PCMGA Board left to right: Paul Metivier, John Krasnan, John Stergulz, Nick Steckler, Steve Straley, Bill Schaffer, Jerry Monk, Howie Tiger, Eric Lee and Tom Schmidt.
Howie Tiger
On Thursday, November 6 the PebbleCreek Men’s Golf Association held an Alternate Shot tournament made up of four man teams. The members formed their own team, one of the most popular type events. With over 200 players competing, the tourney, which was originally scheduled to take place at Eagle’s Nest, was shifted to Tuscany Falls and utilized all 27 holes.
Alternate shot is probably the most difficult golf format of all. Even the U.S. Ryder Cup team struggles with this format. In this format two players alternate hitting the same ball until the hole is completed. For this tourney each team consisted of two twosomes. One score counted for each hole for each twosome.
In the Ryder Cup competition, the twosomes decide who tees off on the odd holes and who tees off on the even holes. The PCMGA made it even more fun by playing pure alternate, meaning one player tees off on their first hole and they alternate until their 18th hole.
There are lots of challenges in this type format. Some players use spin type balls and others use distance type balls, so deciding which ball to use can be difficult for some teams. Swing tempo can be difficult since you are only hitting every other shot. Some players hit lots of fairways and others spray the ball everywhere. For weeks prior to this event it had been heard that many players warned their partners that they may have shots from places never before seen on the golf course. Speaking from personal experience, these warnings certainly had merit and then some.
The field consisted of six flights. Each flight paid four places. Here are the winners of each flight. Flight 1 with a score of 138.5: Dean Bass, Mick Rizk, Mark Clark and Tom Burrell. Flight 2 with a score of 142: Dave Hokaj, Chuck Veltri, Ed Stadjuhar and Allen Carney. Flight 3 with a score of 137.5: John Birds, Richard Elliott, Lee Kitchel and Arne Johannesen. Flight 4 with a score of 139: Ken Miller, Rod Ellison, William McCabe and Larry Ingraham. Flight 5 with a score of 137.5: David Sabourin, Ken Neely, Jerrel Lampkin and Bob Dusenbery. Flight 6 with a score of 132: Frank W. White, Nelson Shahon, Jerry Briner and Steffen Jacobson.
You may have noticed that the PCMGA board members are now sporting matching shirts. The purpose is so that PCMGA members can easily identify those persons to whom they can pose questions or provide comments. The plan is for the board members to wear matching shirts (either purple haze or optic yellow) at each PCMGA event.
As always we thank our professionals Ronnie Decker and Dave Vader for all they do to support our events. All three nines at Tuscany Falls were in great shape so we thank Paul McGinnis and his staff for our playing conditions.
Congrats to all those members who cashed and hopefully you are still speaking with your playing partner after this experience!