OCT 3, 2017

Well, 95 of us showed up at this "not so easy to find" golf course somewhere south of I-70, east of I-170, north of St. Charles Rock Road, and west of Lucas and Hunt. And, I guess because they really want to remain anonymous, there are no signs to show you're even close to the course. Well hidden I'd say. I'll bet when it was built, 1901 to be exact, there was probably nothing around it so finding it would not've been as difficult. According to legend, it's the oldest course west of the Mississippi, tied perhaps by Normandie which claims the same age. They play very much the same, tons of up and down fairways with relatively small greens that are surprisingly benign. Must've been the golf course design of the day. However, Glen Echo's clubhouse absolutely dwarfs the shack at Normandie and is really quite elegant, albeit a bit dim in the lighting department.

This is definitely not a course for old men, or for that matter for "youngsters" such as our selves. Not a single level fairway shot except for maybe one or two holes. And just about every green is elevated several thousand feet above the fairway, with the exception of some par 3's that we towered above (as if that helped). But the fairways were very, very good, having a nice cushion of grass to help keep the ball up just a bit to help ones ability to keep the club under the ball on a perfectly struck shot (as if that helped).

Our foursome, and I'm sure others also, only had a couple of problems on the day; the starting time, although seemingly agreed upon to be at 0800 was somehow set back to close to 0830. It's obvious the young staff at the course does not understand that this 0830 time interferes perfectly with the first scheduled nap of the day for many of us. Thus our finely tuned rhythms were upset right off the bat. The second issue is the cart path layout for several holes. One most glaring example is the tee box for the first short par 4, the number 5 hole. The tee box is set back from the #4 green such that if folks park their cart adjacent the #4 green they are in direct line for tee shots for #5 hole!!! A ridiculously dangerous arrangement. Not to mention the road into the course dissects this #5 fairway!! More insanity.

And then there's the 8th hole, a par 5 who's second shot is basically blind yet it will cross the road, which you don't see from where you are hitting. Cars are very vulnerable there. And there are several other holes where the design of parallel fairways can be questionable. And then there are the cart paths, many of which were seemingly randomly placed. Being a member would've been very helpful here. The lack of signage along the cart paths was a bit annoying and no doubt added to the confusion that some teams probably suffered.

And to top it all off, the overall environment of this course was a bit like that classic movie with John Candy and Steve Martin; "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles". The first few holes we were hounded by the sound of the Metro, supplemented by the constant sound of planes departing Lambert. And then another part of the course we saw/experienced vehicular traffic on a neighboring street and the road into the course itself, all part of the scenario out of the movie. When we finally encountered the lakes on the back nine I expected to see another mode of transport, a boat or two! Fortunately for us, part of the course is bordered by a cemetery, from whence usually comes no sound whatsoever.

But, it's an old, old course laid out by people who wanted to challenge the better golfers of the day, and at this it was truly successful - one challenging course. And to its credit the course was in very, very good condition.

Results: The scorecard playoff hole was #9. Probably an up and down fairway to an elevated green, whaddya bet? Ooops, not in this case, it's that relatively short par 3 over the fountain.

Flight "A"

In First, Carding a near impossible -8(63) was the Ken Knarr, Tom Braun, Frank Vien, and Gary Dyhouse foursome.

In Second was our team (Doug Nolte) at -4(67)

In Third was the Jerry Mullen team at the same -4.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flight "B"

Three teams shot -3(68)

In First was the Tom Fichter, Paul Kinser, Lee Readus, and Jim Dwyer team

In Second was the Lou Pessoni team

In Third was the Ernie South team.

Two more teams carded 68's, but were out of the top via because of the #9 hole. The Don Schneider team and the Ted Schuessler team. The Erle Craig followed up with a nice -2(69).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flight "C"

Six teams carded a 70(-1)

In First was the George Eickhoff, Darryl Rue, Kerry Rockwell, and Lewis Rosenbaum team

In Second was the Bob Braun team

In Third was the Jerry Kent team.

Three more came in at the 70 score but finished out of the money; the Dave Buesse team, the Larry Riedisser team, and the Bert Schott team.

The Rich Graeff team shot even par 71 and somehow found their sisters in the vast expanse of the clubhouse for that post round kiss. The Don Giarraffa team came in at +1(72).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flight "D"

In First, Shooting a +2(73) and nosing out two other teams for top slot in this flight was the Brian Kennedy, Dave Erker, Pierre Sans Souci, and Norbert Loebs team.

In Second was the Joe Goines team with a 74(+3)

In Third the Don Schmidt team with a +4(75).

The Bob Bischoff team also had a 75 as did the John Balog team. The Livingston Sykes squad had a great day (he never has a bad day by the way) with a 76.

The Effort of the Day and the proud recipients of the Pink Ball collection was the Bob Hickey team at +6(77).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Closest to the pins: #6 Mike Sommerfield #9 Gary Dyhouse #11 Norbert Loebs #14 Steve Dierker (nice shot Steve)