Three in the Tree

Normally I don't write anything about what happened before Mens' Night on the blog. Occasionally, if someone has a practice round of 36 and follows it by a 48 I mention it. Or if a 48 is followed by an official 36 I say something. But usually I keep the golf references to what occurs between 6:00 and 9:00 pm.

However, sometimes very unique happens. This Wednesday, for example, while enjoying some warm-up holes, Dan Stokes hit a great drive on #8 to the 100 yard mark. Then he hit his wedge over the green to the trees behind the green. And the ball did not come down. Below is a picture of Dan pointing to his ball. Remarkably, he hit his third shot from where it was lying and then got up and down for bogey.

For the actual Mens' Night round, the highlight was Leslie Blackbird's score of 33. He paired with Neuf to win skins on three holes ($20 on #2, $20 on #6, and $44 on #7).

The only other skin of the evening went to Jason Gorrell and Dick Edgeworth who won $22 on #9.

Closest to the pins were Scott Martin on #5 and Jason Gorrell on #9. Gorrell converted his putt to share the $30 deuce pot with Robin Kimpinski.

Gorrell's combined winnings put him at exactly $300 for the season, the first time anyone has reached that plateau.

With the fall farming season starting up, there were only 20 golfers. Many more turned out for the season-ending Nine and Dine on Friday.

Remember we have switched to a 6:00 pm tee off time for the remainder of the season. Hopefully we will see you on Wednesday for our 19th Mens' Night of the season.

A Good Day for a Golf Movie

It doesn't seem to be a great weekend for actual golf, especially today with the heavy rain and thunder. You may have to get your golf fix somewhere else.

There is always golf on TV. Tiger Woods is playing in the final group on a Saturday for the first time in a couple of years. There's also the Canadian Womens' Open.

Or you could watch a golf movie on Netflix, but not Caddyshack or Happy Gilmore which are curiously absent. They also don't have Tin Cup, making me think that Netflix doesn't like golf. They do have a nice documentary about competitive youth golf called The Short Game which is worth watching.

The Ringer Board wrapped up this week. Jamie McCutchin won the first flight with a -8 score, followed by Robin Kimpinski at -7 and Darcy Kowalchuk at -6. Jason Neufeld captured the second flight with a -2 with Scott Martin second at even par.

The prizes for the ringer board were divided as follows - 70% for the first flight (40/20/10) and 30% for the second flight (20/10). With 19 golfers participating, the cash payouts were 1st flight ($76, $38, $19) and 2nd flight ($38, $19).

For the regular Mens' Night there were 24 golfers. Numbers were predictably down a bit given that many of our friends in the farming industry were busy getting ready for harvest.

Skins went on five holes. Winners included Jason Neufeld / Jason Hunter ($34 on #1, $39 on #6), Darren Ostash / Kyler Demond ($24 on #2), Wes Arnfinson / Larry Koroscil ($143 on #3), and Darcy Kowalchuk / Kevin Bartram ($20 on #9).

The $36 deuce pot was claimed by Darcy Kowalchuk. Closest to the pins on #5 and #9 were Ryan Merasty and Darren Ostash respectively.

Before I wrap it up I would like to congratulate Dave Gill who had a hole-in-ne at the Tamarack Golf Tournament this week. Dave's ace was on the 12th hole in Clear Lake and helped him win his match.

Remember, starting next week we go to a 6:00 pm tee off for Mens' Night.

Dog Days of Summer

There were lots of golfers this past week. How many, I am not certain. I was away. I heard there were either 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, or 50 golfers depending on whom I asked. Looking at the sheet now, I think the number was 44 but their appears to be more than that listed.

In any case, it was a good night for golf. I was out of town but I assume it was a hot one. A couple of people said it was the hottest Mens' Night ever. This could be hyperbole because I am sure there has been a hotter Wednesday some time in the recent past. It would be safe to assume that it was an extremely warm and humid evening.

We are in the middle of what is commonly referred to as the dog days of summer. The expression "dog days" refers to the hot days of summer originally in areas around the Mediterranean Sea. The coincidence of very warm temperatures in the early civilizations with the rising, at sunrise, of the dog star Sirius led to the association of this phrase with these conditions. The dog days of summer are most commonly experienced in the months of July and August, which typically exhibit among the hottest of summer temperatures.

Skins only went on three holes. Winners were Robin Kimpinski / Ron Coombs ($41 on #5), Joel Ostash / Ron Huberdeau ($27 on #8), and Jamie McCutchin / Ivan Crampain ($22 on #9).

The Kimpinski brothers, Robin and Chris, were closest to holes #5 and 9 respectively. They converted their putts to share the $81 deuce pot with three other people, Sonny Blackbird, Ron Susinski, and Jamie McCutchin.

There were lots of scores entered for the ringer board. The final opportunity to post scores is this coming Wednesday. Right now Jamie McCutchin is in the lead with a -8.

Hopefully we will see another good turnout this coming Wednesday. The hole-in-one pot seems due to go soon, plus the third hole skin should be worth around $150 this week.

If you are free this Sunday between 4 - 6 pm, feel free to drop by new campground adjacent to the golf course. We are having our grand opening / volunteer appreciation event.

Golf No Matter What

The picture above is something that I found on the internet. The caption that accompanied it said "When you are playing golf, no matter what happens, keep your head down". It also illustrates the theme for this week...golfing no matter what the conditions are like.

So...it didn't rain on Mens' Night this week. That might be surprising for anyone that looked outside at 1:00 or 3:30 or even at 6:00 pm for that matter. But once we got going at 6:30 pm there wasn't a drop of rain for the next few hours. Fortunately, we hit the requisite number of 10 golfers to make it an official Mens' Night.

Following the final night of 2013, I wrote a blog entry entitled "Seven Alone" which talked about the seven guys who braved the cold and damp conditions to play. Interestingly of those 7, 5 played this past week.

It shows that there are some people that golf no matter what the conditions. This statement isn't intended to be critical of those who like it warmer and dryer. It is simply an observation. Some of us are willing to golf even when reason and logic suggests that we should not.

I think this speaks to the allure of Mens' Night. It isn't merely about the golf and the scores. It is a night where we clear personal and work schedules to ensure that we get a chance to get out and hang with the boys. Occasionally there are conflicts that we can't avoid, mainly on the recommendation of our significant others. But generally, we play whenever we can.

For the most part it is only exceptionally bad weather that keeps us away. Even that is relative. A couple of weeks ago, for example, we played on an evening when wind gusts were bending the tops of the flags until they almost touched the ground. We played and were grateful that we didn't have the "almost tornado" of two night prior.

I have only a few pictures of golf on my phone. A common theme is the fun that results when we golf when we shouldn't. There's a shot of the fifth green with a double rainbow after a wicked thunderstorm. There's another one of a bunch of us riding out a torrential rainfall while visiting in the maintenance shed. Finally I have one of four of us bundled up with layers of clothing, toques, and mitts. That one is from a cool day last October.

So thanks to the other nine guys who came out this week. And for those that couldn't come, maybe we will see you on Wednesday.

Skins went on five of nine holes with two double winners including Dan Stokes / Scott Maynes ($20 on #1 and $75.50 on #2) and Jason Hunter / Jason Gorrell ($20 on #4 and $66 on #9). Joe Shwaluk and Brad Benton teamed up for the other skin, $20 on #7. Closest to the pins were Robin on #5 and Brad on #9. There were no deuces.

There are only two more nights to add scores to the ringer board - August 12 and 19. Remember if there are any holes for which you do not enter a score you get the Mens' Night triple bogey. Good luck making sure that is not the case.

Let's hope the weather is fairer this week. If not, good luck for those that are willing to brave the elements.

Golf by the Numbers

Numbers are important in golf. Your select specifically numbered clubs to hit numbered balls after deciding on the number of yards to your target. You use informal statistics and probability to make decisions about where to hit and what to hit. Some golfers even record their shot distances on their GPS devices so they get a sense of their trends and patterns. And of course, you use numbers to track your progress, both in terms of scores and handicaps.

So this week I will present an overview of Mens' Night which focuses on numbers.

This past Wednesday there were 28 golfers, 9 of whom won prizes. It was an incredibly windy start to the evening with wind gusts up to 75 km/hr. Skins went on 4 holes including Mike Susinski / Darcy Kowalchuk ($35 on #1 and $20 on #7), Pete Ostash / Jason Gorrell ($51 on #6), and Scott Maynes / Ron Anderson ($20 on #8).

Jamie McCutchin and Brad Benton scored 2's so they split the $42 deuce pot. Blake Hunter was closest to the pin on #5 and Mike Susinski hit it tight on #9.

This season we have had 14 Mens' Nights during which 45 golfers have won over $2000 in prizes. Yet we have not had 1 hole in one...but it feels like it may be coming soon.

Speaking of holes in one, the odds of an amateur making a hole-in-one are 12,500 to 1. The odds of a low handicapper making an ace are 5,000 to 1 while the odds for a professional golfer are 2,500 to 1. If you are a low handicapper and play 1,000 rounds in your life (an average of 25 rounds for 40 years), you have a 20% chance of making at least one hole-in-one.

Well that's it for this week. It's Saturday afternoon and 23 Celcius outside, the wind is only 15 km/hr and there is only a 20% probability of precipitation. I need to get outside. Unfortunately, there seems to be 0 people available to golf.