Howie Tiger
On Wednesday, April 25, the PebbleCreek Men’s Golf Association provided several Member-Guest pre-tournament activities at the Tuscany Falls practice area. The activities included the Callaway Pro Shop, practice rounds and a skills challenge just like the one on Golf Channel’s Big Break program.
The skills event consisted of three separate challenges: an 18-hole putting contest; a sand shot (no flop shot over the wall this year) and a target shot. The object was to get the lowest score. There were prizes for each challenge and for overall. A total of 72 teams participated in this challenge.
The putting course was set up utilizing the upper putting green. The member and his guest alternated putts on each of the 18 holes. One player putted first on all the even-numbered holes and the other on all the odd-numbered holes. On the 18th hole, each player had to use a “bullseye” putter to putt from the opposite side i.e. right-handed player played left handed.
The sand shot required the player to skillfully extract his ball from the bunker on to the green within the target zone. The best score was -25 points for an ace. The target zone consisted of three circles: Zero points for the inner circle; 10 points for the middle circle; and 20 points for the outer circle. The highest scores were 50 points for leaving the ball in the bunker and 40 points for getting out, but not within the target zone.
The final challenge was the target shot. From 25 yards, the player had to hit a green metal square that was located inside a white target. Styrofoam protected the target to reduce the ricochet effect. The player scored zero points for hitting the green target. Scores of 10 or 25 were awarded by hitting the Styrofoam areas. The highest score was 50 points for missing the entire target altogether.
Skills Challenge Winners (points scored in parenthesis)
Grand Prize Winner:
Bill McKinney and Rich Conner (107)
Putting
1st Place: Mike Burke and Ron Dixon (30)
2nd Place: Marc Goldberg and Ken Carlough (35)
Tied 3rd Place: Tom Hume and Keegan Schunke (36) and Bill Schaffer and Mark Schaffer (36)
Sand Shot
1st Place: Steve Straley and Don Woods (10)
Tied 2nd Place: Bill Anderson and Larry Smith (20), Pete Gilbert and Buddy Spretz (20) and Dave Green and Mike Schafer (20)
Target Shot
1st Place: Roy Bridges and Bart Price (20)
2nd Place: Lee Kitchel and John Winfrey (35)
Tied 3rd Place: Dean Goupil and Craig McCurdy (50) and Bob Millikan and Kermit Reich (50)
The PCMGA would like to thank all of the volunteers who made this skills challenge happen. From the grounds crew who set up the target, to the gals who did the registration, to the gals from the “Circle” who kept score and to Pat Enyeart for organizing. It was a success because of you. Thanks again!