July 12, 2012 Update

[dc]A[/dc]nother week in the books! We had another good week of attendance with 21 of 24 golfers showing up thanks to four more subs filling in, Jeff Rozell, Mike Hlebovy, Brad Cunningham and new sub Roy Kusuma. Thanks to all for showing up.

The back nine of the Willows is tough enough under normal circumstances but it was even tougher this past week due to the extraordinary dry conditions and the swirling winds. Anything off the fairway easily rolled an extra 20+ yards in the wrong direction. The picture depicted this week gives you an idea of how dry it was out there. It could have easily come from any of the roughs on some of the holes on the course but it didn’t.

It was an otherwise quiet week. We had a new sub join us this week, Roy Kusuma. Roy had a pretty nice swing for someone starting out with a 12-13 HC but it turned out to be pretty accurate. Roy, who’s nick name is Purdue, was in Cupcake’s foursome this past week and got a taste for how things are done in the GCCGL. On the final hole as Cupcake pulls out a new beer, Purdue asks, “Do you carry more beer than golf balls?” to which Cupcake replies, “Roy, I can always find a golf ball on the course but I’m never going to find a beer”. It was quite a touching moment, the teacher teaching the student.

My foursome got to meet Big Donkey’s dad this week while waiting to tee off on the first tee this week. Mike’s Dad’s foursome was finishing their round on hole #18 of the back nine of the Pioneer which is to the right of the 10th tee of the Willows. He stopped by to chat with Big Donkey afterwards and was having a nice dad and son conversation between the two of them. The rest of us, Hollywood, JJ and myself, watched and noticed the amazing resemblance between the two of them. That’s when Hollywood commented on how the moment reminded him of the movie, Back to the Future and the scenes with Young Biff and Old Biff. If Big Donkey didn’t already have a nick name, it would have wound up being Young Biff! I can’t believe we didn’t have the foresight to take a picture of Mike and his Dad.

The 2012 GCCGL prize winnings have been announced. Due to the extra four members we were able to add to the league this season, the prize winnings have changed this season. The league has increased the first and second place winnings and have added a third place award. Also for the first time in league history we are able to award a prize for the Points Leader. We will continue to look at additional awards for future GCCGL seasons which will depend on the administrative costs associated with running the GCCGL website. The 2012 GCCGL awards are as follows:

• 1st Place – $45 and a trophy for each winning member
  2nd Place – $30
  3rd Place – $20
• Best Winning Percentage – $20
  Points Leader – $20

The big news was the first team match play win of the season for Menace to Sobriety! It took 12 weeks, 44 individual matches and one Florida Scramble but they finally broke through. They beat the UMass Debate Team (22-18). They were led by Big Donkey and McLinn who both grabbed 7 points. It was a good week for the bottom dwellers as the 5th place team, The Big Tebowski’s, also won big. They destroyed the first place team AMDB (23.5-16.5). They were led by Nick “Potter” Duer who took 8.5 points. It may be too late for these two teams in regards to winning the 2012 GCCGL championship but they can and are certainly playing the spoiler role and making a huge difference in shaping the race. Balls of Fury are only 5 points behind the first place team after winning their team match against NQ8! (22-18). They were led by Hollywood who won 8.5 points. Only 13 points separate the top 4 teams. This is going down to the wire.

The winners of the low net were Mike Harris and Danny Roller (A/B) with a low net of 34. It should be noted that Harris shot a 39 gross which is a remarkable score especially considering the course and the conditions. Matt McLinn and Jason Nill split low net for the (C/D) group with a low net of 33. Congratulations to the winners.

We finish play on the Willows course for the 2012 season this week on the back nine. We are one week away from the highly anticipated team Stableford non-match play event. It has the potential to really shake up the standings. Hope to see all of you on the golf course and as always, hit ’em straight!

George Almeida – GCCGL Co-Commissioner