1ST ROUND COVERAGE OF THE 2015 SW SERIES AT THE FOREST- BEAR

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Joe Stein (left) taking care of business

After my less than stellar performances in golf tourneys this year, I wanted to give it one final shot. I have a hard time accepting my mediocrity, so I entered the Florida State Golf Association’s 2015 SW Series at The Forest- Bear Course, November 21 -22. Thus far in my limited experience of golf events, the organizers and course staffs have been terrific, and Joe Stein, the FSGA’s GHIN Regional Manager SW Florida, and the Forest’s pro shop staff members have been no exceptions.

TA with balky putter

Again, similar to my previous experiences, my Day 1 performance can be aptly described as middle of the pack mediocrity. I shot 86, leaving a few shots out there due to sub-par putting and mental error or two. I was obviously the third best player in the group with Dan Hammer and Mark Porraro teeing it up with me in Flight-2 (handicap index 9 – 14). Fortunately, I was not the story out there today, but the story of the first day’s round did come from my group.

Dan Hammer totally focused

The noteworthy happening on Day 1 at FSGA 2015 SW Series at The Forest was Wisconsin native Dan Hammer pounding all the other competitors into the turf at the Forest with his 74 gross, 63 net score. Dan rode a hot putter (4 birdies) to a seven-shot lead over his closest competitor in our flight, Gary Johnson.

Mark Porraro chips up

Johnson shot 85, but had a course handicap of 15, resulting in a net of 70. Dan will have to have a meltdown, or someone else will have to catch fire for him to be caught tomorrow. Although my cart partner Mark’s 83 was the second best gross score of our flight, he sits in fifth going into the final round. Mark wasn’t too thrilled with his play today, so I expect him to bring his A-game tomorrow.

Dan smacks one off the tee

Dan’s 74 wasn’t the absolute best score today, as Mike Andre in the Championship-Flight (handicap index 3 – 3.8) shot 69 gross to lead his fight. However, with net scores in play, Dan’s 63 was six strokes better than anyone else in the field. Andre’s 69 was seven strokes better than his nearest competitors, Jim Marcelak and Greg Shires, both of whom shot 76 from the Championship Bear tees.

Only five players in my flight posted better rounds than I did, but net scores left me in a tie for ninth (of 19 in flight) going into the final round. I don’t feel too horribly though, since my score was better than three of the six Flight-1 (handicap index 3.9 – 8.9) competitors. Daniel Gregg was the best of Flight-1 posting an 80 gross, 72 net. He leads Gus Quiros and Rick Koenigs by five shots going into the final day of competition.

Steph doing her thing on camera

Me? I’m just hoping we can get the round in tomorrow and to shoot a decent round. As always I have to thank the lovely Steph for her terrific camera work, especially feeling under the weather as she was. She’s such a trooper! Until tomorrow then… 

2015 SOUTHWEST FLORIDA MEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

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It has taken a while, but we've finally finished the recap of the Southwest Florida Men’s Amateur Championship at Eastwood Golf Course and Fort Myers Country Club

Rich Lamb getting the final day started

This was my second time playing the Southwest Florida Men’s Amateur, and I can say without hesitation that Rich Lamb (Director of Golf),

Todd Brown and volunteer man leaderboard

Todd Brown (Eastwood Head Professional) and Kari Phenix (Golf Professional) know how to put on a terrific golf tournament. Of course, the course superintendents and the other staff members and volunteers had a lot to do with it, but you know how the folks running the show usually get the credit or blame.

Kari Phenix at tourney central at Eastwood

If I weren’t so hardheaded, this might just be the last time I played a golf tournament. The fact is, though, that I am hardheaded and simply can’t accept that my days as a good competitor are over. Surely I have one or two more good competitive efforts left! You couldn’t tell by the final round of the tournament though.

My 1st round partners Jerry Dycke and Keith Cramsey

Day 1 at Eastwood, a course I have considered more difficult than “The Fort” (as Fort Myers Country Club’s track is affectionately known), I posted an 83. Although I didn’t feel as though I were playing terrific, I only missed five fairways, hit almost half the greens, and shot par or better on more than half the holes. That’s pretty good golf for me, and only a couple major snafus, two double bogeys and a triple prevented me shooting one of my best rounds ever.

Keith rolling one in

Perhaps playing with Keith Cramsey, one of my playing partners from last year’s event, was inspirational. Or perhaps it was having my favorite photographer

riding along with us (yep, Steph was my riding partner). 

Jerry explodes from bunker

In any event, Keith has a nice game, and I was focused on hanging with him. After five holes I was five strokes behind Keith, and our playing partner, Jerry Dycke, was having his struggles sitting nine strokes behind Keith after five holes. His struggles would continue that day, but he did shoot 10 strokes better on Day 2. By the time we finished our first nine (10 - 18), I was within two strokes of Keith, and mounting a charge. 

Knocking in birdie on final hole

Keith struggled a bit with his consistency on the second nine, finishing the round with three bogeys, while I pulled it together and finished with two pars and a birdie. I had closed the early gap to finish two strokes ahead. Too bad the tournament didn’t end there!

Sitting in a tie for second, just three strokes behind the flight leader Gus Forkel, and playing with the other two players with whom I was tied, JD Leland and 

C-Flight runner-up John Burke 

John Burke, I was in the final group and expecting good things at The Fort going into the final round. After all, I had posted rounds in the low 80s two of the last three times I played there, one of those scores being an 80 just three days earlier.

C- Flight Champ Gus Forkel

Much to my surprise, on the day that mattered most, I played the worst round I had played in some time. In fact, it was the second worst round I had played in my last 14! Perhaps it was because I didn’t get there in time to get a single putt or practice swing in (what an idiot huh?). Perhaps it was because early on I knew that JD Leland and I were pretty much outclassed by Gus and John. Whatever the reasons, I was pretty disappointed with my Day 2 performance.

JD takes a mighty cut

By the third hole, it was pretty clear that Gus and John would be fighting it out for Flight C honors, and although Gus had a three-stroke lead on the three of us coming in, I fully expected John to catch Gus and claim the flight. Shows how deceiving looks can be. Gus doubled the first hole and had two other bogeys in the first seven holes, but he also had a birdie. John had parred five of the first seven and bogeyed the other two.

What about JD and me? Well, I began and ended a mostly uneventful front nine with double bogeys to post a 44. Not good, but not horrible for me. A decent back nine and I’d be on track to meet my goal of playing both rounds in 85 or better. I was six strokes behind the two leaders now, and a win was pretty much out of reach the way I was playing. But I would be okay with a good round.

JD had gotten off to a devilish start, after having played well enough to post his 83 the day before, posting double-bogey sixes on his first three holes. Every time it seemed like he was about to settle in, disaster would strike. At the end of the first nine, JD was 13 strokes behind the leaders. However, you won’t run into a nicer guy on the course, and I’m looking forward to teeing it up with him again.

Back to the true competition, John’s length off the tee and impressive short game had me impressed. Gus was not long but consistent off the tee, and his putting was solid. Nothing sexy about Gus’ game, but this is golf; you have to get the ball in the hole 18 times, and it doesn’t matter how you look doing it.

Being long on the golf course is usually good, but sometimes not so much. The not so much caught up with John.  After seven holes, John had cut into Gus’ lead, and was just two strokes back, but going for the long ball off the tee on holes eight and nine resulted in double bogeys on both holes. 

Despite his length off the tee and some impressive par saves, John was now four strokes back after nine. Ouch! He would bounce back before it was all over though.

Despite my rough start, I was looking forward to a good back nine when I sunk my par putt on #10, but by the time I had finished the next three holes, I was absolutely shell-shocked! With apologies to those who have truly earned it, I felt like I had PTSD after those holes! 

I’m not sure I’ve ever posted back-to-back triples, but I went triple, triple, double on holes 11 -13 and was in a daze the rest of the way. I had two more pars on the way in, but had another triple on Hole #16. 

Wow! Three triples in nine holes! Definitely don’t remember that in my golf history as bad as I have been at times. If you see me walking with my head down and muttering to myself, you’ll know I’m having a flashback. All I had left at that point is to try to enjoy the drama of John and Gus battling it out down the stretch.

Gus was looking good to claim Flight C honors. Who wouldn’t want a four-shot lead coming down the back stretch on Sunday?  Oh, but didn’t I say this was golf? John proceeded to play the next five holes in two over par, while Gus played them in seven over!  Just like that, John had taken a one-shot lead after 14 holes (actually 32 holes counting the day before).

Ah, but as any tournament golfer (or tournament watcher for that matter) can tell you, it’s a lot different charging from behind than trying to hold a lead. John finished the final four holes in five over par, while Gus finished those four holes in three over par to claim our flight by one shot. Once again the tortoise had bested the hare. Does the hare ever win? Only in the dashes, and golf is more like a marathon.

CJ Weber displays his legendary short game

So major kudos goes out to Gus for slow and steadying his way to the title. Me? I managed to eke out a tie for fifth. Speaking of kudos, although he didn’t win his flight, major props have to go to CJ Weber, the Men’s Tennis Head Coach at FGCU for his performance in his first ever golf tournament. 

Pretty good looking swing for a rookie

CJ finished in a tie for 6^th overall, but got a tidy sum for finishing 2^nd in the net competition. That net finish means that after figuring the handicaps of all the players in his flight, CJ did second best. Pretty spiffy for a guy who started seriously working on his game a few months ago!

John Seaman lines up a putt

And of course, we must give a shout out to all the other flight winners who managed to hold it together through the two rounds of the Southwest Florida Men’s Amateur. In the Championship Flight, Charlie West beat Jake Sherwin in a playoff; Mark Ludden won the A Flight by three shots; Wayne Donaghy took the B Flight by three shots as well, and Jason Heidig won the D Flight by a scorching five shots!

Given my shortcomings in the competitive arena, I was considering giving up competitive golf, but it’s just way too much fun to let my bruised ego get in the way. I’ll be back at Eastwood and The Fort next year to give it yet another try. Maybe a few more Fort Myers Golf Club members will join CJ John Seaman and me as we go for the gusto. Hey, two of the three who played finished in the top six of their flights. Not bad for an internet club. Thanks to my lovely camera woman for her efforts; thanks to Rich Lamb and his staff for another fun event, and see ya’ll next year this time.