Sept 19, 2013
Ear plugs and all, 94 of us negotiated the 18 hole course in the "valley" on an oft cloudy/sunny day when the temps weren't bad but the humidity regained its prowess for one more onslaught on the inhabitants of the St. Louis metro area. This course, which I personally play fairly frequently throughout the year, was in very, very good shape. The fairways, when we found them, were in excellent condition, and the greens, tho somewhat pockmarked, were quite good and up to their usual extremely fast pace. All in all, we could find no fault with the condition of the course and enjoyed the round.
As I write this my air conditioning and heating expert is working on my system, hopefully finding no problems with it. Before he started we talked about golf, he being an avid golfer at his home, 9-hole course (4 Seasons) and he told me an interesting fact about The Landings. If you noticed, there were no bodies of water on the course. If you also noticed, how could you not, it is adjacent to a very busy airport that launches all kinds of corporate jets. Well, standing water, ie. ponds, on a golf course would be great magnets for the bane of all subdivisions; Canadian Geese! It stands to reason the busy airport would not want flocks of these nuisance birds crisscrossing the flightlines at all times of the day; thus no ponds on The Landings. Makes sense, eh?
On a side note, Ed de la Pena was discussing how well the course was watered with one of the rangers who occasionally drove through our field of players. The information that this guy gave Ed was interesting; the course is watered with well water. The water table is probably pretty high here, it being so close to the Missouri, that water is plentiful and all the course has to pay is the electricity to pump the water. A perfect situation.
One other interesting observation; at the start I'm not sure how many of us heard the instructions from the young lady about play, etc. One thing really stuck out in my mind was the admonition to spend only 30 seconds looking for possible lost balls! A bit harsh when you consider that most of us take at least that long to focus.
Results:
Flight "A"
Finishing First in this flight with a wonderful -10 was the THREE MAN TEAM of Randy Pratt, Paul Pals and Don Wulf. Suspicion is that Randy paid the original 4th person to cancel at the last minute letting him and Paul and Don rotate hitting twice on all the holes. Pratt and Pals hitting twice is not nice. Two of the longer, straighter hitters in this group ganging up on the rest of us is just not just. That pairing may never exist in the universe again. The computer has feelings too you know. Great score guys. Never again might be too soon for a reunion of those two.
Finishing in a well-deserved Second place with an astounding -9 was the Doug Nolte team of Jack Panula, Ernie South and new found power Tom Braun. Mr. Braun has some prodigious length on a golf course and is a pleasure to watch play this game. Jack Panula showed his calm and accuracy on the greens, sinking a lot of clutch putts, and Ernie South, well everyone knows his game of precision off the tee and from the fairways. We just had to make sure we kept track of our clubs when Ernie decided to "try" them. I personally managed to drive the cart pretty well and kept an immaculate scorecard.
In Thrid place was the Joe Jarvis team of Larry Willman, John Prather, and Bob Haddad. We followed them the whole day making sure of their every shot and putt. They shot an honest -8 (64).
Finishing out the A flight were the teams of Jack Reiner and Bill Clark both of whom shot very respectable -7's (65).
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Flight "B"
Every team but one in this flight shot 66's (-6). In First was the Ted Isringhaus, Livingstone Sykes, Dee Ridenhour, and Harvey "Hole-in-one" Ruth (also known as Champaign Harvey). First
Next in Second in line, because of the SCP (hole #3) was the Ed Boyer (again), Roger Hennen, Mark Bryant, and Jack Eckhard team.
Then in Thrid was the Bob Gay, Bob Foeller, Karson Kosowski, and Tom Murphy team (potentially the top team).
Also with 66's but out of the money were the Ed de la Pena team, the Ted Schuessler team, and the Livingston Lanning team. The lone, non-66 team in this Flight was the Don Moschenross squad with a 67.
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Flight "C"
Three teams tied with 69's (-3) to lead this flight. First by virtue of the SCP was the Pierre Sans Souci, Gene Erard, Alex Horvat, and Dan Fergus team.
In Second was the Joe Cernich, Larry Amen, Dave Buesse, and Art Soble team.
In Thrid the Bob Edwards, Mark Hagler, Dan Ottoline, and Dan Snowden team. Hagler and Ottoline off the front tees, hmmmmm?
Next, with a 70, was the Steve Comfort team. Following them were two teams at -1, 71's, the Doug Torrie team and the John O'Toole team.
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Flight "D"
Four teams shot even par 72's and gained the right to buss their sisters. In Firstwas the John Ross, Dave Rapp, Russ Wall, and Bill Howell team..
In Second was the Tom Gill, Darryl Rue, Bill Wegge, and Phil Helm team.
In Thrid was the Dennis O'Connor, John Tipton, Charlie Riedisser, and Harold Howard team.
Also with a 72 but out of the money was the Lee Hanson team. Shooting 73 was the Steve Dierker team and finishing out the scoring with a 74 was the Lou Pessoni team.
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Awards:
Closest to the pins for the day:
#5 Roger Hennen #8 Alex Horvat #13 Mark Gordon #17 Harvey Ruth with a HOLE-IN-ONE!!!!!!!!!!!! Way to go Harvey.
Skins:
#10 The Don Moschenross team with an eagle 2 #17 The Ted Isringhaus team with a hole in one.
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