September 14,2017
117 of us gathered at Aberdeen Golf Course on what started as an extremely foggy day and ended as a pretty darn nice outing with completely clear skies and a touch of good old fashioned St. Louis humidity.
For me there was a bit of apprehension in the air as I tried to make the best of the weather and the course conditions. Just the day before we had decided, after living in the same house since 1974, to install a security system that would tell us if anyone was trying to unlawfully enter the house. In addition to that, it is hooked up to a smoke alarm and a CO/CO2 alarm such that if they go off the fire department will hustle to your door and immediately take care of the issue. This would be especially helpful if we're away, which happens quite often now. My apprehension was built around the fact that it being something brand new to us we might do something wrong wrt to setting the arm/disarm function and before we knew it we would have the whole west county EMS at our doorstep and the police department on the way. Our driveway isn't large enough to handle that kind of response. Of course I was concerned since my wife was home alone and if she'd somehow forgotten how to control the new beast in the house we would have this problem. When I finally got home everything was ok - she's a very, very quick learner.
Now I just have to see what other functions this thing keeps track of. I'm just a bit concerned that simple farting might alert someone somewhere that things are amiss in our house and we'll have a whole host of visitors we hadn't counted on. Time and experience will tell, no doubt.
Actually, we went to our local Best Buy the other day to check out the Amazon Alexa and its counterpart, the Google Home. These things are so-called voice assistants whereby if you ask it what the temperature is anywhere it'll tell you, or just about any other query that can be researched on the Internet. It'll also play music (our real intent) through what amounts to a clone of a Bose speaker, if you're familiar with that wonder of the audio world. Bottom line, we're not even sure what all this thing (we opted for the less expensive Google Home) can do but we'll have fun trying to confuse it. I've strayed a bit in this story; secondly, while at Best Buy, two sales people descended upon us and convinced us that our house, etc. was so valuable that we needed to protect it/us with the aforementioned security system. So, now we're a bit poorer but protected to the gills, including the occasional fart, probably.
On to the outing at Aberdeen. As we all experienced there was a "bit" of fog at the beginning of the round. Surprisingly, they sent us out close to our appointed time even tho the fog was still pretty darn dense. Our team's first hole was #2, one of only two holes on the course that face east, the obvious direction of the sun which, tho still under a lot of fog, was rather overpoweringly bright. Following the ball flight was nigh unto impossible but somehow we managed. Looking into the sun/fog was similar to hearing about those near-death experiences where folks have described it as seeing a brilliant light for a while before consciousness overcomes their senses. Well, fortunately we didn't perish but the experience was mindful of it.
When we made it to hole #4 we had the same predicament, into the sun again. But then, like a miracle the fog lifted and everything was normal. Everyone else on the course had to have had the same epiphany, about 3 holes in because the fog just all of a sudden lifted. Prior to this, if anyone else noticed, we could even see a fog rainbow to the west. No colors, just two legs of a fog arch so to speak - a fogbow if you wish.
But back to the fog's sudden dissipation. Those of us on #4 tee at the time know exactly why it did this so suddenly. Joe Goines took off his jacket! When he did this it revealed a shirt that can only be called a second sun. He was wearing perhaps the brightest object known to this planet. The radiation from it immediately destroyed the surrounding fog and raised the ambient temperature a good 7-8 degrees. He admitted that his wife forbade him from leaving the house adorned in this shirt but it being a golf day, and Joe having to leave early, he successfully sneaked out of the house with the shirt hidden by a normal jacket. One handy thing about this shirt, come winter he won't have to shovel snow, the glow from the apparel will easily melt anything within 50 feet! And, it'll probably provide enough heat to cut down on heating bills during the same winter months.
As an aside, Joe asked me where I come up with the material I use in these write-ups and how much prep I put into them. 'Nuff said about the material, but the key pounding takes between 1-2 hours because of a lot of fat-fingering on the keyboard.
Now, to the course. They still don't know how to mow the fairways on this layout. You may be familiar with the term "pasture pool" which is kind a non-golf lover's description of this game we love to play. Well, playing actual pool on the fairways would be easier than playing golf on them. If the fairways were sandy , or if the soil were in some way a lot softer, I could see cutting the grass that short, but for those of us who cannot consistently make sweet contact with the ball first it makes for a lot of worm burners and wrist jolting in the process. The course layout is fine but the fairways take some fun out of the game. The greens were good, in spite of the very recent aeration and the offer of a free drink by the establishment to compensate for the putting inconvenience was a nice touch. But please guys, cut your fairways a little longer, like perhaps another 1/2 inch.
Results : Playoff hole was #9. Perhaps reachable with a putter from 150 yards out.
Flight "A"
At least one team figured out the fairways/greens and shot a wonderful -14(58).
In First was Dean Brandon, Jack Reiner, Bill Parrish, and Tom Braun squad. They humiliated the rest of the field with this effort.
In Second was the Bob Thibodeaux team at -10(62)
In Third was the Bob Pahmeier team at 63
In Fourth was the Harold Lindahl team at the same 63.
A whole slew of teams finished at -8(64) and leading this pack was the Del Lohmann team. Next was the Tom Wulf team, the Roger Hennen team, the George Eickhoff team, and the Larry Knopfel team.
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Flight "B"
Five teams shot identical 65's (-7)
In First was the Bob Stephenson, Randy Pratt, and Steve Comfort team.
In Second was the John Dierker team.
In Third was the Larry Riedisser team.
In Fourth was the Joe Pfeifer team
Also with a 65 but out of the top four, was the John Ross team.
Four teams shot 66's but were out of the running; the Ed de la Pena team, the Doug Nolte team, the Jerry Kent team, and the Bob Hickey team.
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Flight "C"
Five teams shot 67's in this flight
In First was the Don Schneider, Bob Foeller, Dale Crittenden, and Dave Gillett team.
In Second was the Paul Rivard team
In Third was the Lou Pessoni team.
In Fourth was the Gene Erard team.
The Sonny Javier team was also at the same score but out of the money.
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Flight "D"
Two teams managed a -4(68)
In First was the Ernie South, Bob Checkley, Bob Meinhardt, and Ron Smith team.
In Second nosed out by hole #9, or some ensuing hole, was the George Keil team.
In Third was Ron Martens team with 69.
In Fourth was the Pierre Sans Souci team also with 69
The Gary Dyhouse and the Don Bratcher team each had 71's while the Frank Greening team manufactured a 79, using a putting technique known only to them.
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Closest to the pins for the day: #3 Randy Pratt #5 Steve Smith #11 Jim Hawkes #16 Doug Torrie