Well...it's October 1st. The start of a new month and the official end to our Men's Night season. There will be those people who are sad that summer has ended. Others will mention how quickly it passed and start talking about how the cold weather is soon to arrive. I prefer to join the ranks of those that were grateful for five good months of golf.
Living in Manitoba, we generally have beautiful summers with long days that allow golf past 10:00 pm at the end of June and early July. Other than the wind that seems to fill most of the days in May and September, conditions are quite favourable for driving golf carts and hitting golf balls. This of course is balanced with winters that can get fairly cold with the occasional blizzard. It seems to be a reasonable trade-off.
Also, there are advantages in living in a landlocked province in the middle of this country. We are fairly immune to those natural disasters which seem to be increasing in their frequency. Sure Manitoba gets the occasional mild tornado but they are extremely infrequent. Our biggest challenges seem to be periods of too much rain which alternate with times of too little precipitation. Our most noteworthy weather event of the year was the short hail storm that hit early in July.
If you are sad to see summer end, plan to do something fun or productive to fill your Wednesday evenings. You could take up curling or start walking or exercising if that's your thing. If that doesn't appeal to you, enjoy having an evening off once per week to catch up on things at home, or to relax and hang out with family and friends.
Our final Men's Night was held on Wednesday. Skins went on four holes. Winners included Dale Watson / Robin Kimpinski ($20 on #2, $20 on #4), Jason Gorrell / Brad Benton ($20 on #2), and Scott Maynes / Stephen David ($20 on #6).
Scott Maynes was dialed in on the par 3's. He was closest on both 5 and 9 and converted one of the putts for the only deuce of the night. This won him an additional $19.50.
Robin Kimpinski capped of a strong season atop the money list with $469.25 in total winnings. This is the single year record since we started recording. There were 21 Men's Nights this year. Robin won cash in 15 of the 19 weeks in which he played. This is remarkably consistent and not as easy as one might assume. Even good golfers need to get paired with partners to win holes.
I should mention that we held our second annual NHL Hat Auction last night. Thanks to everyone involved in the planning and all of those that came out to make this a successful event. And as much as it pains me to say this as a Maple Leaf fan....let's go Canadians! Also, Vancouver Canucks...bet of luck in your quest to be the worst team in the league in 2017-2018.
Each year I like to predict our start up for the following season. I am going to say that special day will be Wednesday, April 25. Until then...enjoy your fall and winter. And don't give up golf just yet. Last year, the course was busy on a warm Saturday on November 12.
