Happy spring-like weather from the Illinois Valley Country Club golf course!
Well, after all that rain, the course is amazingly dry. The only wet spot that remains in on the left side of #3, it stays mushy all spring until about July usually.
We are getting the fallen trees cleaned up fairly quickly with our small cadre of volunteers and can now use the whole teebox on #4. Some of the devastation caused by the falling of the huge pine on #7 has been cut up but that job will take a while as it was a huge tree with lots of branches. Speaking of branches, a large “widow maker” has lodged in some large branches just above the parking spot on #6 teebox and looks ominously dangerous. However, I went down and tied a long rope to it and a few of us pulled and pulled on it but could not get the branch to slide up and over the fork in which it is sitting. We even hooked a large SUV to it but were only able to break the rope. I guess we will pull on it every so often until it rots enough to break off and come down.
We also have been fighting the many leaves that have fallen since fall and have purchased a hand-push type leaf blower. I tried it out yesterday and boy does it ever push those leaves around. Then the wind started blowing and it was like being in a leaf-storm-blizzard. If I was blowing them with the wind, the process went well, but when I was working back upwind, the leaves all came right back at me! After 90 minutes I hauled it back up to the clubhouse and played Sunday Skins with the guys.
So this week was very nice for golf. On Monday we had 12 guys show up to create a $60 pool of prize money. We went 2 holes with no skins then Todd birdied #3. Two more holes with no skins and then Colby birdied #6. No winners for the next three holes and D’Lynn birdied #9 for the last skin for a payout of $20 each. The lone KP was dramatic on #8 as Troy, Todd and I all landed on the putting surface. Troy’s shot was first and a little wide left, Todd’s came next and looked to be right up the middle and very close. Mine was last and hit up front but spun backward and failed to roll up to the pin. We gave Todd the $24, but on approaching the green the angle changed and mine was actually closer than Todd’s so I bought drinks for the guys with the winnings.
On Friday we had 10 guys show up and enjoyed the very nice warm evening. I didn’t write down all of the action but we finished right before sundown, just as it got cold.
On Sunday afternoon we started at 2, in the beautiful warm sunshine. We had 11 guys including a newcomer, Solomon, who has a beautiful, natural, soft swing that must hit the sweet spot because it launches with a speed that is unexpected from that soft swing. Jim Losey also came back after a long absence, with his daughter. Matt Miller brought his kid, Cameron and it was fun to hear the sounds of children’s laughter out there in the lovely sunshiny day. Skins were won by Colby with a birdie on #11, Solomon with a par on #4 (and the KP except it didn’t make it all the way to the surface), Graham with par on #14, Todd with a birdie on #15 and then a chip-in birdie on the next hole. Todd and Troy both had chances at KP on #17 but neither sunk a putt for birdie. On #18 nobody parred although Matt’s putt was in and out, so no skin on #18.
The week looks very nice for golf with some warm afternoons, so I am hoping that we will have some folks come and enjoy the course. This will help build back our bank account that always has more taken out than put it during the winter.