2014 – Week 12
We are two thirds of the way through the 2014 GCCGL season! It feels like we just started! The weather was awesome once again and the turnout was perfect thanks to another five subs! Last season we had the best attendance in GCCGL history and we are going to shatter that record this season. A big thank you to Straub, Dominik, Roddy, Smith and Lane!
Although the weather was perfect, the rough was hard as a rock and the greens were lightning fast due to the dry conditions. If your ball managed to reach the rough on the fly, chances are the ball rolled another 20 – 30 feet out of bounds. If that wasn’t bad enough, the greens were so fast, folks were fist bumping after 3-putts. The 2014 GCCGL season has become the unpredictable season. We’ve had at least three different teams hold the top spot and then falter and in some cases bounce back. Das Boots Are Made for Golfing held the top spot for several weeks and looked like they had a stronghold on it until they hit a losing streak and have now plummeted all the way to 5th place after their sixth team match loss in a row. They have stumbled upon a patch of quicksand and they are sinking…..fast.
Speaking of quicksand, all my life, I’ve had this irrational fear of quicksand. True story. For those of you who know me, of course there was no reason for me to have feared quicksand. I grew up in the concrete jungle of a town in northern NJ. I’ll be honest, there wasn’t a whole lot of sand in this area of the country. So why was it that I harbored this anxiety all these years? I blame television. When I was a kid, there was this old TV show called Chiller Theater on channel 11 WPIX, New York City that was on during the mid 70′s. It came on every Saturday night. I couldn’t recall a single episode to save my life but I can remember that opening introduction like it was yesterday. It was an animated hand sticking out of quicksand with some of the scariest horror music playing in the background. Seriously, what little 10 year old boy can resist the lure of that? This opening had me hooked.
This show wasn’t the only culprit that contributed to my worries of slipping into a wet, grainy, sloppy pit of despair, my body sinking slowly inch by inch. The more I try to free myself from this precarious circumstance, the quicker I would succumb to my inevitable doom. For those of us who are old enough to remember, for some unknown reason there were a lot more people dying at the hands of quicksand back in the movies and TV shows of late 60′s and 70′s? As a kid I thought to myself, what a terrible way to go. Of course now there are all kinds of information out there explaining the proper way to escape if you find yourself trapped in some quicksand. I could have used this information 35 years ago! It’s kind of comical that I’ve had this ridiculous fear all this time. As an adult, I can finally state that I have conquered my fear of quicksand. Now if I can only overcome my all-consuming nightmare of floating in space for ever and ever. There’s no way out of that one!
But this isn’t about me…..it’s about the great 2014 GCCGL season that is shaping up! While Das Boots was sinking, the pre-season favorites, Morning Wood, who started by winning the Florida Scramble but then hit a losing streak of their own, has managed to climb back into first place for the first time in weeks after absolutely demolishing Carrier to the Hole and Duer (28.5 – 11.5). That 17 point difference has to be very close to a record, if not the record. Morning Wood was led by Big Ed who grabbed 8 points. Meanwhile the Putt Pirates quietly keep moving up in the standings and slipped into third place after beating the first place team, Schmuck Dynasty (23.5 – 16.5). They were led by the Commish (that’s me!) who got lucky and managed 8.5 points. Schmuck Dynasty has dropped to 2nd place. But the really….BIG news has to be the first team match win of the season for Balls and Dolls! They finally got their first win by beating the deflated Das Boots team (21 -19). No, it wasn’t a shellacking, but it was a victory. They were led by the only other person who probably remembered the Chiller TV series, Cletus, who stole 7 points this week.
The winners of the low net were Mike Harris (A/B) with a low net of 31 and George Almeida (C/D) also with a low net of 31. Interesting fact behind Almeida’s low net victory, it is the first time that I’ve won low net outright (I’ve tied a few times) since July 23, 2009! Five years ago?! Really? Can that be accurate? Since I’ve won low net, we’ve had “the great recession”, three more “Final Destination” sequels were released, Van Halen got back together, two World Cup tournaments, Android Smart phones, Van Halen broke up and a whole lot more. I can go on and on, the point is that my golf game is in shambles! But HEY, I out drove Ed Petryk by 20 feet on #16 and was the only loss for Big Donkey in Harris vs the League this week (22-1). I can die peacefully now.
I leave you with a video of the last foursome killing time on #17, the Par 3. These geniuses decided to have a little competition to see who can get closest to the pin using a driver off the tee. I gotta admit, creative and funny! If you listen carefully, it sounds like someone stepped on a baby quail during Zeke’s back-swing. I love this league.We continue on the Willows back this week. We hope to see you on the course and as always, hit ‘em straight!
George Almeida – GCCGL founder and co-commissioner
