Tee Tattler

Season’s Greetings from the Illinois Valley Country Club.
In this week’s action, the guys went out for a few days but the soggy weather has slowed down the attendance lately so just a little news.
On Friday they had Troy, Dylan, Colby, Todd, Graham and Emily join them for a little feminine addition. Colby started them off with a chip-in birdie on #2. Todd birdied #3 for the second skin. D’Lynn got skins on 7 and 9. Graham took one on #6 and Colby just missed a second skin with a rimmed chip on #8. The weather was nice enough although the course was soggy.
Then, on Saturday, Todd called for a noon start time, $10, 18-hole mini-tournament. The weather Saturday was so nice and warm and sunny that I really missed going out, but I had to prop up my barn that has a post and beam that Tracy’s horses knocked over, leaving a vulnerable truss that will certainly collapse this winter if we have even a little snow.
Danny had previously told me that he quit until spring but he has been having guys over to play on the simulator that he has in his garage and he has been taking some cash on bets that way so he got excited and showed up Saturday. He reports that he won pretty well that day with a two-over par on the front and even par on the back with two birdies for a 74 two-over par for the day. Also showing up were Todd, James, Graham and Jesse. Todd got a skin on #3 again, Danny got one on #2. Jesse won skins on 2, 8 and 13 (Todd says that he missed putts so that Jesse could win but the greens are pretty difficult so Todd’s missed putts were probably not on purpose). The KP on #16, from the difficult front tee, over the pond and 185 yards was a 4-hole carryover for $18 and went to D’Lynn. Todd got the next KP on 17 but only $6. Todd also reports that he chipped in on #9.
I sure will be glad when Christmas rush is over at the sausage plant and I have some firewood in and my barn is repaired, so I can get back out with the guys on the course. I also want to get Ashton and Grey back out there to get some good outside exercise and fun.
We have been experiencing quite a bit of fungus infection on the greens this year so we are going to open the checkbook and purchase some fungicide. I talked to Dave Muswieck over at Applegate course and he gave me some products that will help us to get rid of the brown spots that came on us this year. It’s pretty hard to keep those darn greens perfect – if you water enough to keep them moist, you end up with fungus, if you water too little, the grass dies, just a tightrope walk between the two.
**So, that about does it for this week, remember that kids 17 and under golf for free so get out there and help a kid fall in love with the game!