Tee Tattler

Hello from the Illinois Valley Country Club golf course!
Men’s Twilight League leader board:
Cascade Auto-173.5
Taylor’s Sausage-162
Bogey Nights-153.5
True Value-148.5
Graham and Co-147
Bud Bros-145
White’s Excavation-144.5
Waldamar Ranch-144
Kerby Electric-140.5
Valley Fab-137.5
Grayback-134
Jerry’s Towing- 123.5
Da Kidz-101.5
Ladies League have been playing scramble format and this low impact play is just nicely suited for beginners and experienced players both, as it does not require one to have years of skills. Once everyone on a team hits their shot, only the most favorable shot is chosen and everyone then hits from that lie. Beginners will often make a team contribution and it makes everyone feel comfortable, regardless of skill level. It’s surprising that teams comprised of only beginners will put together enough shots to post good scores. Another really nice thing about our ladies’ club is that they all wear “appropriate” golf attire and the different matching outfits and fun that they have certainly create a nice atmosphere and help to set the reputation of our little course as a “player” in our area.
We have also been seeing a lot of new faces at the course. Many people traveled from the coast, Grants Pass and Medford but also local young people coming and developing their game. Lately, I have been seeing sets of young couples enjoying the spring/summer weather and having a fun time. New voices can be heard laughing and joking across the course, through the tree-lined fairways and on tee boxes.
The normal guys playing skins have been very active and play at least five days a week, both the Tuesday morning group and the evening guys too. A $10 per player pool exchanges hands and occasionally even I win a nice cash payout.
Update on the exciting conclusion to the footvalve saga—as you might recall, last week the footvalve screen collapsed from running the pond down low in an attempt to allow the seaweed to dry out and die. Scott and Jim made a new screen and it is working perfectly.
In other thrilling irrigation news-The valve on the #2 green was stuck open and allowing the sprinklers to run any time that the system was charged. The green was becoming very soggy. Scott had dug up and replaced the valve cover and Eugene found a new valve in my stash of sprinkler extra parts. I was able to sneak out between groups and open the main drain valve to allow the pipes to drain and then squeeze myself between groups and dig the mud away from the valve top. In just a few minutes, I had the top removed and set the new parts all into the base. There was just enough space between groups to then prime the pump and I waited as Jesse and Casey finished finding their balls on the #8 green to turn on the pump. I could see the skins players just approaching the first green and knew that I had very little time to complete my test. I opened the main valve and the pump primed, now I only had a few minutes to let the pipes refill and see if my fix had worked. The moments were flying by as I watched the skins guys approach the #2 teebox, it would only be minutes until they would be hitting into the green. I wanted to bite my nails but they were filled with gooey, brown mud. The water started flowing from the sprinklers surrounding the #7 green, I could see more sprinklers running on the #4 green as well. Suddenly, the main pipes completed filling and they came up to full flow. I zipped through the Willows on #2 fairway, trembling with fear that the fix had not been successful. Much to my pleasure, the fix had worked, just as the lead guys’ shots reached the green. I shut off the pump and rinsed my hands off in a low spot in the creek, satisfied that the green would be firm and fast for our league play today.
**Coming up this Saturday-the dreaded GREENSKEEPERS REVENGE tournament. $50 gets you 18 holes of crazy golf action with missing flag sticks, mowers left in strategic locations, tee markers behind trees and, for the first time, poisonous snakes! Well, maybe no snakes, but certainly a few mosquitos!
**And then the next weekend is the famous Illinois Valley reunion tournament with the giant wedding tents, a live band, splash for cash, ribeye steak dinner and maybe a little golf thrown in too.
**And remember, kids 17 and under always play for free at IVCC.