May 21, 2015 Results

On what should've passed for an Autumn day, 101 of us teed off at the Spencer T. Olin Golf course northeast of Alton, Illinois. Fortunately, the previous day's rain did not rain on our parade and the course management graciously let us drive all over the place as long as we obeyed a 90 degree rule entering and exiting the fairways. We can deal with that. The weather was quite cool to begin with and really didn't warm up much until we'd played about 77.8% of the course (14 holes if you're interested). One of our players came dressed in a hoodie and later on pulled the primary hoodie off to reveal a secondary model that continued to protect his upper extremity. He kept this hoodie on til after we were finished.

Spencer had undergone a management change and the change was quite evident. The clubhouse interior had been upgraded, even to the extent that the men's room had been nicely re-done. In fact, it became so crowded at one time that one of our astute players, noting that the room was too busy, kindly asked the manager (Mary Campbell) if he could use the ladies room since there was only one lady in the establishment at the time. Embarrassingly, her short answer was NO, explaining that it had just been cleaned and she didn't want it dirtied. Well.

But kudos to the management, they made every attempt, excluding the restroom incident, to make our visit enjoyable. I think they succeeded. Mary Campbell appeared to be very accommodating and seemingly has the place whipped into good shape. We'll probably return.

This course was in excellent shape, the best shape I personally have ever seen it. I overheard some other folks voice the same opinion. The fairways were very good, the greens were excellent and the rough was actually amazing. The rough grass was full, so full in fact that we were fortunate enough to be in it only perhaps one or two times for our approach shot. Hitting out of there was not an easy task for some of us lousy swingers.

Another comment about the greens; I just don't remember them having such pronounced slopes. Our one bogey came on the par 3 5th hole when we had to somehow attempt to stop the ball near the hole after a 40 foot side-hill putt. It had bogey written all over it and the prophecy came true. Yuk. But just about every hole offered a challenging slope involved in our attempt to make a miraculous birdie, or salvage the par. Perhaps our strategy to put the approach shot below the hole was an absolute failure in every case, who knows.

Results: Playoff hole was the devilish #13.

Flight "A"

Somehow dodging all the pitfalls of the massively deep rough and the demonically sloped greens, in First the Mark Bryant, Ken Knarr, Joe Jarvis, and Bob Haddad team waded through this course with a remarkable -9(63) tally. Haddad and Jarvis have the red tee advantage, Mark Bryant is normally a wizard on the par 3's, and that leaves the unknown quantity (quality) of Ken Knarr who could be the hidden secret weapon in this group. We'll know more of Ken Knarr's capabilities as the year progresses. Congrats guys.

In Second was the Bob Foeller, Tom Wulf, Doug Nolte, and Bill Heidbreder squad who managed a -6(66). I figured Mr. Heidbreder would be the star of the group (and by the way the computer did not select him for this team, but rather he was a late add on and ours was the only 3-man team in the mix and voila, he's on the team) but we all conceded at the end that it was none other than Mr. Foeller who carried the load most of the time (hitting from the front tees of course). On the par 4 #14 Mr. Foeller uncorked one of his majestic drives and ended up about 15 feet from acing the darn hole. Well, we missed the eagle putt but garnered a solid birdie.

In Third with a solid -5(67) was the Mark Gordon, Lou Pessoni, and Frank Vien squad. They probably cursed us all day because they were right up our you-know-what's at almost every hole. But, being fair, we had to wait a few times too.

In Fourth with the same -5 score, but falling in the SCP was the Ron Muse, Calvin Britt, Larry Knopfel, and Bob Eubank team.

In at -4(68) were the Bob Meinhardt and Jim Hawkes teams. In at -3(69) were the Don Moschenross, Jack Panula, and Bob Gay teams.

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Flight "B"

Five teams shot -2(70) but only the first 4 made the SCP cutoff. In First was the Earl Phillips, Bill Howell, Art Soble, and Ron Martens team.

In Second was the Jim Zweifel, Tom Braun, Bill Tapia, and Larry Amen team.

In Third was the Jon Meyer, Tom Gill, Ed de la Pena, and John Loscuito team.

In Fourth was was the Randy Pratt, Don Wulf, Bob Brewer, and Dave Page team.

Next, with another 70, was the John Boyd team. Following them were three teams with 71's; the Russ Wall squad, the Bob Edwards team, and the Charley Wilson group.

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Flight "C"

Two teams tied with even pars (and their sisters waiting at the finish line) but the SCP winner ,in First was the Dan Edmiston, Don Schneider, Jim Mead, and Charlie Fischer team.

Also at the magic 72 score. In Second was the Bob Pahmeier, Roger Hennen, Ron Ruffin, and Dave Gillett team.

Two teams tied at a +1 for third and fourth. In Third was Bob Thibodeaux's team (Dan Snowden, John O'Toole, and Curt Opperman) did an SCP nose out job

In Fourth was Livingston Sykes, Lowell Barnes, Howard Freiner, and Jim Dwyer team.

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Flight "D"

Two teams tied at +2(74) for first and second overall in this flight. In First Winning in the SCP was the Jerry White, Jerry Mullen, Don Schmidt, and Stew Pagenstecher team

In Second was the Paul Villhard, Roger Nikrant, and Steve Dierker team.

In Third with a +3(75) was the Ernie South, John Balog, Pierre San Souci, and Ron Smith team

In Fourth, the Dan Fergus, Gibby Wilborn, Rich Graeff, and Bill Parrish team finished fourth with a 76.

The Don Giarraffa team also shot 76, but lost in the SCP to the Fergus juggernaut. However, Don's team did get the Effort of the Day award (the EOD).

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Awards:

Closest to the pins for the day: #5 Bob Brewer #8 Ed de la Pena #12 Al Rosenberg #16 Howard Freiner