May 7, 2015 Results
Another gorgeous day for golf and this one found us somewhere northeast of Edwardsville and southwest of Chicago, probably half way in between, or seemingly so. After everyone had signed in we showed a total of 96 players. One soul called in as we were finishing up with registration and said he'd accidentally overslept but could he make it in time to play? Our wise advice to him was to skip the outing since it would take him about an hour to make it to the course, traffic permitting.
We last played this layout in 2006, May 18th to be exact, and it really hasn't changed much. Some of the holes seemed to have gained in length although that's probably do to the eyes not seeing as far anymore. I think light travels more slowly as you age and you, meaning yours truly, can't see fast enough anymore. Or something like that. For sure the ball doesn't travel as far as it used to even though the effort to make it do so has probably doubled. I'll bet if I'd spent a couple thousand more on a set of clubs I could regain at least some of that lost distance, right?
From the last few times I've played this course certain holes remain scorched into my mind. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen come to mind real quick. I like to refer to these as the Jurassic Park holes. It's like playing in a clearing in the jungle. The air is still, only stirred by the whirring wings of the %^&*#!! mosquitoes. And number 13 has to be the world's longest par 4. You can barely make out the pin from the tee box. And if you're gargantuan enough to hit the drive of your life you're rewarded by a 30' wide ditch that'll gobble up your prized drive instantaneously and force a drop.
Conditions on the course were questionable. We were warned that it had fallen into some disrepair, and in fairness to the warner, I think he was correct. It certainly has deteriorated since we last played here. Mind you the greens were very good, but our old friend the polana grass has invaded the fairways and made an ugly mess of things. Tee boxes were a bit on the wild side too, although we're not really concerned about roll on the tee box, are we?
Anyway, a new course for many of us is always a challenge and I really didn't hear much complaining about one thing or another as we gathered at the end. Probably everyone was a bit worn out after a day in the late spring heat.
Results: Scorecard playoff hole was, you guessed it, #13 the world's longest par 4.
Flight "A"
In First,was the Tom Braun, Karson Kosowski, Jim Dwyer, and Joe Goines team. These guys crafted an amazing -13 (59) for their round. Personally, I think they got gypped cause they didn't get much practice in with shots from impossible angles, etc. Not sure who was really on their game, but overall they had enough talent to overcome any shortcomings that one or two of them might've had. Congrats guys on a super round. Your scorecard was rather monotonous with all those 3's by the way.
In Second with an amazing round in itself of -11, was the Ron Smith, Mark Bryant, Don Giarraffa, and Ron Ruffin team. Another loaded bunch. I'm going to have to rap the computer up side the head so it doesn't stack these teams so much. Oh well, flighting helps soothe the wounds, eh?
In Third,by virtue of the scorecard playoff (remember that dastardly #13 hole?) was the Dan Edmiston, Bert Schott, Bob Foeller, and John Ross team with an extremely respectable -9.
In Fourth, also with the -9(63) but nosed out by the SCP process was the overly stacked Joe Cernich team.
And finally in the A Flight was the George (welcome back) Keil team who came in with a 64 tally.
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Flight "B"
Two teams vied for first in this flight at -6(66). In First the SCP decided the winner to be the John Prather, John Losciuto, Lee Hanson, and Lon Schwake team who managed a birdie on #13 to clinch first in flight.
In Second with the same score was the Doug Torrie, Sonny Javier, Livingston Sykes, and Don Congleton team.
In Third with a 67 was the Tim McCullen, Jim Hawkes, Jerry White, and Paul Villhard team.
In Fourth with a 68 was the Paul Pals team
The Jon Meyer and Bob Edwards teams both posted 69's.
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Flight "C"
Shooting -2(70's) were three teams. In First, the good old SCP pronounced the Dave Gillett, Russ Wall, Joe Jarvis and Ernie South team the overall winner. With Jarvis and South hitting from up front on some of the tees we can easily see why these guys did so well.
In Second,was the Pierre Sans Souci, Joe McDaniels, Ed de la Peña, and Larry Knopfel team
In Third, was the Jack Eckhard, Bob Pahmeier, Harold Lindahl, and Phil Helm team.
Two teams finished at -1, the Gary Turner team and the Larry Riedisser team, while three teams finished even par and got that big kiss from their sisters at the clubhouse. These teams were the Don Moschenross squad, the Bob Meinhardt team, and the Darryl Rue team.
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Flight "D"
In First with an astounding +1 (73) as a result of a miraculous birdie on the dreaded #13 was the Doug Nolte, Larry Willman, Howard Freiner, and Roger Hennen team. In actuality it was not the miracle birdie that did it but rather the very presence of one Larry Willman on this collection of hackers. Larry is one of a kind when it comes to being in the money. He and his teams manage to be in the dough no matter where or when he plays. If you ever feel like you need to be compensated for playing this wonderful game just bribe the computer and chances are he may end up on your team.
Two teams shot +2 for the day and finished 2,3 in this flight. In Second was the Jim Zweifel, Lowell Barnes, Bill Parrish and Don Schneider team
In Third was the Steve Comfort, John O'Toole, Dennis Swift, and Bob Checkley team.
The Dan Snowden team carded a +3 for the day and taking honors for the most practice for the day was the Bill Wegge team with a +4 for their efforts.
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Awards:
Closest to the pins for the day: #2 Bill Gust #8 Lee Hanson #12 Doug Nolte #16 Frank Vien