Who can complain after spending a half-day like today at Magnolia Point under scattered to broken clouds with virtually windless conditions and the temperature rising gradually from 77 degrees to 90 degrees? Only a chronic complainer but that doesn't describe any MSIS golfer we've known.
Perhaps it's generational but a typical MSIS golfer will summarize his round with the tag line from a 1966 film or 1970 sports program. On one hand, he squints like Clint Eastwood and squelches any more questions by uttering the laconic, "Good, Bad, and Ugly." As if golf is a blend of three and only three distinct outcomes.
On the other hand, he emulates ABC's Wide World of Sports by inviting you to share his experience with a grandiose, "Ah, the thrill of victory! The agony of defeat!" As if golf exists at two extremes and thereby excludes the middle.
No doubt a few in today's field of 110 players experienced the good, the bad, the ugly, the thrill, or the agony to some degree. But every player figuratively ended his round with a certain taste in his mouth: Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, or savory.
How sweet the taste for each of four teams that rose one rung on the season ladder: Deercreek, Magnolia Point, Sawgrass, and Eagle Harbor. And surpassingly sweet, they ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively, in today's contest.
How sour the taste for each of three teams that fell one rung on the season ladder: Marsh Creek, San Jose, and Osprey Cove. They ranked 11th, 13th, and 14th, respectively, in today's contest.
How savory the taste for each of three teams that kept its place on the season ladder while playing with a disadvantage: Marsh Landing and Ponte Vedra were short one player each; Orange Park didn't field a team. They ranked 6th, 12th, and 15th, respectively, in today's contest.
Finally, how salty or bitter the taste for each of 51 players who failed to match his 36-point quota. The USGA says 66 players could expect to score 35 points or less. That's 15 players who didn't need to dry salty tears or flush a bitter aftertaste.
TODAY'S ACTION
The average score today was 1.1 points higher than last month at Queen's Harbour whose course rating is 1.3 strokes less. What accounts for the effective swing of 2.4 strokes? Last month, we began charting the six toughest holes and the six easiest holes at each venue. Are hole-by-hole handicaps allocated fairly? Do handicap strokes fall where they're most needed? Does your club faithfully apply the methods described in Section 17, USGA Handicap System manual?
Kudos to Tom Kraft (SG) for beating odds of 137:1 in shooting a mind-boggling 50 points. Tom's feat was five points better than the 45s carded by Don Baxter (WG) and John Greninger (EH) but four points short of the record set by Don Lerch (EH) in January 2003.
Three players shared the best round of the day: Bill Devine (JG), Gary Owensby (EH), and Bill Swerbenski (SG) each scored 77 strokes. They were three strokes better than their nearest competitor and fourteen strokes lower than Joe Average on a tough Mark McCumber layout.
SCORER'S TABLE
Barney Poston (HH) was grateful for the efficient work of ten volunteers in today's scoring area:
Readers: Frank Mitchell (MP)
Randy Seitzinger (MP)
Scorers: Glenn Dobrick (SG)
Roy Gulick (MP)
Tex Blinn (HH)
Runner: John Brown (MP)
Whipper: Barney Poston (HH)
Posters: Josh Anderson, Head Professional
Mark Collins, Assistant Professional
Sorter: Jef Fleming (HH)
THE SHAKY LADDER
Deercreek Country Club
With 272 points, Deercreek took first place by a two-point margin and rose from a second-place finish last month by scoring one less point—go figure. Once again, Captain Dave Noble was not in the lineup; his last appearance was in March. When the heck is he coming back?
Mark Snitzer was the team hero with 43 points, providing the boost needed to slip past Magnolia Point whose scores were the least dispersed (s=2.5) in today's field.
Magnolia Point Golf & Country Club
With 270 points, Magnolia Point won second place by a single point. Two factors were key to their success: Captain Roy Gulick was back in harness and they held the home-team advantage. John Brown and Van Johnson were the lead scorers.
Sawgrass Country Club
With 269 points, Sawgrass snagged third place by three points over Eagle Harbor. Tom Kraft and Robert Fairley set the pace with 50 and 43 points respectively. Sawgrass was the wildest scoring team in today's field at s=7.0.
Eagle Harbor Golf Club
With 266 points, Eagle Harbor took fourth place by a comfortable six-point margin over St. Johns. John Greninger and Captain Gary Owensby led the team with 45 and 42 points, respectively. At 1,973 points, Eagle Harbor (2002 Champion) and Hidden Hills (2009 Champion) are tied for fifth place in the race for the Brady Cup and still threatening to repeat. Placing ninth today, three-time Champion Jacksonville (2005, 2007-2008) is hanging onto fourth place overall by one point.
EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE
Eagles: 0
Birdies: 51
Strokes: 77 Bill Devine (JG)
Gary Owensby (EH)
Bill Swerbenski (SG)
91 Joe Average
122 Name withheld
Points: 50 Tom Kraft (SG)
35.7 Joe Average
23 Two names withheld
LIFE-TIME LEADERS
The following players are MSIS Stalwarts.
Rounds played since
Name
Club
July 2006
July 2002
Wib Finch
JG
47
86
Odie Skeen
MC
46
82
Barney Poston
HH
41
72
Gary Owensby
EH
46
69
Jerry Meyer
OP
44
John Vogelpohl
PV
42
INTERCLUB MATHEMATICS
From July 2006 to July 2010, the MSIS hosted forty-nine tournaments comprising 5,827 rounds and 656 players. The data includes ESC-adjusted scores from 69-137 strokes, Stableford scores from 9-52 points, course handicaps from 0-42, and handicap indexes from 0.0-36.4.
Using the procedure described in Appendix E, USGA Handicap System Manual, a net differential for each of the 5,827 rounds was calculated as follows:
• Net Differential = Handicap Differential - Handicap Index
The following chart is a histogram (bars) of the recorded scores which have a mean and standard deviation of 4.2 and 4.9, respectively, on which is superimposed a normal distribution (Bell Curve) having the same mean and standard deviation.
As expected, the collection of net differentials follows a normal distribution. Similar charts are maintained for five handicap-index ranges: 0-10, 11-14, 15-18, 19-22, and 23-37. These charts will be used to pronounce the odds of shooting an exceptional score in future MSIS tournaments.
HOLE-BY-HOLE COMPARISONS
Today's Toughest Holes
Hole
1
5
8
9
11
18
Hcp
3
11
1
7
16
10
Par
4
4
5
4
4
4
Avg
5.41
5.48
6.24
5.61
5.31
5.24
Rank
3
2
5
1
4
5
Today's Easiest Holes
Hole
2
6
12
13
15
17
Hcp
17
15
8
12
4
18
Par
3
3
4
5
3
3
Avg
3.53
3.49
4.86
5.83
3.77
3.73
Rank
17
18
13
14
15
16
NEXT MATCH
Osprey Cove Golf Club
A Mark McCumber Design
9:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 15.
JOHN BRADY CUP MATCH
It is not too soon to start our planning for the John Brady Cup Match to be played at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club on the Ocean Course. The date of the match is December 10, 2010 with a 9:30 am shotgun start.
Feedback is needed on what to buy as our BIG DOOR PRIZE for this event. Two years ago we gave an $800 golfing vacation at Fairfiel Mountain Resort, near Lake Lure, NC. Last year we gave an $800 golfing vacation at Amelia Island Plantation. We should have close to the same money to spend this year. Do any of you have ideas for a prize in that price range? Please let Barney hear from you soon on this.
Also, be thinking about what your club might donate as a prize. Forward that and any other thoughts you may have pertinent to this season wrap-up event to
Barney.
A SECOND-HAND STORY
as told by Gary Owensby
Recently, I played with a gentleman from Marsh Creek who told me the following story. I won't mention his name lest my telling of his story is different. He was bitten by a rattlesnake about three months ago. Here's how it happened.
It seems he found his ball at the very edge of a patch of high weeds. Reaching down to identify the ball, he was bitten in the arm with no warning.
The absence of a warning rattle is not unusual as adult snakes frequently lose their rattles until the next molting. Also, the rattle can be noiseless if it absorbs too much water in wet weather. Startled or not, rattlesnakes can strike at distances up to two-thirds their body length.
Within 18 minutes, my fellow-competitor was sent to a hospital in St. Augustine with his arm and hand having grown to twice their normal sizes: a life-threatening medical emergency. Could the hospital treat him before more serious symptoms developed in breathing, hemorrhaging, paralysis?
Not to worry, the hospital was in touch with the poison center in Atlanta. Our friend was ill for several days but emerged from his ordeal with minor scars.
Here's the moral of the story. Use a ball retriever to probe in Florida's bushes and grass.
SCORE CARDS
The Scorers entered 1,962 hole-by-hole scores without error although two score-card totals were incorrectly posted on the scorecards. Unhappily, the score-card owners gave no feedback, which is a key part of what's expected in the scoring area. Happily, the MSIS database does not contain the bum data so team and season standings are 100 percent pure.
Two member clubs fielded seven-player teams so their "eighth" player was automatically credited with 23 points. In addition, one team had a player who failed to return his score card and was given 23 points by default.
For the umpteenth time, the X factor was ignored by an invincibly ignorant few. Please, please! Do not enter an X in any cell on the score card unless it is your legal mark on the signature line
LAPTOP COMPUTERS
If you own a laptop PC, please volunteer for duty at the scoring table by contacting Barney Poston or your team representative. Barney is a sweet-heart of a boss; he offers on-the-job training and below-market wages.
Happily, the Team Representatives recently authorized the purchase of two Netbook computers. Only one was purchased at a friendly price of $204.99. If it works out for us, we may buy another in the future.
So, we are now the owners of one eMachine netbook computer. It just arrived today and it appears that it will work perfectly for us. It weighs less than three pounds and is 1’ x 7” x 10” in size. It has Windows 7 Starter Edition installed as the operating system. I will install the software that we need. We'll give it a workout at Osprey Cove.
FINANCIAL NEWS
Our Google AdSense account has earned $8.73 since the last check was issued. The last check, for $102.72 was issued to us and deposited on 8-3-2010. Google has paid us a total of $408.99 since our account was opened in January 2007.
Our savings account is held at Citi Bank. All transactions are handled electronically. If you wish to see the account ledger, click here.
WEB SITE
Sign up for MSIS emails or be one of those who don't get the word. The sign-up form is at the bottom of our home page: www.jaxsi.org.
Support fellow-competitors who sponsor our web pages. Notice the advertisements posted by Lewis Blinn, Contractor on our Home Page and Jock Ochiltree on our Results Page.
Track the MSIS schedule at the JAX365 website. It's bold, it's clear, it's in synch. JAX365 can help you keep up with the entire Jacksonville scene!
ARTICLES SOLICITED
Please submit material for an article that might interest our members. For example, you must have seen or heard something during an MSIS match that would interest all of us. Humorous stories about things that happened on the course are a staple. Everyone loves a chuckle although a groan is sometimes more instructive.
Your story needn't be the absolute truth! Why not brag about a tricky hole or a great shot? Stretch the facts or share the pain with the absolute truth.
Also feel free to submit an opinion or suggestion for improving our competitions. Whatever you submit, it needn't be related to golf. All we need is a rough draft or a slim outline.
