Somehow the year has once again flown by and I am writing my end of the year golf article. It is hard to believe that I am still writing this column and some people actually express interest in reading it. Although most of the time I don’t read it myself, I did find it amusing to see my picture with my article. Now people can put a face to the name, we can thank retired fireman Greg Wyman for the pictures. They looked great and I am sure Stan Lee appreciated them also. Thanks Greg.

Silverado in the month of October is such a treat, not only is the course in great shape, but the fall weather and the turning of the leaves makes it close to perfect. At the beginning of the day I was expecting to see some spectacular scoring, but as I soon found out the course was set up to be very difficult. Tough pin placements and hard to read greens was giving our group a hard time and we discovered that pars were going to be hard to find on this day.

Brendan Ward must have found some of those pars floating around as his 90 net 68 was by two strokes the lowest total for the day. At the end of the tournament he didn’t seem too excited, but four strokes under your handicap is always a fine score. Well-done Brendan!!

At the start of the day there were several players with a chance at this years club title. Ramon Chea due to some good rounds early in the season held a sizable lead for most of the year. Several of our members had been chipping away at that lead. One of those players, Chris Pratt has been shooting lights out all season. He has dropped his handicap a remarkable three strokes this season. It was especially difficult considering he started as a four handicap. Once again Chris was up to the challenge and shot an even par 72 net 70 to finish in a tie for second place. This is a follow up to two great rounds he had in our last two tournaments in those three events he is three under par, yes that is under par. Great playing Chris, however the player who tied for second place was Ramon Chea.. Ramon’s 89 net 70 netted enough points to put the title under wraps for the season. He was happy with his round and his tie with Chris. But the tie for second was just enough to give him the title for 2006. Congratulations Ramon you are the new Club Champion!!! Those lessons sure paid off, great playing all year.

Several of our golfers ventured down to the Fire Olympics to play in San Jose. The team of George Garcia and Steve Coffey has been partners for years and has won Gold medals in the past. They started the competition playing perfect team golf with one player playing well on each hole and went into the clubhouse as the first round leaders. On the second day they were not as fortunate and struggled to stay near the lead. They said on the final day that nether player played all that well, but they played well on different holes and Mutt and Jeffed it to the Net gold medal. Way to go San Francisco golfers George Garcia and Steve Coffey.

Stonetree Golf Club
November 7, 2006

Stonetree is a relatively new golf course located in Novato. The golf committee went out to this new course shortly after it opened and played this beautiful course. At the time we thought that the price would keep us away from this venue, but Frank called and received a favorable price and booked it. On arriving at the course you are immediately drawn to the magnificent clubhouse. It is quite the sight and the rest of the facility is very upscale. Out on the course it is just as beautiful and the layout is varied and very difficult.

For me the difficulty laid mostly on the greens as there were several Volkswagens buried out there not to mention the whale or two. One of our golfers didn’t have to worry about putting at lest on the twelfth hole. Ray Guzman hit a nine iron on the green and it proceeded to spin back down the slight incline and into the hole for an ACE or a hole in one. Hole in ones are pretty rare and this is the first one made since we took over the club. Great shot Ray congratulations on your second career ACE and the golf clubs shot of the year.

This course took its toll on our golfers and there were some high scores being posted. I played with Chris Pratt and his string of great scores came to an end. He claimed it was his worse score of the year. His was one of a handful of scores posted in the 80’s. One of those scores was posted by Arnie Lee, whose 87 net 68 claimed first place by whooping five strokes. It is pretty rare when only one player shoots under his handicap in a golf tournament. This is the only tournament that I can recall with such high scores. In second place was Al Lee whose 92 net 73 was a very nice score on a tough course. One of our new members Steve Flaherty was alone in third place. Now that he is retired he can devote more time to his new found game. Nice round Steve now you are going to be hooked on golf like the rest of us.

See you all next year. We already have our schedule set for 2007 and will have our mailer out ASAP. Remember that for our travel trips such as Monterey we need to have your money in advance. Please when I say in advance I mean send the money at least two weeks before the tournament date. It makes it easier on us and that way there is no confusion on who is attending. Thanks to everyone who supported the Golf Club this year and hope that everyone has a happy holiday season and a good New Year.

Home