October 10, 2013
In a complete reversal of our outing at Whitmoor on the 11th of April, the weather was exquisite for the 116 of us that attended the final outing of the 2013 season. The committee had some concern that we'd be relegated to the pavilion for the check-in procedure and sure enough there we were under the pavilion taking names and your cheerfully offered money. But how fortunate we were to have just a wonderful day with no wind/rain/snow for that process. Everything went very smoothly. A few people asked how many outings they'd actually attended (which determined how much they'd be assessed) but no one protested because everyone knew with the Commish's strict attention to detail that we would know exactly how many times each and every person had played during the year.
Just to illustrate, the first thing I do when I get home after an outing (after a nap or two) is to dutifully enter into our specially designed spreadsheet (thanks to Jack Eckhard) the YES's, and NO's for the next 3 outings for each and everyone who attended the outing. If there's a no-show (which happens frequently) I'll go back into the spreadsheet to the present outing and change the YES to a NO. That way everyone is accounted for for all the outings all the time. An automatic running tab is kept on this count so anytime during the season we can look up and see how many events a particular person has attended. Probably only the NSA knows more about you than we do.
By the way, this spreadsheet is also the mother of the pairings. With one easy click of a mouse button you guys are locked into a partnership with 3 other players for the upcoming event. This is a purely random event with no input from yours truly. Now, as I mentioned a couple of months ago, the computer will honor special requests, but on a very limited basis. Indulge my command decision process here while I say that each golfer is allowed one special request per year, i.e. "I'd like to play with so-and-so, I've never played with him, or I haven't played with him in several years". So, you can keep that in mind.
Now to the particulars for yesterday's event. In my mind the course was in excellent condition, just short of outstanding. Probably the only thing that would've made it better is if they'd landscape the greens a touch more, like flattening out the 27 tiers on each green. I just cannot remember these greens having so many tiers. Of course in the past my teams have probably been fortunate enough to be on the correct tier for the putting exercise. One green comes to mind, #10. Getting to the green is an issue in itself, the green being at least 700' above the fairway and once you're fortunate enough to attain the surface, the pin location was demonic. Our only shot to the green ended up 6" off the backside of the green about 30 yards from the front pin location and a nasty downhill putt over numerous tiers. And of course it was not a straight putt. Somehow our lag putt ended up about 5 feet below the hole. Had we hit that putt too hard it was conceivable that we might've ended up way down the steeply sloped fairway and even possibly in the lake at the end of that slope. Somehow we salvaged a par on this hole.
But the fairways were great and the greens very receptive (whatever that means). This is a wonderful venue and we'll be back, rest assured.
Results:
Flight "A"
All alone in First with an astounding -13 (59) was the law firm of Dierker, Dierker, Wilson and South. How these guys negotiated all the multi-tiered greens is beyond me. Word is that Steve Dierker never met an approach shot he didn't like (which translates to why he won 2 CTPs for the day) and evidently Charley Wilson never met an impossible putt he didn't like. As long as he could see the cup he'd put the ball in the hole. Some days are like that, right guys? Congrats on the wonderful round.
Second place went to the pre-round favorite, the Bill Heidbreder, John Boyd, Tom Murphy and Bob Haddad foursome who came in at -9 (63). Evidently the tiers got to them.
In Thrid, and winning via the SCP (hole #8) was the Tom Braun, Ron Smith, and Dave Rapp team. These guys eked out an impressive -7 (65) score.
Tied with them but having been nosed out by the SCP was the Ron Muse team. A couple of teams, the Dee Ridenhour and Don Giarraffa teams shot -5 (67), and the Jim Waugh team shot -4.
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Flight "B"
Three teams tied with a 68 score but winning the SCP in First was the Jerry Mullen, Bob Stephenson,and Jack Reiner team.
Next in Second was the Joe Mullins, Bob Thibodeaux, Livingston Sykes and Dennis Shannon team.
Then in Thrid was the Bob Meinhardt, Mark Bryant, Jack Panula and Joe Cernich team.
Two teams, the Wayne Warneke and the Frank Vien team tied at 69, and three teams tied at 70; the Charley Riedisser team, the Dan Fergus team, and the Paul Villhard team.
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Flight "C"
Three teams tied at -1 (71) but coming out in First via the SCP was the Bob Foeller, Larry Riedisser, Larry Amen, and Ollie Sivcovich team.
In Second was the Randy Pratt, Bob Kriss, Russ Wall and Dan Snowden team.
In Thrid was the Wayne Lamborn, George Keil, Dennis O'Connor and Pete Grouzos team.
Filling out the C Flight was the Del Lohmann team (72), the Bob Edwards team (73), the Livingston Lanning team (73), and the Vince Koehr team (73).
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Flight "D"
Three teams tied at +2 (74) but First via the SCP was the Dennis Terhaar, Don Moschenross, Joe Pfeifer, and Bob Eddy team.
In Second was the Don Bratcher, Bob Gay, Dennis Swift, and Roger Nikrant team.
In Thrid was the Bob Pahmeier, Pierre Sans Souci, Jim Mead, and Earl Phillips team.
Coming in at a +3 was the Dennis Meade team, while the Bill Clark squad finished at a +4. Two teams managed a +6 for the day, the Tim McCullen team and the Jerry Burgherr team.
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Awards:
Closest to the pins for the day:
#2 Steve Dierker #8 Bob Edwards #12 Steve Dierker #14 Mark Bryant #17 Harry Trammel
Skins:
NONE
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