[Jim Thompson]

Just thought I'd share-

This weekend we have been hosting our local amateur golf associations Fall Medal Tournament.  The tourney is comprised of three divisions, Open, Senior (50+), and Super Senior (60+) the best players in the county.  Tournament days Friday, Saturday, Sunday with 18 each day stroke play.

Course set up for the week:

Water was turned off Monday Night
One lap of rough mowed daily with Toro 4700 at 2”, outer rough not mowed since Monday now at 3- 3 ¼”.
Fairways mowed at .330” with Toro 5300.
Approaches mowed at .300” with Toro 3100.
Greens mowed at .120“ with Toro 3050 triplexes - rolled Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

Daily Yardages and Pin Setups:
Friday- Open Division   ~6800yds  Sr. Division   ~6300yds   Super Srs.  ~5500yds.
Pins accessible from 300-320 degrees and fairly straight forward – a nice introduction.  Couple tough, stay below the hole, pins thrown in mix.
Saturday- Open Division   ~7300yds  Sr. Division  ~6850yds   Super Srs.  ~6000yds.
Pins accessible from 180-200 degrees and very difficult to reach on 5’s without high fade or ground game shot.
Sunday - Open Division   ~7000yds  Sr. Division   ~6500yds   Super Srs.  ~5700yds.
6 Pins are sucker pins matched with shorter par 4’s great shot will gain strkes on the field, 6 pins are tucked for conservative smart play accessible from 270 degrees or proper angle approach, 6 pins are of average difficulty for our course and present scoring opportunity.

Feedback:

Day 1-    Super Srs. - Love the course, fun thanks for having us, general stuff, played in 3:15.
   Sr. Division – This place is too short, I thought we’d see more of the course, can’t hit driver, played in 4:30.
   Open Division – Mums the word.  They know what’s coming, played in 4:30.

Day 2-    Super Srs. - Love the course, fun thanks for having us, fun pins, played in 3:30.
   Sr. Division – Mixed on yardage ½ ‘bout time, ¼ to long, ¼ nuetral, How am I supposed to hit a 3 wood into those par fives and keep it close? played in 4:50.
   Open Division – Good test.  Knew it was coming. Quote of the day – If you just play smart and don’t bite off to much you can score out here. Played in 4:30 following Srs.

Day 3-  Don’t know yet I’ll post tomorrow.

Architectural notes-
   Hole 6 Biarritz Day 1- center cut valley pin 180, 165, 140
          Day 2 – front left pin 170, 160,135
          Day 3 – back center pin 225, 215, 185
   Hole 12 Redan Day 1 – center cut 185, 160, 155
          Day 2 – right pin back edge up fairway throat 258, 230, 190
          Day 3 – deep left over bunker 175, 165, 160

GCA news- GCA’s own Nate Golomb sits 4 strokes back of the leader in second place in the open division with a 76, 72, 148 one of only 11 players to better first days score.  Great, well thought, and well played round by the mighty Gecko!
 
Scores-
Start   Supersenior   Rd 1   Rd 2   Tot
8:00   Shilts, D   84   90   174
8:00   Kloosterman, M   77   85   162
            
8:10   Hubbard, T   77   78   155
8:10   Walkley, J   72   78   150
8:10   Diver, L   73   77   150
            
Start   Senior   Rd 1   Rd 2   Tot
8:20   Bosch, J   90   88   178
8:20   Luebke, D   80   87   167
8:20   DeVries, T   82   84   166
8:20   Goodman, K   80   85   165
            
8:30   Hackenberg, J   80   85   165
8:30   Peterson, M   85   79   164
8:30   Anderson, D   79   83   162
8:30   Wales, M   77   85   162
            
8:40   Randall, D   79   82   161
8:40   Dunphey, M   80   79   159
8:40   Stockdale, D   75   83   158
8:40   Alrick, L   74   81   155
            
8:50   McCormick, M   76   78   154
8:50   Chapman, R   76   77   153
8:50   Quinn, M   78   75   153
8:50   Schumacher, J   73   78   151
            
9:00   Barry, S   74   76   150
9:00   Teagarden, D   70   79   149
9:00   Swartz, D   72   73   145
9:00   Goodpaster, D   73   70   143
            
Start   Open   Rd 1   Rd 2   Tot
9:10   Seth, R   89   90   179
9:10   Hunt, B   85   93   178
9:10   Swenarton, J   89   84   173
9:10   Hatfield, M   86   87   173
            
9:20   LaDuke, B   79   94   173
9:20   Eubank, S   82   90   172
9:20   Diewald, B   86   85   171
            
9:30   Van Oosten, A   81   88   169
9:30   Cloud, S   82   87   169
9:30   Terrill, B   85   82   167
            
9:40   Kiel, D   83   83   166
9:40   Ely, J   80   82   162
9:40   Eberhard, T   78   83   161
            
9:50   Kremer, G   78   83   161
9:50   Miller, B   79   81   160
9:50   Bailey, J   77   83   160
            
10:00   Quinn, J   80   79   159
10:00   Bongers, T   76   83   159
10:00   Thornton, G   79   79   158
            
10:10   Keselowski, L   80   78   158
10:10   Smith, E   78   76   154
10:10   Conner, S   76   78   154
            
10:20   Hawley, M   75   80   155
10:20   Shilts, R   73   80   153
10:20   Cleasby, E   72   81   153
            
10:30   Stark, W   78   75   153
10:30   Gangwer, M   72   77   149
10:30   Golomb, N   76   72   148
10:30   Barry, J   71   73   144

Cheers!

JT
 

[TEPaul]

Jim:

Interesting stuff. What's your feedback on their feedback?  

[TEPaul]

Jim:

I'll tell you an interesting story about tournament players who complain about one thing or another to do with the courses they play and one who doesn't.

We have this amateur down here in my region by the name of Chris Lange. Over the years he's won just about everything in this area (Eastern Pa) and in the state of PA. (about 3-4 Philly Ams, Patterson Cups, Mid-Am and State Amateur and Philly Open).

He's fifty now and he seems to be even better than he ever was---and he's been winning some major stuff down here including the Philadelphia Open last year. I call him the "energizer bunny".

He's pretty small and those who first see him think he has a sort of odd swing in that in the impact area he sort of does a little bounce on his feet. But he's pretty long and he has all the shots a really good tournament golfer needs.

But his real secret, in my opinion, is he basically never complains about anything in tournament golf, not mistakes he makes, not bad luck, not about adverse rulings, and definitely not about a golf course or a tournament set-up or anything like that.

He just goes out there and plays whatever they give him, no matter what it is. He's a great guy, gracious but tough. Although I've never heard him say it anywhere or at any time I think he knows this kind of approach to tournament golf over the years has given him a pretty big edge over most all the other competitors who tend to complain about one thing or another or anything and everything.

Last year when he won the Philadelphia Open at PCC most all the pros were complaining about tournament set-up or grain or whatever as Lange just knuckled down and went right past them all and won the thing without a word before, during or after! Frankly, it was great to see because of that.

And he's the poster boy of sportsmanship too. Some years ago I was playing him in the Crump Cup. On the 8th hole he hooked his tee shot into the trees on the left. He was in there a long long time as I waited in the fairway. After a while he walked out of the woods and told me he wanted to concede the hole. When I asked him why he said he thought his ball may've moved. I asked him if he saw it move and he said no. I asked him if his caddie saw it move or thought it did. He said no. I told him I didn't want him to concede that hole but he just said he thought his ball might've moved and he wanted to concede and go to the next tee. And so we did. As I recall he beat me something like 4 & 3 anyway.  

[James Bennett]

Jim T

great post.  I appreciate the information on how you set up the course for the three different age groups, and the variety of play over the three days.  Looking forward to seeing the summary after the tournament is concluded.

James B

[JLahrman]

Tom Paul, the club I used to work at had a very good amateur--he made the quarters of the US Am a few years back.  I played with him a few times.  His attitude was much the same.  If he hit a bad shot he'd look at it as a new challenge, ie "I hardly ever get the chance to try to get up and down from this bunker, it'll be fun to try".

[Jim Thompson]

Final Results:

Greater Kalamazoo Golf Association               
2005 GKGA Fall Medal               
September 9-11 2005               
Angels Crossing GC               
               
Open Division               
               
            Rounds      Total
Pos   Player         1   2   3   Score
1   John Barry*      71   73   78   222
2   Nate Golomb      76   72   74   222
T3   Mike Gangwer   72   77   80   229
T3   Ricky Shilts      73   80   76   229
T3   Will Stark      78   75   76   229
6   Jacob Quinn      80   79   71   230
T7   Eric Cleasby      72   81   79   232
T7   Steve Conner      76   78   78   232
9   Joe Ely         80   82   71   233
10   Lee Keselowski   80   78   76   234
T11   Greg Thornton      79   79   79   237
T11   Tom Bongers      76   83   78   237
13   Tom Eberhard      78   83   78   239
14   Michael Hawley   75   80   85   240
15   Eric Smith      78   76   87   241
16   George Kremer   78   83   82   243
17   Dave Kiel      83   83   81   247
T18   BrianTerrill      85   82   85   252
T18   Brian Diewald      86   85   81   252
T18   Scott Eubank      82   90   80   252
21   Sam Cloud      82   87   85   254
22   Mark Hatfield      86   87   82   255
23   Baron LaDuke      79   94   84   257
24   Adam Van Oosten    81   88   89   258
25   Byron Hunt      85   93   87   265
26   Rob Seth      89   90   88   267
   *Won Playoff            
               
Senior Division               
                
            Rounds      Total
Pos   Player         1   2   3   Score
1   Denny Goodpaster*   73   70   72   215
2   Doug Swartz      72   73   70   215
3   John Schumacher   73   78   72   223
4   Mark Quinn      78   75   74   227
5   Steve Barry      74   76   78   228
6   Dirk Teagarden   70   79   80   229
T7   Rick Chapman      76   77   81   234
T7   Mike Dunphey   80   79   75   234
9   Dick Randall      79   82   75   236
10   Don Stockdale      75   83   80   238
11   Lance Alrick      74   81   84   239
12   Mark McCormick   76   78   87   241
T13   Dave Anderson   79   83   80   242
T13   Mark Peterson      85   79   78   242
15   Mike Wales      77   85   82   244
16   Jim Hackenberg   80   85   80   245
17   Ted DeVries      82   84   81   247
18   Ken Goodman      80   85   86   251
19   Dan Luebke      80   87   88   255
   * Won Playoff            
               
               
Super Senior Division               
               
            Rounds      Total
Pos   Player         1   2   3   Score
1   Larry Diver      73   77   79   229
2   Tom Hubbard      77   78   75   230
3   Marty Kloosterman   77   85   78   240
4   James Walkley   72   82   87   241
5   Dick Shilts      84   90   90   264


So here's the follow up:

Not many players went for the risk rewards shots laid out in the final round.  The only exception being a few tried to drive the Par 4 9th and were left with very delicate pitches to a left middle pin between the rolls for those that have been out.

The super seniors love the game and play it as it should be played.  They adjusted daily, played shots "they haven't hit in thirty years", and still have a lot of imagination around the greens.

The seniors are a mixed bag. 60-70% are in the right division but the balance should still be playing in the Open division or stop whining about the course being too short or having downhill 4 irons into par 5's.  Half of these players really struggled with the idea that five different clubs could be hit from the same distance during a round and those same players really had trouble understanding that good shots stop at near the hole but don’t necessarily hit near the hole.  This crowd wanted wetter greens that hold and some commented that we must have some turf problems with things starting to brown up.  The classy guys in this group are top notch guys though and should not be painted with the same brush as the others.

For the most part, the open division guys like to play length more than shot values.  They like big full shots over touchy pitch and runs, which they tend to avoid by hitting risky flops.  They were mentally exhausted at the end of each round.  Seniors that play in the Open division are the most honorable golfers on the planet and deserve high marks for being stand up guys who truly understand and embrace the traditions of the game!

General observations:

Even the best players don’t really enjoy being truly challenged.  They want to score and feel good about themselves and their games.  They really don’t like having their weaknesses exposed.  We exposed their weaknesses!

Average players don’t have to play courses where topography affects their shots.  As such they don’t think about it much.  Players don’t expect radical changes of distance and direction in par 3’s. They do now.

The younger players appreciate different conditions and are willing to adapt more than I thought.

It takes all 7400 yds to put long irons back in these guy’s hands on par 4’s.  Greens must be firm to protect the essence of the three shot par 5, otherwise anything under 600 can be just muscled to submission.  The first day won’t be short next time!  Next time the Easter egg tees will be in service.

If supers turn off water and minimize hold on greens, the low spin - long ball will be gone real quick as players will need and demand softer spin balls to hold greens.


GCA NEWS- Nate Golomb came from 4 strokes back to force a play-off with John Barry.  Although Nate lost in the playoff, he gets the architecture and used it to his benefit throughout the event.  Great Job Nate!

Cheers!

JT

Edit note:

By the end of the thierd round, as we waited for scores to come in, over twenty participants inquired about memberships in the coming year.  Best feeling of the event.

[John_Conley]

A similar story to Tom Paul's.

John Snyder is from North Minneapolis, a working class area with a lot of Polish folks and a community that would never be confused with affluent 'burbs.  He became a great player on the city's course in that area.  Minneapolis has good municipal courses, but they never were maintained as well as you'd hope they could be.

A friend and I were playing a match in the early 90s on a real goat track.  Our best ball against John, who by this time had played his way on and off the Tour.  He never had much success out there, but he did make it to the Tour and that says a lot.

On the 3rd hole I had a lie I didn't like.  I muttered something about the bad lie.  Remember: this course is a REAL goat track.  (John was functioning as something like their pro at the time.)  He walked over, took a look at it, and said, "wow, you REALLY got screwed!"

For a second I thought he'd been sympathetic.  Then I realized what really happened.  Golf is about how you play from where you hit it and John had lived a life of getting horrible lies at the muni, stiffing it anyway, and bouncing putts toward the hole through land mines.  HE wouldn't have complained about the lie I had.  Heck, he'd expect no less.

What gamesmanship!  His comment allowed me to flub the chip and not feel responsible!  I can't remember if I got up and down or not, but I do remember we lost the match in a pretty close 2&1 or something.  Anyway, Tom's story made me think of this.

Also, one friend who is a real good player says that anyone complaining about Dubsdread - a pretty bad muni in Orlando - as the venue of the City Am has problems with their own game.  A short course, there is a tremendous premium on driving it straight and hitting the small greens.  Miss it and you probably have a terrible lie and no green to work with.  A good player (not me!) actually relishes this because those sketchy conditions make it hard to play for the guy off his game.

Glad your event went well.  The course held up well.

[Nate Golomb]

Jim ~
Thanks again for the accolades and a well run/set up tournament. The course played very difficult (as it should have for such an event). It was nice to finally play an event where you had to think your way around the golf course and the player that did that the best, generally prevailed. All too often these days, players just bomb away and fire at tight pins because the course is soft, green, and receptive. I cannot say enough about how much working and playing at Angels Crossing the past two summers helped me for the tournament. I knew where not to hit it each day, even though I saw some things in the set-up I had never seen. Of course I made my errors and paid for my mistakes, but my goal was to stay patient and grind it along each day. I heard so many guys complaining about this pin-placement, that slope, or the firm-fast conditions   (it's only way golf should be played) and I would laugh or wonder how they could think it. I looked at their complaints as a challenge and even laughed at times...I came out of each round tired mentally and physically and I definately think the tournament was a huge success for Angels Crossing even if some others thought different.

For those interested...my round by round statistics:

Round 1: 40-36=76, 39 Putts, 12 Fairways, 16 GIR (Got on the wrong side of a few of the mammoth greens that led to four 3-putts)

Round 2: 37-35=72, 30 Putts, 10 Fairways, 12 GIR

Round 3: 38-36=74, 34 Putts, 9 Fairways, 14 GIR

Interesting notes: Six 3-putts and only FIVE birdies for the three rounds. Looks like I need to work on my putting  

~The Mighty Gecko (Nate)

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()