LinkStur News

Galen Hall

Game Four of the 1999 season was played by most people at Galen Hall on June 5^th. Mike Cwiertniewicz and Dan Stevens couldn’t make it on that date, so they played their make-up matches against Grant Blair and Ron Jones on June 13^th. Steve Flynn opted to forfeit Galen Hall due to his busy schedule.

The Course

Galen Hall is one of the more remote courses on this year’s schedule and is located some distance south-west of Reading, PA. While car-pooling does take some of the drudgery out of getting there and back, a course that remote does require a full day if you include travel time as well as playing time.

On a more positive note, the course itself was in very nice condition and contained some spectacular holes including a par 5 with a vertical drop of over 500 feet and a par 3 with an island green. The speed of the greens was phenomenal and the putting difficulty was further enhanced by many holes being cut on slopes. More than one player managed to putt from off one side of a green to off the other.

The Matches

In the first A vs B week, Herman Ellzy (A) took 3 from Max McHenry (B), Steve Margetich (B) took 3 from Dick Blystone (A), Roman Hrycushko (B) took 2.5 from Roy Craig (A), Grant Blair (B) took 3 from Mike Cwiertniewicz (A), Mike Brychy (B) was given 3 by Steve Flynn’s forfeit, Doug Perks (B) received 3 due to Steve Ellzy’s forfeit, Bob Welc (A) took 3 from Kevin Stevenson (B) and Ron Jones (A) took 3 from Dan Stevens (B)..

Herman Ellzy had the best gross of the day, at 91, with Bob Welc’s 93 a close second. Ronnie Jones and Grant Blair followed with 94 and 95 respectively.

Grant Blair required the lowest number of putts on the day, taking only 30 on lightning-fast greens. Bob, Roy and Ron each took 32.

Doug Perks carried off the most par/birdie points with a very nice 23. Bob and Grant followed close behind with 22.

Mike Cwiertniewicz and Herman Ellzy each scraped two birdies and Bob Welc scored one. Doug scored 6 natural par points, Roman and Grant each gaining 3.

A Flight Standings

Bob Welc leads in points with 11. Mike Cwiertniewicz is next with 7.5. We have a three-way tie for par/birdie points: Mike Cwiertniewicz, Ron Jones and Roy Craig each having 73 so far. Ron Jones leads the As in putting with a mediocre 136 (34.00 per round average). Dick Blystone lags only one putt behind and Roy Craig is only one behind Dick. The same Dick leads the birdie/eagles category with 5 so far, Herman Ellzy being next with 3. In the phone numbers column, Herman has the lowest, starting 215-6…

B Flight Standings

In the Bs, we appear to have the Grant Blair show: his 10 match points leads Doug Perks and Steve Margetich by 1. Grant’s 91 par/birdie points leads Doug by 8 and Kevin Stevenson by 12. Grant’s 123 putts leads Steve by 27 (TWENTY-SEVEN) and Kevin by an additional one. That’s a 30.75 putts/hole average.

Grant also leads in natural par/birdies, with 17 to Doug’s 15 and Kevin’s 12.

Most Improved

After four weeks, the player with the most improved gross score is Mike Brychy, who has dropped from 160 to 123. He peaked the previous week with a 119. Dick Blystone, on the other hand, has increased his gross by 20 strokes over the first half of the season!

Rules, Rules & Rules

There was an incident at Mainland on May 22^nd at the 17^th hole. For those of you who don’t recall the 17^th, it is a mid-length downhill par 3 with trees around the green and a water hazard in the approach to the green.

One competitor played a tee shot that carried the water hazard, ricocheted off a green-side tree and ended up back in the water hazard. There was no question about where the ball ended up, but where should it be dropped to continue play?

Rule 26-1 states:

If a ball is in or is lost in a water hazard (whether the ball lies in water or not), the player may under penalty of one stroke:

a. Play a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was played or

b. Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped or

c. [only pertains to lateral water hazards]

In utilizing option (b), the ball should clearly have been dropped on the tee side of the water hazard. This is also consistent with the “not nearer the hole” clause which permeates the entire Rules of Golf.

6/19
1st Group
Steve E. () Vs Bob ()
Roman () Vs Grant ()

2nd Group
Steve F. () Vs Roy ()
Steve M. () Vs Doug ()

3rd Group
Herman () Vs Ron ()
Kevin () Vs Dan (36)

4th Group
Mike C. () Vs Dick ()
Mike B. (36) Vs Max ()