April 26, 2012 Results
The Commissioner picked a very nice day for at least some of the 117 of us to renew acquaintances with a course we haven't played since September 2003. To put it in perspective, three fourths of the winning team from back then is no longer with us and word is that the one remaining player from that team has dementia, if not Alzheimers. Sobering thoughts but it happens to all of us eventually so let's play as much golf as we can before we can't, right? And let's salute those of our players who've attained some ripe ages and still get out to enjoy the sunshine, fellow golfers, and the thrill of sinking a 40 foot putt or driving the ball straight down the fairway. You guys are marvels and those of us still young enough to ambulate pretty well look up to you as examples of people taking care of themselves long enough to enjoy golf, one of the finer endeavors of retirement.
Sunset Hills ain't what it used to be, which is a good thing. I understand the land was flooded a few years back and they literally had to start from scratch to restore the fairways, etc. The fairways are still a bit sparse but in a couple of years they should be filled in enough to afford a nice cushy lie from which to blast one in the general direction of the green. I do have one observation on the construction of the course, however, and one which drove me nuts while playing. I don't remember this from the previous times I'd played the course because at that time it probably didn't make any difference to my game, but did you notice the alignment of a lot of the tee boxes? Many of them were angled at least 30 degrees from the fairway allowing for a confusing setup on your tee shot. And to top it off, the new grass that was stripped in on the tee boxes was also aligned, not down the fairway, but in a direction away from the fairway. Standing over the ball was a challenge for shot alignment and many of the tee shots just didn't fit the eye, so to speak. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
The greens were an absolute delight to putt on, hardly ball-marked and they ran pretty true. But in our case it was mostly operator error when it came to reading and executing, resulting in many missed birdie opportunities, or in one case a three foot putt that 3 guys missed for a par!
At the end of the day, and as promised, the course had a small lunch ready for us consisting of hot dogs, chips and soda, just enough to quench the appetite for hard working golfers. And the supply of hot dogs seemed to be endless so we were not limited to just one. I'm sure some enjoyed this little extra that the organization flung our way. I personally heard no grumbling over the facilities or the golf so it appears we'll consider this course for next season. Location is certainly not an issue.
Results:
Since we paired up in flights for the day we had 3 different sets of winners.
A Flight:
Two teams tied for first with a -7. The John Boyd, Ed de la Peña, Paul Rivard, and Doug Torrie team tied with the Joe Goines, Bill Heidbreder, Art Soble and John Dierker team. Very nice score gents from way back at the white tees.
The Lou Pessoni, Don Giarraffa and Livingston Sykes team finished in the lone second spot at a -6. These guys were undoubtedly frustrated by the team ahead of them (us) who held them up whenever possible.
In third place at a -5 was the Ron Muse, Joe Jarvis, Dennis Rumley and Walter Smith team.
The fourth place team, at -3, was the Phil Lucido, Mike Rutherford, Randy Pratt and John Prather squad.
B Flight:
Two teams came in first at a whopping -9. The Don Bartoni, Bob Harrison, Bob Foeller, and Bob Day team tied with the Larry Riedisser, Paul Villhard, Tom Murphy and Jack Eckhard group. Very nice shooting guys.
Two teams tied for second at a wonderful -8. The Del Lohman, Jerry White, Joe Mullins, and Bob Gay team tied with the Larry Willman, Steve Dierker, Bill Wegge and Jack Panula team.
Two teams tied for thrid at a -7. The Ward Klocke, Mark Bryant, Larry Lachalmelle and Phil Hess team tied with the Dennis Shannon, Charley Wilson, Joe McDaniels and Jerry Mullen team.
One team finished in fourth place with a -6. The Darryl Rue team.
One team finished in fifth place with a -5. The Jack Reiner team.
Three teams finished in sixth place with a -4. The Roger Danielson team. The Doug Nolte team. The Jeff Delaplain team.
One team finished in seventh place with a -2. The Dennis Terhaar team.
C Flight:One team blew away the competition with a -9 for the day. The Frank Vien, Bruce Schnelle, George Eickhoff, and Rich Graeff team ran off and hid from the rest of the field. This group will never, ever again play together in this format, period.
One team finished a distant second at a very respectable -6. The Mark Hagler (one of our definite ageless wonders), Bob Touzinsky, Bill Neukom, and Bob Pahmeier team did quite well but nowhere near the first place group.
One team finished in thrid at a very nice -4. The John Aubuchon, Harry Trammel, Ted Schuessler, and Alex Horvat team showed up quite well for the day.
One team finished at a -2 for fourth place. The Lowell Barnes team.
Four teams finished at a -1 for fifth place. The Bob Kriss team. The Charlie Riedisser team. The Lewis Rosenbaum team. The Bob Stephenson team.
Two teams finished at even par and you know what that means; a big fat kiss from their sisters. The Dave Buesse team. The Gary Turner team.
One team finished at +1 to place seventh for the day. The George Keil team
One team finished at +2 to place eighth for the day. The Tim McCullen team.
One team finished at +4 to place 9th for the day. The Charlie Fischer team.
Awards;
Closest to the pins for the day; Hole #4 Jim Mead, Hole #7 Frank Vien, Hole #12 Bob Harrison Hole #17 Al Rosenberg
Skins: There were none!