Aug 2, 2012 Results

We ended up with 108 players on this sultry day that saw a lot of saving cloud cover but unfortunately not a lot of air movement. A lot of sweat was lost at Pevely and maybe that accounts for some of the lush fairways that we encountered. The course was in excellent shape, probably at the expense of the nearby Meramec River that is already low. When we played Aberdeen on the 12th of July the fairways were lush there too, perhaps the result of being so close to the river. I’m not sure if the courses actually get their water supply from this river but it would only make sense.

In addition to the fairways, the greens were in very good shape green-wise, ie. no burnout like my lawn. But, they have suffered from lack of care by the folks who play the course. There are far too many ball marks on the surfaces for a layout of this stature. The people who play it a lot don’t take care of their ball marks, nor of one or two extra ball marks as pleaded for by the management of any self-respecting golf course. It’s a shame to see a wonderful course plagued by lack of attention to detail on the greens. I realize that many of us don’t hit the greens on the fly with that perfect approach shot so we’re not aware of our ball marks, but that doesn’t mean there might not be a lot left by players before us. We’re as responsible for the care of the greens just as much as we’re responsible for not driving too close to the greens, or in the rough, if so directed.

But, speaking of greens, though pock-marked, rolled pretty true. In our group it was a pleasure watching John Dierker go to work with the short stick. He definitely put on a putting clinic for us, sinking the last putt out of four for that precious birdie. It almost got monotonous watching him put in those 10-15 footers that made the difference. It’s been several years since I’ve played with John but if I remember correctly he had the same touch then as now. It was a pleasure John, thank you.

Results:

Flight "A"Tied for first place with a remarkable -12 was the Ed de la Peña, Ron Maniscalco, Joe Cernich, Jerry White team and the Bob Day, Doug Nolte, John Dierker, and Wayne Lamborn team. By virtue of the randomly drawn playoff hole (#1) the de la Peña team came out on top. They birdied 8 of 9 holes on the back so if one of the holes on the back nine had been picked they pretty much had a lock on that situation also, although we birdied 7 of 9 on the back.

Just a note here, some have queried us on why we randomly pick a playoff hole when conventional practice is to normally start on the #1 handicap hole and then either take the holes in order after that, or take them by handicap rank. Our philosophy is that picking the #1 handicap hole actually favors the more talented players thus weighting the results in their favor. Randomly picking there still is a chance the #1 handicap hole will be chosen, but it’s just a one in 18 chance.

Now, on to the rest of the story. In third place with a -10 was the Duane Jefts, Jerry Mullen, Tom Murphy, and Bob Pankey team.

Finishing out A flight were the Ron Muse team and the Joe Goines team at 6 under 66’s, and the Joe McDaniels and Ron Krick teams at 5 under 67’s.

Flight "B"All teams in this flight finished with sparkling 68’s but because of the scorecard playoff three of the six teams came out in the 1,2,3 positions. The Phil Lucido, Brian Cox, Tom Wulf, and Dee Ridenhour team squeezed out the Jeff Delaplain, Harold Howard, Bob Stephenson, and Charlie Fischer team who in turn beat out the Ernie South, Bob Eddy, Jim Hawkes, and Bob Dixon team.

The three other teams with the 68’s were the Art Soble team, the Rick Palloni team and the Don Giarraffa team.

Flight "C" The winning score in C flight was a 69, three under par, and it was attained by four of the six teams in this flight. Winning the scorecard playoff was the John Boyd, Roger Hennen, Larry Amen, and Don Moschenross squad who nosed out the Ken Klasing, Bob Pahmeier, Dan Ottoline, and Earl Phillips team. And these guys won second place over the Ted Isringhaus, Harry Trammel, Bob Foeller, and Ollie Sivcovich team.

Also with a 69 but out of the top 3 was the John Prather team, followed by the Charlie Pope team and the Larry Lachalmelle teams with identical 70’s.

Flight "D" Five teams tied for low score in D flight with a 71 but the Lee Hanson, Dennis Shannon, Alan Schaeffer, and Larry Riedisser team won the scorecard playoff. Second was the Paul Rivard, Pierre Sans Souci, Gary Turner, and Dan Fergus team followed by the Joe Jarvis, Lou Pessoni, Doug Torrie and Bob Kriss team.

Also in the D Flight and also with a 71 was the Dennis O’Connor team and the Larry Willman team. Behind them were the Mark Bryant and Bob Edwards teams with 72’s. And finally came the Dennis Meade squad with a lot of practice and a score of 81. <

Awards;

Closest to the pins for the day; #5 at 6’6” was Bob Foeller (I swear he’s not that tall) #8 at 11’ 6” was Sam Huston #14 at 19” was Bob Pahmeier

Skins: There were no skins, every team cancelled out every other team.