LW Men’s Golf Club

Fifty-six variously skilled Men’s Golf Club members vied for best net scores (gross score minus handicap), plus four circle holes (shots within a 5-foot circle rewarded) and two closest to the pin challenges during the April 10 tournament at the Turtle Lake Golf Course.

An old golf saying is: “Drive for show, putt for dough.” This means that good putting is where players make their money. But that requires a decent putting surface, which the golfers did not have this week. The greens have not recovered from last week’s aeration and sanding. This caused putting to be problematic even though everyone had to overcome the same obstacle. Balls rolling across the aeration holes acted dramatically different than putting into the line of holes, and it was nearly impossible to judge uphill putts.

A larger problem with the greens is the failure of golfers to repair their ball marks. The first group out reported that there were so many unrepaired ball marks on every green that nearly every putt of theirs was affected, and they had to be repaired. Golfers: No matter when one plays, fix the ball mark and one other.

At the start of the tournament, it was sunny and warming up nicely. After an hour it became a lovely morning to play golf. With the challenging greens, scores were generally higher than past tournaments with just 23 of the 56 rounds net at or under par, but with a surprising 60 birdies, and 12 circle hole winners.

The low gross competition was won by Bill Lyons, followed by Bob Turner. Best net scores were 44 by Gary Newhall, 47 by Fujio Norihiro, and 49 by Turner. Closest to the pin on the seventh hole was Bob Johnston at 5 feet 0 inches, and Jae H. Lee was closest on the 16th at 2 feet 6 inches.

All scores below are net (gross score minus handicap).

A flight winners (handicaps of 0-8): Norihiro, 7 under 47, first place; Turner, 5 under 49, second; Alan Sewell and Bruce Bowles, 3 under 51, third; Johnston, 2 under 52, fourth; Mike Mayfield and Seung Lee, 1 under 53, fifth; Rolando Ramirez, even par 54, sixth; Don Newhall, 1 over 55, seventh.

B flight winners (handicaps of 9-12): Newhall, 10 under 44, first place; Bill Long, 4 under 50, second; Bill McKusky and Hyon Shin, 3 under 51, third; Jae H. Lee, 2 under 52, fourth; Joon Sup Yoon, John Rudosky and Dave Winn, 1 under par 53, fifth; Won Song and John Haley, even par 54, sixth; Richard Yokomi, 1 over 55, seventh.

C flight winners (handicaps of 13-18): Scott Tuchfarber and Darry Holten, 2 under 52, first place; Ryan Hong and Jon Russell, 1 under 53, second; Daniel Mahoney and Won Park, even par 54, third; Paul Shellenberger, 1 over 55, fourth; Kevin Lindstedt and new member Joe Wierzbicki, 2 over 56, fifth.

The next men’s tournament will be on April 24 and every second and fourth Wednesday of each month. The Guys and Gals Tournament is played on the third and fifth Wednesdays of each month. Those who had planned to play and cannot, contact Scott Tuchfarber at 909-684-0426 or Alan Sewell at 541-324-8558 as soon as possible. Arrive 15 minutes prior to scheduled tee time and be ready to play.

—Dave LaCascia