June 11, 2015 Results
On one of the first scorchers for 2015, 106 of us set out to play a course we've not visited since October of 2004. At that time the course was called The Ridge, and in fact its address still reflects the old course name. Not sure if that's significant but it kind of begs the question as to why they would rename the course. Perhaps the barons that now own it wanted to make the new name sound mysterious, thus inviting the inquisitive hackers to try their best to conquer its idiosyncrasies - and it has some, right?
Not sure why they'd call it Mystic Oak because there is certainly a lot more than one oak tree on the layout, in fact there are quite a few, which we found occasionally. Instead, for this time of year at least, I'd have given it a name such as Clover Field because there for sure was an excess of that weed all over the place. It made searching for balls in the rough tough. Every $%^! blossoming clover looked just like the top of a golf ball. Perhaps if we'd have used orange balls the search would've been easier.
Overall the course was in decent shape. The tee boxes were ok as long as you hit your ball and not a clover head. The fairways were not quite pristine but certainly sufficed for our game. And then there were the greens. Perf ect, if I might say so. And one nice thing, they were fairly level with not much hidden break or a ton of slope. But I'll tell you what, I've never, ever seen a green as tiny as #3. I've seen demo putting surfaces at golf stores larger than this green! And of all things it was the only green on the whole course with two tiers. How we ever birdied this hole is way beyond me. Even more, to one of our teammate's credits, he personally birdied the hole for us. His name shall remain anonymous because you guys would be swamping my email trying to get the impartial computer to line you up with him at future outings. Ain't going to happen folks!
The course was set up pretty short for us, and what made it even easier was the occasional placement of the red tees way, way up front so as to give the antiques plenty of advantage. And of course, long old hitters like Mr. de la Pena, Mr. Foeller, and Mr. Blaney ate up those advantages with sly smiles tattooed all over their countences. On a personal note, in preparation for my advancement to this easier platform, I invested an astronomical $21.66 in a "senior" shaft for my driver and experimented with it for the first time yesterday. With some trepidation at my first tee, because of the mystery of the epoxy used to affix the head to the shaft, I swung at the ball (not a clover head) and managed, to my satisfaction, to blast the white orb "straight" down the middle of the fairway - success!!! With the head still in place the rest of the round went smoothly and the shaft has become my friend.
Enough of the BS and on to the round.
Results: 106 players with the playoff hole being #10.
Flight "A"
In First and posting one of the lowest scores in years, maybe the lowest ever, was the Joe Goines, Bill Gust, and Paul Rivard threesome who devastated the course in -14(58). Knowing Joe's occasional astronomical length and Paul's pinpoint game, I can only imagine that Mr. Gust was a very helpful soul on this team and chipped in when needed. Congrats guys on a wonderful round. But don't you feel just a little cheated when you take fewer strokes? I mean, where's the benefit of reduced practice?
In Second two strokes behind at -12(60) was the Doug Torrie, Harry Trammel, Mark Bryant, and Dan Snowden team. I imagine wily Harry had some close-to-the-pin chips, etc. to help this squad.
Two teams posted -11(61)
In Third,and the winner via the SCP was the Charley Wilson, Joe McDaniels, Jack Eckhard, and Ron Ruffin group. Word is that Mr. Ruffin had a near career day on the course.
In Fourth was the Jim Akers, Al Rosenberg, Jerry White, and Lou Pessoni team.
Finishing out the A Flight were 4 teams all at -10(62). The John Boyd team, the Art Soble team, the Russ Wall team, and the Phil Helm team.
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Flight "B"
Two teams led this flight with -9(63). In First and the SCP winner was the Jim Hawkes, Karson Kosowski, Dean Brandon, and Ed Bronczyk team.
In Second was the Ed de la Pena, Bob Fell, Pat Hudson, and John Balog team.
In Third with a -8(64) was the Dee Ridenhour, John Ross, Harold Howard, and Mark Gordon team.
In Fourth was the Larry Riedisser, George Blaney, Dan Edmiston, and Bob Haddad team with a 65.
Three teams tied with -6(66). The Tom Braun team, the Pete Grouzos team, and the Bob Gay team.
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Flight "C"
Three teams topped this flight with -5(67). In First winning via the SCP was the Ron Smith, John Tipton, John Losciuto, and Stewart Pagenstecher team
In Second was the Bob Edwards, Joe Pfeifer, Gibby Wilborn, and Jim Dwyer team
In Third was the Bob Meinhardt, Sonny Javier, Erle Craig, and Ralph Buettner team.
In Fourth was the Joe Jarvis, Bob Checkley, Gene Erard, and Lewis Rosenbaum team finished out the top 4 with a nice -4(68).
The Steve Dierker team also shot 68 but was nosed out via the SCP. Finishing up with 69's were the Calvin Britt and Bob Pahmeier teams.
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Flight "D"
In First was the Dale Crittenden, Randy Pratt, Rich Graeff, and Tom Wulf team with a real fine -2(70).
Two teams followed them with a -1(71). In Second was the Dan Fergus, Bob Eubank, George Eickhoff, and Tom Gill team
In Third was the Bill Wegge, Jim Zweifel, Dennis Meade, and Tim McCullen team.
In Fourth was the George Keil, Charlie Fischer, Howard Freiner, and Joe Cernich team
Fortunately for all the sisters in the world, no one finished even par today.
Rounding out the standings was the Larry Willman team who shot over par for the day but still managed to put Larry in the money.
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Awards:
Closest to the pins for the day: #2 Jerry Mullen #5 Joe Pfeifer #7 Bob Foeller #14 Charley Wilson #16 Lewis Rosenbaum