Greetings from the Rogue Valley Airport this week as we are travelling to Mesquite Nevada for our annual pro-am in the desert.
This year we have Todd, Terry, D’Lynn, Troy, Colby and Scott coming from IVCC. We are meeting another 39 golfers to play the extremely challenging desert courses. We have tournament play Monday through Thursday but today, Todd and Scott and I got stranded at the airport as the wind was very intense in Las Vegas so planes could not take off or land for a good portion of the day so they made us stay overnight in Medford. Tracy and Sue are coming with us this year and they are not impressed so far. Ha! Stay tuned for more results.
In last Sunday’s $20 skins action – Todd, Graham and Dalton took skins for a payout of $33 each and Colby and Graham won KPs for $10 each.
In Monday’s action Joel Dierkes won his first skin on #2 with a nice birdie. Jake won his first skin and his second skin as well and also got a KP for a nice payout day for Jake. Graham won a KP on the difficult #7.
Eugene called me Friday morning and asked if we were subleasing a portion of the course to cattle ranchers as there were 29 cows on the course. We located the owner who leases from Q Bar X in Kerby as the cattle had wandered down to the south end of the ranch, swam the river and came onto the course off of Waldamar Road. Eugene gathered some golf cart cowboys and they were able to chase them off the course. We were having glow ball that night so, although we could not really see the marks, we could feel the hoof-prints in the darkness on the greens.
Glow ball winners were Scott, Sue, Graham and Troy; and the second place was Terry, Todd, Moe and Donnie Wylie. The night made a few bucks for the course to help pay for some fall application of fertilizer and hopefully keep us afloat financially over the winter until we get busy again during the spring.
For the annual Mesquite golf trip, we brought Terry, Todd, Jason Gill, D’Lynn and Troy, Colby and Scott. Once we figured out the airplane fiasco we arrived in Mesquite at a reasonable hour and enjoyed some fellowship with some of the great friends we have made on this and the annual Bandon trip. Of course, we all stayed up too late each night so did not realize our best scores but all had a great time.
Notables–Jason drove from Lakeview to Vegas by himself; D’Lynn shot only about 10 over par for the combined 4-day tournament; Scottie shot a 96 the last day which was a net score of 68 – it was really great for him! Colby shot very well too. Rex was noticeably absent as he caught COVID and it interfered quite a bit with his blood thinner, so he needed to stay close to home and the doctor. He tells me that he is OK now and feeling well so he definitely will be coming to Bandon Dunes with us in the Spring. Rex’s daughter Konnie came out from Massachusetts and played with us and it was nice to see her again.
The Men’s Club Championship was played over Sat and Sun this weekend. Gimmee’s fed the guys pulled pork sandwiches with Mexican coleslaw and it was enjoyed by all. Gross score winner and Club Champion was D’Lynn Roach with a 78-79 two-day total of 157. Dalton started off with a bang with a 76 but had a bit of a struggle on Sunday with 87. Colby started with an awesome 79 and finished with 87. Todd had 83 and 81 for a solid score. Net score winners were first-Colby, second-Todd and a great finish for Poke with a third net after having some issues on Saturday.
Going into the late fall and winter is always financially difficult on a golf course so I would implore everyone to come out when you can and play, have fun and help support the course, it’s a good value to cost and it really does matter to keep the course operational.
Remember—children golf for free at IVCC.