DGA a NJ Golf Club
May
2019
Cliffs - Mountain Park (SC) (5/2/19)
Mike Jeffries birdies the last hole to nip Jim Petronchak by 1 shot. The course was in tremendous shape and the greens were very, very fast. Des Sinclair was our gracious host as usual. The weather was picture perfect - 80 and sunny.
Cliffs - Walnut Cove (SC) (5/3/19)
It was a war of attrition on the Jack Nicklaus designed course. Slope of 142 and some ridiculous pin placements made for a long day. We were part of a tournament with other Cliffs members and our foursome finished last by a bunch. Local course knowledge wins out. Jim P started out hot but couldn't hold the lead late as Mike and Reese tied for low net with 76s.
Cliffs - Keowee Springs (SC) (5/4/19)
Reese Evans is the big winner despite finishing second. Reese eagles the 470 yard par 5 6th hole with a 295 yard drive, a 6 iron to 5 feet and obviously he made the putt. He also won 3 other pots outright. Thunderstorms were in the forecast and the horn blew when we were on the 14th and 15th holes - we stopped and were ready to order lunch when the all clear came. We rushed back out and finished just in time as the horn blew again as the last group was hitting their approach shots to 18. The course was in pristine condition and much more playable than Walnut Creek. Des hosted a wonderful barbecue at his house and we all enjoyed his man cave.
Off and On showers mostly on the front nine didn't seem to bother two of the golfers as Charie Conners beats Shawn Smith by two strokes with a Net 73. The remainder of the field wasn't even close. As reported earlier, Warrenbrook was not in good shape except for the Greens. The first group had no one in front of them and sped through the course in 5 hours! Bob Nowark, who was in the second group and was waiting a lot made the comment "I've never experienced THIS before". I can only presume he meant from THAT angle.
Neshanic Valley - R/L World Series Qualifier #2 (5/11/19)
Our first ever Neshanic Valley World Series Quailifier goes to Bob Nowark. Bob was consistant on the front and back finising with a Net 69. He did finish Lake #9, his least favorite hole, with a 10 but it was enough to nip Mike Jeffries by one stroke. It will be Bob's 7th trip to World Series and maybe this could be his break through year with a championship. He now joins Andrew Keller and Mansour Rismanchi as our other qualifiers.
Other than Bob and Mike the rest of the field was par or above. Other notibles, Frank Thiry won the back with a Net 33, Jay Griffith had 2 Sandies and Greg Cavallo's 9 was low Net Par 3's. In Match play, Ed Korleski beat Dave Perry on his home court 4 & 2, Dennis Grote beat Dan Price 3 & 2 and partners Charlie Connors beat Mansour Rismanchi 3 & 2.
Finally some Saturday sunshine!!! Griffith and Bylina were the only two players to shoot under par and tied for the win with Net 69's. In Match Play, L.Thiry defeated F.Thiry 1 UP while Minutello and Smith tied and will play again! Several PQR's were played, see scores below.
Charlie Connors must have played a different course - he cruises to a 7 show win over Mike Jeffries and Dave Ellis. Charlie wins 5 pots outright including 4 Birdies and 3 Greenies - no one else had more that one of either. Charlie and Mansour shoot a stellar 60 in their PQR. Jim Petronchak and Smitty shoot 66. Dave Ellis and Gary Yusko shake off a ragged strart to shoot 67. John and Dan shoot 70. John and Mark tie in their match. Some interesting events - Mike Jeffries can't find his drive on 15 - drops a ball in play and then Dave Ellis finds it - Gary Yusko thinks his third shot is in the weeds along the right of 16 - we can't find the ball - he drops one and hits and then we find his ball 30 yards closer to the green - both Mike and Gary took the 2 stroke penalties - ouch. Dave Ellis is being recognized for his comeback in 9s - he got 19 points on the front and 36 on the back - so Mike and Gary decided this was worthy of its own name - like the Johnny so if you improve or go backward 15 or more in 9s it is an Ellis. John Rutigliano had a Johnny today and a couple of other guys were close.