Men’s Niners Hold Club Championship in March

Ken Whitney

March was a busy month for the PebbleCreek Men’s Nine-Hole Golf Association (PCM9GA), with three special events offered to the membership.

The PCM9GA Club Championship, originally scheduled for two nine-hole events, was cut to a single round event due to inclement weather on the first day of the tournament. The single round was held on March 14 on the Tuscany Falls East course. Players were divided into four flights determined by USGA handicap index, with two white-tee flights and two red-tee flights.

The White Tee “Eagle Flight” was won by Keith Anolick with a net score of 34, while the White Tee “Owl Flight” was won by Jerry DiLeonardo whose net score was 34. Ron Froemming took first in the Red Tee “Robin Flight” with a net score of 35. The Red Tee “Quail Flight” was won by Richard Johnson with a net score of 34.

The White Tee Flight winners and overall Club Champions were Mike Mealer (low gross score) and Duane Hoskinson (low net score). On the Red Tee Flight David French (low gross score) and Ray Bender (low net score) took top honors.

Following golf the Men’s Niners gathered in the Chianti Room to celebrate the winners and the also rans.

The March 21 Cha-Cha-Cha Tournament, held on Tuscany Falls East featured four-man teams competing in four separate flights, using a rotating low net score system (one low net score on one hole, two low net scores on the next hole, and three low net scores on the third hole, with the pattern repeating around nine holes). On the Front Nine “A” Flight the foursome of Dale Knutson, Keith Anolick, Eric Rohlman, and Eric Letzler took top honors. Winners of the Front 9 “B” Flight was the team of Rick Savage, Ken Whitney, Gary Ruehl, and Mike Branham.

On the Back Nine “C” Flight the winning team was Frank Chop, Robert Gunn, Jim Rohr, and Kent Chu. The Back Nine “D” Flight went to the foursome of Ted Oehlerking, William Wagner, Loren Norgaard, and Erv Stein.

A four-man skins game was held in parallel with the Cha-Cha-Cha Tournament. Bill Davis and Jared Fors each claimed six skins, while Eric Malier and Randy Vlcek each won five skins.

The final March event was “Goofy Golf,” held on the Eagle’s Nest course on March 28. For this format, all players hit from the Red Tees and were restricted to four clubs in the bag. Various other “features” in the play and the course included a special “putter” on one of the par 5 holes (hole number 1 and hole number 13) and a putt-around traffic cone on hole number 7 and hole number 14. One throw per player was allowed from anywhere on the course, and putts within a paint stir stick distance of the hole were considered holed. Whew.

Four Flights took the field, and scoring was based on the two low net scores of the team. The Front Nine “Alpha Flight” was won by the foursome of Louis Beaulieu, Bruce Hacker, Jeffrey Carren, and Mike Hurst. The Front Nine “Bravo Flight” was captured by Erv Stein, Thomas MacKenzie, Robert Burns, and Mickey Osterneck. The Back Nine “Charlie Flight” went to Robert Risden, Randy McConaughey, Jim Tackett, and Donald Burrows. The Back Nine “Delta Flight” was captured by the team of Michael Davis, Albert Jerman, Maury Wulbrecht, and Bob Spano.

A new Board of Directors for the PCM9GA was elected in March. Board members for the coming year are Ray Clements (President), John Craven (Vice President), Ron Froemming (Treasurer), Peter Diliberti (Director of Golf Operations), Kerry Walsh (Webmaster), Erv Stein (Publicity Chair), and Peter Herman (Secretary). Thanks to outgoing Board Members for their outstanding service.