DGA a NJ Golf Club
January
2020
January 2, 2020 (Deal Country Club)
Petro wins the first round of the decade on a cold day at Deal. As the scores show it was quite challenging with firm greens and wind that made approach shots tricky. The green complexes are tough on a sunny and warm day never mind winter conditions.
January 4, 2020 (Spooky Brook)
This might have been the craziest weather ever - the fog was so thick that you couldn't see tee shots land and you could barely make out that there was a pin on the green. No way to tell if it was front or back from the fairway. Petro said he was able to use his shooter on one hole the approach to 18. This was the first round with the new World Handicaps and Babo won even though he said "i've never played as a 14". A lot of guys in the field played at the lowest handicaps in their DGA careers. The scoring was good given the wet fairway conditions and the fog. At least the greens weren't frozen!
January 9, 2020 (Twisted Dune)
It turned out to be a good day in Caliendo at Twisted Dunes - weather wise anyway - mid 30s and not a lot of wind. Everything was frozen to start and the greens softened by the 5th hole. Petro get hot on the last 6 holes to win by 5.
January 11. 2020 (Spooky Brook)
Jay Griffith eagles the 1st hole and holds on for a 1 stroke victory over Charlie Connors. The course was a bit wet but playing conditions were great for a winter round in short sleeves then the wind picked up. With high winds against us, number 17 played a bit of havoc on the last 2 groups. The gtoup of Perry, Min, Petro and Nowark took a total of 30 strokes including a par, only to be topped by the threesome of Ed K, Dennis and FTDGA who took 38 strokes. Proper recognition is due to FTDGA who accounted for 27 of those strokes. When yelled at by the group behind him he responded by throwing up his arms and replying "I'm trying, I'm trying". Under the new equitable stroke control rules, Frank now holds a new DGA record 21 equities. Congratulations, Frank and true sport that he is thanks for buying everyone a round. Jim Rinaldi pulled up lame on the 4th tee- the good news is that he didn't need to be put down = get back soon, Jim. And now Frank's shot by shot recount:
Spooky Brook, hole number #17: cloudy day with temps in 60's, but with gusty winds 15-20 mph. Was playing with Ed Korleski and Dennis Grote (Jim Rinaldi started, but DNF after 3 holes with bad hip).
Hole set-up: I was playing fairly well on the back nine until we got to #17. Had I merely double-bogeyed #17 I would have shot gross 52, net 39 on the back-9… not too-too shabby for me.
Once we got to #17's tee, we waited about 6-8 minutes as the group in front of us (Perry, Petro, Min and Nowark) were having difficulties of their own. After we teed-off, we waited another 4-7 minutes on our fairway, as that group ahead of us finally finished putting out. This allowed the foursome behind us to be directly on our backs. Now for my 27 blows:
1- tee shot popped up left, about 140 yards left of path by trees
2- flubbed the layup, only went 20 yards
3- laid up fairly well in the middle about 135 yards out (but now waiting for group ahead of us)
4/5- in/out of water, sculled to the right (Ed and Dennis both over and proceed to green)
6/7- in/out of water (grounder)
8/9- in/out of water (grounder)
10/11- in/out of water, to the left (almost clears, but 5 yards short)
(group behind starts to yell "let's go")
12- flubbed shot, short of water, now about 90 yards out
13/14- in/out of water, flys in but again to the right
15/16- in/out of water (grounder)
17/18- in/out of water, aiming left (grounder)
(group behind impatiently yells again… can't blame them)
19/20-in/out of water (grounder)
21- finally it's over the water, left side, left of cart part
(Grote and Korleski had by now finished the hole)
22- chipped towards green, falls short into bunker
23- sandshot out of bunker, but clears sand by only 5 feet, short of green
24- chip onto green, short of pin
25- miss 20 foot putt (rolls past)
26- miss 6 foot putt (rolls past)
27- make 3 foot putt
(group behind yells approval and applauds)
Petro nips Dennis with the only birdie of the day on our last hole. The winds really picked up on the back and played havoc with most shots and putts.
January 23, 2020 (Shackamaxon)
Mr.Minutello wins by 1 over Jim Petronchak. Frozen greens to start then some greens softened - tough to guage as not all green conditions were consistent. Each player had a 9 with two 10's on the card. Not an easy course at somewhere over 6000 yards. The World Handicap System giveth and taketh away with all players picking up strokes as the Course Rating was higher than the Par.
January 26, 2020 (Neshanic Valley - R/L)
Mr. Winter Babo shoots net 72 to win by two over Petro. Plenty of wind and it definitely affected puts - plus the greens were slow and bumpy. We had about a one hour frost delay to start. A 3 club wind on plenty of shots. Dave asked - "were there 4 par 5s on Ridge?" There were a couple of firsts - we played Lake as the first 9 and the pin position on Ridge 4 was in the valley. No one could remember either of those happening. Babo and Jay both bought rounds - thanks.
Not a great day for the 3 guys who played DGA, tough fast greens and lots of sand took its toll. Min pulls away at the end and wins by 3. Not a lot else to report. Min did cash in the Caliendo tournament.