June 8, 2017 Results
An even 100 of us played (one for every degree on the Fahrenheit scale) at this private club in Eureka on a Monday that turned out to be a very still, hot, humid and downright uncomfortable day to play this overly strenuous game of golf. It was just a good thing our cart had a wonderful AC system or we'd have dropped out early in the round.
And speaking of early in the round, our illustrious team bogeyed our first hole after an absolutely dazzling approach shot put us just 8 feet from the pin (naturally above and to the side of the %^&*#@ hole) and in supposed perfect shape for a birdie. Well, not being accustomed to extremely fast greens, we over putted (a new term, eh?) leaving us a 4+ footer comeback putt which 4 adults promptly choked on thus forcing us to write in the dreaded bogey on our first hole. Usually, the common wisdom says it's a curse to birdie the first hole because the rest of the round will be uneventful. Hey, take it from us, the same goes for a bogey on the first hole. I think we went 47 holes before we struck pay dirt and managed a birdie or two, or three.
Those of us "in charge" arrived early at the course to set up the sign-in table and do whatever we do to make it fantastically easy for you guys to sign in. One of the advantages of this exercise is to meet some of the staff of the course. In this case it was Mike Parmenter, who was handling the announcement(s) before we went on our merry ways to our assigned holes. Mike was at one time an assistant pro at Wolf Hollow and some of us knew him quite well. He said The Legends had been a preliminary qualifying course for the US Open several weeks ago and he was in the mix for the qualifying. Unfortunately he did not make the cut but still had fun trying. Good luck next year Mike.
And speaking of the US Open qualifying setup on this course, I'd say they left the pin placements from the qualifier just the same for us. Some of those placements were downright demonic. And the speed of the greens made the placements even more difficult (hey, if you can think of an excuse, use it, right?). Evidently this setup didn't bother at least 4 teams because they blistered the course at a -9 pace. Great shooting guys.
And now for the course comments. I've already mentioned my opinion of the greens; rather devilishly fast and subtly sloped enough to evoke a lot of new, slightly tainted, golfing terminology. The fairways were ok, nothing spectacular and again cut to within a micron of their lives, making it easy for us hackers/whiffers to manufacture a lot of worm killers, or even to break a wrist or two.
We were warned to avoid driving in the rough and it was easy to see why - the rough was very rough, and skimpy. My neighbor mows his lawn once a month and it looks pretty shaggy at the end of that month. The Legends approached my neighbor's lawn condition in some areas. I know the US Open advocates a long rough and at least it's thick and uniform, but the Legends lacked that uniformity for some reason. Almost embarrassing in some instances, and that's not great for a private course.
Well, for now I've run out of thoughts on yesterday, probably boiled out of me, so let's get to the results.
Results: Playoff hole was #14, a relatively long par 5, half downhill and the other half up hill. We parred it, how did you guys do? Is that the way you spell "parred"? Not sure if I ever seen that word in print. the playoff hole was #8.
Flight "A"
4 teams shot a very nice -9(63)
In First was the Kevin Walsh, John Dierker, Jim Hawkes, and Mike Deveraux foursome.
in Second was the Bill Heidbreder team
In Third was the Joe Pfeifer team
In Fourth was the Jack Eckhard team.
The Ken Knarr team shot 65 and the Jim Biglin team shot 66.
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Flight "B"
Six teams vied for first at -5(67)
In First was the Lon Schwake, Randy Pratt, Don Giarraffa, and Harold Lindahl team.
In Second was the Don Moschenross team
In Third was the Bob Thibodeaux team,
In Fourth was the Ted Schuessler team.
The Dan Fergus team and the Jim Mead team also shot -5(67) but finished out of the money.
The Ed de la Pena team and the Larry Riedisser team shot -4(68) for the day.
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Flight "C"
Five teams carded 69's(-3)
In First was the Paul Rivard, Sonny Javier, Stew Pagenstecher, and Bruce Schnelle team.
In Second was the Rich Graeff team
In Third was the Bob Foeller team
In Fourth was the Max Saunders team.
Out of the money, but still with a 69, was the Mark Bryant team.
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Flight "D"
Two teams shot -2(70) for honors in this flight
In First was the Lee Hanson, Larry Amen, Dennis Terhaar, and Tom Braun team.
In Second was the Steve Comfort team.
In Third was the Skip Knopf team at 71
In Fourth kissing their sisters with an even par 72 was the Curt Opperman team.
Also with a 72 was the Dale Crittenden team while the worthy effort of the day went to the Art Soble team with a +2(74).
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Awards:
Closest to the pins for the day: #5 Bill Heidbreder #8 George Blaney (what, no ACE?) #12 Lowell Barnes #15 John Prather