Fun-tini Tournament

Jeanie Ward and Gayle Gansfuss were the only local girls to make the trip down to Alexandria to play in the Fun-Fini Tournament on September 11, but they say it was well worth the trip. 

This 6/6/6 (best ball/scramble/alternate shot) format was loads of fun and the pool party that followed the golf was no slouch either.  They highly recommend the tournament so be on the lookout for it next year.

Women's Southern Senior Amateur Championship

The WSGA consists of players from fifteen southern states from Texas to the District of Columbia, and from Florida to Oklahoma.  The annual tournament moves to a different site each year.  This year it will be as close to us as it can get without being IN Shreveport.  It's being hosted at the Texarkana Country Club, just over an hour north of Shreveport.

This is a 54-hole stroke play tournament with players being flighted after the first two days of play.  After playing in last year's tournament in Houston, I can tell you this is the closest thing you'll get to an LPGA tournament, complete with jacketed officials and spotters with little flags to help speed up play.

The WSGA has made it easy to enter this year by providing online entry forms and payment through paypal.  You can go to this site for more information and entry forms:  http://www.womens-southerngolfassociation.org/Senioramateur.htm.  Don't wait too long to sign up.  The field usually fills up fast and there is a waiting list.

If you'de like more information, please feel free to contact one of the following SWGA members who have attended:  Donna Cobb, Martha Lawhorne, Shirley Pettitt, Kathleen McCoy, or Billie Jean Reasor.

World Am Update

Well, the Myrtle Beach adventure is history and I'm back home talking about my experiences.  Seems like I always have some drama to talk about.  But before that, let me say that it was a great experience.  After starting in first place in my flight on the first day, I had serious doubts that it could get BETTER....and I was right. 

The second day was disaster at a course I disliked immensely, along with alot of other players.  The third day was better, but surely not great.  I think my brain had given up after the second day's scores, which is something that I have to overcome when I play long tournaments.  The last day ended up being a good one because I knew I was out of the running.....unless I scored a 54....so there was no pressure.  I just had fun.

I ended up in 21st place in my flight of 48, so I wasn't embarrassed.  I learned today that a 74 year old man won the tournament yesterday with a score of 74 gross/69 net.  There was also a man that got hit by a golf ball that was shanked by someone in his foursome.  He ended up with 12 stitches, but he came back and finished the tournament....with a headache!  Let me tell you, these players are DEDICATED.

Now for my disaster....On the last day of play, I had to drive to a North Carolina course, about 45 minutes north of our condo.  I get in the car and type the address into the GPS, and there is no match found.  Great.  So now I'm driving along in this foreign land, holding the Mapquest instructions and trying to read where to turn next.  I was a nervous wreck by the time I arrived.  The brochure that was provided to us with the addresses failed to show "North" in the address.

So I get to the course 45 minutes before tee time.  We have to use a bag drop area at all courses, so I stopped and left my bag which had my putter clipped to the side as I always do.  I took the rest of my stuff to the cart while waiting on my clubs to be put on the cart.  As you know, my routine includes taking lots of pictures, so now I'm looking for my camera to get some candid shots.  I found my camera CASE, but no camera. 

I go to the Pro Shop and had them call the course from the day before to see if they found my camera.  Yes they did, and they gave it to one of the 47 other ladies in my flight to give to me.  Great.  I'm relieved, so now I go down to get my putter so I can hit the putting green since I've now run out of time to trek down to the driving range. 

I get to the cart where my bag is attached.  There is NO PUTTER.  Panic.  I tracked down the dude that had taken my clubs and told him my putter was missing.  He told me that it had fallen off the bag so he just put it INSIDE my bag.  However, my putter wasn't IN my bag.  Oops! 

He must have put it in the wrong bag!  I spent the entire time going cart to cart digging in everyone's bag looking for my putter, even after they had made announcements asking people to look in their bags.  Ten minutes before tee time, I still had no putter so I went and borrowed one from the Pro Shop.  When I arrived back at my cart, someone came running with my putter and the crowd of ladies erupted in applause!  Success!  So I get to start my round with no driving range practice and not a clue about the roll of the greens.  What the heck!  Let's just enjoy. 

But what about my camera?  I was in a threesome that day, and the golf gods were with me, because one of the ladies in my threesome was the lady they gave my camera to.  What's the chances?  The other lady in that threesome was a lovely lady from Guademala.  She had no GPS or range finder, so I became her personal caddy.  She ended up winning low net for the day.  I was proud for her.

If any of you want to combine golf with a family vacation, Myrtle Beach is a great place to do it during the World Am.  There is all kinds of activities for the whole family and shopping like you've never seen before.  The tournament is held every year the week before Labor Day, so keep it in mind for next year.

World Am Tournament

As many of you have heard (from me mostly) I'm in Myrtle Beach playing in the World Amateur Golf Tournament along with 3100 other players from every state and 30 different countries.  Never thought I would ever do anything like this, but my brother talked me into it.  Each player plays at four different courses and the ladies are flighted by 49 and under (by index) and 50 and above (by index).  I'm in the old lady group.  There are about 42-48 ladies in each flight. 

We played our first round today and it was a beautiful course called Millbrook Plantation in Pawleys Island, SC.  I played pretty well, shooting 88 (with a 9 on a par 4!).  My flight consists of ladies from about 16.5 to 20.2 indexes. 

Every night there is the 19th Hole celebration at the Convention Center with free food, drinks, and entertainment.  There are giant monitors above the stage that gives the leaderboard standings of each flight. 

I had to share my excitement with you.  I looked up to see MY name in FIRST PLACE in my flight after today's round!!!  If I never win anything else, I won a dozen golfballs for having Low Net today.  I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself.  Tomorrow may be horrific, but today was wonderful!  Wish you were all here with me.

Note from Kay

As you know, Kay Swope recently lost her sister and we received this note that we would like to share with everyone:

SWGA Members - I wish there were a new way to say thank you for all the cards and phone calls.  Your thoughtfulness meant so much to me.  My sister is at peace now, where she should be after a very long illness.  Thanks again.  Kay Swope

SSWGA Playday at Crooked Hollow

What a lovely day for the twenty SSWGA ladies to play at Crooked Hollow.  There was actually a cool breeze in the morning and the threesomes moved along quick enough that by the time it was getting really hot, we were done.

After playing, the SSWGA Board had a meeting and it was decided that because Northwood is still in transition, the playday that was scheduled for Northwood on September 28th will be moved to Crooked Hollow, with a 9:00am  shotgun start.  The course is in great shape.  John Graham and his staff always makes the day pleasurable.  Sign up for the fun.

SWGA Playday Querbes

HOT! HOT! HOT! It was indeed a scorcher, but thirty-seven ladies turned out to support the SWGA group at Querbes today. With a 110 degree heat index, we did well with having thirty-five actually finish.

The rough was just that....rough! More grass than we've ever had at Querbes. The greens rolled nicely, although slower than lots of clubs' greens, so they were a bit of a challenge to some.

The best score of the day was an 83 by Paulette Lee, and Pat Miller putted out of her mind with only 27 putts....including two from off the green.

The Broadmoor ladies would like to thank all of you who braved the heat to come out and play.

Our next SWGA event will be our annual Championship at Stonebridge on September 15-16. Please get your entry forms and sign up early so we can make our plans.

LWGA State Four Ball

The 2010 State Four Ball Tournament is now history, with lots of good memories….in spite of the searing heat! One hundred ladies turned out to participate in the event, and of those one hundred, twenty-two were SWGA ladies!!! That’s outstanding!

We had no winners in the Championship Flight this year, but in the First Flight, Robin Nattin got Closest to the Pin; Lillian Granger/Lisa Russell won 2nd Low Gross; and Joyce Middleton/Pam Gentry took 2nd Low Net.

Our largest group of SWGA ladies were in the Second Flight. Of the 26 ladies in that flight, 14 were our ladies. Paulette Lee/Suzanne Tinsley took top honors with the Low Gross, while Kay Swope/Becky Farr won 2nd Low Net.

In the Third Flight, Martha Lawhorne/DiAnn Montgomery took 2nd Low Gross. Check out the slideshow presentation in the right column for a few candids.

Congratulations to everyone: you are ALL winners if you participated!

The next State event is the Mid Am Championship on October 15-17 at Black Bear Golf Course in Delhi, LA. Entry forms will soon be available.