Please fix your divots

The essential conditions for a good golf course are quite simple.  For greens and fairways, water and hear and the keys to promoting positive growth.  The temperatures have been fine as of late but we are just getting the rain that is required. Things should be looking very good within the next two weeks.  Soon those bare patches on the greens should begin to fill in.

Next, we need people who take care of the course.  This includes our grounds crew who look after daily maintenance.  It also includes us golfers who need to fix balls marks on the green, replace fairway divots, and refrain from slamming putters into the soft ground simply because we suck at putting.

The best among us are those golfers who always use the garbage cans, pick up the occasional waylaid beer can on a fairway, and use their divot tool more than once every green.  Also, we golfers need to be patient at the start of the season because it takes a while for the course to get growing.  I am not calling anyone out here...I am simply reminding us all about our collective role in ensuring that our course is in as good as shape as possible.

A lot of what I am talking about falls under the umbrella of the term "golf etiquette".  Much of etiquette governs playing rules but a significant portion provides direction on how to help maintain golf courses.  I prefer to think about it more simply.  We all need to be grateful for having such a nice course in our small town and we all need to do what we can to sustain it.  A good example of this would be those members that take time to clean flower beds or trim tree branches around the course.

But of course, I digress...as I often do at the start of the season.  I need to talk about about what happened on Wednesday given that this is the Men's Night blog.

Skins went on four holes.  Winners included Robin Kimpinski / Jim Geekie ($20.00 on #2) and Joel Ostah / Norm Verboom ($51.88) on #7.  Devin Allen paired with the dummy card for a double win, getting $36.88 for a skin on #4 and $20 for #6.

There were two deuces with Braeden Allen and Pete Ostash splitting the $54.39 pot.  Pete did it by hitting it closest on #9.  Closest to the pin on #5 was Troy Chwaluk.

For the second week in a row, Brad Benton had the low round with a 34.  There were a few other rounds under 40 including Braeden Allen (37), Austin Hunter (38) and Devin Allen (39).

It was Scott Maynes' birthday.  His present was birdies on both #1 and 2 which he promptly put on the ringer board.  Brad Benton birdied the eight hole to go to -7 which is 5 strokes ahead of the four people tied for second.  Brad has holes 3 and 6 remaining to fill his card.

By the end of this coming Men's Night, we will have three hole-in-one pots worth $1500 each.  We have previously capped at this level and started building another.   We might consider combining the existing pots in some way.  Perhaps we have one pot of $3000 and a second at $1500.  A second option would be two pots of $2250.  We will discuss this week and come to a group decision.

See you all again for tee off this Wednesday at 6:30 pm.  Remember to fix those ball marks.