't really rained in a month or so. I actually was contemplating buying a pump to get some water from the lake for my lawn.

Fast forward until now. Most people would agree we have had too much rain as of late...including that two inch deluge on Monday evening. Even yesterday, it rained pretty hard from 3:00 - 4:30 pm. Fortunately, all that did was delay the practice round for some early birds. Once Mens' Night started at 6:30 pm the weather was great for the 32 golfers who came to play.

A heavy rain before golf usually means that some Mens' Night scores will be really low and others will be really high. Such was the case yesterday, when several players took advantage of the soft, receptive greens to attack pins. There were quite a few others that had trouble with the soggy conditions, with many stories of chunked shots and fat approaches.

One group actually had the four lowest scores of the night with Brad Benton, Scott Maynes, Scott Martin, and Jason Gorrell scoring 37, 37, 38, and 38 respectively.

They were part of a fivesome with Dan Stokes...who wasn't among the low scorers for the night. I knew he was having some trouble during the round when the beer cart girl stopped by my group. She remarked that "Dan Stokes doesn't seem like he is having fun tonight".

Fortunately for Dan, his evening turned around later. His lone par on the eight hole found a good partner with Derek Kempthorne and they claimed the massive skin of $133.50. This win also jumped Dan to second place on the season money list.

Another sizable skin went on hole #7 when Jamie McCutchin and Stephen David combined for $83.50. The only other hole that went was #1 which was good for $20 for Milt and Cubby.

There were four deuces on the evening with John Gill, Darcy Kowalchuk, Blake Hunter, and Scott Maynes splitting the $48 pot. Blake's two on #5 and Darcy's two on #9 were the result of tee shots that gave them the closest to the pin honours for the night. Blake missed the $1500 hole-in-one prize by less than a foot. I know this because later he said that he was "11 inches from not going to work tomorrow".

Scott Maynes' deuce on five also helped him to move into the lead on the ringer board with a score of -6. There are five more weeks to post scores, with the final night August 19th.

For anyone who likes ordering golf stuff online, I came across a really good Canadian site called Golf Avenue that sells new and used equipment and offers free shipping on orders over $150. Their website is www.golfavenue.ca.

Don't forget that the Horse Race is next Saturday. Currently we are at 47 entrants with a cap of 60 players. To enter, text me at 847-0161 or by email at sdavid@mts.net.

Finally, welcome back to Jason Neufeld who played last night after being out of commission for a while.

The beauty of simply showing up

One of the nice things about our Mens' Night formats is that you can show up once and win money. You pay your $8 for skins and you have a crack at whatever has accumulated to date.

Such was the case last night when Barry Bone played and won $112.25.  He split the $58.50 deuce pot with Jamie McCutchin and paired with the dummy card to win $83.00 for the skin on #9. This single evening performance catapulted him to the #2 spot on the season money list. Not bad for an $8 entry fee.

Despite not getting a share of the deuce pot, Scott Maynes was great off the tee on the par 3's with closest to the pin on both #5 and 9.

With 39 golfers out there were lots of ties for skins. The only other holes that went were # 1 (Brad Swereda / Brad Burns for $36.50) and #6 (Mike Susinski / Terry Susinski for $20). The skin on #8 continued to be elusive and will likely be over $150 next week.

While I have your attention I will make a couple of quick golf club related announcements.

Firstly, our Horse Race tournament is only a few weeks away on June 25th. We already have 21 entries. With a cap of 60 golfers you may want to get your name in soon. To register, text me at 847-0161 or send me an email at sdavid@mts.net.

Our campground project has come a long way in a single calendar year. It was a year ago this coming Friday that we started. Exactly one year later, at the end of this week, we will be officially open with 58 full service sites. There are already 2 campers in lots as of this morning with at least 20 more due. 

If you know of anyone looking for a seasonal lot there are still approximately 36 available. We expect these to go quickly once word gets out about the awesome full service campground next to the golf course and lake that just opened in our community.

Night of the Ostash's

Well, we didn't crack 50 golfers last night. We only had 34. But we sure had a lot of Ostash's. It seemed like there were around 30 of them. Someone suggested the number was more like 10 or so. But still, when almost a third of the guys playing are from the same family that is noteworthy. When we paired off scores later there were 3 of 17 groups that had two Ostash's. I thought that their family reunion was not until Saturday. Maybe I was wrong.  It had to be on Mens' Night. Or maybe it was Tuesday...during the Jack and Jill, when there must have been 7 or 8 female Ostash's as well.

Not surprisingly the low round of the night was an Ostash with Matt Ostah carding a 35. One of the three skins were won by an all-Ostash team. Pete and Milt teamed up on #6 for the $48 prize.

The other skins went to Ryan Merasty / Mike Susinski ($48 on #2) and Scott Maynes / Wes Arnfinson ($20 on #4).

There were three deuces with two of them made by the same guy. Congrats to Blair Neal who won 2/3 of the $51 pot as a result. The other two was by Mike Susinski who won $17 for his efforts. Blair has closest to the pin on #5 while Mike just missed the ace on #9.

Robin Kimpinski added a birdie to the ringer board to take the lead at -5. Milt Ostash was really excited about adding scores...but then became distracted and forgot to tell me which holes he was entering.

Next week there will be no fireworks and probably fewer Ostash's. However, the 8th hole should be worth around $130. Many other pots are building as well. Plus it's July. If you are male and not golfing on Wednesday evening...you need to be.

I will see many of you at tomorrow's Fundraising Tournament. For those playing, best of luck for low scores and lots of fun. For any asthmatic players, the forecast for tomorrow is "smoke"...so best of luck for clear airways.

Environment Canada even has a new weather icon for such conditions (shown above). The actual forecast states "Mainly cloudy. Widespread smoke. High 28. UV index 6 or high." Let's hope none of those Ostash's have respiratory issues.