Bayou DeSiard Ladies' Golf Classic

Eighty-eight ladies made the trip to Monroe on May 29-30 to participate in the Bayou DeSiard Ladies' Golf Classic, a 2-lady scramble tournament, and endured the sweltering heat of up to 96 degrees!  Thirteen of those ladies were from our Shreveport/Bossier area clubs, making a fine showing......as usual.

There were closest to the pin awards on all the par 3's and Mary Jo Gray took home the honors on one of those holes.

The lowest score of the day was 69, shared by the top three teams in the Championship Flight.  We had two teams that brought home awards:  Cathy Buckley (BWGA) and Jeanie Ward (PCC) won third place in the Second Flight while Martha Lawhorne (BWGA) and Kathleen McCoy (BWGA) took First Place in the Fourth Flight.  Congratulations to all!

The entire group of leaderboards are included in the slideshow presentation.

SSWGA Playday Eastridge

Thirty-nine ladies showed up on Thursday, May 25, in 92 degree weather to participate in the Eastridge Playday.  Thank goodness for the really strong winds that knocked the ball down, but kept everyone alot cooler.  It was a beautiful day on a beautiful course.

The overall low score of the day went to Teri McGuire with her nice 84, followed right behind by Marianne Leslie who scored 85.  Overall low net for the day was Donna Cobb with a 71.  Martha Bordelon really showed off her putting skills with the overall low putts of 28.  I'm sure everyone was green with envy.   Congratulations ladies!  A complete list of winners is located in the right column.

The next SSWGA Playday is on June 19th at Northwood with a 9:00am shotgun.  Be sure to sign up with your club representative.

Westwood Championship

The annual Westwood Association Championship was held on May 23, 2012, at Westwood Golf Course.  Results are as follows:

Overall Champion:  Betty Webster (BWGA)

Overall Net Champion:  Carol Mayfield

Championship Flight
Low Gross:  Betty Webster
1st Low Net: Pat Rice (BWGA)
2nd Low Net: Pat Miller (BWGA)
Low Putts:  Liz Sims (BWGA)

First Flight
Low Gross: Bea Roach (BWGA)
1st Low Net: Carol Mayfield
2nd Low Net: Judy Kelly (BWGA)
Low Putts: Marie McFarland (BWGA)

Long Drive A Division:  Jeanette Bohringer (BWGA)
Long Drive B Division:  Paula Waterman

Closest to the Pin:  Jeanette Bohringer

Pace of Play

I was watching “The Golf Fix” this evening and saw something that I thought I should share with those of you who perhaps didn’t see it. This deals with speeding the pace of play.

With the hot golf season upon us, we need to reduce the amount of time we’re out in that heat. Five to five and one-half hours on the course is simply too long. What can we do to speed the pace?

First of all, don’t sit in the cart and simply “observe” your cart partner hitting the ball. If you are anywhere reasonably close, proceed to your ball, determine what club you need, take your practice swings…..be ready to hit as soon as your cart partner is finished. I’ve seen many, many instances of ladies sitting in the cart waiting for it to be driven up ten yards to their ball. We’ve played this game long enough to “guesstimate” about how many yards closer our ball may be from where we are currently sitting. Don’t be afraid to walk a few yards to your ball. We can all use the exercise.

Once you’ve hit your ball, get in the cart and go. Put your headcover back on your club while you’re in the cart or waiting on your cart partner to hit. This is a hard one for me, so I know it’s not an easy habit to break, but I also know it saves time.

If you are driving and keeping the scores, don’t sit and write the scores before moving on. Get to the next hole and write the scores while someone else is hitting. It clears the way for the group behind you and moves the pace of play.

If it’s a “cart path only” hole, use your imagination and take a few clubs with you along with your GPS so you don’t have to go back for the right club.

The hottest spots on the course are on the greens. If it’s feasible for you to putt out without stopping to mark your ball, this saves time. If you need to study the putt, it’s totally reasonable to mark it. We don’t want you to rush, but if you feel comfortable, putt out. And if you are first to finish on the green, be the flag retriever so it’s ready to return to the hole as soon as the last person putts….and you can get out of the heat sooner.

If it sounds like I’m preaching, I don’t intend to sound that way. I think we ALL want to speed play, and these are just a few ideas. If you have ideas of your own, let me know and I’ll add them to the list. And when you see me holding up the cart while I put away my clubs, call it to my attention. I’ll need help to remember.

Guys and Dolls Tournament

Well gang, I don't have any pictures, but the news is good.  Seems that we had three of our local ladies and their partners who went to the Guys and Dolls Tournament this past weekend in Alexandria.  The good news:  they all won something!  Debbie and Merv Magee won 2nd place in the Championship Flight and Mary Jo and Dave Gray won 3rd place in the same flight.  Gayle and Bob Gansfuss won 3rd place in the Second Flight.  Congratulations to all you guys and dolls!!!

SWGA Playday at Northwood

Another successful playday!  Forty-four ladies participated in the really pleasant weather that the Northwood ladies ordered for us.....along with some delicious homemade cookies!

The overall low gross score for the day came from the Second Flight.  Donna Cobb (BWGA) shot a really nice 82!  The overall low net was also a Broadmoor lady, Cathy Buckley, with a nice 68.  There were scads of duplicate putt totals ranging from 30 to 40, but an overall average of 33.7 putts.

It was a great day of golf, but with a sad note in that it was Donna Phillips' last playday with the SWGA, as she is moving to Texas.  We wish her all the best and we'll miss her alot!  Lillian Granger has graciously stepped up to take Donna's position on the SWGA Board and will be in charge of Team Matches this year, so she'll be needing help from us all since she's taking this on in the middle of things.

I might also note that this year we have two new members with the same name:  Kathy Davis.  One of them is a Northwood girl and the other is from Southern Trace.  Be on the lookout for them and introduce yourself.

See results of the tournament in the right column.

Nikki Patterson Invitational

The annual Nikki Patterson Invitational 4-lady scramble is just around the corner on June 27th at the Golf Club at Stonebridge with practice round on June 26.  This has become a very popular tournament, so don't delay in getting in getting your entry form in the mail.  The $85 per person ($340 per team) entry fee includes the practice round (excluding cart), wine and cheese social on Tuesday, breakfast on Wednesday, lunch and awards.  In addition, mulligans may be sold.  For hotel information, Click here.  For entry form, Click here.

2 He's and a She Tournament

Northwood Hills Golf Club is hosting a two-day tournament June 9-10.  As the name states, it's a 2-man, 1-lady scramble.  Shotgun start is 9:00am on Saturday and 1:00pm on Sunday.  Price for non-members is $120 per person.  This fee includes golf and cart, mulligans, beverages on course, dinner after play, and prizes.  Deadline for entry is June 2nd.  Click here for more information.  Click here for entry form.

LWGA State Amateur Championship

For those of you who have never played in a State tournament, don't let the name "Amateur Championship" scare you away from this very exciting and fun tournament.  This is actually a match play tournament which means you would be playing against ONE person, hole-by-hole.  You could shoot a twelve on a hole and lose the hole, but still win the match.  Sure takes the pressure off your game!

This year's tournament is at Beau Chene Country Club in Mandeville, LA, just north of Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans.  Dates are June 2-6, but that's a little deceiving.  The Championship Flight has a practice round on June 2, while other flights practice on June 3.  This is a double elimination tournament:  If you win on Monday, you go into the winners' bracket.  If you lose on Monday, you go into the losers's bracket.  If you win on Tuesday, you play again on Wednesday.  If you lose on Tuesday, you are finished with the tournament.

All the information you need including an entry form can be found on the LWGA website by clicking here.  Give it a couple minutes to download the large file.  Deadline for signing up is May 25, so don't delay.  It's a great course and it's great fun!

La Di Da Tournament

The annual La Di Da Tournament was held at the Crown Colony Country Club in Lufkin on May 9-10, with practice rounnd on May 8th.  This year we had three teams representing the Shreveport/Bossier area.  This tournament has a different format by being a scramble using the lowest net and lowest gross score on each hole.  Makes it really fun and interesting.  Of our three teams, we had one winning team:  Marge Snyder, Jimmie Zey, Linda Colvin, and Cathy Buckley.  These ladies won second gross in the third flight.  Congratulations to all. 

This is a quote from Cathy Buckley:  "We loved the format of the tournament and we all are looking forward to going back next year. The tournament is extremely well run - everything proceeds like clock work.  You can tell they have done this many/many times. Food was great! We all had a blast."  That pretty much says it all.  Our other ladies who enjoyed the tournament were Team (Jeanie Ward, Theresa Kruse, Gail Gansfuss, and Debbie Rollins) and Team (Linda Heins, Gloria Utley, Mary Jo Gray, and Suzanne Tinsley).

If you're looking for a really great out-of-town tournament, this is the one!

Southern Belle

What a great tournament!  The new format was a great hit with the 92 ladies that participated in this year's event at Southern Trace Country Club.  Although the weather was a bit hot, the spirits were really cool, baby!

We were greeted the first day by the sight of a beautiful 1957? Thunderbird convertible.  Wow, does that bring back memories?  Every team was treated with a picture taken in front of the car.  And speaking of treats: the tee gift for every lady was a pair of Callaway golf shoes....with a selection of style/color.  How neat is that?

The practice round day was fun in itself from beginning to end.  Lunch was provided at the turn, before or after your round.  What could be easier?  About 4:30pm the sound of the fifties filled the air with a live DJ spinning the records.  Hula hoops to try our skills and a really neat putting contest.  The Southern Trace crew spent a lot of time setting up a challenging six-hole putting course and each team had an opportunity to post the lowest score by alternating shots.  First place went to the team of Betty Moore and Jeanette Guilliams with a low score of 11 putts!  Great job.  There was a tie for second place.

We were again treated with great food and drink during the party and Mary Coker did a trial run in the new pool.  I think this was an unplanned event but was great fun.

Tournament day got to be a bit more serious with a 9-hole best ball shamble on the front nine and a scramble on the back nine.  Overall low gross winners were Lillian Granger and Lisa Russell with their great score of 68, while overall low net went to Suzanne Tinsley and Marianne Leslie with a nice 62.  Congratulations to everyone!  The awards luncheon was a great steak with all the trimmings, while the awards were very generous Callaway Gift Cards.  What a great tournament!  Did I say that already?  Can't wait till next year!

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Golf Classic

The second annual JDRF Golf Classic was held at East Ridge Country Club on Monday, April 30th.  There was a great turnout and the weather was great.  Since cars were being given away for a hole-in-one on three Par 3 holes, volunteers helped by being "hole watchers".  Unfortunately, no one got a H-I-O this year, but it was great fun watching players vie for it.  These are just a few pictures of some of our local ladies playing Hole #5.