Double Birdies

Thirty guys showed up this past Wednesday for Men's Night. Scores ranged from a low of 35 to a high of 61.

Skins went on three holes...all won with a pair of birdies. Winners included Robin Kimpinski/Joe Shwaluk ($20.00 on #1), Charles McKay/Ashton Tanner ($45.63 on #7), and Jason Gorrell/Nathan Nowasad ($56.25 on #9). Closest to the pins were Pete Ostash on #5 and Zach Bartram on #9.

This is a big week for the golf course with the annual Fundraiser Tournament scheduled for this Friday. Let's home for minimal rain this week.

A Nice Turnout

It is interesting what better weather can do for attendance at Men's Night. This past Wednesday we had 43 golfers, easily our highest total of the season.

Usually with more players, fewer skins are won. However, there were five holes that went. Winners included Reegan Kominko/Jim Geekie ($43.13 on #1), Robin Kimpinski/Neuf ($43.13 on #2), Myles Shingoose/Ryden Lanouette ($26.88 on #3), Chad Tanner/James van de Velde ($51.88 on #8), and Ryan Mansell/Brett Allen ($86.89 on #9).

Jason Gorrell had closest to the pin on #5 and Ryan Mansell was closest on #9. Ryan and Jason also shared the $80.63 deuce pot.

Tornado Warning

Sometimes I don't know whether I am writing a golf blog or a weather blog. Certainly there has been a lot of focus on things of a meteorological nature this year.

Take this past Wednesday for example. As far as I can recall, this was our first tornado warning on a Men's Night. There were actually funnel clouds spotted in different communities throughout our region.

Around 3:30 - 4:00 pm, Shoal Lake was hammered with heavy precipitation, including hail, for about 15 minutes. During the deluge, I couldn't see the lake adjacent to my house. My road received 1.1 inches of rain in that time period. Shortly thereafter, I jumped on my cart and headed to the Club House.

When I arrived there were not many people around. I joined two guys to play a few practice holes. As we were about to hit our second shots on three, the sky opened up again. We picked up our balls and quickly found our way to the shelter on the rear of the maintenance shed. We stayed there until almost 6:15 pm.

Then something interesting happened. The clouds disappered and it suddenly was warm and sunny. The 24 guys who came to play had fairly good conditions for the round, with a few exceptions. My group started on #1 and were cruising along nicely until the sixth tee box. Suddenly, we could feel the pressure drop and saw dark clouds forming again to the west. We picked up our pace and finished the last three holes as fast as possible. As we putted on #9, a light rain started. That became a heavy downpour a few minutes later when we were inside our sheds. Some groups weren't so lucky, getting soaked because they were still playing.

I have not seen as much water on the course as was there on Wednesday. There was almost nowhere that was dry. There was a stream running in the low spot across #5 and #8 that was likely 8-10 feet wide at 4:30 pm. There were countless shots that hit fairways that were lost in newly-formed water hazards. The fourth hole was extremely saturated from the back tee well into the middle of the fairway. It was a mess.

On the golf side of things, it was a relatively successful evening. Joel Ostash did very well, getting the closest to the hole on both par 3's and splitting the $92.51 deuce pot with Robin Kimpinski. Skins went on four holes. Winners included Reegan Kominko/Ethan Hunter ($25.00 on #3, $60.01 on #6), Sean Blackbird/Jason Gorrell ($76.88 on #5), and Darren Ostash ($25.00 on #7).

Fast forward to today and we are still dealing with weather-related issues. There was a another storm last night which added more water to an already saturated nine holes. This resulted in a course closure for the day due to the grounds being too wet. I probably wouldn't be golfing anyway, given the wind gusts of over 70 km/hr. That wind likely was what caused a large tree to crack off onto our road. It looks fairly small in the picture but it took me a while to clear it away using a bow saw.

Normally I would look at the forecast and make positive comments about the expected weather for this Wednesday. I will forgo that this week because conditions have been so unpredictable as of late. If you are wondering what it will be like for our upcoming Men's Night, I recommend that you look at the sky at 6:20 pm, and hope that it stays reasonable for the next two hours.

Surviving the 70 km/hr Gale

I have written too much about windy golf. I have also noted how we often have less than ideal weather. So I guess there is not much to say about last Wednesday. It was cold and windy. So much so, we were worried we would not get enough guys. We ended up with 14. That isn't a lot for June. 

Two players didn't let the wind get them down. Phil Ostash and Cole Hunter combined for two skins, winning $20.00 on #1 and $109.39 on #2. Those were the only holes that went. Closest to #5 was Milt and closest to #9 was Stephen David. There were no deuces.

The wind last week was gusting to 70 km/hr. That is fairly significant. It was enough to break off a few tree branches. It made the par 4 sixth hole unreachable in two. It put the water on #3 in play for many golfers.

We live in a place of extremes. We have cold winters and hot summers. And there can be lots of variability from one year to the next. Take for example, June 5 which was last Wednesday's date. In 2009, the temperature only reached 0.5 Celsius. The record hight was 34.6 Celsius in 2019.

The 20 km/hr wind forecasted for this coming Wednesday is much more reasonable. But we know that weather can change quickly in Manitoba. Let's be optimistic. Maybe I will get to wear shorts golfing for the second time in 2024.

Chasing the Elusive Ace

 

The hole-in-one pot will be over $3000 this week. That's a nice prize for one lucky shot.

The last ace on Men's Night was almost twelve years ago on July 27, 2012. Dale Watson won $1616 for his hole-in-one on the fifth hole. Given that this week will be June 5, 2024, that is 4346 days without one. In the time between there likely have been many near misses, both on the two par threes as well as the short par fours on #1 and 2.

Logan Tanner had a near miss last week on #9. He had to settle for closest to the pin plus a solo claim to the $61.87 deuce pot.

The other closest to the hole went to Dawson Tanner on #5.

There were also four skins awarded to the 33 golfers. Winners included Shane Kimpinski/Stephen David ($51.88 on #1), Myles Shingoose/Keith Martin ($71.88 on #3), Pete Ostash/Phil Ostash ($51.88 on #7), and Scott Maynes/Dylan Kimpinski ($71.88 on #8).

Scott Maynes also had the only sub-40 round with a 37.

One other notable occurrence was having 4 of the 17 high-low partners score a combined max of 16 on hole #5.

When the main hole-in-one pot finally goes, we will have two pots of $2250 waiting. Remember, on the remote chance that there are more than one ace in a single evening, those individuals would split the single active pot.