My Apology

Remember my comments last week about the poor play of the BCC team at SCC? Well I forgot to mention that Dave H and TZ were the low net team for the day ( Dave H reminded me of the omission) Belated congrats guys on the great round--net 62.

Today was rather cool. If you didn't know better you would have thought it was September and not the end of June. Overcast skies, a few showers, wind and a little sun late. TTS and his team must have thought the conditions were too severe or they were playing poorly because they quit after 8 holes. The rest of us waited out a brief shower and finished the round. By the way TTS where is your $5? Ron H kept his record in tack and hasn't finished in the money yet. Bob B and I brought him down to our level and he barely finished out of the money. Maybe tomorrow will be the day. I won't say who but 4 major chops did 20 under and walked away with 1st place. I hear rumblings from the crowd that 2 strokes on a hole may soon be outlawed if some handicaps stay where they are.

We may have a chance to win tomorrow since 2 of the above referenced chops are playing their Old Pal match. Almost forgot, Ron M is back but on IR for a few days. Seems he injured himself Sunday playing Hit and Giggle golf. Here's to a speedy recovery (we really need fresh money). Thursday is the big 4Th of July Party at the club. We need to make a decision about play; don't want to be on the course during the start of the Dandy Dozen.

Summer Time and The Swinging Is Easy

Lots of golf since the last time I updated the blog. Thursday we played early to avoid the heat and the monthly stag. TTS thought he had the only skin for a while until we audited the cards and realized there were two others. Still each was worth $13, not bad for a mornings effort. I called to give him the good news and he told me he was just pulled his weekly ham loaf from the oven. Friday was another Senior Inter Club. This time at SCC (newest member). The BCC Team suffered the humiliation of placing last by a couple of points. The Commish was last seen mumbling to himself about bringing a "bunch of chops" and vowed to get nasty if we didn't play better in July at our home course. In our defense the green speed was not what we expected and we never really adjusted (and some of us can really be chops at times).

Saturday saw a number of matches being played at BCC as everyone tried to beat the deadline for round one. Bill S and I finally (after 4 years) broke the ice and got past the first round. We had a great match with Sarge and Ron H and won 1 up. I understand the biggest upset of the day was pulled off by Marv R as he won 1 up over Kevin M (a 31 beating a 2) in the Presidents Cup. Just proves anything happen on any given day. The course setup was a little tough with some really bizarre pin placements. Must have been because of Beat the Pro. I saw some putts do things that defied gravity. But, the greens were as good as I've seen them all year. Hats off to Eric considering the heat we've had this week.

While warming up at thee range I found a nice pair of Oakleys were John B was warming up. As he walked away I asked if they were his. No he replied and went to the 1st tee. About 3 minutes later Bailey was looking for a pair of sunglasses that a member left on the range. She said Mr. B had left them there while warming up. Go figure, my guess is that he'll fit right in after he retires. Most of us can't remember much either anymore.

Heat Wave

Summer is finally here and with a vengeance.

Didn't play yesterday due to a family commitment but was outside enough to know it was pretty warm. Played my President's Cup match this afternoon at the hottest part of the day and didn't melt, but didn't win either. It is pretty tough to take on Tony H when he has 6 birds in 12 holes.
However, I did try to make a match out of it and made through 16 before losing 3 & 2. Great fun and Tony is a a very good player and fun to play with. There were a lot of other matches going on this afternoon since the deadline for 1st round completion is June 28.

Looking forward to playing tomorrow morning and then going to SCC on Friday for the Senior Interclub. Finally, how about the final round of the Open? Great theater! Too bad for Phil, but that is way it goes sometimes. And, David Duval can't be 885th in the world anymore! Bring on the British Open.

No Winner Yet

Here it is Monday morning and they haven't completed play at the US Open. I'm sure we can all relate to the wet conditions. The Invitational is over and am sure it was a success even though we had our own weather challenges. I understand the shootout winners did a Jerry Pate and jumped in the lake by the 18th green.

Yesterday was Fathers Day and there were a number of activities around the club. Saw Dave H with a pretty nice bass at the fishing competition, but he was complaining they took his picture with the small one and not the big one. Oh well, I'm sure this will turn into another "fish story" over time.

Had a new experience Sunday on the golf course. Can only describe it as being Shanged/Ziemed squared. While playing a friendly couples round for drinks afterward the TZ's both started going 5 for 3 (4 for 2) I beat you. Needless to say I bought. Hide your wallet when someones wife says they haven't played for 2 weeks. All that means is they haven't had time to reinforce any bad habits and will play their best round of the season.

Foiled Again

Well Sarge (aka SAI) did it again. We took his strokes away; used a format favorable to the rest of the field, and then the rest of us played lousy. I'm starting to think we offer him $10 not to play in the daily game so the rest of us have a chance. Just kidding. Eventually his handicap will be so low he'll beat himself. Until then we will just have to keep coming up with different ways to keep him in check.

Bob B and Paul K won a hard fought match in the 1st round of the Old Pal. Congrats guys. I heard them say their opponents, both new members, will be hard to beat once they learn the greens. I don't think there are any easy matches in the Old Pal.

Sarge Does It Again

Well, I told you that Sarge has an uncanny way of winning. Yesterday proved my point. When you have 14 players it is difficult to come up with a format that is fair and easy to administer. History has shown any time you give a team a blind draw it is the kiss of death for the rest of the field. The team with the draw always improves. Even though Bill S' didn't win they improved 10 shots with their draw. Sarge's team didn't need that many shots but won handily after using theirs. That's one reason I'd rather blind draw everyone. It is a little more time consuming but fairer in the end.

Nice to see such a big field again. Let's keep it up. Remember this is Invitational Week. WE have times booked early on Thursday to get in front of the practice round and 2 times booked at Chippewa on Saturday at 10:oo and 10:10 AM for those who want to play. Let John G know if you are interested.

Master Baker

For those who don't know it we are fortunate to have a gifted baker among us. TTS has that special ability to bake (he says he can do ham loaf also). He and St. Gwen and the Bill S's came to our hose last night for dinner and TTS brought one of his creations for desert. I can honestly say I haven't had anything better anywhere. I think if we are real nice to him maybe he'll bring us a pie for lunch one of these days. Let's try.

The weather was great yesterday. Maybe the best we've had all year. The course was super and the greens were nice and smooth. Possibly a tad slow but really pretty good. The weather looks like it will be good tomorrow and hope we'll have a big turnout. Remember the Invitational this weekend. A road trip is being planned - probably to Dean's course - so we'll need a head count.

One Solution

Well Dean S ran for cover and we couldn't continue the The Great Match series this week. Said something about a board meeting out of town. Really, a board meeting? Certainly he could have thought of something better for an excuse.

But there was a bright side to the day. We finally found a way to equalize Sarge. Take his strokes away! This is so simple I don't know why we didn't think of of it before. We had a a big field skin group and played off his ball. Now the next problem is trying to equalize all the high handicappers. They're pretty tough to beat when they get stroke on par 3's.

As we all know the TDGA Match Play Championship is this weekend at BCC. Looks like Tony Hoops is in the finals for the Seniors. Great for Tony bad for me since I have to play him in the 1st round of the Presidents Cup. Can't figure how he was ceded lower than me; seems like it should be the other way around.

Good weather coming up for the week. Thursday we have to play at 11:30 because of the practice round for the Invitational. We already reserved tee times for 3 groups. I'm Ron will cover this in his weekly announcements.

Mixed Feelings

Lots of sad faces around the ole lunch table yesterday. It wasn't really raining hard but everyone but Ron H decided it was the type of day we would pass on. Ron H said he was going to play nine holes and go home early. We warned him not to do that too often since it could raise future expectations. TTS used the drizzle to earn "brownie points" and took St. Gwen to lunch. But, I really think he wanted the pea soup the club was serving and saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Friday looks to be a better day. I'm looking at the lake on #2 as I type and the sun is shining, and the weather forecast is better for the next few days.

I did take yesterday as an opportunity to audit the "Shake of the Day" and found we have $178.00. My guess is there will be a winner in the near future.

Question Answered

As promised the first topic of discussion at the Green committee meeting was the green speed over the weekend. Eric applied a different fertilizer on Friday and the rate of new growth was much greater than expected. He said he has never seen anything like this before and has asked the supplier to come to BCC to review the situation. The growth rate coupled with the fact we haven't been double cutting on the weekends (budget reductions) caused the green speed to decrease to an abnormally slow rate. For those who played on Tuesday the speed was back to a normal 9.5 to 10 on the stimpmeter. We can also expect slightly higher speeds as we approach The Invitational. Remember if we go above 11 the greens become very difficult and there would probably be a run on razor blades in the locker room (Hemlock at the bar was eliminated as a cost reduction).

We also discussed pin placements on weekend days when there is no scheduled event (i. e. last Sunday). It was my opinion many were pretty severe and pretty close the edges for a day when casual golf was being played. For those who are uninformed the staff works off a rotation schedule but has a free hand on where to cut the hole. Major tournament locations are selected by the head professional and marked on the green. Eric agreed to talked with the staff member cutting the holes and explain my concerns. One final note, the staff normally responsible for cutting the holes is not a golfer and sometimes doesn't appreciate the impact of hole placement. Also, we are really limited on some holes for fair placement.

Thought the Tuesday format was a lot of fun (maybe because I was on the wining team). Actually the scores were better than expected when you consider every other hole you had to count 3 balls. Every team was below par by double digits. Also this was the largest turnout in 2009; sixteen players (Ron H and Bill S were new faces). Let's keep it up, the more money the more places we can pay. The only drawback was I ended doing the pairings 4 times.

The rough looked like it was a normal length but still thick. I'm expecting we should start to see handicaps start to return to normal. If not, we can always reinstate the Inquisition (without the Rack since that would be considered an enhanced interrogation method). My ball recovery rate on 2 is down from prior years. I can't tell whether it's the economy or more retrievers are being carried. I did recently find a PRACTICE ball that had been marked with a Sharpie for ID purposes. I would love to meet the cheap sake that did that.

You Know What They Say About Blind Pigs

We all know about the old adage about blind pigs and acorns. Well that must have been what came into play with Dean S on Saturday. First of all Dean's woes with the putter are legendary throughout NW Ohio. But every once in a while the golf gods fall asleep and let strange things happen. Let me just say Dean probably used his season allotment of "hi ho silvers" in one day. Even with all the heroics team Frick and Frack still haven't recovered all they lost from 2 weeks ago. Next Saturday could prove to be real interesting.

Green speed will be topic number one at this week's Green Committee meeting. I'm sure Eric has his reasons but they are uncharacteristically slow right now. We'll also talk about the Sunday pin placements. From my point of view many were absurd for a day when you don't have anything but casual golf going on. At least the rough, though thick, was more manageable than it has been of late. If anyone has any other concerns let me know Tuesday at lunch.

Nice to have Dave H return home without creating any international incidents. He was overheard mumbling at about using jet lag as an excuse for his spotty play. Don't buy into this ploy. We all know he can hit all the shots.

He Found His Game

Well Bob D found his game at least for one day. On Thursday he couldn't find his swing and then on Friday at the Senior Inter Club it suddenly reappeared. Could it be the prize money was bigger? Maybe his partner, Bill S was inspirational! Don't know the answer but Bob and Bill finished 1st in a field of 32 teams. Way to go guys!! BCC had a lot of teams in the money but could do no better than 3rd out of 4 Clubs (missed 2Nd by one stroke). This was the season opener and held at TCC. The next one is in July at BCC. If you want to play (they are a great deal) see the "Commissioner". I understand that SCC has been added to the group for a 5Th club.

The Evil Wind

It is the first week of June and we are still dealing with the North East wind coming off of Lake Erie and keeping it downright cold. Scores seemed to reflect the weather. Sarge's group said they had what they thought was an unbeatable lead until they gave back 14 shots to tie for second at -1. Nice playing guys. At least the other team at -1 (mine) was consistently awful all day and didn't have a huge collapse. Bill S, who played with us for the first time, was heard mumbling he thought this was a team event. Ron and I told him we have a dry saddle blanket for him next time. If you want to play with Ed S (the consistent winner) I'm open to bribes. See me at the range before lunch an we can arrange the wire transfer to my off shore account.

The "shake of the day" had several close calls but continues to grow. Some where north of $165, maybe I should count the money one of these days.

It was really nice to see Don M at lunch yesterday. We all know what he's been through the past year and it's good to see him getting better. For those who don't know it Don was one of the founding members of the JR/SR group and has the record of losing 54 consecutive skins.

Heard At Lunch

Throughout all the years there have been many great discussions at lunch. Yesterday I think we may have reached a new level. Do we really need to know the merits of Lpitor vs. Crestor? Well several our bunch were mesmerized by the topic. Next thing you know TTS will want to show his incision, and have Sarge critique the scar.

Golf was pretty typical; a variety of scores with Sarge's group being the big winner. I don't think it's his partners but Sarge's superior ability. We've got to find a format to put him in check. All suggestions are welcome.

The weather looks like it is typical for the week of Jack's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, OH.
Next week the temps will probably soar into the 80's. For now we'll have to suffer through it. Heard Boomer went to Bay Harbor for one more ski trip, and Rob S decided to leave for a warmer place after being here for just 3 days (and losing $10).

The "Comish" is putting together The BCC team for the first Senior Inter Club at TCC. If you want to play and haven't been contacted give him a call.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Well Ron and Dean showed up again on Saturday determined to get their money back. I must admit they had some minor success and won a single press. You'd think two guys getting double strokes on five holes would do better than that since one of the opponents was still under the influence of Corona. Dean finally had a 4 for 2 on #1 ( a Ziem for the unfamiliar) hold up for a skin in the big skin game. He did the same the previous week but was tied! Go figure. How does a 23 make 4 out of the box and then disappear? I guess this is just another of the great mysteries in the world.

Rob S finally came back from Florida and was seen wandering around the 1st tee mumbling "I've got 5 bucks can I play?" John G, Boomer and TZ took pity on him and probably took his money too. Some things just never change. But, welcome back fresh meat is always appreciated. Someone observed Rob's swing is still the same and he's allowed to keep his moniker of "Silk".

The annual meeting went off rather well. Thought Doug Crocker did a very good job of explaining our financial situation and the problems we still face. We've made a lot of progress from February but still have a ways to go.

The weather looks spotty this week but hope a warming trend is on the way. Let's at least show up for lunch and roll the dice.