St. Albans' Insider

2 Man Progressive Qualifier Approaching (May 14th)...

Above: Johnny Mac appears to be "willing" a ball out of the trap and on to the green.  We're unsure of the technique employed to accomplish the shot since there's a distinct lack of follow through in this photo.

 

32 Teams signed up so far:

As of April 23, thirty-two teams have signed up for the 2-man progressive tournament.  Please note the new dates for the qualifying round and subsequent first match - May 14-15.  By then the recently aerated greens should be fully recovered and ready for tournament play.

Be sure to sign up on Foretees (in the events tab) and enter your team.  If you're interested in playing but don't have a partner lined up, the pro shop would be more than happy to assist.

Tim Williamson and Mitch Leonard are looking to defend their title from 2010.  They have an automatic berth in the full handicap flight as the #1 seed.  We'll have more on them soon with a complete scouting report.  See earlier posts on the format change for the tournament for this year.

-R

Current List (4/23/11):

Men's Weekend Golf Groups / spots are available...

Above: Fortunately we don't have alligators in MO.  We're not sure if the golf ball in question was actually recovered, but nevertheless we were impressed with Pat C's effort.

 

Over the years a number of organized golf groups have formed and expanded, which might have made it difficult for some of the newer members to find a game.  So, we reached out to the organizers of each of these big groups and found that each of them is excited to get some suckers to have new golfers to play in their respective groups so they can take their money enjoy the camaraderie.  Below is some info on the big groups that reliably play each weekend.  Please reach out to the organizers if you're interested in playing along.  All handicaps are welcome as long as foot wedges are not in your golf bag.  If we missed a group looking for more golfers, please reach out to me (rajb@mac.com).

- Raj

 

Friday PM Group:

John MacArthur Group (Frat Boy Friday):

Tee time range:    Noon to 12:30PM

Courses:                Alternate between courses

Handicap ranges:   0-33

Games:                $20 max exposure covers big game and 1/2 handicap skins

Notes: Big game is a two-man net score with a blind draw.  Fridays are renowned for the after party in the 19th hole.  Participation is of course optional.  Announcements are sent out the prior Tuesdays.

Contact:                John MacArthur  / John.MacArthur@frostelectric.com

 

Saturday AM Men's groups:

Robert Shanteau Group:

Tee time range:    9:00AM - 10:00AM

Courses:                Mostly Lewis & Clark

Handicap ranges:    3 - 24

Games:                $5 Nassau between groups + skins & internal games ($50 would be a bad day)

Contact:                Bob Shanteau  / Robert.M.Shanteau@saint-gobain.com

 

Ron Davis Group:

Tee time range:    7:30AM - 9:00AM

Courses:                Usually Lewis & Clark - but will sub Tavern Creek in at times

Handicap ranges:    0-20

Games:                $5/$5/$10 Nassau between groups + internal games ($60 would be a bad day)

Contact:                Ron Davis  / rwjdavis@charter.net

 

Saturday AM & Sunday AM Men's groups:

Bob Rozell Group:

Tee time range:    8:30AM - 9:30AM

Courses:                Alternate between courses

Handicap ranges:    0-20s

Games:                Minimum $60 buy-in

Note: Game is not for the feint of heart but we have been successful in getting a few new guys in.  Key to the game is come back a 2nd/3rd time.  The gambling (except for Wagner) generally straightens out.

Contact:                Bob Rozell  / bobr@impacttech.com

 

Mike Drone Group:

Tee time range:    Typically First Tee Time

Courses:                Saturday Tavern, Sunday Lewis

Handicap ranges:    0-20s

Games:                $3 Nassau @ full handicap and $1 skins.  Also CTP on Par 3s and 5s.  Birdies worth $2

Contact:                Mike Drone  / miked@drone.com

2011 Changes to Rules of Golf / Video

Golf has many rules, but lately the USGA has been making changes to the game with the hopes of making the game easier to play.  See the video below to see the changes made for the 2011 golf season. Hat tip to Kim Shearburn for the link to this insightful video.  Go ahead and incorporate these changes to your weekend golf games.  

 

 

Golf Fashion Clinic this Saturday

According to sources in the know, Sean "the contractor" Conaway plans to conduct a golf fashion clinic on the first tee this Saturday AM.  It is well known that Sean accepts payment for his advice in golf balls - preferably a lot of pro V 1s.  See a slide from Sean's presentation below.  Courtesy of Robert M.

FYI: Changes to the 2-Man Progressive...

Subject: Changes to our full handicap formats by adding a 1/2 handicap flight to the 2-Man Progressive

I've sent this note to a select group of players, representing a wide range of handicaps, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.  This 1/2 handicap flight will be implemented for the 2-man progressive tournament.  Tournaments like the Tradition, however, will remain untouched from this perspective.

Gentleman, after taking a look at the results of our club's tournaments over the past several years, we've noticed a distinctive trend where relatively few 7-14 handicap players have made it to the champions circle. Where the low single digit handicaps have the chance to win the club championship stroke and match play tournaments, and where the higher handicaps have enjoyed much success with the club's full handicap events - the guys in the middle have it the hardest.

In an attempt to make our tournaments more inclusive (where all of our golfers can have the expectation to win if he plays well), we have made a change to framework of the two-man progressive tournament. In this year's tournament, each team will record two scores in the qualifying round; a full handicap one best ball score (as always), and a 1/2 handicap one best ball score. The score which produces a better seed will be the one that counts for the qualification process. As the brackets are filled out, the full handicap bracket (Lewis Bracket) will play out to a champion (from 16 to 1).

Likewise, the 1/2 handicap bracket (Clark Bracket) will also play out to a champion. Then, each of the finalists will play for the title at 75% handicap, one best ball match play (meeting in the middle). Side note: most clubs have addressed issues related to four ball and 100% handicap allowances by having all teams play at an 80 or 85% allowance. In fact, the USGA recommends an 80% allowance for men playing four ball (one best ball match play). However, we felt that doing such would "penalize" the teams that would be too negatively impacted by such an abrupt change.

So, we think this format change addresses this appropriately. By making this change, more teams will have a chance to advance based on exceptional play, we can make the case. In fact, we back-tested the format change to last year, and the results are compelling (also only two teams were affected with respect to qualifying in the back test - meaning that 30 teams were unaffected with respect to qualifying). Using last year's handicaps and respective qualifier scores, we found that the teams that filled the 1/2 handicap bracket had an average cumulative handicap of 10 points lower than the full handicap bracket. This means that the match-ups are much closer from a handicap perspective - not likely that a 10 handicap team will be playing a 40 handicap team in the first round, which has been the case in previous years.

Of course, we'll recognize the winner of each bracket, and we're going to try to make the finals more of an event where spectators will be encouraged. Please see the attached data that shows how this format would have worked out last year (as a proxy for how it may work out going forward). This is the plan for this year. We're looking for a great year of golf with the goal to have a higher percentage of the club participating in the tournaments throughout the year. If you have serious reservations about this format change, please forward them to me with concise reasoning.

Thanks, Raj

 

Exhibit 1: Full Handicap Bracket: Top 16 full handicap, one best ball scores - team handicap in (brackets).

 

Exhibit 2:  Half Handicap Bracket: Top 16 half handicap, one best ball scores

 
 
 

CCSA Opening Day 2011 Results...

Above: Pat Busch drains a birdie putt on #9 TC with Ed Schooling enthusiastically watching.  Pat hit three putts of greater than 20 feet, helping his team win the first tournament of the year.

 

Results Below:

 

 

Thoughts on the CCSA 2011 Opening Day...

Thoughts on today's Opening Day:

The 1/10 of an inch of rain the course received this morning will lengthen the course a bit due to softer conditions.  So, expect the course to play more like 5,900 yards rather than the 5,861 on the card.

The recently punched greens on TC will benefit the teams with the most bad putters since, some have argued, "don't know where their putts are goin' anyway".

If you haven't played TC in a while, word is that many trees have been taken out for airflow in order for the greens handle our hot summers.  As a result, there may be less opportunities for "bathroom breaks" on the course today.

Thoughts / Predictions:

• Winning score: -12 (for the men), -8 (for the ladies)

• Kim Shearburn will hit at least one ball that will not be found for at least 20 years.

• Tim Williamson still thinks this is a full handicap tournament

• Rick Bennett will putt like a Masters' champion

• Scott Schuemann will not hit a fade all day

 

Featured Groups (with highest odds on winning / sorted by probability):

   

- R

 

Saint Louis Weather: pictures of CCSA separated by only one week

Maybe Joe Schwent knew something when he moved the Snowbird/Snowflake Tournament from its traditional last Saturday in March slot to the newly-named Opening Day Tournament slated for this coming Saturday (April 9th), or maybe he applied some common sense and got lucky.  Check out the pictures of Saint Albans.  The first taken on the last Saturday of March, and the second exactly one week later.  

We hope to see you this Saturday for the Opening Day.  Pictures provided by Larry Steinbrueck.

- R

 

 

CCSA Final Four Event, 4/2/11 Recap:

The Final Four Golf Event at CCSA, Recap:

It was quite fun to get out, warm up on some green grass, and compete at CCSA for the first time this year.  28 players took part.  The format to which the pro shop created was a good challenge for the early season as quite a few of us got some good practice on feeling the pressure to make a 5 footer for a net par.  The course has also dried out pretty well from the snow and rain earlier in the week.  The rough is still recovering somewhat from the heat-related beating it took last year, but one can tell it may very well grow quite thick this year as the snow blanket in Jan and Feb protected the grass from the harsh cold.  

 

Results from Saturday's "Final Four Game":

The Insalaco/Schultz/Randazzo/Johnston group lapped the field with a 33 point stableford point victory. Congrats to them.  Rob Insalaco (pictured above) carded a net 67, capturing 40 stableford points on his own.  Of course the blow out score may have earned Rob the designation of being the first to officially get on the handicap committee's "double-secret list".  Scores to the net stableford competition (and a twist) are below.

We're looking forward to seeing you all at the Opening Day event on 4/9.  Sign up on Fore-tees if you haven't already.

- R