The last of the fast paced golf

Wednesday April 25th will be the start of the long rounds and the back ups on the third tee.  In order for us to have all our groups finish before darkness sets on us we need for all our groups to play quickly. “Ready Golf” is what is needed. No waiting for the person behind you to get ready etc… Just get up and hit the ball. Every second counts this week. If it’s cloudy it will be even worse. So play quickly and let’s hope the league in front of us plays quickly as well. But, don’t count on it.

This week the pace was brisk. The first group teed off at 3:40 and they were off to the races. Jim Marnie and Jim Waterman were cart mates and if you have ever played with them then you know the pace is quick. You can’t sneeze if you are waiting for Waterman to play. You can blink and you still will miss his shot. You really have to be on your toes with these two. They are the fastest players I have ever played with.

Jim Marnie teed off against a struggling Glenn Acciard and Acciard finally bounced back from shooting previous 48’s the first two weeks. Marnie started off strong by winning the first two out of three holes but Acciard came storming back to capture the 13th and 14th hole. They halved the par 3 15th and Marnie’s bogey on 16 allowed him to go one up with two to play. Acciard had a golden opportunity to tie the match on 17 but a bogey 5 was only good enough for a halve. A missed opportunity. Now on the par 5 18th advantage usually would go to Acciard.  But, with matching birdies Marnie defeats Acciard 11-9. This looked liked a great match. Marnie 41 Acciard 42.

Jim Waterman matched up against Eric La Francis and this on paper looked like it could be a dog fight. Waterman jumped out to a one up lead and La Francis quickly took advantage by winning the 11th, all even after two. Then Waterman reeled off three quick victories on 12, 13, and a birdie on 14 gave him a 3 up lead with four to play. With matching pars on 15 La Francis needed to bounce back quickly. On 16 La Francis got one back and was raring to go on 17 and grabbed another and all he needed was an easy par on 18 to halve the match but that was for not. A bogey by both players allowed Waterman to take this match 12-8. Waterman 43 La Francis 44.

Dennis Croteau squared off against Paul Comeau and Croteau was giving two shots to Comeau. Comeau took quick advantage of those strokes as he went up 2 after the first two holes. These guys halved the next three holes and Croteau then captured the par 3 15th to go 1 down with three to play. Croteau needed a par on 16 to halve the match but he just couldn’t make it happen and they halved 16. With Comeau making par on 17 and all Croteau could do was par 17 as well this led them to the 18th tee and Comeau was stroking here and he took full advantage as a bogey 6 halved the hole and Comeau wins the match 12-8. Not sure who kept score but I am glad the computer is correct and not the score keeper.  Comeau 44 Croteau 44.

Norm Comeau and Mike Berry faced each other and the anticipation of how Comeau’s ankle would play into the match was melodramatic. Comeau sucked it up and went to battle. Berry jumped out to a one up lead with a par on 10 and they both halved the par 3 11th with Norm, “the Shark” Comeau capturing closest to the pin with the charity of Bill “I’ll spend 2 bucks in hopes he wins so I can spend his winnings on beer for whose left in the clubhouse” Wilson. “Thank you Bill”. Comeau captured 12 and 13 to go one up and Berry stole 14 to even the  match then they seesawed back and forth on 16,17 and 18. Comeau limps to victory 12-8. Comeau 41 Berry 42.

Brian Steeves and Steve King teed off against each other and King was giving 3 strokes and this match quickly got off to a bad start for King as he just couldn’t get off the tenth tee and he had to scramble to halve the hole with a triple bogey 7.  King had a gorgeous tee shot on 11 and the ball floated right over the stick and landed about 10-12 feet from the stick. King drains the birdie putt to go one up. King pars 12 and gives it right back on 13.  Both players tee ball on 14 goes around the corner but are long and both players are handcuffed behind the shrubs on the other side of the cart path. They halve the hole because Steeves is stroking and King remains one up. On the par 3 15th King pars and Steeves bogey’s and King is now 2 up. Steeves captures 16 and King bounces right back to close Steeves out on 17 and they halve 18 and King wins 13-7. King 42 Steeves 49.

Jay McGillicuddy took on the #1 golfer in Norm Pelletier this week and it wasn’t pretty but it was another one of those classic matches where your opponent plays down to their competition. This time Pelletier played down to McGill’s level. Having to give three strokes on the backside didn’t bode well for Pelletier to start. McGill needed a good week as the first two weeks McGill stunk. Pelletier teed off first and with a nice breeze in our face Pelletier hit driver and mis-hit it a bit and that led McGill to grab the driver as well. McGill finally hit a decent tee shot and found himself a pitch shot from the green. McGill’s approach shot found himself about 12-15′ away and Pelletier was way on the right side of the green. Pelletier was at least 50′ away and his lag putt was way short and McGill parred and Pelletier bogeyed. They halved 11 and both players had decent approach shots to 12 but McGill 3 putted to lose the hole. They halved 13 and McGill took advantage of his first stoke and won 14. McGill stole 15 as Pelletier’s putter failed him on 15. McGill parred 16 and 3 putted 17 and 18 to win going away 14-6. McGill 41 Pelletier 42. Look out for the rematch McGill.

Alan Imlach vs Vinny Serafino and this match should have been a lot closer than the final results. Serafino jumped out quickly with a two up lead after 11 and then they both halved 12 with quads. Serafino then started to pull away as he won 13 and 4 and then they halved 15 with nice pars. Imlach bounced back with a big win on 16 and then they halved the 17th and Serafino wins 18 and Serafino trounces Imlach 15-5. Serafino 57 Imlach 59.

Bob Trottier teed off against Bill Wilson and Trottier started off where he left off last week. Last week Trottier was perfect and this week he started off with a nice birdie on 10 and a par on 11. The 12th hole should have been an opening for Wilson but when you double bogey a hole against Trottier you don’t expect to win the hole but in this case Wilson came out with a halve. Trottier sparkles with another solid birdie and Wilson can only mutter to himself as he quickly finds himself 3 down. They halve 14 with Wilson getting a stroke and then Trottier snags another birdie on 15 to close Wilson out. Wilson actually wins 16 with a double bogey and Trottier falters with an uncharacteristic triple bogey and then Wilson turns in a nice birdie of his own on 17 but Trottier birdies once again and punishes Wilson 14-6. Trottier ties the record with Steve King with 4 birdies in 9 holes and finishes with a 37. Wilson turns in a respectable 41. The 4 birdies basically crushed Wilson. When the season heats up look for Wilson to come back strong.

Mike Landry and Erkan Duzenli had a great battle as Duzenli went one up after 10 with a bogey and then they halved 11, 12 and 13 Landry was stroking on 14 and didn’t need it as his bogey 5 captured this hole to even up the match. Bogeys were the pair for 15 and then Landry slipped up on 16 as Duzenli parred and goes back up one. 17 was for the taking but both players seemed like they couldn’t get out of their own way and they ended up halving the hole with double bogeys. The 18th could have been a big win for Landry and he did his part and parred 18 but so did Duzenli and Duzenli hangs on to win a close match 11-9. Duzenli 47 Landry 46. Looks like Landry’s knee is hanging in there.

Tom “I am on my way back” Hale squared off  against Dominick “The Yankee fan” D’Orio. Hale screamed out to a quick 4 up lead as he tripled 10 bogeyed 11 and then had a sweet birdie on 12 which gave him the exact amount of birdies that he had all of last year, 2 so far. Go get ’em Tom… Hale slipped up with a triple bogey on 13 but D’ Orio was playing more like Army golf left right left right. On the hardest hole on the backside they halved with bogey’s. But, a double bogey on 15 for Hale wins him another hole and he closes out D’ Orio. They halve 16 with double bogeys and then D’ Orio woke up and captured 17 and 18. D’Orio was just not himself this night as Hale pounds D’ Orio 14-6. Hale shoots 54 with an 11 on the par 5 18th and D’ Orio shoots 58.

The last foursome saw Rich Juknavorian take on sub Bob Cairns. Juke stormed out to a quick 4 up lead as he doubled 10 parred 11, bogeyed 12 and parred the difficult 13th. Cairns I think was somewhere else as he never got un-tracked as a quadruple bogey on 10 right off the bat and a double bogey on the par 3 11th and a double bogey on 12 and a bogey on 13 was just not enough as he was scrambling to stay in this match. They halved 14 and 15 and then a birdie on 16 by Juke put the nail in the coffin for Cairns. Cairns does salvage 17 with a bogey and the both double bogey 18 and Juke crushes Cairns 15-5. Juke 43 Cairns 50.

In the last two some we saw Rick “I arrived late” Maloney against George Duffield and Maloney hopped out to a quick one up lead. They halved 11 with pars and then Maloney parred 12 to go 2 up and they both halved 13 with triples. Then Duffield snagged 14 as Maloney went with a pair of 7’s and remained one up. They halved 15 with doubles and then Duffield woke up and captured 16 with a bogey to halve the match. Duffield parred the easy 17th to go dormy. They halved 18 and that was enough for Maloney to split this mach 10-10. Maloney shoots 48 and Duffield shoots 47 and gave Maloney a stroke.

Forecast was cloudy and 63 degrees at the time the first group teed off with a slight breeze.  See you all Wednesday.