Golf Notes: Taking home first place

The Little River Men’s Club team won first place — yes, numero uno — at the recent NCGA 2-man best ball tournament played April 5 and 6.

Team members were Terry Stratton, Bobby Burdick, Zach Brooks and Randall Jones. On Monday, April 5, the event was played on the Poppy Hills course, and on Tuesday, it took place on the Carmel Valley golf course. Ironically, Terry Stratton sunk a long putt on hole No. 18 at the Little River course, to secure first place for his team in the local NCGA qualifying match and on the first hole at Poppy Hills, just to set the tone, Terry dunked a 70-foot putt for a birdie.

Two team partners played together with two team partners from another club. Terry and Bobby played together with Zach and Randall joining for the other two-man team. The Little River guys shot a combined 13 under par at Poppy Hills and six under at Carmel Valley. Each team member plays their own ball and the best score for each hole is entered on the scorecard. At the end of the round, the lowest score on each hole from both teams is used to determine the tournament winner.

Terry and Zach were the low handicap players for their team and kept play steadily with Randall and Bobby contributing streaks of good play. It’s called “ham and egging it,” in golf slang.

The team has now won the honor of moving on in the NCGA event traveling to the Spy Glass and Poppy Hills Golf Courses on Aug. 30 and 31. Terry reported that the Carmel Valley course played much harder than Poppy Hills as reflected in the team scores, 13 under at Poppy and six under at Carmel Valley. The Carmel Valley golf course was designed by Pete

Dye, and is the only bentgrass Pete Dye golf course in Northern California. Dye is known for creating difficult courses.

Terry commented that the greens were fast and many had steep backs so if your chip ran off the back it could run and run. Scores had to be recorded on a smartphone app and at Poppy Hills, because of COVID-19, any player who touched a flagstick was disqualified. The flags were as they are at Little River with round sponges in the bottom of the hole. At Carmel Valley, individual rakes were attached to the golf cart so sand traps could be played normally with each player raking the trap after hitting out.

Congratulations guys, you have once again put the Little River Men’s club on the golfing map. Best of luck on your next adventure.