Coming Close

Yes we came close on Saturday, but still came up a little short. The SD said he only played three times while on the west coast. It looked like it was more like three times a week. They both posted lower scores than their handicaps would indicate but informed us their handicaps trended up. Never seems to work that way for me. In fact it is just the opposite. Oh well, their day will come. I still can't figure out how the GWH runs in a putt from nowhere. History shows he has trouble with 3 footers (sometimes less than that).

It was sad to hear of Ashel Byran passing away on Sunday morning. I believe he may have been the last charter member of BCC. But most of all a fine gentlemen and a friend to many. I've had a number of people say that as a banker he believed in them when no one else would and helped get their business started on the road to success. In my estimation this country needs more like him and less of the myopic bankers we mostly have today.

The weather may be finally turning toward Fall. Seems like it rained most of last night and is very cool and damp this AM. We'll see if we get the round in today. At a bare minimum it will be sweater weather. Now TTS won't look out of place. I wonder where I put the mock turtle necks last Spring?

Thursday Skins

Just five of us yesterday morning ( stag in the PM). So we played a fivesome skin game with a lot of woofing going on. The greens are almost back to normal but I can't remember so many "Hi Ho Silvers" being made in one round by so many different people. No one could make a short putt, but were deadly from 30+ feet. Go figure. I'm not sure but a skin was worth about 95 cents. Unless you had multiple skins that was not even enough to cover TSOD. I think TTS was the big winner, but am really not sure. Surprising how busy the course was. We had to start on the backside to insure we could be done by 12:30 PM. In fact we played in about 4 hours. Not bad for 5 chops.

Not much else new. The weather is being erratic. Lots of wind and warm temps, but supposed to cool off by Saturday. Based on the gale blowing right now HMGC will be a lot of fun for the Senior Inter Club. Hope BCC continues to play well. I can't make this one due to a conflict and will miss not playing HMGC this year. The SD did return from out west and is chomping at the bit to play Saturday morning. He must have a big wine bill he's trying to cover from his trip. Hopefully Dr. AH can turn the tables and get into his pocket for a change.

See ya next week at the training table.

PS - Can you believe the LR Dr. would rather go to Paris for his wedding anniversary than play golf with his buds? He mumbled something about 20 years and he wanted the next 20 to be peaceful.

Fall and The Golf Is Easy

Well the SD is still in Calliyfornia (due to return Tuesday) so Silk made another cameo appearance to team up with The GWH. As usual The GWH only played a couple of holes but at an opportune time. However, when all was said and done, and the adding and subtracting completed I think I lost a buck. Not bad when you consider he is still getting 10 strokes.

The greens weren't too bad and should really start to heal by this week. Nice weather for growing grass and snoozing on the deck. Is there anything much better than an afternoon nap in the early Fall? It was a nice break from all the football on TV. Did you catch the end of the ND vs. MSU game? What a gutsy call in OT. The Browns and the Lions are still up to their losing ways, but at least the Lions were exciting till the end. Without much effort the Browns could start 0-8 with their schedule.

What happened to the Men's closing event? I heard they have canceled it. Sounds like someone dropped the ball again. Well at least we have our Pig Open to look forward to. Make sure you sign up.

See ya at the training table.

Score Card Playoff

The LR Dr. drew the short straw and got me for a partner. I told him I wouldn't hurt him on the backside but the front could be problematic. Surprisingly we lost second in a scorecard playoff. Not bad considering all the turmoil on the course yesterday. Funny thing was we lost to TTS and his partner. So much for him playing so poorly.

I'm sure the greens will get a little worse before they get better. The grass will grow and they won't be cut for a while. Plus it will take a little time for the sand to work its way into the surface. The rain this AM should help speed the process. Wish it would do the same for the grubs. This is as bad as I've ever seen for the coons and skunks digging for the little white morsels. The GWH says it is really bad around Curtice, OH as the skunks are migrating into to town in search of grubs. Hope they don't decide Perrysburg would be a more desirable place to move to.

Has anyone paid attention to Silk and his new weapons. He has a new Ping driver and says he is 30 yards longer off the tee. We may have to verify that since golfers and fishermen are a little prone to exaggeration. But if that is only half true I imagine there will be a rush on the pro shop. Personally I think this is a set up by Ping and Brad, but I may demo one to see if there is any truth to his claims. I do know that I demoed one of the Taylor Speed Burners and thought it was at least 10 yards longer. Now if I could only find some extra cash I might be tempted to make an investment. I wonder how much they paid him to buy a game?

I hear the Piglets are excited about the Pig Open and would like to call it the "Men Are From Mars and Women Are From Venus Open". I seem to remember a book with that tile from eons ago. This sounds like it could turn into a serious run at our trophy. Make sure you find a partner and sign up to play. With some luck this could turn into a classic way to end the season. And, if we lose it could be along winter.

Hope the weather holds and we can get a few holes in on Thursday. See ya.

Perfect Greens

It always happens when we have perfect greens. We either get monsoons or it is time to punch them. The later is the case this time. Eric's crew started last night and should be finished by Thursday. I know it is necessary for the health of the grass but it is frustrating none the less. Although I don't know why I'm complaining since my putter went on vacation and I couldn't putt it in a bushel basket yesterday. Needless to say I wasn't in the money yesterday morning.

The Pig Outing has been rescheduled for Tuesday, October 5Th. There is a new twist this year. The Piglet's have been itching to get involved. So they have challenged the men to a little competition. We'll use the Senior Inter Club format (1 ball of 2 with the low five teams for trophy purposes). The winning team holds the trophy for the next year and has bragging rights. There will also be low net prizes. You basically know the routine. The entry fee will be in the $5-10 range. Final details have to be negotiated with the Piglets and the pro shop, but should be completed by the end of the week. Of course we'll have the awards ceremony during dinner which will primarily consist of roast pig. Stay tuned for further details.

The rest of the week looks decent weather wise. Maybe a little rain early Thursday. See ya.

Lots Of Winners

The JPK was an interesting two days with people doing a lot of crazy things. I heard a lot of stories about being put in unusual spots during the alternate shot portion; bizarre scores during the 2 ball portion; and how slick the greens were. Pretty typical stuff for the JPK. Congrats to DT and Tony for winning. The other big winner was Dr. AH for hitting the SOTD for half the pot. -$204.00. I knew someone was close, there have been too many close calls recently. As far as the JPK went The Dr. and I played pretty well; only had one real blow up that cost us being in the money. We were able to win a skin on Sunday and that helped ease the pain of me scoring a 10 on #15. As someone once said "what a stupid I am". Oh well, there is always next year.

With the JPK in the books Silly Season can't be far off. There is still lots of golf to be played before the weather turns ugly. Watch for a new Pig Outing. I'm working with Brad and others to come up with a new format that is more inclusive and that should create renewed interest in this event. Hopefully, we'll hold it early in October.

Enos should be happy camper again. His lost 9 iron returned home yesterday. It took a 2 week vacation in someone else's bag. The club had been found; put in the finder's bag; forgotten about until it was discovered while on a trip and returned upon the persons return. The real confusion was why the finder had two of the same 9 irons. I guess that person doesn't use his much since he found Enos's early in the and never noticed it in his bag.

Tuesday looks to be a good day for golf. I think we have to be off by 12:30 since there is an outing at 1PM. See ya.

What A Mistake!!

That's right I made a big mistake yesterday when I made up the teams and the game. In an effort to equalize the teams I allowed the LR Dr., LBB and TZ to play together (they were the only threesome). I then compounded the mistake by allowing them to count one player's ball twice in the "overkill" format. Well they took advantage of the situation and scored -29 in a one best ball with "overkill". Needless to say that won't happen again anytime soon. I know how to correct this error, but will keep it secret until the proper time.

I think everyone loved the way the course was playing yesterday. After all the strong winds things have finally dried out and the greens, fairways and rough were pretty firm. The conditions made for some interesting bounces and it took a while to figure out distance control. If we don't get any rain and the wind picks up a little we could have really fun time for the JPK. Especially if the greens speed up with some of the pin placements I anticipate.

We had several near misses with SOTD, but the pot continues to grow. We are starting to get into the serious money territory. And, with all the $1 bills you could have a real Chicago bankroll to flash to all your friends.

Hope to see everyone at the JPK and/or at the Member Appreciation Party Saurtday night. Hit em long and straight.

Fall Is In The Air

It never really warmed up yesterday and was almost perfect for golf. After all the hot weather it was nice to have a break. The only complaint it was a little breezy. Must be a function of all the tropical weather coupled with cool air moving down from Canada. According to the Weather Channel Thursday will be much of the same. Sounds like the beginning of Autumn.

Dr. AH called the game, and it looked like no one could take advantage of "over kill" since the scores were a little anemic. For once I was on the winning team. And, it was a team effort. Thank goodness Bob D's game has returned or we would have been in trouble.

I seem to be suffering from a little writer's block today. Must be a let down after all the thinking about rabbits over the past week. See ya at the training table Thursday.

Trail's End

Like all good wranglers the Rabbit Wrangler brought his herd to market. In this case it was the Champions Livestock Sale at the Montgomery County Junior Fair. If you haven't been to one of these you should know this is Americana at its best. I've never known much about 4-H or the FFA, but I think they get it and are really good for young people to be involved with. Anyway I digress as they say.

The sale started off with the Grand Champion Steer and went from there. In case your wondering what kind of money is involved the steer sold for $6000.00. That's pretty expensive hamburger. Everything went well until the Reserve Champion Steer decided to bolt during the photo op after being sold (guess he didn't care for the hamburger idea). After he was corralled and everything calmed down the sale proceeded smoothly. It was finally show time for the Rabbit Wrangler and we had no clue what these rabbits would fetch. Well after a lot of lively bidding the auctioneer dropped the gavel at $750.00. My mouth dropped open, and my only comment was "for three rabbits". I did a quick calculation and found out that was about $79/lb vs. $4.38/lb. for the champion steer. As the Wrangler's grandmother said "we don't have any dummies in the family. We learned later that the rabbits were going for breding stock and not stew.

After all the hoopla everyone was kinda of wiped out and realized it was going to be back to normal on Tuesday with school, and all the other things a nine year old does. Frankly, I think they were all kinda of relieved and ready for that to happen. Being a rabbit wrangler at that level is pretty tough when you've never done it before.

I don't know if 4-H is in the future for 2011 but it was a great experience for all this year.

PS - One funny thing happened during the auction. There are a number of Ring Men who work the crowd and try to get the bidding as high as possible. These guys are good at what they do and have eyes like hawks, and can pick up any little movement in the crowd. You should have seen the look on the face of a women when see realized she had bid $1100 on a goat while waving to a friend across the barn. The auctioneer realized the error and didn't drop the gavel on her because she would have been the highest bid. To say she was relieved is an understatement. I guess she had no place to walk it.

Same Song, New Chorus

Yep, you guessed it. Dr. AH and I had the normal Saturday affair with the GWH and TZ who was making a cameo for the SD who is watching the surf in Northern California. These cameo guys must pass the script around. TZ played better than he had all year and got into our wallets for a few bucks. Neither Dr. AH or I could get anything to fall on Saturday, but both of us played well on Sunday.

Sunday was a great day for golf. The Nurse and I played with Mr. and Mrs. LBB and had a great time. Mrs. LBB and I paired up and put a hurt on the Nurse and LBB. After all the wind of the past several days there was a marked change in the course. Everything was drying out and the greens were markedly faster. If this holds the should play long and fast for the JPK. By the way LBB has reverted to form after cracking his old driver. Ping sent a new one that he really likes.

We were going to play today but begged off. We're going back to the Montgomery County Fair for the Grand Champion Livestock Sale. This is the final day for the Rabbit Wrangler's day in the spotlight. Since this may not ever happen again (and probably won't) we thought it would be a good idea to be there. Maybe I can get a corn dog and elephant ear this time. I really don't want a chicken fried anything and funnel cake isn't my favorite.

Since the club is closed on Tuesday hope to see everyone on Wednesday for lunch.

Only In America!!

Yesterday was our trip to the Montgomery County Fair to see the grandson show his rabbit(s) as the completion to his summer long 4-H project. I don't know about you but spending the afternoon, and as it turned out most of the evening, in a hot noisy livestock barn full of rabbits and chickens is not my idea of fun. Well Grandpa had to eat his thoughts. Here 's the story and it could only be scripted in Hollywood. By the way have any of you ever taken your goat for a walk? It must be the big thing because a lot of people do it at fairs.

The day didn't start so well since we got lost on the way to the fairgrounds. Why would anyone put a fairgrounds almost in the middle of the University of Dayton? We zigged when we should have zagged. We soon found out that we weren't late since rabbit judging takes a long time and there were lots of rabbits (made sense to me based on their reproduction habits). And, of course our grandson was in the last group. Based on the crowd size rabbits are really popular with grandparents. There must have been 150 of us there under one medium sized tent. Well, the Showman competition didn't go according to plan. Both the rabbit and grandson were nervous and or hot or something because no ribbons were forthcoming. Well I thought that was too bad but the experience was what counted. Besides some of these kids had obviously been doing this for years and really knew how to pick out a cooperative rabbit. By the time this was over it was well passed 7:00 PM and I thought we would soon be on I-75 headed north. Wrong!!

We had to now wait for the Meat Rabbit Pens Competition which was the real reason for the 4-H project. For you novices this is where you try to control 3 rabbits at once while the judge tries to select the best group. Since there were 23 entrants you can imagine the length of time and potential chaos this could have. Thank God no one had a dog in the area since these rabbits were always looking for an escape route. Because of the group size the judge broke it down into two sessions. Based on my observations Seth was the youngest one showing rabbits and the competition was full of professional rabbit breeders. So I didn't think this was going to last long. Wrong again! He made the first cut. And then like the Westminster Dog Show the judge started to arrange everyone in his order of finish. The improbable happened and Seth won Grand Champion. I soon found out this was a really Big Deal! Not only did he get a big ribbon, a banner, and his own chair. He's now a fair dignitary and gets to participate in the Grand Champions Livestock Sale on Monday and who knows what else. We were told these rabbits could bring in big money (weight to dollar ratio) at the auction. Not bad for a nine year old that raised a couple of rescue rabbits (the rabbit parents) as a summer project. I know there were a lot of disappointed breeders that didn't make the cut.

Of course we had to have a quick victory party. So it was chicken fried pork steaks all around with funnel cake for desert. We finally got on the road (but had to wait for a sulky race since our car was parked in the infield) and were home by 1 AM. My father,a former livestock buyer, and no stranger to county fairs was amazed and confirmed being the Grand Champion in any category was a big deal and something no one ever wins on their first try, except maybe for great grandsons. Way to go Seth!

PS Where does one really walk their Goat?

A Split Day

It was still hot enough to fry an egg on your driver so some played in the morning rather than roast in the afternoon. I unfortunately chose the PM time due to a conflict in the AM. In all honesty it was hot but a nice breeze made it bearable. We all agreed that if the wind died we would quit at no. 9. Well it didn't and Twinkle Toes, Gilhooley and I made it around without heat exhaustion. I even won $2 in a skins game.

I'm not totally sure what went on in the AM. All I know is there were winners and losers and an exchange of funds. We did do the SOTD over lunch and had no winners. So the pot continues to grow.

I'm off today to my grandson's county fair to see him show his 4-H rabbit. How a kid living in a city environment is in 4-H is beyond me. I also think this summer has cured him of wanting to have more rabbits. But, all in all I'm sure it was a good experience. All except for the part about his grandad sitting in a hot livestock barn in late Summer watching nine year olds struggling with hot rabbits.

Keep cool! See ya Thursday.