Sept 21,2017
And we thought summer was behind us, hah!! The National Weather Service for St. Louis says the high temp for yesterday was 89 degrees at 4:21. What do they know. Far as we know it was a lot more than that and the humidity was vintage St. Louis all the way. Tough sledding on the course is all I can say. But, you guys should've been at the bowling alley after the golf round - unbearable. There were a handful of us that suffered through the bowling in sweltering humidity, a lot like the golf. But at least we didn't lose any balls. My bowling ball was so sticky that if my hand was any larger I could've "palmed" the ball pretty easily.
Golf-wise we had a crowd of 99 folks show up to try our swing adjustments and new equipment at this course just outside Wentzville. The staff at the course was courteous and friendly (kind of the same concept, eh?), but this course is not what it used to be. In my estimation the greens were probably in the best shape they've ever been, but the quality stopped there. The fairways were a bit longer than the brutally shaved fairways at Aberdeen, but even then that occurrence was seemingly in selected areas. They were not uniformly cut throughout the course. And once off the fairways the rough was just as described, rough. And bare in many areas. The entry/exit areas for the fairways were over-used and had become rutted dirt paths - not good. Just not a well-groomed course, not what we're used to at this upscale community in the Wentzville area.
Just a note about the team selections; once again this is computer-driven and once again occasionally some seemingly better players manage to be put together in the random selection that we use. This time out I was put on a team with great paper players, probably the cause of the Bronx Cheer when the results were read. But as we all know this game ain't played on paper. Yes we did finish with a low score but we did not come in with the low score, as some might've predicted. We all know that great approaches followed by great putting are where the money is, so to speak. Obviously, we didn't put all the ingredients together at the right times to catch lightning in a bottle and finish where some predicted. Sure our chances of doing this were thought to be better than some other teams, but it just didn't work out that way. The team that did win it all (low score) did catch lightning in a bottle, like an eagle on a par 4, and thus wrested the ordained title away from us - fair enough, and as it should be. Congrats to them. They played inspired while we played perspired.
Results: The playoff hole was #15, the fairly long, straight par 5. We eagled it to no avail since we were not tied with anyone.
Flight "A"
In First with a solid -13(59) was the Tom Fichter, Bill Parrish, Jack Panula, and Joe Cernich team. Congrats to you lightning catchers!
In Second was the Doug Nolte team at -11(61)
In Third was the John Dierker team at -10
In Fourth was the George Eickhoff team at -9.
Filling out the A Flight was the Bert Schott team at -8(64).
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Flight "B"
Two teams finished at -7(65)
In First was the Jerry White, Curt Opperman, Steve Smith, and John Boyd team
In Second was the Mark Gordon team
In Third was the Bob Checkly team at -5(67)
In Fourth was the Bob Hickey team at the same 67.
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Flight "C"
Three teams vied for first in this flight at -4(68)
In First was the Joe Pfeifer, Bob Gay, Livingston Sykes, and Dan Fergus team.
In Second was the Jack Reiner team
In Third was the Dean Brandon team
In Fourth was the Harold Lindahl team shot -3(69).
The Harvey Ruth team and the Ernie South team each shot 70(-2).
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Flight "D"
Four teams shot -1(71)
In First was the Roger Hennen, Dan Edmiston, Ron Muse, and Charley Wilson team.
In Second was the Bob Pankey team
In Third was the Ed Boyer team
In Fourth was the Don Schneider team
The Sonny Javier team was met by their respective sisters at the 19th hole to receive their even par kisses. While the Pierre Sans Souci team, the Pat Reed team, and the Bob Stephenson team each had 76's. The Dee Ridenhour team took the Effort of the Day award with a 78.
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Awards:
Closest to the pins for the day: #3 Jerry White #6 Bob Eubank #12 Paul Pals #16 Bert Schott