Closest to the holes were Charles McKay on #5 and Pete Ostash on #9. The $67.50 deuce pot was claimed by Jason Neufeld.
Sunday, June 27, 2021
A Quick Update
Sunday, June 20, 2021
An Unfortunate Delay
Monday, May 17, 2021
COVID Restricts Men's Night
You are still permitted to golf on Wednesday. For non-members, we will honour the reduced Men's Night rate of $10 for green fees during this shutdown. Also, if numbers warrant we will also look at running the beer cart on Wednesdays.
There are two additional current measures that impact golf. Firstly, group sizes should not exceed 5 golfers. Secondly, they have reintroduced the restriction from last year which states that you should only share a golf cart with members of your own household.
I suppose we should be grateful that we can even play given that Ontario is currently restricting all golf. This is a small inconvenience that we can easily handle for the greater good.
Last Mens' Night for a While
There were 26 golfers on Wednesday. Conditions weren't bad but a typical windy night for Shoal Lake in May. It started off warm but got progressively windier and cooler.
Skins went on three holes. Winners include Charles McKay / Brandon Cloud ($20.00 on #1), Scott Maynes / Stephen David ($20.00 on #2), and Austin Hunter / Theoren Hunter ($38.75 on #7).
Chad Tanner was closest to the hole on both #5 and #9. He was not able to covert either birdie. There were four deuces by Scott Maynes, Dawson Tanner, and Montanna Sutherland.
This will be our last Mens' Night for a couple of weeks as new public health orders will be preventing outdoor gatherings. Hopefully, we get back at it sooner than later.
Monday, May 10, 2021
Here We (I) Go Again

On the first round of the year, we had skins go on four holes. Winners included Dawson Tanner / Logan Tanner ($36.88 on #1 and $20.00 on #2), Charles McKay / Reegan Kominko ($36.88 on #4), and high school buds Robin Kimpinski / Milt ($29.38 on #9).
Closest to #5 was Charles McKay and closest on #9 was Milt. I was going to use his last name but he is up there with those single-named celebrities such as Madonna, Adele, and Kermit. Neither Charles nor Milt made their putt and no one else recorded a deuce on the evening.
The Ringer Board started off again with Darcy Kowalchuk jumping out to an early lead at -1. He's technically tied for first but I gave him credit because he's my buddy and he's getting older and I wanted to give him a shout-out. Plus, alphabetically he is first.
It looks like a great day for golf tomorrow. The warm weather is about to begin.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
One More Night
Well it has been a good run. We started Mens Night back on May 20, which was later than usual due to the pandemic and early restrictions placed upon golf courses. And here we are getting ready to have a Men's Night on September 30 which is the latest that I can remember.
This Wednesday is the final night that the Club House is open. Consequently it will be our final official Men's Night of the year. That doesn't mean that we can't continue golfing on Wednesday.
We had 19 possible Men's Nights but lost two, one due to heavy rain and another due to insufficient players. Some years we get to 20 nights played but that requires a later April or early May start. There were some nights with great turnout and others when we just got past the required 10 golfers.
Last week we had 14 golfers. Skins went on four holes. Darcy Kowalchuk and Donovin Tanner teamed up to win three $20.00 skins, on #2, 3, and 8. The only other skin was on #5 when Nick Roullette and Pete Ostash combined for a $40.01 win. Closest to the pins were Nick on #5 and Phil Ostash on #9. Nick also converted his birdie to claim the $46.86 deuce pot.
So come on out if you are free for the final Men's Night of the year. Tee off is 6:00 pm. We welcome back any of the farmers who have enjoyed the great fall season and have already finished their harvest.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
At Least We Have No Hurricanes
Last year our final night of Men’s Night was September 4. For the following two weeks in 2019, we didn’t get enough golfers before the weather went south quickly. I hate to remind you but last year was the second of two Septembers in a row when we had snow. Last September was actually the second wettest on record dating back to 1872.
This year we’ve
already played golf into middle of September and plan to keep going as long as the
weather holds. The way farming seems to be going we might get some guys back
next week if we are lucky.
Last week we
had 11 golfers. The lower number was attributable to a cool evening and
farming. Despite the low number, skins only went on two holes. Winners included
Robin Kimpinski / Blake Hunter ($20.00 on #7) and Jason Gorrell / Sonny Blackbird
($20.00 on #8). Closest to the holes were Pete Ostash on #5 and Reegan Kominko
on #9. There were no deuces.
Thinking
about tomorrow, there may be a chance of showers but the high is forecasted as
16. Be grateful that conditions are favourable. My home province of Nova Scotia
is going to get hit today with either a hurricane or a tropical storm. Tomorrow
Shoal Lake may get 1-3 mm. Parts of Nova Scotia may get over 50 mm today. And
they also have a storm surge warning which means the winds may be so high that
ocean waves might flood the coast. I grew on the east side of the province which today is expected to experience extreme impact of the storm as shown in the map above. So we are doing pretty well for Men’s Night
tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Almost Missed It
I just came on my compter to print out the stuff for Men's Night when I realized I forgot to update the stuff for Men's Night. So here it is in a nutshell. There were twelve golfers last Wednesday. Skins went on four holes. Winner included Darcy Kowalchuk / Robin Kimpinski ($20.00 on #1. $20.00 on #6), Charles McKay / Noah Street ($20.00 on #3), and Brad Benton / Reegan Kominki ($24.38 on #9). Reegan also had the only deuce for the $22.50. Closet to #5 was Jason Gorrell and # was Stephen David.
Men's Night tee off tomorrow evening is 6:00 pm.
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Bonus Golf
So why not take advanatge and get out to Mens Night tomorrow evening. It will be 16 Celsius and sunny with a 6:00 pm tee off to get in ahead of the earlier sunset. You could have a few beverages, hang out with friends, and maybe cash in $2250 for a hole-in-one.
If your recall, we had snow in September the last two years. It will not be long before we are looking outside at a barren white landscape longing for nicer weather. And right now is perfect bonus golf weather. Still warm enough to make it enjoyable but not so cold that you need to spend your evenings putting away deck furniture and other summer items. When it's bonus golf time it almost doesn't require negotiating with your significant other. They understand the need to get out a few more times before it's shut down for the season.
Heck it's going to be way nicer tomorrow than last week when it was cool and rainy. We still got 11 golfers out then. Skins went on the first four holes. Winners included Brad Benton / Joe Shwaluk ($73.76 on #1), Chad Tanner / Brandon Tanner ($20.00 on #2, $26.88 on #3), and Robin Kimpinski ($73.76 on #4).
Closest to the pins were Chad on #5 and Brad on #9. There were no deuces. Robin had the low round of the evening with a 36.
Friday, August 28, 2020
Ringer Board Wrap-up
The ringer board ended this week. I will do a brief recap of the regular Mens Night before providing an update on that.
For the second week in a row we had 16 golfers. Skins went on four holes. Winners incuded Austin Hunter / Randy Brandon Jr. ($44.38 on #2, $20.00 on #7), Scott Maynes / Ribsey Sopka ($20.00 on #6), and Blake Hunter / Randy Brandon Sr. ($44.38 on #8).
Closest to the pins were Brad Benton on #5 and Robin Kimpinski on #9. Maynes won the sol $30 deuce pot and Stephen David had the low round of the evening with a 38.
The four leaders on on the ringer board all dropped strokes on the final evening. Robin lost two strokes, Maynes went down 3, Brad dropped 3, and Stephen lost 2. When all the strokes were counted the flight winners were as follows: first flight: Robin -4, Maynes -3, and Jason Hunter -2 on a count back and second flight: Jason Gorrell 2, Wes Arnfinson 7. Anyone that did not get a final score entered for a hole received the Mens Night triple bogey.
Sunday, August 23, 2020
75 Words or Less Update
Next week is the final week to enter ringer board scores. Any unrecorded holes will be noted as triple bogies.
Sunday, August 16, 2020
A Rare August Cancellation
It started to rain about 5:20 pm and went hard until 6:00 pm. Then it stopped. We waited a another 10 minutes to see if someone else might arrive but no one did. As a result, no official Men's Night occured and consequently there is nothing to report. There were no skins awarded, no closest to the pins recorded, and no deuces or holes-in-one.
So the skins for next week are the same as what was projected on Wednesday. One challenge is that the ringer board now only has two weeks remaining. If you have yet to lock in your scores you need to start making some decisions quickly.
Instead of going home, the eight people visited the Club House to load up on essentials and then played golf. We were inspired by a man who simply stated "What the hell else are we supposed to do on a Wednesday night". We decided to have a four-man scramble which took two extra holes to decide. Thanks to Sport, Charlie, Robin, Brad, Darcy, Gorrell, and Hubey for coming out.
For future reference, if the weather is bad on a Men's Night you can often find shelter in the comforatble confines of the maintenance shed. It can accomodate several carts and multiple golfers. And if you enjoy engaging conversation you will hear stories and jokes as well as lots of talk about the weather. Most of those seeking shelter in the maintenance shed show off their skills as amateur meterologists and use advanced computer radar and precipitation models to predict when the rain will stop. Of course, there are also those wiser few who choose not to be weathermen. Instead they become calm and rational philosophers who simply state that "the rain will stop when it stops".
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
A Slight Delay
Friday, July 31, 2020
Nice Wednesday...plus No Fire Ants
Monday, July 27, 2020
Hot and Humid Golf
Sunday, July 19, 2020
Bad Golf Happens
There is a fine line between a great golf shot and a terrible golf shot. The difference may be as small as a half inch, perhaps the distance between the center of your golf club and the toe of your golf club. Once you get a little tense because of a bad shot or a bad hole, it is easy to lose that half an inch and start hitting bad shots.
So for anyone else experiencing a rough patch, it likely will not last forever. Be grateful that it isn't winter. Be happy that we have a golf course in town that you may play whenever you want. If we put all the emphasis on how we play, sometimes it isn't fun. If we put the emphasis more on having fun, there is less pressure on how you play.
Plus there is no point in worrying. It's not like we have a big horse race tournament on Saturday.