Chalas wins Men's Gross Match Play Championship

Bruce Chalas adds another feather to his already plentiful headdress of tournament accolades.  He secured the 2012 National Golf Club's Men's Gross Match Play Championship on Friday, November 16th.  Bruce is no stranger to the winners circle.  He has quite a long and distinguished amateur golf record including qualifying for the 1980 U.S. Open at Baltusrol along with playing in 14 USGA amateur Championship events that include five US Amateurs and six US Mid-Amateur Championships.  Bruce has also won two Southeast Amateur Championships.

Bruce was able to make his way through the field by taking out some very capable players.  In the first round Bruce came up against big John Doster who is known for his booming tee shots and steady tournament play.  The first match ended in a 4&3 victory for our champion.  The next up on the chopping block was that always dangerous southpaw Ed Rhodes.  Ed has taken down his share of opponents in this tournament but had no such luck against this years Champion.  Bruce dispatched Mr. Rhodes with a 6 & 4 margin.  The next match was against new member Ken Bass which turned out to be his closest match of the competition.  This match went into extra holes where Bruce came out on top after 21 holes.

In the Championship match Bruce faced the 2011 Champion Steve Dougherty who made his way into the championship match by dispatching a plethora of quality players that included Ron Coffman Jr. and Steve Ahlfeld who are always tough competition.  Bruce was able to play up to his potential and unseat last years Champion with a 4 & 3 Victory.  Congratulations to both Steve Dougherty and Bruce Chalas for making it to the Final Match.

Make sure to congratulate Bruce Chalas when you see him around the club for being this years Men's Gross Match Play Championship.

Battle @ Bears Valley 2012 Results

Battle at Bears Valley was a Thriller!

We could not have asked for a better weekend of weather for our annual Men's Golf Association Battle at Bear's Valley event, which featured the Front Nine Fellas v. the Back Nine Boys. Having squashed the Front Nine Fellas last year, which they blamed on the color of their hats, the Back Nine Boys entered the tournament hoping to continue their domination.

The fun started Friday night at the Backpack Food Drive Social and Pairings party, as participants contributed to a worthy cause. Cindy Boals would like to thank everyone who dropped off food donations. After that interlude, the battle was on. Saturday morning started with a 9:00 shot gun start off the back nine, with the easy format of Captain's Choice. Dick Tilley & Eddie Bray, Dave Dunn & Jim Blank, Ken Bass & Giff Fisher won for the Front Nine Fellas. For the Back Nine Boys, William Rocchi & Ron Coffman, and Rick Knight & Ed Bernard picked up points. One match was split between Sven Tilly & Wes Harrison for the BNB and Guy Spears & Dale Mitchell for the FNF, who each earned a half point. At the end of Round One, the score was FNF 3 1/2, BNB 2 1/2.

Round Two featured the toughest format: pure alternate shot, in which you cannot hide and all of your weaknesses are on display. The FNF took a commanding lead over the BNB, winning 4 1/2 points to just 1 1/2, so after Saturday's play, the FNF stood at 8 and the BNB at 4.

Sunday's morning sun and warm temperatures made it the perfect day for competition. The format this time was one best ball of the two-player team net. The BNB had victories from Norman Finegold & Peter Mamuzic, Paul Courneya & Wes Harrison, and Alan Curtis & Ron Murray. The FNF points came from Larry Rose & Dave Dunn, Ed Rhodes & Guy Spears, and Ken Bass & Jim Blank to wind up in a 3-3 tie. The score was FNF 11, BNB 7.

BNB Team Captain Tom Parsons held a private meeting prior to the final match, hoping to inspire his men for the singles matches where 12 points were up for grabs. We all know it can happen, right, Ryder Cup? The BNB came out fast, posting wins by Coffman, Curtis, Bernard, Sven Tilly and Harrison. Only two points separated the two teams, but the deficit proved too much to overcome as the FNF notched wins from Ahfeld, Rose Fisher, Bran, Spears, Mitchell, and - pouring more salt in the sounds - a half point from Blank proved too much for the BNB. The FNF won the Battle at Bears Valley 17 1/2 to 12 1/2.

Thanks go out to MGA President Steve Ahfeld and VP Ron Coffman for putting on such a special event. It really was a lot of fun watching the guys battle it out.

The Winners!
Top from left:  Eddie Bray, Pat Butcher & Ken Bass
Bottom from left: Giff Fisher, Dick Tilley, Dave Dunn, Pat Blank,
Guy Spears, Larry Rose & Steve Ahlfeld

2012 Men's Match Play Net Club Champion Crowned!

Van Warren 2012 Men's Net Match Play Club Champion

Well the waiting is over and now that we have the 2012 Presidential election completed we can get down to more important matters.  Like the crowning of our 2012 Men's Net Match Play Champion.  I want to thank everyone who played this year in what is one of our most popular events.  I would also like to thank everyone for getting their matches played in a timely manner.

This years champions was Mr. Van Warren.  He was quoted as saying, "I just wanted to play to fill in one of the bye spots"  He is such a humble champion, and a sly one.  This former Champion is quietly known as the quitessential tournament player.  He is the one you want on your team when the big money is on the line.  Van had a tough road to the Championship this year defeating many worthy opponents along the way.

In his first official match (he had a first round bye) he came up against the always tough Andrew Lyons and carved out a 3 &1 victory to move onto the next round.  His next opponent was the trophy king Steve Dougherty who has two many club championships to mention here.  Mr. Warren was on fire for this round and dispatched the worthy champion with a 5 & 3 win.  Next up on the chopping block for Van was the 3 time Match Play Champion Giff Fisher.  This was Van's toughest match where he was able to eke out a 1 up victory on the former champion after 18 holes.  In the final match Van had the daunting task of playing Dwayne Ayres who is the ultimate competitor.  Dwayne is no slouch and has dispatched a corral of worthy competitors on his way to the Championship Match.  The match started with Dwayne going up 1 right off the bat with a net birdie on the first but it was all Van the rest of the way.  Van had a 4 up lead going into the 14th hole and Dwayne was able to win that hole with a nice net birdie.  Van quickly answered with a par on the 15th hole which closed out the match with a 4 & 3 victory over the worthy challenger.

Congratulations to both Dwayne Ayers & Van Warren for making it to the Championship Match.

Make sure when you see Van around the club to congratulate him because he is this years Men's Net Match Play Club Champion!!!

2012 Couples Member Guest "Fall Classic" Results

The weather for this years Couples Member Guest seemed to be on every ones mind but Superstorm Sandy only gave us a we bit o wind and that is about it.  Not nearly enough to deter any of our hearty competitors from playing in the 2012 Couples Member Guest Fall Classic.  We had a nice showing of 13 teams which gave us 52 total players.  A big thank you to Mr. & Mrs. Hyland and Mr. & Mrs. Boals for coordinating this event.  They did a  great job and should be commended for all of their hard work making sure this years Fall Classic was one to be remembered.  The weekend started off with a practice round better ball game on Friday where we saw great participation and some very low scores!  Joel & Cindy Tew along with their guests Craig & Donna Linton fired an amazing 16 under par 56 which was two shots better than their closest competitors and earned them the top paying spot in the Friday Better Ball game.  The final two paying spots for second and third place were our tournament organizers.  Team Boals/Tufts scored a very respectable 58 with the help of Tom Boals back nine score of 39 gross!  Team Hyland/Watterworth rounded out the top paying spots with a scorecard playoff at 59.

Saturday's forecast was 70% chance or rain and high winds.  That forecast did not come through as predicted and the Fall Classic went on as scheduled.  So much for Superstorm Sandy.  The format for tournament day was 2 best balls of the four player team with both gross and net divisions.  The top paying spots were 1st place gross along with 1st, 2nd & 3rd place net.  We had three special event holes with hole #9 as the beat the pro hole along with closest to the hole prizes for ladies on the 12th and men on the 17th.  We had Gordon "Great Scot" McKinlay out on the 9th challenging all comers with his silky smooth swing.  The game was that you could bet any amount you wanted and if you hit it closer than the Pro you doubled your money.  This game was a no loose game though because if you did not hit it closer you still got your money in pro shop credit.  This fact may have eluded Norman "the crusher" Finegold who bet the minimum $5 and careened one off of the rocks into the middle of the pond but not his wife Karen who stepped up the bet to $10 and proceeded to knock it to within 3 feet nearly holing the ball out to beat the Great Scot who had hit his ball to about 12 ft.  Gordon continued to be on his game as we had near 100% participation in this event with only 12 players beating the pro.  Congratulations to those players.  The closest to the hole on #12 for the ladies was Diane Tufts and the winner for closest to the hole on the 17th was Lynn Olmsted.

First Place in the Gross division went to the team of Bruce & Lorraine Chalas along with their guests, Lynn & Diane Olmsted.  They carded a respectable score of four over par 148 to beat their nearest competitor by two shots.

The First place net winners were the team of Ray & Becky Deaton with our former members Mike & Kathy Fiske.  They fired an astounding score of 22 under par 122 which surprisingly was only two shots ahead of the 2nd place finishers of team Boals/Tufts.  Rounding out the last paying spot was the Michigan connection of Scott & Sharon Fields along with Joe & Kim Deyonker.  They were at 16 under 128.  Well done to all of the top competitors.

The golf was followed with a very nice cocktail reception where the winners were announced.  The evening was concluded with Dinner and Dancing in the ballroom.   Good times were had by all who participated and the anticipation is already building for next years Fall Classic!  Thanks to everyone who played in this wonderful event and to those that contributed their time in making it happen.

Team Boals/Tufts finishing up on the difficult 4th hole

Sharon Fields fires one in from the fairway on the 18th

Scott Fields demonstrating exceptional skills with his favorite club in the bag.

Team Michalek finishes up on the 16th.  They get my vote for best dressed.

Cindy Boals attempting to hole one on the 5th.

Steve Tufts cleaning up after taking a dip in the creek on the 5th hole.  

Tom Beddow shoots one over the creek on #5 as Kathy looks on.

Wanda Little attempts to hit it closer than her playing partner Kathy.  That may be a tall order though as you can see how close her ball is to the hole here.

George Little attempting to get this one over the creek on #5.  He did get it over the creek but we won't talk about where it ended up.

Tall, Taller, Tallest

Best of friend's

TP giving out the final results of the big event.

And the winner is?

Men's Day Results October 13th 2012

What a beauty of a day we had today.  We had 17 players show up today and play in our format of 2 net and 1 gross of the four player team.  Dave Sundman came blowing back into town and gobbled up the lions share of the winnings today with a beautiful performance in the Stableford with a +5 coupled with a tie in the team game for first place and to top it all off he mad a net skin on the difficult 13th hole.  Great work Dave.  Nice to see you back in town.  Another out of towner came back from his stay at college to scrape up all the skin money.  Sam Packard, who has been away at ECU, was had 5 skins which included 3 birdies and an Eagle!  Nice work Sam.

In the team game we had a tie between the teams of  Mark Packard, Sam Packard, Mark Watson, Ron "Fire" Coffman &  Steve Ahlfeld, Dave Dunn, David Sundman, Alan Curtis.  Both teams were deadlocked at 202.  Well done guys!

Dave Sundman was the only one to beat the pro today as most people did not get their points in the quota game today.  Better luck next time everybody.

Check out the results sheet below for complete tournament results.  Next weeks format will be best 2 net of the 4 player team and we will have a shotgun start at 10:00 am.

 Don't forget to sign up for the Battle at Bears Valley.  We still have a few spots left.

Thanks to everyone for playing today.

Best,

Dave

2012 Men's Club Championship Results

With a bit of a cool final day for our finish the guys dodged the rain and got it in with a new Champion being crowned this year.  

The Men's portion of the Championship saw nineteen players divided into 2 separate flights.  The first flight played from the blue tee markers and had a Gross and a Net Champion.  The Net portion was a battle with it coming down to the wire and a bit of a controversial finish.  After day one we had a tie at 2 under par 70 with Tom Boals Sr. and Ron Murray holding the top spot.  Day 2 saw a very similar situation with both players still tied for first place net.  With the rule sheet clearly stating that there would be a playoff starting on hole #1 after completion of play.  The important part of that equation is that you have to be present for the playoff.  With the absence of Ron Murray, Tom Boals was declared the 2012 Net First Flight Champion.  Great playing Mr. Boals!  

The Gross winner this year was sharp shooting, cigar smoking, renaissance man Steve Ahlfeld.  He captured the title with some nice steady play over two days with rounds of 78, 76 for a total of 154.  Steve started out both days with some excellent play on the first nine holes where he was actually 1 under par on those first nine's.  He must have not wanted to beat up on his competition too badly for fear of never getting a bet out of them again on their regular Sunday morning game. Great work Chopper!

In the Championship flight we had a close race after day one with four out of the seven players within shouting distance of our day one leader Ken Bass who fired an impressive 73.  Day two was a different story for the field where William Rocchi turned in an impressive showing of how consistency wins championships.  He had one bogey and 17 pars to shoot 73 on the final day.  That combined with his day one score of 74 gave him a total of 147 and a six shot victory over former champion Ron Coffman and eight shots clear of two time defending champion Steve Dougherty.  Great work Rock!

Congratulations to all of our 2012 Champions and to all of those who played in this years championship

Best,

Dave

Jim Blank firing away on the 7th hole

What kind of lie is that?  I guess it is the lie of a Champion.

Philip Bailey trying for a par save on the 6th hole

The Dunner sinking a nice par putt on the 6th

Blanchard Granville showing that Dave Dunn is not the only one who can sink a long one.

New Member Alan Curtis watches as his ball undoubtedly drops close to the flag.

Pat Butcher reeling back for another powerful blow at the golf ball on #6

Long Driving Fabian Alzamora with another short iron approach to a green.

Rob Oldroyd trying from long range for birdie on the 5th.

Day one leader Ken Bass cleaning up his par put on the 5th hole

Flight one Gross Champion and Cigar aficionado Steve Ahlfeld cranks one out there on the 5th

Lets get that shirt tucked in John.  I don't want to have to send you a letter for dress code violation.

SMASH!

Back to Back Champion Steve Dougherty attempting to splash one out of the bunker on #4

2012 Champion William Rocchi attempts to hole a long one on the 4th

Just one more putt that hangs on the lip for Matt Oldroyd

s

Dougherty & Butcher successfully defend their Member Member Title

With blue skies aplenty this past weekend we had our Men's Member Member Championship contested on Saturday and Sunday.  We could not have had a more beautiful weekend for the tournament.  The players who threw their hats in the ring and competed for this coveted title were certainly not disappointed as the golf course continues to look better and better every day.  We had a total of 12 teams vying for the Championship with what might have been our most evenly talented group of players.  Some years their is a clear favorite for the overall gross Champion but we had many of the competitors this year with a real chance  at victory.

On Friday we started out with a practice round better ball game where we paid out first place Gross and first place Net.  We had a bit of a light showing for this game but the results was maybe a bit of a premonition as to what was to come for the weekend.  We had the team of Eddie Bray and Philip Bailey tie the team of Dave Dunn and Jack Maisano for the low net honors and Steve Dougherty and Pat Butcher took home the low gross money.  Great work guys!

Saturday's format was two separate games with the front nine being captains choice (scramble) and the back  nine a modified alternate shot where each player gets to hit a drive then the partners switch positions and hit their partners ball and after the second shot is completed they choose the best location and alternate from their until the ball is holed.  The back nine format can be quite a test in friendship.  The team of Ken Bass and Rob Oldroyd came out firing with an excellent first day round of eight under par 64 to take the first day lead by 4 shots over the team of Fire & Ice (Ron Coffman & Peter Vanica).  We had three other teams trailing close behind with under par rounds which would make for an exciting finish for Sunday.  The Net competition was also very tight with the Boals boys (Tom Sr. & Jr.) taking the day one lead by only about a quarter of a shot over Dave Harper and Tom Duggan.  The rest of the field was still within striking distance of these two teams after day 1.

Sunday's format was better ball of the two player team.  The former champions had their work cut out for them trying to make up a five shot lead after their first round of 69.  The birdies were flying near the end of the first nine holes with William Rocchi and Russell Stokes making a run at the title with 3 birdies to finish the outward nine for a score of 33.  Dougherty and Butcher were tough to beat though with a front nine score of 32 that included birdies on 4 of the last 5 holes by Steve Dougherty.  Mr. Butcher felt a bit left out on the front nine with Steve hogging all the birdies so he proceeded to birdie 10 and 11 to take the team to 6 under par for their round.  By the 13th hole it still looked like any ones ball game but then Steve Dougherty went on a tear making birdie on 14, eagle on 15 and birdie on 17.  The team finished with a par on the 18th for an astounding 10 under par 62.  This combined with their first day score of 69 totaled  131 and a 6 shot victory over their nearest competitor!  Congratulations on a hard fought victory to Steve Dougherty and Pat Butcher.

The Net Champions of Philip Bailey and Eddie Bray also had a come from behind victory as well.  These former champions were in 7th place after day 1 and almost 4 shots behind the leaders but that did not seem to affect their ability to post a seriously low number on championship Sunday and take home that coveted invite to the Champions dinner.  The duo overcame a plethora of worthy competitors to win first place net by   only 3.2 shots with an astounding 15 under par 57.  The team was surprised with the repeat victory and said "when one of us was in trouble the other one always seem to come through"  Great work guys!

We had some special event hole for the weekend
Closest to the hole #2  Rick Roberts
Closest to the hole #9  Ken Bass
Closest to the hole #12 William Rocchi
Closest to the hole #17 David Harper

Congratulations go out to all players who played this weekend.  I truly thank you for your participation in this event.  Without you their is no event so thank you very much.

Don't forget that October is our Championship month with the Couples Club Championship and the Men's & Ladies Club Championship so please sign up for these events as soon as you can so you don't miss out.  We will also have information going out about this years Battle at Bears Valley.  This is an awesome event so keep your eyes open for upcoming information pertaining to this Tournament.

Best,

Dave

John Ramsey reals back for another huge tee shot on the 18th hole

One time greenskeeper now about to become Masters Champion.

Watch the ball, Watch the ball, Watch the ball, Watch the ball

That's my partner.  Another one straight down the middle.

Here is your ball Pat.  Nice putt!

Was that a 3 or a 4 on the last hole?  

Peter "Ice" Vanica putts one on the difficult 4th as Ron "Fire" Coffman looks on.

Coffman going for the green in two on the 8th hole as Ken Bass waits in the background to do the same.

I can't believe that thing did not break!!?

Pat Butcher launches yet another shot toward the flag on the 7th

The Rock on the 7th hole hits another one close to the hole.

Rob Oldroyd attempts a shot from the fairway on the 4th while Ken Bass looks on.

Rob Oldroyd returning the favor.  What kind of finish is that KB?

New member Alan Curtis striking his second shot on the 4th hole as his partner Patrick Butler looks on.

Dave Harper requested a closeup for the Blog.  

Pat Molamphy hoping this one does not go left.

Steve Ahlfeld's game is so hot I think I see him smoking!

Harper crushes one on six

Rick Roberts and Gary Gough look on as team Harper and Duggan attempts a putt on three.

Net Champions Eddie Bray and Philip Bailey size one up on the 5th hole.

Final Scoreboard