St. Albans' Insider

Stock Market Handicap Award: Gerry Gallaghan

There are stock market forecasters who use elliott wave theory while others follow contrary sentiment measures.  It seems though, that Gerry's Callahan's USGA Index history beats them all as a true stock market indicator.

After dropping by nearly 20% late this Spring (market was down 23%), Gerry's handicap exploded higher by over 30% (market rallied 40%) just in time to peak when the Butler Classic handicaps were locked.  

Beware, Gerry's handicap has fallen 18% since then - we'll be watching the markets to see if stocks follow this path...

- Raj B

Biggest Loser of 2009: Matt Ference

Update:  The pro shop has been inundated with requests to play Ference.  We've been asked to remind you all to use foretees to set up your money games with Matt.  We understand that he'll be supposedly playing exclusively with his wife this fall - we don't buy it.  After 54 holes or so, he'll go surely crazy and won't be able to stay away from FBF.

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Gentleman, there are rare times when true victims of "on-the-course" crimes get a legitimate shot at payback.  Today, we speak of the countless golfers who have reached into their back pocket and paid the notorious Matt Ference serious coin throughout the spring and summer of 2009.  

Well times have changed, and now is your time.  Matt's index has dropped (see below) from nearly 17 to under 10 (a 40% drop, wow!) this fall - just think of all of those 4 net 3s, and 3 net 2s he dropped on you on the back nine....all summer long.  Well, here's your chance to get back before he has the chance to post any "dubious" high scores before the "winter lock".

Good luck men, schedule your matches quickly, and don't let him get away with any $2 nassau game.

- Raj B

1st Annual 2-man Challenge / October 18th

The newest event on the calendar, the Men's 2-man Challenge will be held on October 18th.  The 18 hole event will have 2-man teams (of their own choice) play 3 formats for 6 holes at a time:

2 Best Balls, 1 Best Ball, Selective Drive Alternate Shot

Sign up on Foretees on the Events Tab / So far 17 teams have signed up

The event also will debut the 6,418y "tournament" tees on the Lewis and Clark course - which is quite close to the current white tee setup.  Lastly, the handicaps will be set at 90% course (which is the general recommendation from the USGA).  Other details are listed below:

Yours truly won the Jamie Howes (above) lottery as his 17.0 index was highly sought after.  By the way, he striped this drive at Seven Canyons in Sedona, AZ.

Other Notable Teams (so far):

Horstman & Allwell  / hoping to rebound from a dismal showing in AZ

Bennet & Archibald / not sure if this team is "legal" with both sporting an index above 16.0

Stubblefield & Willis (Kicker) / Stubs knows how to pick 'em (should go big in calcutta)

Shearburn & Muenz / 14 club rule applies, especially for a member of this team

Springman & Macarthur / "you make money coming down" , Mac's index is now an 11.4

Hillin & Tvrdik / AH has not yet recovered from performance in Club Championship finals

Davis & Bumgarner / Bum's index is up to a 12.2, problem is that may not be high enough

Schedule:

Thursday, October 15 / Team Calcutta Auction / Evening: Time TBA

Sunday, October 18 / 9:00 AM Shotgun

• Blue tees are available for anyone who's age + handicap is above 80
• Only one player can have a USGA index greater than 16.0

Modified Stableford Scoring (points) :

• 10    Ace
• 05    Net Double Eagle
• 03    Net Eagle
• 02    Net Birdie
• 01    Net Par
• -1    Net Bogie
• -2    Other (DB or worse)

Closest to hole Game:

• Hole #4
• Hole #12

- See you out there - Raj B

USGA MST Championship, Course Stats (All Rounds)

For those interested, the course held its own over 54 holes of play.  Some serious rainfall softened up the greens to the point where players could fire at pins, but the soft fairways made holes like #2 and #18 play quite long, even for these guys.  Congrats to the PA team for winning by 3 strokes.  The winning PA team featured a golfer, Mike Van Sickle, who may be getting a tour card quite soon.

Cudos to everyone from pro staff to volunteers.  The players loved this venue and were very appreciative of everyone's efforts.  The USGA seemed impressed with the course and people too.

Above:  The 490y Par-4 hole #2 (converted Par 5 played from our white tees)

Course Stat Highlights:

> The average score for all 3 rounds was 75.1 (4+ over par) / current course rating is 74.3 - go figure

> Hole #2 clearly ate the most lunches for the week with 49 doubles and 21 others (triples and quads).  Players had difficulty staying out of the water, as do many of our own members (yours truly included).

> The second hardest hole was the 480y Par-4 hole #18.  The creek short and right was a dangerous place to hang out on that hole, but not dangerous enough to keep Scott Shuemann away from collecting a whole lot of virtually new ProV1s (see pic below).  Word is he's trying to get $20 a dozen.

> An impressive stat is that the 394y Par-4 hole #10 finished as the 6th hardest hole, plenty harder than the 446y par-4 hole #8.  #10 was also the 6th hardest hole for all 4 Metro Open events held here too.

Above:  The 480y Par-4 hole #18 (a number of players thought members played this as a par 5)

Rolling Rolling Rolling

> Despite the rain throughout the week, the greens consistently rolled between 11-12 on the stimpmeter.  Longer putts often double-broke while short putts hit firm would hold the line well.  Trouble is that a firmly hit 5 footer that lipped out would often yield at least a 3 footer coming back.

> Players were generally very good about fixing their ball marks on the greens, so members will see them in very good shape this weekend.  Also, the middle and up tee boxes have been left untouched for a week, so they will be pristine before we all start hacking them up again (fix your divots!!!)

Scott wants $20 a dozen, at least that is what we heard

- Raj B

pictures obtained from USGA MST website.