League Highlights
No retirements, birthdays or special events within the Men’s League to report this month. Not implying that there were no important birthdays or events, just that none were reported to this publication. On that note, I encourage those who read this column to drop a note with the birthday or event and possibly some cheesy details to embellish the facts and preserve our reputation for “fake news”. (TadLague@gmail.com or text to 216-255-2173)
The Snowbirds are back. And just in time for some great weather here in North Fort Myers. The Men’s League will benefit with more competition, bigger purses, more personalities, more characters, more great golf stories and more things for us to write about.
A notable difference at the practice green between the summer crowds and the winter crowds. And of course more organizing responsibilities for the Men’s League managers whom we should recognize and thank here i.e., Pres. Ray Gromaki, VP Larry O’Brien, Treasurer Ray Burrows and Secretary Alan Holt. You guys do a fantastic job keeping us all in line and handing out the dough every Thursday.
Hole-In-One Watch
We had another occasion of multiple Holes-In-One by the same golfer in a short time span. Resident Meditation Shaman, Dave Shearer recorded 2 holes-in-one in a 30-day stretch. Green Saturday, Nov 13 on LF Hole #5, Dave hit a nice tee shot which landed on the green and rolled left towards the hole but stopped just short teetering on the lip. After witness, Doug Conner had teed off, and the group arrived at the green, Dave’s ball was no longer visible. Sure enough, it had tumbled over the edge and found the bottom of the cup. Was it Karma?
On the following Monday, Nov 15, also at Lake Fairways but on hole #12, our hero of the moment, Dave Shearer hit a high soft lob wedge which found the right side of the green and rolled left as we’ve all come to expect on #12. However, this time, the hole got in the way and swallowed Dave’s ball recording his 2nd Hole-In-One in only 3 days. The simultaneous high pitched scream by witnesses, Jerry Jaromin, Suzanne Cummings and Louise Files was heard several holes away. Unfortunately for Jerry, this was not one of his more masculine moments. Dave was seen days later with the same grin on his face which some have attributed to the special form of meditation that he practices. Dave has offered to share his meditation secrets if you’d like to meet him behind the Pub before happy hour on Fridays.
The December Lake Fairways Men’s Shootout took place on Wednesday December 8 starting on the difficult 10th hole. An elevated green with severe slopes left, right and back. The fairway bunker left and green side bunker right are treacherous at best. Further left and further right are white OB stakes which one would think are not a concern however with the pressures of the 1st tee in a shootout format with dozens in the gallery watching, they could be in play.
And on this day, the Out of Bounds stakes on Hole # 10 did come into play. Not once, not twice, …… and no, not three times or four times. But yes, according to witnesses, there were 5 balls hit OB on the first hole of this match. And if you assumed that 5 guys hit balls out of bounds to start the match, you would be wrong. Only two golfers were responsible for 5 OB penalties on the same hole. And even more ironic, if you do the math in this format, that means 1 golfer hit 2 shots out of bounds and managed to continue in the match and reached the 11th tee. The culprits will remain anonymous for the time being.
Unfortunately, we do not have any more details of the matches due to travel time-off for the on scene reporter.
We can report however the results of both competitive Flights A & B.