Our mid-year field day was held today and we had a great showing maybe playing on a Saturday may have been the reason. We were missing a few great players , Norm Pelletier, Erkan Duzenli and Rich Juknavorian. After a few days in the mid to high 90’s today’s forecast was a welcome relief. I saw temps to be about 78 and sunny with a possible chance of showers late in the afternoon. By the time we teed off at 10:35 it was sunny and temps were warming up.
In the first group we had Jay McGillicuddy, Steve King, Mike Landry and Bob Trottier. All four players hit their opening tee shots to the left, pulls for McGill, King and Trottier and a push by Landry. Best shot of the day on this hole goes to Steve King as his approach shot from about 150 was a rope that nestled about 3-4′ from the hole which King drained. First thing out of King’s mouth was is this going to be the Wilson curse? On two no one hit the green and King and McGill made bogeys. Two groups behind us Eric La Francis steps in and strikes a beauty and wins closest to and sinks the birdie putt. Congrats to Eric. On three Trottier was down the middle and King was a little left. Trottier and King both were just over the trap in two and King went first and stuck it to within 6′ and Trottier made a great stoke as well and was just outside of King. Both players made great putts and King went back to one under. On 4 we all messed it up and were glad to get to the 5th tee box. This hole we saw 3 really good tee shots with King out distancing McGill and Trottier by only a few yards. King pars and now we are off to the longest drive hole. King leads off and hits a nice drive down the left side and then Trottier air lifts a nice drive past King and Landry tags one too and is not that far behind, up steps McGill and he bombs one right down the middle and is one of his better drives and he is able to place his name on the placard. Since it’s the long drive hole he keeps an eye on it as the following groups approach. It didn’t last long as group 3 Wilson, Berry, Acciard and La Francis who are all long hitters were eying the prize. Well it didn’t surprise me that Wilson out drove me because he usually does on a regular basis. McGill and King make par. On 7 if your provisional ball could be the one to use then McGill and Trottier would have been sitting pretty. No one parred. The 8th was a little tricky as King came up short and McGill hit a beauty right at the stick but it settled on the first cut around the fringe, Trottier changes sticks and finally hits another green and makes par. On 9 King and McGill split the fairway and Trottier was in the rough beyond the trees on the right and Landry found the trees. Trottier only one to make par.
We head to the hot dog stand, thank you to the league for the $5.00 coupon for food and drinks.
Trottier had honors and you can see he is a little past parallel (click the image to expand) and his ball was found in the trees left of the fairway. Also I just noticed his right elbow, what do you see? He had to re-set as he had rabbit ears from noise behind us. I too was over sensitive to noise that really wasn’t there but was spooked just because I thought there would be noise. How lame is that? King was around the corner and made par as the other three were all over this hole. On 11 King was down the middle and Trottier, Landry and McGill hit decent drives but McGill and Trottier played a provisional and both were safe and Trottier’s approach shot shanked into the woods and after a drop he did it again. A nine was carded by Trottier, can’t remember the last time I saw that. Oh, King made another par. On 12 McGill bombed his drive to the 100 yd marker and Trottier duck hooked it into the woods. Landry was down the left side and just in the rough. King’s 3 wood was about 115 out and King made closest to on the second shot and Trottier was begging to have closest to, on the approach shot instead. King pars and McGill 3 putts. On 13 McGill hits it to within 10 feet and Trottier shanks again and the ball caroms off a tree and lands in the 12th fairway and he declares it unplayable and re-tees. McGill pars and loses closest to the pin to Bob Sasso thank you Bob. :-)). On 14 McGill and Trottier make par. On 15 McGill’s rabbit ears get the best of him as the guys on 9 made noise as he was in his downswing and he hooks into the trees and didn’t realize there was a steep drop off on the left side. King makes par. King makes an easy par on 16 and McGill bombs another drive and chunks a sand wedge that leads to bogey. Trottier is in the woods on the left and Landry’s 3rd shot is long and he missed a lot of putts today as 40 was not his style. Everyone but McGill came up short on 17 and Trottier finally got his short game going as his chip shot rested about 9 inches from the hole. Trottier and McGill par. McGill bombs away again on 18 and he splits the middle of the fairway and is about 140 out. That was only a 239 yard drive but it sure did seem a lot longer. Trottier found the trees again and needed a 6 to break 50. Within 6′ Trottier blasts his putt about 4′ past the hole and Trottier finishes with a 50 and a total 93. Trottier’s handicap is 7 and – 93 =86 Trottier wins the highest net score for the day. To just think a few years ago Trottier shot an impressive 1 over par 72 on the same course.
Well, that was our round and I hope you will comment about some key shots in your foursome or bloopers as well. I know I had a bunch and as well as I drove the ball I couldn’t believe my putting and rabbit ears let me down.I made a lot of bad decisions out there and it shows I need a lot of practice.
A big shout out to the following players; Steve King for an impressive front nine 39 which was 3 over and a 5 over 40 on the back side led to a nice 79 net 70 good for a 4th place finish as low net.
Congrats to the low medalist of the day Eric La Francis who fired a very nice 6 over par 77 net 64 and winner of closest to the pins on 2 and 8. Now he just needs to bring that game to Campbell’s. Very well done Eric. Playing with Eric were long ball hitters Glenn Acciard, Bill Wilson and Mike Berry. Acciard tied La Francis with least putts with 31 each. Acciard fired an 89 net 75 which tied him with one of the 6 low net prizes. Mike Berry said it was one of the worst rounds of his life as he posted a 97 net 84 with 34 putts and -6 in the point quota. Bill Wilson fired an 87 net 76 and one shot out of the money for low net prizes but he did cash in on the longest drive and least putts in the A flight with 30. I overheard someone blurt out “that’s because he couldn’t reach the greens.” They’ll pay for that statement I am sure.
Just ahead of Eric in the foursome in front of him were Jim Marnie 90 net 76, Jim Waterman 79 net 65, George Duffield 82 net 68 and closest to the pin winner on 17. Marnie finished with 36 putts which normally wouldn’t be too bad if he could have reached every green in regulation but that was not to be. Waterman missed out on putts by one as he finished with 32 and a +6 in the point quota, welcome back Jim. Looks like Duffield plays better away from Campbell’s as well as he came close to breaking a league record for fewest putts with an impressive 28 and a +4 for his point quota. Sub Butch Hembree filled in as their 4th and unfortunately I do not have is scores posted.
In the 4th group we saw Alan Imlach, Dominick D’ Orio, Vinny Serafino and Rick Maloney. Alan “best putter in the world” Imlach didn’t fare so well as he carded 39 putts and shot a 111 with a net 80 and +2 on points. Dominick won a little coin as he had 32 putts and was glad Tom Hale moved up to the C flight. D’Orio shot 108 net 79 and was even on his point quota. Serafino shot 108 and a net 78 but 40 putts did not help him get in the money. He ended up with a -1 in the point quota. Maloney in the C flight just finished one shot out of the money as well as his 95 net 76 with 35 putts and a -5 in the point quota saw no money as well.
5th group Tom Hale, Skip Gray Dennis Croteau and Bob Sasso. Tom Hale finally getting out of the D flight nearly broke a 100 with a 102 net 70 and his new chipping techniques that he learned from Trottier just before we teed off may have payed dividends as Hale almost took the C flight with 30 putts but just fell shy of Duffield. Hale had -2 points for his point quota. Skip Gray made a presence this field day and with him being here we all figured we would not get rained on but poor Gray and Croteau were drenched along with Sasso and Hale. Gray finished with a 109 net 79 and averaged 2 putts per hole and was a +3 in his point quota and took first place in that category for his flight. Dennis Croteau shooting 91 net 75 with 32 putts and a -2 for point quota won some change with his low net. Bob Sasso’s card was soaking wet and didn’t make it home with me but his closest to the pin on 13 made him smile.
6th group George Vigneault, Norm Comeau, Paul Comeau and Ed Miele. Sub Ed Miele was his old cheerful self as he greeted everyone with a jolly welcome. He was kind enough to walk back to the 18th tee after our rain delay to help George Vigneault play out his final hole. Vigneault got caught in the afternoon downpours that literally forced the course to close but El Presidento Bob Trottier talked the clubhouse into letting Vigneault and Miele play their final hole by walking up the fairway and not using a cart. A few of us walked out to the rough 
and fairway to watch George and Ed attempt the final hole and Miele’s tee shot was a few yards ahead of Vigneault and George’s second shot landed about 40 yards short of the green. From where George’s tee shot landed he had a good shot coming in considering he didn’t get any roll due to the wet course on his drive. His chip fell a tad short and with a long lag putt for par George pushed it a little and his bogey putt slid past. After a good hour rain delay hats off to George and Ed for going back out there and finishing the round. George ended up with an 80 net 70 and did receive a few buck for his effort but he finished with 34 putts and a +2 in the point quota just one off the mark as Steve King captured captured the A flight with a +3.
Only one missing after their round was Mike Landry. I didn’t even get a chance to say good bye as he never came into the clubhouse after his round. Mike finished with a disappointing 104 net 81 with -4 points and 40 putts.
Steve King had to head to a wedding and Jim Marnie headed home to jump in the pool and head back to work.
Sorry Norm Pelletier, Rich Juknavorian and Erkan Duzenli couldn’t make it and thanks to the subs Ed Miele, Bob Sasso and Butch Hembree for filling in the fnal 3 spots.
We had four special guests
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