Whispers from around the 19th hole
Here's an idea! How about an All-Star match play championship in which everyone that wants to play is an All-Star? Okay, you say, how does that work? The only requirement would be that a team must have played in at least one tournament. This is so that they can have Grand Prix ranking points and this would qualify them as All-Stars. Then one sunny Tuesday or Thursday, we can divided the teams into two distinct groups, pair them up according to their position in the Grand Prix and let them play best ball match play against each other using their handicaps. For example, Chester Burks and Roy January who currently lead the Grand Prix in points would play the number two team
of Robert Stojanik and Ben Taylor. Don Visness and Travis McWhorter, currently third, would play the number four team of LD Washington and Troy Collins. Now Visness and McWhorter are usually in the third or fourth flight while Washington and Collins are always in the first flight so this sounds like a mismatch. But if we are playing best ball and use each individual's handicap then I would be careful who I put my money on in this matchup! This would be the method for my madness in putting teams against each other. The Odds against the Evens.....numbers I mean, or whatever designational name that we can comfortably come up with for each team. This would make for some interesting matchups. Additionally, this would be a fast tournament since you can give putts or holes to your opponents in match play and runaway matches would not have to finish eighteen holes. Additionally, if a member of a team was in the water or out of bounds, he or she could pick up and let their partner do the heavy lifting for that hole. It could be run as a shotgun start and the results would be known immediately after the last team finished playing or maybe even before that. Everybody could celebrate their victory or lament over their defeat after play was over with bragging rights and excuses good for a year. Any takers?
of Robert Stojanik and Ben Taylor. Don Visness and Travis McWhorter, currently third, would play the number four team of LD Washington and Troy Collins. Now Visness and McWhorter are usually in the third or fourth flight while Washington and Collins are always in the first flight so this sounds like a mismatch. But if we are playing best ball and use each individual's handicap then I would be careful who I put my money on in this matchup! This would be the method for my madness in putting teams against each other. The Odds against the Evens.....numbers I mean, or whatever designational name that we can comfortably come up with for each team. This would make for some interesting matchups. Additionally, this would be a fast tournament since you can give putts or holes to your opponents in match play and runaway matches would not have to finish eighteen holes. Additionally, if a member of a team was in the water or out of bounds, he or she could pick up and let their partner do the heavy lifting for that hole. It could be run as a shotgun start and the results would be known immediately after the last team finished playing or maybe even before that. Everybody could celebrate their victory or lament over their defeat after play was over with bragging rights and excuses good for a year. Any takers?
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Heard on the grapevine that one of our ASGA members, Hugh Woodard, broke his leg. Not sure that it was because of or involved golf but hope that it heals fast. His partner at the time, Fred Conder reported the unfortunate accident.
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Four established members of the ASGA have decided to quit playing the Tuesday tournaments. Reasons overheard were that "the tournament play is too slow......five-hour rounds are becoming the norm". All this despite the ASGA's plea with its members to try to speed up play by adhering to the modest rules of limiting practice strokes to one, be ready to go when it is your turn, and write your score down at the next tee box, etc, etc. Hopefully those four will give us another chance.