2017 Northeast US GCA Knockout

[David Grady]

Craig Smith beat me 2&1 on Saturday at Haverhill Country Club. My local knowledge enabled me build a 2 up lead through 13, but he won four straight holes to close things out.


Had a great time and look forward to similar events going forward. Good luck to Craig in his next match.

[Craig Smith]

It was great playing with you David, thanks again for hosting. Haverhill CC is a hidden gem with a wonderful set of greens that were in amazing condition. It was a real treat to have a spirited match there. We need to make this an annual event going forward.

[Keith Grande]

Tom Hooker and I were rained out during Saturday's deluge; will attempt again in 2 weeks...

[mike_malone]

Jonathan Cavalier handled me fairly easily at Stonewall Old. It was great that he brought Gracie, his dog, along for the walk. I brought my dog, a fellow RG guy.


  I think Stonewall is a wonderful day but I am a believer that you should be able to play golf from anywhere on the property. Their high and deep grass that is well off of the fairway just frustrates me as a golfer. I waste time looking for balls and then can't advance it if found.

[JBovay]

Cob and I had a great time playing Yale yesterday. We started out in a light drizzle and I took an early 3-up lead, but he rebounded with birdies at 5 and 6. I was 3 up again by the turn, and went dormie-5 with a 2-putt par at the Redan. He held on strong, birdieing 14 and making a dramatic par save from the right bunker on 15. I finally closed him out with a par on 17 and a 3&1 victory. I'm looking forward to playing a Ross course with him sometime.

[Dan Herrmann]

Jonathan Cavalier handled me fairly easily at Stonewall Old. It was great that he brought Gracie, his dog, along for the walk. I brought my dog, a fellow RG guy.


  I think Stonewall is a wonderful day but I am a believer that you should be able to play golf from anywhere on the property. Their high and deep grass that is well off of the fairway just frustrates me as a golfer. I waste time looking for balls and then can't advance it if found.

Bliss is across the street

[Evan Louden]

If Brad or Cob would prefer a match over a bye, I'm available. I have no belt notches to offer as I'm a pubic access kinda guy. But I do have the flexibility to play whenever. I live in the Boston area (specifically Belmont).

[Cob Carlson]

John was a great host at Yale. Course was in beautiful shape, but if you hit a drive into the second cut of rough, you might as well have been in the fescue at Erin Hills.


We had a fun, back and forth match. Nothing like match play to get the juices flowing. John can really roll the rock. He made some amazing putts.


Loved being part of the knockout. Thanks for including me, Chris...

[Brad Tufts]

I'm supposed to play Mark Steffey, but no further communication has been had since Mark's original message to me and my response (first week of May).  I'm certainly willing to see if we can plan something, but not sure of Mark's availability.

[Frank Kim]

Brad,


The last time I spoke with Mark, he was planning on moving to Kuwait in May for a few years job related.


Frank

[Eric Hammerbacher]

Nate and I had a wonderful day at Bidermann, and he came back from a 3 down deficit to beat me 3&2.  Nate was great company,  and everything we had heard about Bidermann was true...just the perfect low key golf club.   Good luck Nate in your upcoming match.

[JBovay]

Chris was nice enough to host me at Wannamoisett yesterday and I really enjoyed meeting him and playing the course for the first time, despite my horrendous game and 6&5 loss. The starting holes--the first 5 or 6--have a deserved reputation for difficulty and also making the player feel uncomfortable (especially on the first play, I think). Once through that gauntlet, you can't afford to let up your guard until perhaps #11, because of the severity of green side hazards. I was especially impressed with the condition--the speed and trueness of the greens, and the bunker sand that held up my ball in the lips 3 times leading to awkward stances.


Congratulations to Chris! Hope you have a great trip in July, and good luck in the semifinals!

[Tim Martin]

Chris was nice enough to host me at Wannamoisett yesterday and I really enjoyed meeting him and playing the course for the first time, despite my horrendous game and 6&5 loss. The starting holes--the first 5 or 6--have a deserved reputation for difficulty and also making the player feel uncomfortable (especially on the first play, I think). Once through that gauntlet, you can't afford to let up your guard until perhaps #11, because of the severity of green side hazards. I was especially impressed with the condition--the speed and trueness of the greens, and the bunker sand that held up my ball in the lips 3 times leading to awkward stances.


Congratulations to Chris! Hope you have a great trip in July, and good luck in the semifinals!

I can't think of a tougher outward 9 in New England. The short 4's(5&7) have extremely difficult green's with closely mown runoffs and are far from layup pars. A funny story from a friend who called me a few years ago after his first play and exclaimed " I don't know what's so tough about the 2nd hole because I made a 5." I told him that even though I was proud of him for that feat that the hole is a par 4.

[Chris DeToro]

We did have a great time at Wannamoisett on Sunday afternoon.  The course had a lot of fire being the day after the conclusion of the Northeast Am as well.   


Here is where the matches stand as of now:


Since Mark appears to be out, Brad moves on to play Craig Smith and I will play the winner of that match


Cavalier takes on Oxman


Still awaiting results from the Scanlan/Kovich match and the Hooker/Grande match

[Nate Oxman]

Eric and I had a blast at Bidermann. With no signage and poor map reading skills by me, we only got lost once, and that actually allowed us to play the demanding par-3 16th twice.


Everything about Bidermann is really, really good. I wonder how much tree removal has been done there.

[Tom Hooker]

We did have a great time at Wannamoisett on Sunday afternoon.  The course had a lot of fire being the day after the conclusion of the Northeast Am as well.   


Here is where the matches stand as of now:


Since Mark appears to be out, Brad moves on to play Craig Smith and I will play the winner of that match


Cavalier takes on Oxman


Still awaiting results from the Scanlan/Kovich match and the Hooker/Grande match

Keith Grande and I played an extremely enjoyable and hard-fought (albeit "Bethpage slow") match at Bethpage Red back in late May that I won 4&3 after finally figuring out my driver on the back 9. Unfortunately, I had to run off after the match and missed Keith's near hole-in-one on the short 17th, but we nonetheless had a great time.

[Brad Tufts]

At long last, Craig and I faced off yesterday at George Wright on a gorgeous 82-degree sunny afternoon in Hyde Park.

I gave 4, but played well at George Wright to win 5&4.  I won 1 and 2 with pars, Craig birdied #3 to cut into my lead, I birdied #4 to get it right back, we halved 5 (Craig with a shot), I won 6 with a par.  We halved 7 with pars, I won 8 with a par to move to 4up, but Craig won #9 with a 4/3.  I was 3up after 9.

I won 10 with a par with Craig out of the hole off the tee, but Craig came back with his shot of the day on 11 with a stiffed wedge.  We halved 12 with bogeys (ugh x2), I won 13 and 14 with pars, and the match was over.  We actually both birdied 15 so that would have been exciting!

The company was great, and it was a pleasure to meet Craig and talk all topics golf, GCA, and mid-30s-hood!

George Wright was fantastically firm even given the recent deluge last Saturday in the Boston area, as its renaissance continues.  It still needs to lose 500-1000 trees here and there, but they have started to come down here and there.  Conditions at GW have reached a quality good enough to earn co-hosting in the Mass. Amateur next year along with Franklin Park!

[Mike Sweeney]

Chris,


If we want to have a "Championship Day at Yale", just let me know.


Brad is on my team!

[Chris DeToro]

Love that idea! 


Any updates from the Mid Atlantic side of the bracket?

[Nate Oxman]

Jon Cavalier and I are working on scheduling our match.

[Nate Oxman]

Anyone interested in finishing what we started?