2014 – Week 6
My apologies for this post being late. Time is at a premium these days. The second special event of the season, the Stableford Scramble, is in the books. After some mid-afternoon shower activity, the skies cleared and we had a wonderful warm evening for golf. Once again we had perfect attendance thanks to four substitutes. A big thanks to Jonathon Muench, Jennifer Dominik, Adam Schott and Brian Roddy for filling in. We know it is tough to find subs for scramble events due to the Witzgall Incident Scramble rules. We are entering vacation season so there will be ample opportunities for lots of substitutions in the coming weeks.
The Stableford Scramble has quickly become a GCCGL favorite. It is the one and only special event where there are no pre-determined point totals. Each team has an opportunity to earn as many or as few points as possible either closing the gap or putting distance between each other. This year’s winner of the Stableford Scramble was Balls and Dolls. That’s right, the darlings of the GCCGL basement earned 38 points and made up 9 points on the first place team (Das Boots) and a whopping 23 points on Morning Wood, the second place team at the start of week 6. Could this be the start of the biggest comeback in GCCGL history? This the second straight good showing by the league’s perennial bottom dwellers. They almost defeated the first place team last week by tying them (20 – 20). This is a correction from last week when a discrepancy was found in one of the matches which wound up adding a ½ point to Balls and Dolls.
The final results of the Stableford is as follows:
Balls and Dolls – 38 points
Carrier to the Hole and Duer – 35 points
Schmuck Dynasty – 31 points
Das Boot are Made for Golfing – 29 points
Putt Pirates – 29 points
Morning Wood – 15 points
The event was overshadowed by the first Hole in One in GCCGL history (19 years)! First year member, Danielle Lickert (El Capitán) made the remarkable shot on hole # 3 (Par 3). This was her first hole in one in her golfing career. I was in the last group as word spread throughout the golf course. As the Putt Pirates team, which consists of all three GCCGL commissioners, walked to the green, we all thought the same thing, 15 points were earned on probably the hardest hole on the course. But in typical GCCGL fashion, it wasn’t that simple. I asked for controversy in last week’s post and we got it this week! Leave it to the GCCGL to screw up a Hole-in-One! The rules state that 15 points will be awarded for a Double-Eagle or better. I was the one who revised the Stableford point system two years ago and it was my intention when I wrote Double-Eagle or better that the “or better” included an Ace or a hole in one. However, I failed to specifically state that in the rules. The way the rules are currently written, we have no choice but to only grant 10 points (2 under par, which is an Eagle). This will be reviewed during the off season and changes may be forthcoming such as the Lickert Conundrum which would allow an exception to the rule in the case of an Ace, regardless of whether it is on a Par 3 or not. Either way, it was a great accomplishment. Congratulations Danielle!
In other news, this year’s Stableford yielded 177 points compared to last year’s 122 points. Of course, last year we played the Stableford on the Willows Back. Roller insinuated that if no one witnessed the hole in one due to the blind uphill shot, is it truly a hole in one? Muench was seen lurking near the hole……. Is Snoodles onto something or is it just sour grapes? The Putt Pirates shot 5 under par and had a clean round (no bogies). We thought we were surely going to be in the top three but we were wrong! I could have left all of my clubs, except the putter, in my trunk. Not a single drive, chip, pitch, iron or wood of mine was used. I did manage to contribute three birdie putts but that doesn’t excuse the rest of my pathetic performance. I originally blamed it on the beer, and it certainly didn’t help, but who am I kidding. Also, let’s give it up to this week’s Kreyling Korner and that GCCGL Top Ten List of things heard on any given GCCGL league night. Pure genius.
The closest to the pin winners were Danny Roller (A/B) and Jason Nill (C/D). Congratulations to the winners! We stay on the Pioneer front and resume match play. This season has been great so far in regards to our tee times and daylight. I spoke with the clubhouse professional and manager this week about how the year is going so far and we talked about the open spot we have in front of our 5:24pm slot. We can take the 5:16 if we want to. Also, with daylight in abundance for the next month or so, if we want, we can probably squeeze another foursome of subs who want to play but can’t because we have a full 24 already playing. This would allow some folks to get out on the golf course with no pressure of match play and get some score cards under their belts. What do you think? Good idea, bad idea? I spoke to the clubhouse about this and they are totally fine with it. We would have to let them know. We hope to see you on the course and as always, hit ’em straight!
George Almeida – GCCGL Founder and co-commissioner
