Aug 24,2017
Another great day to play our favorite game. And what a day. Temps in the low 80's or high 70's and plenty of sun. The only thing missing was a cooling breeze that seemed to come and go as we came and went. But, we survived. No record low scores were shot and that can be attributed to several things, i.e. advancing average age, the hole being too small, the holes being in the wrong places, the sun in our eyes, the distraction of deer wandering the course, the herd of wild turkeys not giving a crap about golfers, just any number of excuses for not shooting lights out. But then the high score for the day was not atrocious either. So, I think we all left the pipe fitters palace satisfied with another day on the course, away from the hustle and bustle of retired life at home.
Our foursome had a great time, not necessarily executing the golf shots that we should've but just the overall camaraderie that accompanies these outings. Thanks guys for the company and the banter that goes along with playing this great game. The things that I took from the outing are those that go along with a normal round. If you can't sink a bunch of 20-30 foot putts you're not going score very well. If you can't get within that range on your approach shots your chances of scoring are severely diminished.
However, the greatest thrill we had for the day was on our second to last hole, #18. Yeah, that hole with at least 72 lakes to negotiate on the way to the green. Herein lies the story; being the only ancient one in our foursome I got the privilege of hitting from the skirts with the dream of hitting to dry land some quarter of a mile straight away. Had I done this we'd have been in good shape to possibly fashion a birdie for our efforts. But no, I pulled the $%^*(# ball just a tad and the idiotic orb splashed into one of the many, many lakes to the left of my intended target.
Luckily, my cohorts safely landed on the first peninsula giving us ample opportunity to finish out the hole with the possibility of a birdie still within our grasp. And here's where it got interesting. Four grown (should be groan) adults managed to hit our second shots directly into the pond right in front of us. Luckily, one of our shots went quite a way down the fairway before rolling into the same darn pond!! So, if you're keeping track, that's five shots into the drink on the same hole. Well, we put down a ball at about the spot where the ball rolled into the drink and proceeded to hit towards the green still some 80 yards distant with our fourth shot. Fortunately, Mr. John Balog plopped his approach shot softly on the green about 4 feet from the cup and we came away with a par shattering our dream of a birdie - what an adventure, eh?
I'm sure all of you can relate similar stories with the same ironic results and this is what the game of golf is all about - should've, could've, would'ves that invoke all kinds of chatter after the outing. Sure beats sitting at home in front of the idiot box, right?
Oh yeah, the course was in very good shape. I like fairways cut to these lengths. And the greens were remarkably good, except for the pin locations that were a bit weird in some instances, especially for our versions of approach shots.
Results: The playoff hole was #10. It may be slightly down hill and straight but it's also damn long.
Flight "A"
Four of these teams managed a -7(63)
In First was the Ron Martens, Ron Muse, Bill Gust, and Mike Sommerville team.
In Second was the Lou Pessoni team
In Third was the Harvey Ruth team
In Fourth was the Larry Knopfel team.
Three teams shot -6(64), the Bob Thibodeaux team, the Calvin Britt team, and the Ed Boyer team.
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Flight "B"
All teams in this flight shot 65's(-5)
In First was the Steve Haase, Paul Rivard, John Boyd, and Kerry Rockwell team.
In Second was the Mark Gordon team
In Third was the Ernie South team
In Fourth was the Jerry Kent team.
Also with 65's but out of the money were the Tom Fichter team, the Jerry White team, and the Jack Reiner team.
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Flight "C"
The top four teams in this flight all carded -4(66)
In First was the Ed de la Pena, Jim Lammers, Dan Snowden, and Jim Mead team.
In Second was the Pat Reed team
In Third was the Larry Riedisser team
In Fourth was the Don Wulf team.
Also at 66 was the George Eickhoff team. The Pierre Sans Souci team and the Max Saunders team each shot 67's.
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Flight "D"
In First was the Don Schmidt, Del Lohmann, Steve Comfort, and Dave Gillett team with a -2(68).
In Second at 69 was the Doug Nolte team.
In Third was the Darryl Rue team at 69.
In Fourth at 70 (even par by the way and a big, sloppy, sister kiss) was the Bob Pahmeier team.
The Bert Schott team carded a +1(71) while the Larry Willman team shot 73. And finishing the day with a lot of practice and a set of pink balls (plus a lot of money) was the Harold Lindahl squad.
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Awards:
Closest to the pins for the day: #3 Joe Pfeifer #6 Pierre Sans Souci #8 Mark Bryant #12 Ed de la Pena #15 Randy Pratt #17 Jim Hawkes