This past Sunday Bill Steele and I teed it up at The Golf Club at Yankee Trace for our Knockout match. Yankee Trace previously served as host for the Dayton Open, a Nationwide Tour event, that ran from 1999 to 2003 with winners such as Guy Boros, Jason Buha, Todd Barranger, Ian Leggatt, and John Wilson. Designed by Gene Bates, the course was recognized as a Top 50 municipal golf course in the country with greens fees under $50.
For our match, we played the Hertiage and Legand nines. My preference was for the Legend side as it didn’t seem as hemmed in by housing. Where there was development, it was typically only on one side of the hole and set back from play. The best stretch of holes was 6-8 on the Legend side that meandered back through the most secluded wooded portion of the property.
Neither of us played our best golf, that said, most of the holes were still won with bogey or better. I was able to build a 3 up lead with 3 to play, but was unable to close out the match on 16 which would prove problematic as Bill stroked on the last two holes. He took advantage and won the last 3 to finish all square. Due to scheduling constraints (this young dad had to get home to help with the kiddo) we ended our riveting match the most anti-climactic way possible, with a coin flip. Bill flipped, I called, and tails never fails. Engel moves on in dramatic fashion. Great time with another GCAer!